A Life of Archbishop Theophan of Poltava

Written by Vladimir Moss

A LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP THEOPHAN OF POLTAVA

Early Years
The future Archbishop Theophan was born in the village of
Podmoshie,
Novgorod province on December 31, 1874 (1873, according to
another source).
His father was the village priest, Fr. Demetrius Bystrov, and his
mother was
called Maria. He was baptized with the name Basil, since the feast
day of St.
Basil the Great (January 1) was the nearest to his birthday.
When he was seven years old, Basil had an extraordinary prophetic
dream.
He saw himself were standing in hierarchical vestments and wearing
a
golden mitre in the high place during the Divine Liturgy. And his
father went
up to him and censed him. It should be pointed out that the child
had never
yet witnessed a hierarchical service. In the morning Basil told his
mother the
dream. His father, who was sitting in the next room, heard him and
said:
Look a new Joseph has appeared!
But the prophecy in the dream was fulfilled exactly. Many years
later, when
Archbishop Theophan was going to be consecrated to the
episcopate, the
Holy Synod his father to take part in the service. And during the
service he
censed his son in the sanctuary in front of the holy altar
As a child, his parents told him, Basil did not know any prayers by
heart,
but he would fall on his knees in front of the icons and burble out,
weeping:
Lord, You are so great and I am so small!
He was quiet and concentrated, and did not take part in childish
games.
But at the same time he was radiant and joyful. He tasted of the
fruits of
prayer, and kept a strict watch on his inner life. He loved the severe
landscape
of the north of Russia, which spoke to him of God the Creator. And he
breathed in the pious, humble spirit of the peasants around him.
Basil went to the parish school, where his extraordinary intellectual
talents
were first revealed. He was able to read a page once and repeat it
almost

word for word, and jumped class three times. Then he went to
theological
seminary, which he finished three years before those who had begun
with
him.
Having finished his secondary studies at the theological seminary,
the
young Basil had to pass an examination to enter the Theological
Academy in
St. Petersburg.
I was then scarcely seventeen. I was much younger than all the
other
candidates, and I looked like a schoolboy I was not afraid of the
entry
examination because I had a good knowledge of the seminary
programme.
And then there came the time of the written examination in
philosophy
marked by the famous Professor Korinfsky. I was afraid of this exam
because
it was outside the seminary programme and because it was the only
written
exam, all the others were oral. I prayed fervently to St. Justin the
Philosopher
and the holy teachers of the Church Saints Basil the Great, Gregory
the
Theologian and John Chrysostom to enlighten my mind and give me
their
thought.
The day of the exam arrived; it was due to take place at four
oclock. We
sat down, Professor Korinfsky entered, greeted us and then wrote on
the
board the proposed subject:
The importance of personal experience in elaborating ones worldview.
What joy and gratitude to the Lord I felt on reading this
compositional
subject! It was clear and familiar to me. Thanks to the prayers of the
saints, the
Lord sent me rapid, light thought and I finished my work
astonishingly
quickly, in half an hour. I had written only one page I got up and
asked
permission to give in my work. The professor was clearly very
surprised! He
looked at his watch and said, not without hesitation:
Oh well, give it to me.
He had seen that I was the youngest and probably thought that I
had not

understood the subject. I noted his hesitation and handed him my

paper. He
asked me to wait for a moment and began to read. During the
reading, he
raised his eyes towards me from time to time, then said:
Thank you, thank you You can go.
My fervent prayer to the philosopher saints had been heard,
continued
the archbishop. It was they, not I, who had written by my hand
Thanks be
to Thee, O Lord! For Thou are the Giver of all good things! In this
way the
exam which was supposed to be the most difficult became for me
the easiest
of all. I had the distinct impression that Professor Korfinsky was
satisfied with
my work. Finally, I got the top pass into the St. Petersburg Academy.
But as
the Apostle writes: Not I, but the grace of God which is with me (I
Corinthians 15.10).
Many years later, when Basil was now Bishop Theophan and the
Rector of
the Academy, he had to pacify the warring factions among the
professors
during the revolutionary years 1905-06. After one of these debates,
without
himself taking part, Professor Korinfsky came up to the Rector, who
had just
calmed the tempest, and said, smiling sweetly:
Yes I well remember your essay!
At the Theological Academy
Archbishop Theophan had fond memories of several of the
professors of
the Academy when he was there, including V.V. Bolotov, A.P.
Lopukhin and
N.N. Glubokovsky. Professor Lopukhin even bequeathed him his very
large
theological library (which he later gave to the Academy). With their
help and
support, he passed all four years of his study as the first student.
Having finished his theological education at the age of 21, he was
given a
professorial scholarship to continue to study at the Academy.
In 1896, Basil Dmitrievich was appointed lecturer at the St.
Petersburg
Academy in the faculty of Biblical history. In 1898 he received the
monastic
tonsure with the name Theophan in honour of St. Theophan the
Confessor,

Bishop of Sigriane, and in respectful memory of Bishop Theophan

the
Recluse. In the same year he was ordained to the diaconate and the
priesthood.
In 1901, he was raised to the rank of archimandrite with the duties
of
inspector of the Academy in the Academys house church by
Metropolitan
Anthony (Vadkovsky) of St. Petersburg.
The Academys ustav said that the inspector had to have a masters
degree
and so was obliged to write a composition to obtain the degree. But
Archimandrite Theophan did not hand in a composition, although he
had
written it. The reason was that as a monk he had given vows of
poverty and
humility, and could not seek or desire academic glory. It contradicted
the
monastic vows. And so the work lay in his desk for several years
until
another professor in his absence took it and gave it to the Academic
Council.
The subject of the composition was: The Tetragram, or the Old
Testament
Name of God (Jehovah or Yahweh). This work became his masters
dissertation at the faculty of the Biblical history of the Old
Testament. It was
published in 1905 and was very highly esteemed by critics both
inside and
outside Russia. It was called the famous Tetragram! However,
when the
book appeared in the shops, Archbishop Theophan himself went
round all the
bookshops in a cab, and bought and burned all the copies of the
work! In this
way he fought against the love of glory in himself.
In this case, as in others, he sought the advice of the elders,
especially
Hieroschemamonks Alexis of Valaam, and Barnabas and Isidore of
Gethsemane skete.
Fr. Theophan would often take the steamer to Valaam. Once he left
the
monastery church and went into the woods to practise the Jesus
prayer. He
soon noticed a large silent mass of people with Fr. Alexis, upon
whom the
abbot had given the obedience to teach the people outside the
church. On
seeing him, Fr. Theophan went in a different direction, thinking that
he would

not meet the crowd again. But it turned out that the elder led the
pilgrims in
the same direction. Then he decided to let the procession pass him
while he
went off in the opposite direction. He stopped in a thicket from
where he
could observe the pilgrims. In front strode the elder a large distance
from the
people, while behind him came the pilgrims, most of them women.
The
hieroschemamonk had his head bowed to the ground, and was
praying.
Suddenly the thought occurred to Fr. Theophan: Ach, in vain does
Hieroschemamonk Alexis surround himself with these women and
all of
them are young. There could be reprimands
But I hadnt managed to think this before the elder raised his head
and,
turning in my direction, loudly said, almost shouting:
They followed Christ, too!
These words were so unexpected and short that none of the people
could
understand their meaning and to whom they referred. Although the
whole
crowd heard these words and looked in the direction of Fr. Theophan,
they
could not see him because of the thicket. But the elder again
lowered his head
and immersed himself in prayer
Truly, Elder Alexis was a great saint and wonderful clairvoyant,
witnessed Vladyka Theophan. He was as beautiful as an angel of
God. It was
sometimes difficult to look at him, he was as it were in flames,
especially
when standing at the altar in prayer. At the time he was completely
transfigured, his face became different in an indescribable way,
extremely
concentrated and severe. He was truly all in fire.
But if the elder felt that those present in the altar were involuntarily
observing him and his prayer, he tried to hide his condition by a kind
of
foolery. He usually went up to the wall and, pretending that he was
an
absent-minded worshipper, in his shadow on the wall he corrected
and
combed the hair on his head.
Once Fr. Theophan set off for Valaam, troubled by the following
thought:
the ascetic rules of the Holy Fathers said that a monk should pay as
little

attention to his external appearance as possible. But the Church had

blessed
him to be an academic monk and live and be saved in the world.
But, living in
the world, it was impossible to forget his flesh and not care for his
appearance
He went to Fr. Alexis cell convinced that he would get the solution to
his
problem. And his faith was rewarded. The elder, as always, received
Fr.
Theophan very joyfully. He sat him down and asked him to wait for a
moment. Then he took a mirror, put it on the table at which Fr.
Theophan was
sitting, and began carefully to comb his hair. After this he cleared
everything
from the table and, turning to Fr. Theophan, said:
Well, now we can talk.
And so, without any words, the elder had resolved Fr. Theophans
problem
Another holy man to whom Fr. Theophan was close was the great
wonderworking priest Fr. John of Kronstadt.
Once Fr. Theophan was preparing to celebrate the Divine Liturgy the
next
day in one of the capitals churches whose altar feastday it was. But
suddenly
he was given urgent work that could not be postponed: he had to
prepare a
written report for the metropolitan. From the evening and
throughout the
night I wrote the urgent report, and so I was not able to rest. When I
had
finished my work it was already morning, I had to go to the church.
And
there, together with the other clergy, Fr. John was serving with me.
The
Liturgy was coming to an end and the servers were communing in
the altar.
At a suitable moment, when the communion hymn was being sung,
Fr. John
came up to me and congratulated me on receiving the Holy
Mysteries. And
then he looked at me with particular attention and, shaking his head,
said:
Oh, how difficult it is to write the whole night and then, having had
no
rest at all, to go straight to the church and celebrate the Divine
Liturgy May
the Lord help and strengthen you!
You can imagine how joyful it was for me to hear such words from
such a

person. I suddenly felt that all my tiredness had suddenly

disappeared at his
words Yes, great was the righteous one Fr. John of Kronstadt!
After pausing for a little, Vladyka continued: But how many people
there
were, blind and deaf ones, who did not accept Fr. John and treated
him very
crudely. And there were such people even among the priests. Thus
for
example Fr. John once came to the altar feast in one of the churches
of St.
Petersburg. But the superior of the church, on seeing him, began to
shout at
him:
Who invited you here? Why did you appear? I didnt invite you. Oh,
youre such a saint. We know saints of your kind!
Fr. John was embarrassed and said:
Calm down, batyushka, Im leaving now
But he shouted at him:
Oh what a wonderworker you are. Get out of here! I didnt invite
you.
Fr. John meekly and humbly asked forgiveness and left the church
Another time there was a service in the St. Andrew cathedral in
Kronstadt, where Fr. John was rector. One of the servers began to get
disturbed:
Why do you give away money to everyone, but to me, who serve
you,
you have never given anything? What does this mean?
Batyushka was silent, and was apparently praying within himself.
But the
other continued to be disturbed and reviled him, not sparing his
language.
A reader who happened to be there stood up for batyushka:
What are you doing? Are you in your right mind? Is this possible? It
is
shameful and terrible to think of what you are saying to batyushka.
And then he listed the merits of Fr. John, mentioning, among other
things,
that he was a rector.
Thats right, said Fr. John. After all, Im a superior. Is it possible to
speak
with a superior in such a way? No, no, no Its wrong, its wrong
Vladyka Theophan noted: What humility Fr. John had! Neither the
gift of
clairvoyance, nor the gift of healings, nor of wonderworking none
of this
did he attribute to himself. But only that it was wrong to speak to a
superior
in such a way!
Fr. John had great influence with the royal family, and the tsar visited
him

secretly. Rasputin feared this influence.

As Archbishop Theophan witnessed to the Extraordinary
Commission:
Rasputin indicated with unusual skill that he had reservations
[about Fr.
John] Rasputin said of Fr. John of Kronstadt that he was a saint
but,
like a child, lacked experience and judgement As a result Fr. Johns
influence at court began to wane
Fr. John reposed on December 20, 1908. Fr. Theophan served at his
funeral.
Admirer of Rasputin
In 1905, after the publication of his masters thesis, Fr. Theophan
was
raised to the rank of extraordinary professor and confirmed in his
post as
inspector of the Academy.
Perhaps the greatest mistake of Archbishop Theophans life was his
initial
trust of the great pseudo-elder Rasputin (which means debauched
in
Russian). According to his own witness before the Extraordinary
Commission
established by the Provisional Government in 1917, he first met
Rasputin,
significantly, in the house of Bishop Sergius (Stragorodsky), the
future traitor
of the Russian Church and first Soviet patriarch of Moscow. Once
he
[Bishop Sergius] invited us to his lodgings for tea, and introduced for
the first
time to me and several monks and seminarians a recently arrived
man of
God, Brother Gregory as we called him then. He amazed us all with
his
psychological perspicacity. His face was pale and his eyes unusually
piercing
the look of someone who observed the fasts. And he made a
strong
impression.
Archbishop Theophan was especially impressed by Rasputins
apparent
prophetic gift. At that time Admiral Rozhdestvenskys squadron had
already
set sail [to fight the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War]. We
therefore asked
Rasputin, Will its engagement with the Japanese be successful?
Rasputin
answered, I feel in my heart that it will be sunk. And his prediction
subsequently came to pass in the battle of Tsushima Strait.

Again, Rasputin correctly told the students of the seminary whom

he was
seeing for the first time that one would be a writer and that another
was ill,
and then explained to a third that he was a simple soul whose
simplicity was
being taken advantage of by his friends In conversation Rasputin
revealed
not book learning but a subtle grasp of spiritual experience obtained
through
personal knowledge. And a perspicacity that verged on second
sight.
Fr. Theophan invited Rasputin to move in with him, to stay in his
apartment. It was through Fr. Theophan that Rasputin gained entry
into the
house of Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich, the Tsars cousin, and his
wife, the
Montenegrin Grand Duchess Militsa Nikolaevna, whose confessor Fr.
Theophan had become. (According to another source the Grand
Duchess first
met him in the podvorye of the Mikhailov monastery in Kiev.)
Visiting the
home of Militsa Nikolaevna, I let slip that a man of God named
Gregory
Rasputin had appeared among us. Militsa Nikolaevna became very
interested
in my communication, and Rasputin received an invitation to present
himself
to her. After that, Rasputin was invited to the Grand Duchess house
on his
own
It was through the Grand Duchess that Fr. Theophan was introduced
to the
Tsar: I was invited to the home of the former emperor for the first
time by
Grand Duchess Militsa Nikolaevna. In his diary for November 13/26,
the
Tsar noted: I received Theophan, inspector of the St. Petersburg
Theological
Academy.
Soon after, Fr. Theophan was offered the extremely responsible post
of
spiritual father of the Royal Family. So he became, as it were, the
conscience
of the Tsar at a critical moment in the nations history.
Fr. Theophan gave the Tsarina and her children books of the Holy
Fathers
to read. In a note to her daughter, the Tsarina reminded them to
read the
book that batyushka brought you before communion.
In view of Fr. Theophans closeness both to the Royal Family and to

Rasputin, it is often asserted that it was he who introduced them to

each
other, and that his later self-imposed exile in France was in order to
expiate
this sin. This is untrue. According to the words of Archbishop
Theophan
before the Extraordinary Commission: How Rasputin came to know
the
family of the former emperor, I have absolutely no idea. And I
definitely state
that I took no part in that. My guess is that Rasputin penetrated the
royal
family by indirect means Rasputin himself never talked about it,
despite the
fact that he was a rather garrulous person I noticed that Rasputin
had a
strong desire to get into the house of the former emperor, and that
he did so
against the will of Grand Duchess Militsa Nikolaevna. Rasputin
himself
acknowledged to me that he was hiding his acquaintance with the
royal
family from Militsa Nikolaevna.
The first meeting between the Royal Family and Rasputin, as
recorded in
the Tsars diary, took place on November 1, 1905. Archbishop
Theophan
testified: I personally heard from Rasputin that he produced an
impression
on the former empress at their first meeting. The sovereign,
however, fell
under his influence only after Rasputin had given him something to
ponder.
According to the Monk Iliodor, Rasputin told him: I talked to them
for a long
time, persuading them to spit on all their fears, and rule.
On hearing that Rasputin had impressed the empress, Grand
Duchess
Militsa Nikolaevna said to him, as Archbishop Theophan testified:
You,
Grigory, are an underhand person. Militsa Nikolaevna told me
personally of
her dissatisfaction with Rasputins have penetrated the royal family
on his
own, and mentioned her warning that if he did, it would be the end
of him.
My explanation of her warning, said Archbishop Theophan, was
that
there were many temptations at court and much envy and intrigue,
and that
Rasputin, as a simple, undemanding wandering pilgrim, would perish

spiritually under such circumstances.

It was at about this time that Rasputin left Fr. Theophans lodgings
and
moved in with the woman who was to become one of his most
fanatical
admirer, Olga Lokhtina. Archbishop Theophan writes: He only
stayed with
me a little while, since I would be off at the Academy for days on
end. And it
got boring for him and he moved somewhere else, and then took
up
residence in Petrograd at the home of the government official
Vladimir
Lokhtin, who was in charge of the paved roads in Tsarskoe Selo, and
so close
to the royal family
Rasputin returned to his family in Pokrovskoe, Siberia, in autumn,
1907,
only to find that Bishop Anthony of Tobolsk and the Tobolsk
Consistory - as
was suspected, at the instigation of Grand Duchess Militsa
Nikolaevna - had
opened an investigation to see whether he was spreading the
doctrines of the
khlysty. Olga Lokhtina hurried back to St. Petersburg and managed
to get the
investigation suspended. Soon afterwards, testifies Fr. Theophan,
the good
relations between the royal family and Militsa and Anastasia
Nikolaevna [the
sister of Militsa], and Peter and Nikolai Nikolaevich [the husbands of
the
sisters] became strained. Rasputin himself mentioned it in passing.
From a
few sentences of his I concluded that he had very likely instilled in
the former
emperor the idea that they had too much influence on state affairs
and were
encroaching on the emperors independence.
The place that the Montenegrin Grand Duchesses had played in the
royal
family was now taken by the young Anya Vyrubova, who was a
fanatical
admirer of Rasputin. Another of Rasputins admirers was the royal
childrens
nurse, Maria Vishnyakova. And so Rasputin came closer and closer
to the
centre of power His influence on the political decisions of the Tsar
has been
much exaggerated. But he undoubtedly had a great influence on the
Tsarina

through his ability, probably through some kind of hypnosis, to

relieve the
Tsarevichs haemophilia, a tragedy that caused much suffering to
the Tsar
and Tsarina, and which they carefully hid from the general public
Critic of Rasputin
On February 1, 1909 Archimandrite Theophan was appointed Rector
of the
St. Petersburg Theological Academy. And on Sunday, February 22,
the second
Sunday of the Great Fast, which is dedicated to the memory of St.
Gregory
Palamas, he was consecrated Bishop of Yamburg, a vicariate of the
St.
Petersburg diocese, in the Holy Trinity cathedral of the Alexander
Nevsky
Lavra. The consecration was performed by Metropolitan Anthony
(Vadkovsky) of St. Petersburg together with other members of the
Holy
Synod and other hierarchs who came to the service 13 in all.
In answer to the accusation that he had gained his see through the
influence of Rasputin, Bishop Theophan testified: My candidacy for
the
bishopric was put forward by the church hierarchs led by Bishop
Hermogen
[of Saratov, the future hieromartyr]. I would never have permitted
myself to
take advantage of Rasputins influence I was known personally to
the royal
family and had four times or so heard confession from the empress
and once
from the sovereign and I was already the Rector of the Petersburg
Theological Academy.
It was a difficult time, with liberal ideas gaining ground even among
the
professors of the Academy. Bishop Theophan more than once came
into
conflict with these liberal professors, and they complained about him
to
Metropolitan Anthony. After one such complaint, the metropolitan
summoned the bishop to himself and said:
The professors are complaining that you are restricting their
freedom of
scientific research.
Instead of a reply, Vladyka Theophan showed the metropolitan a
paragraph from the ustav of the Theological Academies which said:
The
Rector of the Academy is responsible for the direction and spirit of
the

Academy. Then he explained how certain professors during their

lectures to
students were permitting themselves to express freethinking ideas
contrary to
Orthodoxy. And the metropolitan had to agree that the Rector had
the right to
oppose this.
As Rector of the Academy, Vladyka Theophan enlivened the religiomoral
atmosphere in it and created a whole direction among the students,
a kind of
school of Theophanites, as they were called. He tried to instill in
the
students a respect for the lofty authority of the Holy Fathers of the
Church in
everything that pertained to Church faith and piety. When replying to
a
question of a theological or moral character he tried to avoid
speaking from
himself, but immediately went to the bookcase and found a precise
answer
to the question from the Holy Fathers, which allowed his visitor to
depart
profoundly satisfied. He himself was a walking encyclopaedia of
theological
knowledge.
And yet this was by no means merely book knowledge: because of
his
ascetic life, he knew the truth of the teachings of the Fathers from
his own
experience. He would go to all the services, and often spend whole
nights in
prayer standing in his cell in front of the analoy and the icons. He
would even
take service books with him on his travels, and read all the daily
services.
His very look inspired respect, and soon cases of amazing spiritual
perspicacity revealed themselves. Never familiar, always correct and
restrained in manner, but at the same time warm and attentive, he
was a
fierce enemy of all modernism and falsehood. If the conversation
took a
vulgar turn, he would immediately turn away, however distinguished
his
interlocutor. This caused him to have many enemies, but people also
involuntarily respected him. Once the famous writer V.V. Rozanov
spoke at
length to him against monasticism. Vladyka Theophan did not reply
with a
single word. But his silence was effective, for at the end the writer
simply said:

But perhaps you are right!

Bishop Theophan began to have doubts about Rasputin. These
doubts
related to rumours that Rasputin was not the pure man of God he
seemed to
be. Rumours began reaching us, testified Vladyka, that Rasputin
was
unrestrained in his treatment of the female sex, that he stroked
them with his
hand during conversation. All this gave rise to a certain temptation
to sin, the
more so since in conversation Rasputin would allude to his
acquaintance with
me and, as it were, hide behind my name.
At first Vladyka and his monastic confidants sought excuses for him
in the
fact that we were monks, whereas he was a married man, and that
was the
reason why his behaviour has been distinguished by a great lack of
restraint
and seemed peculiar to us However, the rumours about Rasputin
started to
increase, and it was beginning to be said that he went to the
bathhouses with
women It is very distressing to suspect [a man] of a bad thing
Rasputin now came to meet Vladyka and himself mentioned that he
had
gone to bathhouses with women. We immediately declared to him
that, from
the point of view of the holy fathers, that was unacceptable, and he
promised
us to avoid doing it. We decided not to condemn him for
debauchery, for we
knew that he was a simple peasant, and we had read that in the
Olonets and
Novgorod provinces men bathed in the bathhouses together with
women,
which testified not to immorality but to their patriarchal way of life
and to
its particular purity, for nothing was allowed. Moreover, it was
clear from
the
Lives of the ancient Byzantine holy fools Saints Simeon and John [of
Edessa] that both had gone to bathhouses with women on purpose,
and had
been abused and reviled for it, although they were nonetheless
great saints.
The example of Saints Simeon and John was to prove very useful for
Rasputin, who now, as his own justification, announced that he too
wanted

to test himself to see if he had extinguished passion in himself.

But
Theophan warned him against this, for it is only the great saints
who are
able to do it, and he, by acting in this way, was engaging in selfdeception and
was on a dangerous path.
To the rumours about bathhouses were now added rumours that
Rasputin
had been a khlyst sectarian in Siberia, and had taken his coreligionists to
bathhouses there. Apparently the Tsar heard these rumours, for he
told the
Tsarina not to receive Rasputin for a time. For the khlysts, a sect that
indulged
in orgies in order to stimulate repentance thereafter, were very
influential
among the intelligentsia, especially the literary intelligentsia, of the
time.
It was at that point that the former spiritual father of Rasputin in
Siberia,
Fr. Makary, was summoned to Tsarskoe Selo, perhaps on the
initiative of the
Tsarina. On June 23, 1909 the Tsar recorded that Fr. Makary, Rasputin
and
Bishop Theophan came to tea. There it was decided that Bishop
Theophan,
who was beginning to have doubts about Rasputin, and Fr. Makary,
who had
a good opinion of him, should go to Rasputins house in Pokrovskoe
and
investigate.
Bishop Theophan was unwell and did not want to go. But I took
myself in
hand and in the second half of June 1909 set off with Rasputin and
Monk
Makary of the Verkhoturye Monastery, whom Rasputin called and
acknowledged to be his elder. The trip, far from placating
Vladykas
suspicions, only confirmed them, so that he concluded that Rasputin
did not
occupy the highest level of spiritual life. On the way back from
Siberia, as
he himself testified, he stopped at the Sarov monastery and asked
Gods help
in correctly answering the question of who and what Rasputin was. I
returned
to Petersburg convinced that Rasputin was on a false path.
While in Sarov, Vladyka had asked to stay alone in the cell in which
St.

Seraphim had reposed. He was there for a long time praying, and
when he
did not come out, the brothers finally decided to enter. They found
Vladyka
in a deep swoon.
He did not explain what had happened to him there. But he did
relate his
meeting with Blessed Pasha of Sarov the next year, in 1911. The
eldress and
fool-for-Christ jumped onto a bench and snatched the portraits of the
Tsar
and Tsarina that were hanging on the wall, cast them to the ground
and
trampled on them. Then she ordered her cell-attendant to put them
into the
attic.
This was clearly a prophecy of the revolution of 1917. And when
Vladyka
told it to the Tsar, he stood with head bowed and without saying a
word.
Evidently he had heard similar prophecies
Blessed Pasha then gave Vladyka a prophecy for himself personally.
She
hurled a ball of some kind of white matter onto his knees, which, on
unwinding, he found to be the shroud of a dead man. That means
death! he
thought. But then she ran up and seized the shroud from his hands,
muttering:
The Mother of God will deliver Our All-Holy Lady will save!
This was a prophecy of Vladykas near-mortal illness in Serbia
several
years later, when he was saved from death by the Mother of God
On returning from Sarov, Vladyka conferred with Archimandrite
Benjamin
and together with him summoned Rasputin. When Rasputin came
to see us,
we, to his surprise, denounced him for his arrogant pride, for holding
himself
in higher regard than was seemly, and for being in a state of
spiritual
deception. He was completely taken aback and started crying, and
instead of
trying to justify himself admitted that he had made mistakes. And he
agreed
to our demand that he withdraw from the world and place himself
under my
guidance. Rasputin then promised to tell no one about our
meeting with
him. Rejoicing in our success, we conducted a prayer service
But, as it

turned out, he then went to Tsarskoe Selo and recounted everything

there in a
light that was favourable to him but not to us.
Enemy of Rasputin
In 1910, for the sake of his health, Vladyka was transferred to the
see of
Tauris and Simferopol in the Crimea. Far from separating him from
the royal
family, this enabled him to see more of them during their summer
vacation in
Livadia. He was able to use the tsars automobile, so as to go on
drives into
the mountains, enjoy the wonderful scenery and breathe in the pure
air.
He often recalled how he celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the palace.
And
how the Tsarina and her daughters chanted on the kliros. This
chanting was
always prayerful and concentrated.
Vladyka used to say: During this service they chanted and read with
such
exalted, holy veneration! In all this there was a genuine, lofty, purely
monastic spirit. And with what trembling, with what radiant tears
they
approached the Holy Chalice!
The sovereign would always begin every day with prayer in church.
Exactly at eight oclock he would enter the palace church. By that
time the
serving priest had already finished the proskomedia and read the
hours. With
the entry of the Tsar the priest intoned: Blessed is the Kingdom of
the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the
ages of ages.
Amen. And exactly at nine oclock the Liturgy ended. There were no
abbreviations or omissions. And the priest did not give the
impression of
being in a hurry. The secret lay in the fact that there were no pauses
at all.
This enabled the Liturgy to be completed within one hour. For the
priest this
was an obligatory condition. The sovereign always prayed very
ardently.
Each petition in the litany, each prayer found a lively response in his
soul.
After the Divine service the working day of the sovereign began.
However, the issue of Rasputin was destined to bring an end to this
idyllic
phase in the relations between Vladyka Theophan and the Royal
Family.

After a while, testifies Vladyka, rumours reached me that

Rasputin had
resumed his former way of life and was undertaking something
against us I
decided to resort to a final measure to denounce him openly and to
communicate everything to the former emperor. It was not,
however, the
emperor who received me but his wife in the presence of the maid of
honour
Vyrubova.
I spoke for about an hour and demonstrated that Rasputin was in a
state
of spiritual deception The former empress grew agitated and
objected,
citing theological works I destroyed all her arguments, but she
reiterated
them: It is all falsehood and slander I concluded the conversation
by
saying that I could no longer have anything to do with Rasputin I
think
Rasputin, as a cunning person, explained to the royal family that my
speaking
against him was because I envied his closeness to the Family that I
wanted
to push him out of the way.
After my conversation with the empress, Rasputin came to see me
as if
nothing had happened, having apparently decided that the
empresss
displeasure had intimidated me However, I told him in no
uncertain terms,
Go away, you are a fraud. Rasputin fell on his knees before me and
asked
my forgiveness But again I told him, Go away, you have violated a
promise given before God. Rasputin left, and I did not see him
again.
At this point Vladyka received a Confession from a former devotee
of
Rasputins. On reading this, he understood that Rasputin was a wolf
in
sheeps clothing and a sectarian of the Khlyst type who taught
his
followers not to reveal his secrets even to their confessors. For if
there is
allegedly no sin in what these sectarians do, then their confessors
need not be
made aware of it.
Availing myself of that written confession, I wrote the former
emperor a
second letter in which I declared that Rasputin not only was in a
state of

spiritual deception but was also a criminal in the religious and moral
sense
In the moral sense because, as it followed from the confession,
Father
Grigory had seduced his victims.
There was no reply to this letter. I sensed that they did not want to
hear
me out and understand It all depressed me so much that I became
quite ill
it turned out I had palsy of the facial nerve.
In fact, Vladykas letter had reached the Tsar, and the scandal
surrounding
the rape of the childrens nurse, Vishnyakova, whose confessor was
Vladyka,
could no longer be concealed. Vishnyakova herself testified to the
Extraordinary Commission that she had been raped by Rasputin
during a
visit to Verkhoturye Monastery in Tobolsk province, a journey
undertaken at
the empresss suggestion.
Upon our return to Petrograd, I reported everything to the empress,
and I
also told Bishop Theophan in a private meeting with him. The
empress did
not give any heed to my words and said that everything Rasputin
does is
holy. From that time forth I did not see Rasputin, and in 1913 I was
dismissed
from my duties as nurse. I was also reprimanded for frequenting the
Right
Reverend Theophan.
Another person in on the secret was the maid of honour Sophia
Tyutcheva.
As she witnessed to the Commission, she was summoned to the Tsar.
You have guessed why I summoned you. What is going on in the
nursery?
She told him.
So you too do not believe in Rasputins holiness?
She replied that she did not.
But what will you say if I tell you that I have lived all these years
only
thanks to his prayers?
Then he began saying that he did not believe any of the stories,
that the
impure always sticks to the pure, and that he did not understand
what had
suddenly happened to Theophan, who had always been so fond of
Rasputin.
During this time he pointed to a letter from Theophan on his desk.
You, your majesty, are too pure of heart and do not see what filth

surrounds you. I said that it filled me with fear that such a person
could be
near the grand duchesses.
Am I then the enemy of my own children? the sovereign objected.
He asked me never to mention Rasputins name in conversation. In
order
for that to take place, I asked the sovereign to arrange things so that
Rasputin
would never appear in the childrens wing.
But her wish was not granted, and both Vishnyakova and Tyutcheva
would not long remain in the tsars service
It was at about this time that the newspapers began to write against
Rasputin. And a member of the circle of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth
Fyodorovna, Michael Alexandrovich Novoselov, the future bishop and
hieromartyr of the Catacomb Church, published a series of articles
condemning Rasputin.
"Why do the bishops, he wrote, who are well acquainted with the
activities of this blatant deceiver and corrupter, keep silent?
Where is their
grace, if through laziness or lack of courage they does not keep
watch over the
purity of the faith of the Church of God and allow the lascivious
khlyst to do
the works of darkness under the mask of light?"
The brochure was forbidden and confiscated while it was still at the
printer's, and the newspaper
The Voice of Moscow was heavily fined for
publishing excerpts from it.
In November, 1910, Bishop Theophan went to the Crimea to recover
from
this illness. But he did not give up, and inundated his friend Bishop
Hermogen with letters. It was his aim to enlist this courageous
fighter against
freethinking in his fight against Rasputin. But this was difficult
because it had
been none other than Vladyka Theophan who had at some time
introduced
Rasputin to Bishop Hermogen, speaking of him, as Bishop Hermogen
himself
said, in the most laudatory terms. Indeed, for a time Bishop
Hermogen and
Rasputin had become allies in the struggle against freethinking and
modernism.
Unfortunately, a far less reliable person then joined himself to
Rasputins
circle Sergius Trophanov, in monasticism Iliodor, one of Bishop
Theophans
students at the academy, who later became a Baptist, married and
had seven
children. Fr. Iliodor built a large church in Tsaritsyn on the Volga, and
began

to draw thousands to it with his fiery sermons against the Jews and
the
intellectuals and the capitalists. He invited Rasputin to join him in
Tsaritsyn
and become the elder of a convent there. Rasputin agreed.
However, Iliodors inflammatory sermons were not pleasing to the
authorities, and in January, 1911 he was transferred to a monastery
in Tula
diocese. But he refused to go, locked himself in his church in
Tsaritsyn and
declared a hunger-strike. Bishop Hermogen supported him, but the
tsar did
not, and ordered him to be removed from Tsaritsyn. However, at this
point
Rasputin, who had taken a great liking to Iliodor, intervened, and as
Anya
Vyubova testified, Iliodor remained in Tsaritsyn thanks to Rasputins
personal entreaties. From now on, Olga Lokhtina would bow down
to
Rasputin as Lord of hosts and to Iliodor as Christ
When Rasputins bad actions began to come to light, Hermogen
vacillated
for a long time. However, having made up his mind that Vladyka
Theophan
was right, and having Iliodor on his side now too, he decided to bring
the
matter up before the Holy Synod, of which he was a member, at its
next
session. Before that, however, he determined to denounce Rasputin
to his
face. This took place on December 16, 1911. According to Iliodors
account,
Hermogen, clothed in hierarchical vestments and holding a cross in
his hand,
took hold of the head of the elder with his left hand, and with his
right
started beating him on the head with the cross and shouting in a
terrifying
voice, Devil! I forbid you in Gods name to touch the female sex.
Brigand! I
forbid you to enter the royal household and to have anything to do
with the
tsarina! As a mother brings forth the child in the cradle, so the holy
Church
through its prayers, blessings, and heroic feats has nursed that great
and
sacred thing of the people, the autocratic rule of the tsars. And now
you,
scum, are destroying it, you are smashing our holy vessels, the
bearers of
autocratic power Fear God, fear His life-giving cross!

Then they forced Rasputin to swear that he would leave the palace.
According to one version of events, Rasputin swore, but immediately
told the
empress what had happened. According to another, he refused, after
which
Vladyka Hermogen cursed him. In any case, on the same day,
December 16,
five years later, he was killed
Then Bishop Hermogen went to the Holy Synod. First he gave a
speech
against the khlysty. Then he charged Rasputin with khlyst
tendencies.
Unfortunately, only a minority of the bishops supported the
courageous
bishop. The majority followed the over-procurator in expressing
dissatisfaction with his interference in things that were not of his
concern.
Vladyka Hermogen was then ordered to return to his diocese. As the
director of the chancery of the over-procurator witnessed, he did
not obey
the order and, as I heard, asked by telegram for an audience with
the tsar,
indicating that he had an important matter to discuss, but was
turned down.
The telegram read as follows: Tsar Father! I have devoted my whole
life to
the service of the Church and the Throne. I have served zealously,
sparing no
effort. The sun of my life has long passed midday and my hair has
turned
white. And now in my declining years, like a criminal, I am being
driven out
of the capital in disgrace by you, the Sovereign. I am ready to go
wherever it
may please you, but before I do, grant me an audience, and I will
reveal a
secret to you.
But the Tsar rejected his plea. On receiving this rejection, Bishop
Hermogen began to weep. And then he suddenly said:
They will kill the tsar, they will kill the tsar, they will surely kill him.
Bishop of Astrakhan
The opponents of Rasputin now felt the fury of the Tsar. Bishop
Hermogen
and Iliodor were exiled to remote monasteries. And Vladyka
Theophan was
transferred to the see of Astrakhan.
Before departing from the Crimea, Vladyka called on Rasputins
friend, the
deputy over-procurator Damansky. He told him: Rasputin is a vessel
of the

devil, and the time will come when the Lord will chastise him and
those who
protect him.
Later, in October, 1913, Rasputin tried to take his revenge on
Vladyka by
bribing the widow of a Yalta priest who knew Vladyka, Olga
Apollonovna
Popova, to say that Vladyka had said that he had had relations with
the
empress. The righteous widow rejected his money and even spat in
his face.
Vladykas health, which was in general not good because of his very
ascetic way of life since his youth, was made worse by the climate in
Astrakhan. He contracted malaria and a lung disease. Grand
Duchess
Elizabeth pleaded with her sister not to forbid him to receive
treatment in the
Crimea, but the request was turned down. Later, however, the grand
duchess
did manage to get Vladyka transferred to the see of Poltava.
In spite of the Tsarinas hostility to Bishop Theophan with regard to
Rasputin, Vladyka always had the highest opinion of the Tsarina and
always
defended her against those who would slander her.
Although suffering from ill health and deeply grieving over his break
with
the royal family and Rasputins continuing hold over them, Vladyka
Theophan quickly won the respect and love of his flock in Astrakhan.
Once, on the namesday of the Tsar, Vladyka went out with his clergy
to
serve a prayer service for the health of his Majesty in the middle of
the
cathedral. But in front of him, nearer the altar, stood what seemed
to be,
judging from his clothes, a Muslim. It turned out later that this was
the
Persian consul dressed in extravagant finery, with orders and a
sabre, and a
turban on his head. Vladyka, pale, weak and ill, asked the consul
through a
deacon to step to one side or stand with the other official persons,
with the
generals behind the bishops throne. The consul remained in his
place and
made no reply to Vladykas request. After waiting for several
minutes,
Vladyka sent the superior of the church to request the consul not to
stand
between the altar and Vladyka and clergy, but to stand to one side.
The

consul did not move. Vladyka waited, without beginning the official
prayer
service. And yet the whole leadership of the province and the city,
together
with the military in parade uniform, were gathered in the church. On
the
square in front of the church were soldiers drawn up for parade.
Again they went up to the consul and asked him to go to one side
and not
to stand between the clergy and the altar, the more so as he was
dressed in
such demonstrative attire. Instead of replying, the consul pointed at
the clock,
and then angrily said:
Convey to your Hierarch that the prayer service should have been
started
long ago as indicated in the official timetable, a prayer service for
the
prosperity of his Majesty the Emperor. For this delay, he - your
Hierarch - will
answer for his stubbornness. He has delayed the prayer service for a
whole
half-hour!
When Bishop Theophan was informed of the consuls reply, he asked
them
to convey to him the message:
It is not I, but you, who are delaying the prayer service. And until
you go
to one side, the prayer service will not begin.
When he heard that, the consul demonstratively left the church
casting
furious looks and mumbling threats. Immediately Vladyka began the
service
and the choir intoned the Te Deum.
As was to be expected, the consul made a protest to the Tsar,
accusing the
audacious hierarch who had stopped the Te Deum for the health of
the Tsar
from proceeding normally, and who, being a hierarch in disgrace,
had
attempted to make a political act out of the incident. But then the
opposite of
what was expected happened. The Tsar and Tsarina approved of
Bishop
Theophans act
Before that good news arrived, however, Vladyka had been
comforted in
another way, during Vespers in the church: I had so much pain
because of
the Persian consul and I felt so ill One evening, when I was serving
in the

cathedral, I saw St. Theodore the General in a coat of mail Lord,

what joy!
How that comforted me! All my sadness and tiredness vanished in
an instant.
I understood that the Lord approved of my firmness and that He was
sending
me his martyr to support me
Another comfort came in a letter to him from the paralysed SchemaNun
Eugenia, who had the gift of clairvoyance: Im having a dream.
Some black,
threatening clouds have covered the sky. Suddenly the holy Bishop
Joasaph
of Belgorod appeared. He read a long manuscript, then tore it up,
and at that
moment the sun reappeared behind the clouds. Soon it was shining
clearly
and tenderly Glory to Thee, O Lord!
On March 8/21, 1913 Vladyka was transferred from Astrakhan to
Poltava.
As he was leaving Astrakhan, writes someone who knew him well,
there
took place an unusually vivid incident, which in itself witnessed to
the
loftiness and spirituality of his soul, and his truly pastoral
relationship to his
flock. Before, the people in Astrakhan had protested decisively
against his
transfer to Poltava. But he nevertheless had to go, a huge crowd
assembled at
the station, and several hundred people lay on the rails in front of
the train to
stop it from going. This continued for several hours until they finally
managed to free the railway line. I personally think that this is the
most vivid
event in the story of his life. The people, the flock felt, understood
the
loftiness of his soul, the soul of their archpastor, and witnessed this
love of
theirs and understanding, perhaps in too primitive a way, but truly
with all
their soul, mind and heart. Nobody ever heard of a similar incident
with
anybody else!
Archbishop of Poltava
Church life was at a low level when Vladyka came to his new
diocese, and
hardly anyone attended the services. And so I prayed to the
Guardian

Angels of my flock to make to be born in them a zeal for God, to

excite in their
souls a thirst for prayer and penitence. That is so important. With
penitence,
there is no true prayer. Only he who feels himself to be infinitely
guilty before
God truly prays.
And his prayers were answered. The church began to fill up. And the
people began to pray with fervour; the zeal of the archbishop
communicated
itself to all the clergy.
Vladyka also paid attention to the chanting in church. He looked for
someone who knew church chant since childhood to direct the choir.
And he
founded a chanting school for the chanters. The pupils were
entirely looked
after by the diocese and lived near the episcopal palace. They had to
know the
words of the chants by heart and understand their meaning
perfectly. The
child voices of Poltava were soon recognized to be among the best in
Russia.
Vladyka also attended rehearsals and chose the chants. He saw it
that the
choir became well-known not only through the technical perfection
of its
chanting, but also through its truly liturgical spirit. The people
understood
this immediately, and the church services were from then on very
well
attended.
Instead of the pagan celebrations of the New Year, Vladyka instituted
a
solemn Te Deum at midnight, during which the choir sang
marvelously and
the cathedral was full to bursting
So popular did Vladyka become that when he arrived at the
cathedral on
feast days he found his path covered with flowers
In 1913 the Russian Church celebrated the 300
th anniversary of the
founding of the Romanov dynasty. Patriarch Gregory of Antioch came
to the
celebrations, and during the solemn service in his honour in the
Pochaev
Lavra the litanies were pronounced in Greek by Archbishop Anthony
(Khrapovitsky) of Volhynia, the host, in Latin by Archbishop
Theophan and
in other languages by the other priests.
In Poltava a whole series of incidents took place which testified to
the

loftiness of Vladyka Theophan, who had visions and revelations from

God
.
In Poltava there lived an exceptionally pious married couple, who
were
devoted to Vladyka Theophan. When the husband died, the widow,
being in
indescribable sorrow, asked Vladyka whether he could tell her what
was the
fate of her dead spouse in the other life. Vladyka replied that
perhaps after a
period of time he would be in a condition to give a reply to her
question.
Vladyka prayed that this should be revealed to him, and after a
certain time
he consoled the widow, saying that God had had mercy on her
husband.
Prince Zhevakhov, who later became Bishop Ioasaph, asked Vladyka
about
the fate beyond the grave of the Bishop of Belgorod who had been
found
hanged in the lavatory of the archiepiscopal podvorye. Had his soul
perished?
Vladyka Theophan replied that the bishop had not perished, since he
had not
laid hands on himself, but this had been done by the demons. It
turned out
that this house was being reconstructed, and there had been a
house church in
it before. But the atheist-minded builders had blasphemously built a
lavatory
in the place where there had been the altar. When holy places are
defiled or
where a murder or suicide is committed, the grace of God leaves,
and demons
settle there. It is difficult to say whether this bishop was guilty of this
blasphemy, but he became the victim of the demons.
Once a married couple came to the archbishop complaining about
the
behaviour of their beloved son, who, though pious in his childhood,
no longer
went to church, but returned home late at night in a drunken state.
Weeping,
they asked him to pray for their son.
The son came home late again one night and began to curse and
swear. The
next morning he could not get out of bed. He did not eat or speak,
was
feverish and gradually wasted away. His parents were beginning to
lose all
hope of a cure when they turned to the archbishop again.

The sick boy was already unconscious, and was groaning and crying.
Then
he came to himself and said that a monk had come to him in his
delirium and
had said:
If you dont correct yourself, and turn from the path of sin, you will
die
and perish without fail!
The sick boy wept and swore that he would correct himself.
Gradually he
began to eat again, and the illness left him. As soon as he could
walk, he went
to the cathedral to pray and shed tears of penitence. After the
service he
approached the server to kiss the cross and was amazed to
recognize in the
archbishop the monk who had appeared to him in his illness! From
then on,
the young man visited the archbishop frequently, thanked him for
praying for
him, asked him to forgive him and reiterated his promise to reform
his life.
Another rich couple came to the archbishop, complaining about their
son,
too. Under the influence of bad companions, he was living a
debauched life
and paid no heed to their pleas. They sought help from the
archbishop, but at
the same time continued to indulge their son, giving him money. The
archbishop advised them to stop giving him money, to be severe
with him.
But they replied that in their opinion this was not Christian.
No, they said, we want to raise him with love in a Christian spirit.
When he gets bigger he will understand and will appreciate our
kindness.
The archbishop could only keep silent. The boy got bigger and
became
more and more disobedient. Not content with asking for money, he
demanded it and even robbed his parents of it. They turned to the
archbishop
asking him what to do. He gave them the same advice. They again
rejected it.
Finally the boy left his parents house and gave himself up
completely to
debauchery. The parents cursed him and when they came back
weeping to
the archbishop, they recognized their error. But it was already too
late.
Certain parents, concluded the archbishop while telling this story,
before beginning to educate their children should educate
themselves, or

rather re-educate themselves in the spirit of Christianity. Then what

happened in this family would not happen with them.
A private correspondent writes: This is a story related by the wife of
Professor L.V.I of Poltava theological seminary on what happened in
their
family.
In 1915 her son, an officer, whose bride was in Poltava, returned on
leave
from the front. This officers leave ended in Paschal week. The young
people
wanted to be crowned before the departure of the bridegroom. L.V.
knew
Vladyka Theophan well and he loved the whole of their family. And
L.V.
came to Vladyka and asked for his blessing on the marriage on one
of the
days of Paschal week. Vladyka, who was always attentive and ready
to help
anyone who asked, this time fell into sad thought and said that he
wanted
first to look at the canons, and then he would give his answer.
A few days later the mother of the bridegroom again came to
Vladyka.
Vladyka said firmly: I cannot bless the marriage of your children on
these
Paschal days, since the Church does not allow it and for the young
people
there will be great unhappiness if they do not obey the Church.
The mother was terribly upset and threatened the Archbishop with
many
unpleasantnesses. She thought that Vladyka, as a strict ascetic, did
not
understand life and for that reason was not allowing the marriage in
completely exceptional circumstances.
In spite of the Archbishops ban, they found a priest who agreed to
carry
out their marriage. After the marriage, the officer departed, having
left his
young wife in Poltava. But from this moment all trace of him was
lost. In spite
of all the inquiries of the mother and young wife, nobody could tell
them
where he was or what had happened to him.
In relating this, L.V. wept bitterly. She used to say that the wife was
in a
terrible condition. There was one man whom she wanted to marry.
L.V.
herself wanted this, for she was convinced that her son was no
longer among
the living, but at the same time there were no facts, and the wife,
not knowing

for certain about the death of her husband, could not marry for a
second time.
This lack of knowledge tormented both the mother and the young
woman.
L.V. wept and said: How great Vladyka Archbishop Theophan was!
And we
valued him so little, we did not understand and did not obey
The inhabitants of Poltava always remembered how the prayers of
Vladyka Theophan healed the sick, and how by his prayers he turned
many
from sin.
There was a well-off family with two maid servants. One of them
died, and
it was discovered after her death that a large sum of money had
disappeared.
Suspicion fell upon the surviving maid servant. She wept and
implored the
Mother of God to show where the money was hidden. The Mother of
God
answered her prayer: one day, the dead woman appeared to
Archbishop
Theophan and showed him the place where the money was buried
A similar incident had taken place a few years before, when Vladyka
was
Bishop of Simferopol. A young man whom Vladyka had known died,
and
then appeared to him and asked him for his holy prayers to help him
pass
through the toll-houses. Vladyka prayed, and the young man
appeared to
him again, thanking him for his prayers and asking him to celebrate
a
thanksgiving service.
But you are dead! It is a pannikhida that we must celebrate for you,
and
not a Te Deum!
They told it me over there, theyve allowed it for me The point is
that
over there we are all alive, there are no dead amongst us!
Then he explained how he had died and passed into the next life,
but the
person who passed on this story did not understand Archbishop
Theophans
words.
Once the administration of the diocese received a letter from one of
the
parishes complaining that their priest had given himself to black
magic and
sorcery. He was naturally red-haired, but one night he had become
brown,

then violet and now he was green! The priest was summoned.
Weeping, he
explained:
My wife reproached me for always being red-haired. You should at
least
dye your beard! And I dyed it black. And then during the night the
dye
disappeared, and it became violet, and now it is becoming green
Forgive
me, for Christs sake! Theres no sorcery here, just cowardice!
Your fault, replied the archbishop, consists in having led these
little
ones into error. They didnt understand what was happening and
basically
they have not acted wrongly. One cannot accuse them of anything.
Its you
who should ask their forgiveness and be more prudent in the future.
I am not
going to impose a penance on you: you are a priest and can impose
it on
yourself.
And he added, after telling this story:
We had to send someone to the parish to explain matters to the
parishioners and reassure them.
On another occasion, as Archbishop Averky tells the story, one of
the
priests of the Poltava diocese related that when Vladyka was touring
his
diocese the priests who had modernist tendencies were afraid to
appear
before him. If Vladyka saw that an priests beard and hair were
obviously
trimmed short or that there was some other irregularity he would
say very
gently and tactfully:
And you, Batyushka, would you be so kind as to go and spend a
month
in such-and-such a monastery?
Vladykas typical day in Poltava was distributed as follows. He would
rise
from sleep in the second half of the night and carry out his prayer
rule. In the
morning, when the bell sounded, he would go into the house church,
where
the hieromonk on duty was performing the morning service and the
Divine
Liturgy. After the Liturgy Vladyka would drink some coffee and
withdraw to
his study, where he occupied himself with diocesan affairs, and then
went

over to the reading of his beloved Holy Fathers. He wrote much. In

the
afternoon would come lunch. Weather permitting, he would go into
the
garden for a time and walk around praying the Jesus prayer. Then he
would
again withdraw to his study. When the bell sounded for Vespers, he
would go
to the church. After Compline he would receive visitors. After supper
there
would be free time for conversation with his clergy and work in his
study.
His study was furnished in the simplest way possible. In the corner
stood
an iron bed with planks instead of a mattress, on which Vladyka took
a little
sleep. There were many icons, Vladyka prayed in front of them for a
long
time with a candle in his hand in spite of the lighted lampadas. His
food was
the simplest, and he ate very little. When he was very tired from
meeting
people, he would withdraw for a few days to the Lubny Holy
Transfiguration
monastery.
The Revolution
The abdication of the Tsar, whom Archbishop Theophan greatly loved
and
admired, was a terrible shock for him as for all the true believers.
Soon the
Provisional Government set up an Extraordinary Commission to
investigate
the truth about the relationship between the Tsarina and Rasputin.
Vladyka
was summoned and testified that he had never had any doubt about
the
complete purity of these relations. As former confessor of the
Tsarina, he
declared officially that on her side the relationship was motivated
only by her
care for the Tsarevich, and the undoubted success that Rasputin had
in saving
the Tsarevichs life while the doctors had shown themselves to be
completely
helpless. As for the other rumours, these were lies and slanders
With regard
to Rasputin himself, Vladyka considered that he was not a hypocrite,
but was
a simple man who had suffered a terrible spiritual catastrophe and
had fallen,

a fall that had been willed by those around him and which they had
treated as
just a joke
As Archbishop of Poltava, Vladyka was sent as a delegate to the
Local
Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow in 1917-18. The
novice
who served him at the time said:
The archbishop and I left Poltava and arrived in Moscow. Nobody
greeted us and we did not know what to do. We went to a
monastery, but felt
that we were not welcome. They had nothing to eat. They gave only
a bowl of
soup with some thin cabbage which his Eminence Theophan was not
able to
swallow because of the weakness of his stomach. We had to leave. A
student
gave his room for some days I wrote an urgent letter to Poltava
requesting
that someone bring some food, for there they had everything. An
archimandrite arrived with food. Finally, he obtained for us some
lodgings in
the Kremlin, in which some other hierarchs were already living. They
were
starving: the archbishop had to nourish them. I did not attend the
Council
sessions, I didnt hear the speeches, I could only observe things from
the
outside I remember some attacks against Metropolitan Macarius
[of
Moscow], a holy man. He left the assembly room, but with a smile
During the Council, some modernist clergy, future renovationist
heretics,
came up to Vladyka and said:
We respect you and venerate you, Vladyko. We know your
principled
firmness, your faithfulness to the Church, your wisdom. But you
yourself see
how fast the waves of time are rolling; they are changing everything,
and
changing us also There was a monarchy, there was an autocratic
Tsar, and
now there is nothing of all that. We must, whether we like it or not,
make
concessions to the changes. As the great teacher of the Church, St.
John
Chrysostom said so well, we must sometimes, so as to guide the
vessel of the
Church up to the harbour, give in to the waves and currents so as to
await the

favourable moment and bring the ship into the haven Thats how it
is now,
the Church must yield a little
Yes, replied the Archbishop, but yield what?
You must be with the majority! Otherwise with whom will you
remain?
You must yield, the wisdom of the Church demands it. Otherwise you
will
consign yourself to complete solitude.
The majority can frighten me, said St. Basil the Great, but it can
never
convince me To continue the thought of the holy bishop, let us say
that it is
not solitude that is frightening, but the renunciation of the truth. And
that
means that it is necessary to remaining without weakening in the
Lord Jesus
Christ. It is on Him that the whole of the Church stands as on her
foundation.
For other foundation can no man lay than that which has been laid,
Jesus
Christ (I Corinthians 3.11). And that is why we must not be, as the
Apostle
says, like children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every
wind of
doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby
they lie in
wait to deceive (Ephesians 4.14). We must firmly hold on to what
we have
received from the Fathers of the Church. As is so well said in the
kontakion of
the Feast of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council: The
preaching
of the Apostles and the doctrines of the Fathers confirmed the one
Faith of the
Church. And wearing the garment of truth woven from the theology
on
high This garment is the clothing of the Church, the teaching
received
from the Fathers of the ancient Church, which they themselves
received from
the preaching of the Apostles. And the holy Apostles received it from
the very
Source of Truth, our Lord Jesus Christ.
As for the question with whom we shall remain if we do not rejoin
those
who are ready to make a revolution in the Church, the reply is
perfectly clear:
we shall remain without moving with those who for the last two
thousand

years have formed the body of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic
Church
on earth, although this is the Church of the Heavens. We also in a
certain
sense have entered this Heavenly Church, through the saints and
first of all
through him who baptised Russia, St. Vladimir, and through all the
saints,
known and unknown, beginning with Saints Anthony and Theodosius
of the
Kiev Caves, via Saints Sergius of Radonezh and Seraphim of Sarov,
and all
the saints and martyrs of our Russian land, which is protected by the
Heavenly Queen, she who intercedes for us.
And with whom will you, brothers, remain, if with all your numbers
you
give yourselves up to the will of the waves of contemporary life?
They have
already swept you into the flabbiness of Kerenskys regime, and soon
they
will push you under the yoke of the cruel Lenin, into the claws of the
red
beast.
The church modernists silently left him
Vladyka Theophan recounted the witticism that went the rounds in
the
Council: Archbishop Anthony Khrapovitsky is the most intelligent.
Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow is the gentlest. And Archbishop
Anastasy
Gribanovsky is the wisest in a special sense
During the Council, Archbishop Theophan was appointed head of a
commission entrusted with investigating the heresy of the nameworshippers,
a heresy that had broken out among the Russian monks of Mount
Athos five
years earlier and which had been supported by Vladykas old enemy,
Rasputin. This was a natural appointment, since Vladykas masters
thesis
had been on the Name of God.
He prepared a report on the subject, but unfortunately the red terror
cut
short the proceedings of the Council. The commission (whose deputy
president was the heretic Fr. Sergius Bulgakov) did not meet, and it
is not
now known where this report is. All we have is Vladykas succinct but
precise
formula: The Divinity rests
in the Name of God, which is an implicit
rejection of the name-worshippers thesis that the Name of God
is God.

On returning to Poltava, Vladyka Theophan had to suffer much from

the
Ukrainian autocephalists who, on seizing power, demanded that he
serve a
triumphant requiem liturgy for Ivan Mazeppa in Poltava cathedral.
Mazeppa
was the favourite of Peter the Great who had betrayed him at the
battle of
Poltava in 1712 and had then been anathematised by the Church.
But Vladyka
said:
I cannot do this. I do not have the right to do what you ask me
because
the Church has anathematised Ivan Mazeppa for his treachery. I am
not
entitled to lift the anathema, which was hurled by the highest
representatives
of the Church at that time.
But it was the Muscovites who did it!
No, you are mistaken. There was no patriarchate at that time. The
Church
was ruled by the patriarchal locum tenens, Metropolitan Stephen
Yavorsky,
who was from the Western Ukraine. Besides, Tsar Peter surrounded
himself
precisely with Ukrainians, who were more educated
For his principled refusal, Vladyka was put in prison, and was
released
only when the government of Petlyura was overthrown and the
White Army
liberated Poltava. After Vladykas exile to Serbia, the struggle
against the
autocephalists and renovationists was continued by his close
disciple, the
future hieromartyr Bishop Basil of Priluki.
Exile in Serbia
Civil war erupted between the Reds and the Whites, and by the
beginning
of 1920 it was clear that the Reds, who had already carried
unparalleled
atrocities against church property and church servers, were going to
win. In
the same year Archbishop Theophan became a member of the
Higher Church
Administration of the South of Russia, formed in accordance with the
decree
of Patriarch Tikhon and the Holy Synod, ukaz
362 of November 7/20,
1920. Almost immediately, at the suggestion of the White army
commanders,

who said that their departure would be merely provisional, the HCA
prepared to flee southwards from the invasion of the barbarians.
The first stage of the journey took them to Stavropol, and then to
Ekaterinodar in the Northern Caucasus. Coming out of Ekaterinodar
cathedral, the president of the HCA, Metropolitan Anthony
(Khrapovitsky) of
Kiev, asked the thousands of worshippers whether they should stay
in Russia
or leave. The people shouted that they should leave and pray for
them in the
lands beyond the sea. A Te Deum was celebrated, and the immense
crowd
prayed and wept. The Cossacks came to bid farewell to their
hierarchs.
Then the hierarchs set off with the remnants of the White Army for
the
Crimea, the last refuge of Free and Orthodox Russia. They settled in
the
monastery of St. George in Sevastopol. Three months later, they left
for
Constantinople.
Helen Yurievna Kontzevich writes: [Vladyka Theophan] departed
from
Russia on a steamship along with Metropolitans Anthony
(Khrapovitsky) and
Platon and Bishop Benjamin (Fedchenko). They discussed the
situation of the
Church the whole way. Bishop Theophans position differed from the
united
opinion of the other bishops, who stood for the path of church
politics, and
they parted ways.
However, these differences did not reveal themselves to be serious
at that
time, and in 1921 Vladyka, together with the whole Higher Church
Administration, moved to Yugoslavia at the invitation of Patriarch
Demetrius
of Serbia, and took part in November of the same year in the First
Russian
All-Emigration Council in Sremsky-Karlovtsy.
Nicholas Zernov, a participant in this Council, describes Vladyka
Theophan at this time: The Archbishop of Poltava Theophan
(Bystrov, 18741940) was a learned man and an ascetic, withdrawn from the world.
His head
bowed, his voice scarcely audible, he sometimes celebrated in the
Athonite
podvoryes. He seemed completely immersed in prayer and
indifferent to the
world around him, but there came out from him a power that was his
own

and which fixed peoples attention on this fragile old man.

The most important decision of this Council was the call for the
restoration
of the Romanov dynasty to the throne of Russia. In this connection, it
is
interesting to note the letter which Archbishop Theophan wrote to
Helen
Yurievna Kontzevich in 1930 on the subject of the coming Tsar: You
ask me
about the near future and about the approaching last times. I do not
speak on
my own, but am saying that which was revealed to me by the Elders,
The
coming of the Antichrist draws nigh and is very near. The time
separating us
from him can be counted a matter of years, and at the most a
matter of some
decades. But before the coming of the Antichrist Russia must yet be
restored to be sure, for a short time. And in Russia there must be a Tsar
forechosen by
the Lord Himself. He will be a man of burning faith, great mind and
iron will.
This much has been revealed about him. We shall await the
fulfilment of what
has been revealed. Judging by many signs it is drawing nigh, unless
because
of our sins the Lord God shall revoke it, and alter what has been
promised.
According to the witness of the word of God, this also might
happen.
And to another visitor he wrote: "O Russia, Russia! How terribly she
has
sinned before the goodness of the Lord. The Lord God deigned to
give Russia
that which He gave to no other people on earth. And this people has
turned
out to be so ungrateful. It has left Him, renounced Him, and for that
reason
the Lord has given it over to be tormented by demons. The demons
have
entered into the souls of men and the people of Russia has become
possessed,
literally demon-possessed. And all the terrible things that we hear
have been
done and are being done in Russia: all the blasphemies, the militant
atheism
and the fighting against God all this is taking place because of the
demonpossession.
But the possession will pass through the ineffable mercy of God,

and the people will be healed. The people will turn to repentance, to
faith.
This will take place when nobody expects it. Orthodoxy will be
regenerated in
her and will triumph. But that Orthodoxy which was before will no
longer
exist. The great elders said that Russia would be regenerated, that
the people
itself would re-establish the Orthodox Monarchy. A powerful Tsar will
be
placed by God Himself on the Throne. He will be a great reformer
and he will
have a strong Orthodox faith. He will depose the unfaithful hierarchs
of the
Church, and will himself be an outstanding personality, with a pure,
holy
soul. He will have a strong will. He will come from the dynasty of the
Romanovs according to the maternal line. He will be a chosen one of
God,
obedient to Him in all things. He will transfigure Siberia. But this
Russia will
not continue to exist for long. Soon that will take place which the
Apostle
John speaks of in the Apocalypse.
And again he said, as witnessed by Archbishop Averky: In Russia,
the
elders said, in accordance with the will of the people, the Monarchy,
Autocratic power, will be re-established. The Lord has fore-chosen
the future
Tsar. He will be a man of fiery faith, having the mind of a genius and
a will of
iron. First of all he will introduce order in the Orthodox Church,
removing all
the untrue, heretical and lukewarm hierarchs. And many, very many
- with
few exceptions, all - will be deposed, and new, true, unshakeable
hierarchs
will take their place. He will be of the family of the Romanovs
according to
the female line [according to Schema-Monk Epiphanius he said: He
will
not
be of the family of the Romanovs, but will be related to them
through
women]. Russia will be a powerful state, but only for 'a short time'...
And
then the Antichrist will come into the world, with all the horrors of
the end as
described in the Apocalypse."
Vladyka Theophan was appointed abbot of the monastery of
Petkovitsa in

the diocese of Shabats. However, because of his poor health, the

new abbot
was not able to spend much time with the brethren, and, as
Archbishop
Anthony of San Francisco recounts, the older brethren began to
complain,
while the younger brethren were on the side of Vladyka. Fr. Ambrose
[Kurganov] was especially grieved when he encountered the
complaining. He
always honoured the holiness of the authority of the abbacy.
Realizing his weakness to calm the ferment, longing for another
form of
life, Archbishop Theophan decided to leave Petkovitsa.
Before his departure, on the feast day of the Petkovitsa church,
October 1,
1923, he ordained deacon Ambrose to the priesthood during the
Divine
Liturgy.
It is said that on that day, St. Paraskeva was seen standing in the
sanctuary near the holy table
The archbishop was taken away, sick, to another monastery on the
Adriatic
coast. It was meant to be a place of recuperation, but his health only
worsened.
I could scarcely move, I was so weak; my sick throat deprived me of
my
last strength, and every day I became weaker. There were so few
monks in the
monastery that there were no services. There was a Serbian
Orthodox
monastery not far away. One day, as the bells were ringing for the
beginning
of Vespers, I decided to go for the last time to pray in a church: I
dressed and
left, to respond to the call of the bells.
I dragged myself painfully to the monastery, and on arriving I saw a
hieromonk occupied in playing cards in the courtyard of the
monastery, his
stole hanging on a tree beside the church, which was locked. I went
up to the
monk and asked him:
Whats happening, is Vespers already finished?
We rang the bells so that the faithful should know that tomorrow is
a
feast day.
But the Vespers service?
We dont have services! We only have the bells!
The archbishop bowed his head, and returned to his cell, immersed
in sad
thoughts

In the following days, his last strength left him. He was suffering
terribly in
his throat. He could not swallow anything; in any case, he had no
appetite. He
felt the end approaching
The feast of the Protection of the Mother of God was drawing near.
He
addressed a last tearful prayer to the Mother of God and delivered
himself
into the hands of the Lord:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, into Thy hands I commit my spirit!
The brothers were panic-stricken. The archbishop was lying like a
corpse,
hardly breathing He remained in this state for forty-eight hours.
On the third day, he recovered consciousness and felt that an
important
change had taken place in him. Tears of joy came to the eyes of the
sick man,
tears of gratitude to God and the Holy Virgin
Then he remembered the prophetic words of the fool for Christ,
Pasha of
Sarov:
The Mother of God will deliver you! The Holy Virgin will save you!
Just at that moment a parcel arrived from the Soviet Union from an
unknown person at a time when no letters were arriving from the
Soviet
Union! Inside was a beautiful icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov. He was
convinced that he had been saved through the Mother of God and
the prayers
of St. Seraphim.
Pascha arrived, and the priest of the Russian church in the town near
the
monastery was going round the homes of his parishioners to wish
them the
joy of the feast. But in his heart he was sad, because he had left his
family in
the Soviet Union and had received no news of them. His sadness
combined
with the effects of drinking too much in the houses of his
parishioners, and
suddenly he awoke from his stupor to realize that the money
collected in
church which he carried with him had disappeared. Terrible thoughts
assailed him, he was convinced that nobody would believe that he
had not
stolen the money, and he determined to kill himself.
Exhausted, he fell asleep. And then in a dream he saw Archbishop
Theophan, who approached him and said:
Go to the temple of the Lord and you will find what you have lost.
Dawn was breaking as he rushed to the church. Lighting a candle
and

making the sign of the cross, he began to search. There was the
money, on one
of the side benches!
Joyfully he began to chant the Paschal hymn: Christ is risen from
the
dead! He felt that he himself had been truly resurrected from the
dead!
Then he rushed to the archbishop and thanked him fervently for
saving
him from perdition. But the archbishop said that he knew nothing
about this,
and told him to ascribe the glory to God alone, and said:
Always remember what God told you: Go to the temple of the Lord
and
you will find what you have lost.
In Bulgaria
In 1925 the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church invited
Archbishop Theophan to live in Sofia, in two rooms on the first floor
of the
Synodal House overlooking St. Alexander Nevsky Square. The reason
for this
was that several members of the Bulgarian Synod had been students
of
Vladyka at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, including the
president
of the Synod, Metropolitan Clement. Also instrumental in the
invitation was
another former student of Vladykas, Bishop Seraphim (Sobolev) of
Lubny, a
vicariate of the Poltava diocese, who was now in charge of the
Russian
parishes in Bulgaria.
Archbishop Averky writes: It was touching to see the attention and
profound reverence which our brothers the Bulgarians showed
Archbishop
Theophan. He frequently served in the majestic Church of St.
Alexander
Nevsky which was erected in memory of the liberation of Bulgaria
from the
Turkish yoke. It stood on the enormous square adjacent to the
Synodal house
and could accommodate 7000 faithful. Occasionally, and especially
during
Great Lent, he served even in the Synod paraklis the small house
church in
the Synodal House. Those who participated in his spiritually fulfilling
and
profoundly prayerful services even today remember them with
compunction
Indeed, Vladyka Theophan made a deep impression as a man of

genuinely spiritual life on all foreigners who came in contact with

him. The
enemy, however, takes up arms against such saintly people and
makes a
special effort to pour out on them all his diabolical malice with the
help of
malevolent and depraved individuals who are devoted to his service.
Thus in
Sofia, due to various unfortunate events in the local Russian Church,
Vladyka
Theophan had to suffer much grief simply because he was a strict
ascetic and
an uncompromising Archpastor. Consequently, he withdrew more
and more
from the world and its raging passions and began to retire into
himself,
leading what was already virtually the life of a recluse. For some
time,
however, he continued to participate in the sessions of the Synod,
periodically
travelling to Yugoslavia for this purpose
Vladyka grieved over all the unnecessary events which took place
in the
Russian migr community. Most detrimental were all the arguments
and
disputes which, as he put it, were not befitting of Orthodox Russians
who,
because of their sins, had lost their homeland and were sentenced
to live in
exile, in some cases in extremely difficult material and moral
circumstances.
He altogether disapproved of the idea of proclaiming a Russian
Emperor
outside of Russia, or a Patriarch of Russia or even a patriarchal
locum
tenens, notions which were widely circulated by certain individuals.
He
believed that Russia would soon be resurrected, but only on the
condition
that the whole nation
repented of its grave sin of apostasy before God. He
considered our life in exile as nothing other than an opportunity for
fervent
repentance
and prayer for Gods forgiveness. This is why many of the events
that occurred during our life in exile gave him pain and sorrow and
forced
him to avoid close contact with people. Neither would he engage in
any kind
of social interaction in which he did not observe the repentance
which should

be evident in our people, to whom God had given the penance of

banishment.
Vladyka Theophan never went out of his cell in the Synodal House
except to
go to church, nor did he receive anyone there except a few
individuals who
were deeply devoted to him and sought his instructions and spiritual
guidance.
Every summer he moved from Sofia to the coastal city of Varna,
where a
group of his admirers rented him a modest cottage about five
kilometres from
town. The cottage was located in a very isolated and relatively
uninhabited
spot. There Vladyka lived alone with his cell-attendant as in a skete,
daily
performing the whole cycle of services and readers services in place
of the
Liturgy. Only on certain Sundays and on major holy days did he ride
to
church in a carriage. Usually he went to the Russian church of
Athanasius of
Alexandria, an ancient Greek church that had been put at the
disposal of the
Russians by the Bulgarian Metropolitan Symeon of Varna and
Preslav.
Here Vladyka worked especially hard on his dogmatic, exegetical
and
ascetic spiritual writings. Himself a profound and refined expert in
Patristics,
he complied a new edition of the
Philokalia, organized according to a system
which he had worked out, which was very practical and handy to
use. He
also complied a
Philokalia of Russian Saints, wrote a very interesting and
original interpretation of Revelation, and many other things as well.
In
addition he conducted extensive correspondence with his spiritual
children.
His letters contained penetrating spiritual advice and instructions
which were
always accompanied by citations from the Holy Scriptures and
numerous
quotations from the Holy Fathers. They were reminiscent of the
correspondence of Bishop Theophan the Recluse, and constitute a
precious
guide on all matters of morality and spirituality
Most astonishing of all were Vladykas labours of prayer, to which
he

devoted himself literally day and night. It was obvious that he never
gave up
the prayer of the mind in the heart, following the legacy of the Holy
Fathers.
He was often so deep in contemplation that it seemed to him that
the whole
visible world around him had ceased to exist. Prayer without ceasing
was
indeed vital to his spirit, which dwelt on high
When he performed the Liturgy in the church of St. Athanasius in
Varna,
the congregation of the church, righteous and patriarchal Greeks
who lived in
the environs, told us: When your Vladyka sits on the high place in
the
church, it seems as if the Blessed Athanasius himself has come to
his church
and is performing the services through him. One Greek woman, in
whose
house Vladyka spent the night, was surprised that when she came in
to clean
up in the morning the bed appeared to be untouched. Obviously,
Vladyka
had spent the whole night before the Liturgy in prayer and had not
gone to
bed.
It is not surprising that, given Vladyka Theophan strict ascetic life,
as
happens with many genuine ascetics, he experienced frightening
episodes of
the sort that the enemy of mankind uses to try to force people who
lead an
ascetic life to give up their labours. These were the same sort of
episodes that
we know from the Russian ascetics Saints Sergius of Radonezh and
Seraphim
of Sarov. Vladyka Theophan frightening episodes were reported by
those
who served as his cell-attendants, and even by the Right Reverend
Seraphim
who rode with him in a sleeping-car on the Sofia-Varna express, and
who was
at that time in charge of the Russian ecclesiastical communities in
Bulgaria.
Once, when they were riding together in the same compartment,
something
woke Vladyka Seraphim in the night and he saw in the middle of the
compartment a big black cat [according to Archbishop Theophan, it
was more
like a tigress with a huge udder] with eyes of burning flames. Then
the loud

voice of Vladyka Theophan resounded: In the name of Jesus Christ,

the Son
of the Living God, I adjure you: be gone from me, unclean one! The
cat
snorted, spraying fiery sparks in all directions, and disappeared.
Since that
time, as Vladyka Seraphim stated, he tried to avoid spending the
night in the
same place as Vladyka Theophan because he was so shaken by this
experience.
In the cottage in Varna, there were only two rooms and a kitchen.
Vladyka lived in the front room which opened onto the veranda; the
second
room was empty, and beyond it was the kitchen where Vladykas
cellattendants
stayed. They took this duty upon themselves voluntarily and
served all Vladykas needs. One of them was an elderly merchant
from
Moscow, Kh., another was a middle-aged but by no means old
Cossack from
the Urals, S., and the third was the young student, T. At first they
took turns
spending the night in the kitchen, but later they began to go home
late at
night after doing all that Vladyka asked of them. The reason for this
was
certain mysterious phenomena which frightened them. In the empty
room
between the kitchen and Vladykas cell somebodys footsteps would
suddenly resound, clearly audible, although there was nobody there.
Then it
seemed as if some unseen person were throwing whole handfuls of
sand or
dirt in through the windows of the cottage, and there were other
unexplained
noises of this kind. When this happened, Vladykas loud voice, which
was
usually soft, could be heard very loud and strong, clearly
articulating, In the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, I adjure
you: be
gone from me, unclean one! Then everything grew quiet and calm.
According to the cell-attendant S., at midnight the sound of various
falling objects could be heard, and this also ceased after Vladyka
pronounced
in a loud and threatening voice his adjuration, apparently against
the
demonic forces which menaced him. At first Vladyka used to ask his
cellattendant,
Did you hear what happened in the night?
I did, he would answer.

And were you frightened?

No.
But once that cell-attendant himself experienced an attack of
demons. When
he was half-asleep he suddenly felt some terrible hairy monster
pressing on
him and choking him. He awoke and saw somebody squeezing his
throat. At
first he thought that it was a robber and took it into his head to grab
him with
his hand, but his arms went numb Then he began to pray and he
saw a grey
cloud that twisted up in the shape of a horn and gradually
disappeared.
Vladyka came in and made the sign of the cross on his forehead,
sprinkled the
room with holy water, and such occurrences were not repeated.
After Vladyka had left for Sofia, his cell-attendants came to the
cottage to
pack up and move out the things he had left behind. The
neighbouring
Bulgarian villagers surrounded them and asked in astonishment,
What was going on last night in your Vladykas cottage?
Nothing could have happened, they replied. Vladyka left the day
before
and nobody was in the cottage.
What do you mean? the Bulgarians countered, bewildered. All
night
long the windows of the cottage were brightly lit, and it was evident
that
many people had gathered and there seemed to be a party and
some kind of
dancing going on.
Some time later, one of his cell-attendants attempted to ask
Vladyka in a
most cautious and tactful way what all these mysterious phenomena
meant.
Vladyka smiled somewhat enigmatically and humbly said,
Well, this is what happens with monks!
We, however, understood him thus: yes! This is what happens with
monks,
but not with all of them, only
real monks such as you!
Vladyka was extraordinarily fond of his cell attendants. Sometimes
when
he came to see them in the kitchen he was very gentle, loving and
cheerful.
He could appreciate a good polite joke and laugh at it. Only once did
his cellattendants
have occasion to see Vladyka actually get angry: a certain priest

once wanted to exclude an individual who had offended him from

Holy
Communion. Vladyka told him that he had no right to do so, and that
one
must forgive personal offences.
Once, during the Cherubic hymn of the Liturgy that was being
celebrated
in the small chapel in the cottage, noises and groaning were heard
coming
from under the roof. One of the cell-attendants asked the blessing of
the
archbishop to investigate, but he said it would not happen again.
And it
didnt. Instead, however, snakes appeared all round the house,
which
Vladyka attributed to demonic forces. As a result, they had to move
into
another house a bit further down the coast in place called Roumi
Dr. Abbatti was working as a doctor in Bulgarian Macedonia when a
malaria epidemic broke out. And his wife Anna Vassilievna came
down with
the illness. Now the doctor and his wife had sworn to each other that
they
would not conceal from each other when one of them was dying. So
the
doctor, who had to leave to see a patient, turned to his wife and
said:
Annette, you have no more than two hours to live!
She was already in the throes of convulsions, and she asked her
husband to
send a telegram to Archbishop Theophan immediately and ask him
to pray
for her. He agreed, sent the telegram and left for his work. The
telegram read
as follows:
Anna Vassilievna Abatti is dying. Two hours to live. Asking for your
holy
prayers to save her from death. Doctor Abatti.
Then he left. The region where he was working was mountainous
and the
communications poor. On his way back, he received a telegram. Too
preoccupied and sad to read it, he stuffed it in his pocket. He was
expecting to
find his wife dead But as he entered his house he could not believe
his eyes:
his wife was sitting, pale and weak, but with no traces of the
illness The
telegram he hadnt read was from the archbishop and said:
I am praying. By Gods mercy, the sick one will recover.
He noted that the time when the telegram was sent and the time
when his

wife felt the illness depart coincided. But when Anna Vassilievna
came to
thank the archbishop, he did not let her open her mouth, telling her
to tell
nobody about the miraculous healing and threatening her that if she
did tell
something worse would happen to her. And it was only after the
archbishops
death in 1940 that she said:
He was not a simple archbishop. He was a great man, a holy man of
God,
ignored by men Listen how, thanks to his holy prayers, I am alive
now,
although I was in agony.
And she told the story
There lived in Varna a Russian by the name of Pelichkin, a former
colonel,
who had converted from Orthodoxy to the Baptist faith. He knew
how to
conduct conversations on religious matters, and was able to disturb
someone
who was not trained in theology. And he decided to display his
talents in a
debate with Archbishop Theophan.
When Pelichkin arrived at the house, Vladyka told his cell-attendants
to
stay close to the room in which the interview was to take place.
The interview will be short. You will wait in the corridor and will be
witnesses, is such are needed.
Pelichkin was ushered in. He wanted to close the door, but the
archbishop
opened it again, which disturbed him. Moreover, Vladyka did not
offer him a
seat and remained standing himself. Then the archbishop began:
When there are differences of opinion, and so as to avoid
interminable
disputes, one makes appeal to the judgement of a third party. These
arbiters
decide which of the two confess the true faith. Not long ago you and
I
confessed the same faith, the Orthodox faith. The best judges that
we could
find are the three holy ecumenical bishops, St. Basil the Great, St.
Gregory the
Theologian and St. John Chrysostom. Their authority is indisputable
for us.
To this Pelichkin objected: But they are men like you and I! Why
should I
be obliged to consider them as indisputable authorities?
The archbishop replied: If you consider yourself the equal of the
holy

bishops St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John
Chrysostom, we have nothing more to say to each other. I ask you to
leave the
room!
Pelichkin had nothing to answer to this. Disconcerted, he left the
room.
Later Vladyka explained his tactics:
If I had refused to speak with him, he would have told the world
that the
archbishop is frightened. Whereas here, he had nothing to say in
reply In
his heart he well understands that to consider oneself the equal of
Saints Basil
the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom is a great
impudence
and spiritual delusion.
In 1928 Vladyka came to Varna for Holy Week and Pascha. During
the
Liturgy for Holy Thursday an earthquake suddenly hit the city. Tens
of
chandeliers suspended on chains from the ceiling began to tinkle,
the walls
seemed to come to life, the bells began to ring.
The people, too, were disturbed and began to flee from the church.
The
superior of the church asked the archbishop to allow him to go and
calm the
people.
Stay here and pray! he replied.
And he immersed himself in prayer.
Again the superior, thinking that the archbishop had misunderstood
him,
insisted:
Allow me to go and say a word to the people!
You must not go and say anything Stay here and pray!
When the panic-stricken parishioners saw that everyone in the
sanctuary
was staying and praying, they calmed down.
On Holy Saturday, there was another earthquake during the
chanting of
the cherubic hymn: Let all mortal flesh keep silence This time
many of
the faithful, their fears reinforced by what they had read in the
press, rushed
out into the street. Once again the superior asked:
Your Eminence, bless me and allow me go and pacify the people!
Father Igumen, stay here and pray!
This time the priest did not insist. And the people who had fled,
seeing the
calmness of the clergy in the sanctuary, returned to the church.

But there were many victims in the city. People who should have
been in
church praying Vladyka saw the earthquake as a call to
repentance.
Dogmatic Disputes
The 1920s were a period of extraordinary turmoil in the Russian
Church
both inside and outside of Russia. Schisms and heresies, excited and
exploited
by political and extra-ecclesiastical forces, threatened to tear apart
the Body of
Christ. In this chaos many looked to the Synod of the Russian
Orthodox
Church Outside Russia for guidance, and in particular to its president
and
vice-president, Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) of Kiev and
Archbishop Theophan of Poltava, who had respectively been rectors
of the
Moscow and St. Petersburg Theological Academies. On many issues
the two
hierarchs agreed. But unfortunately on one or two issues Archbishop
Theophan considered the metropolitan to be in error; and, for all his
love and
respect for the older hierarch, he considered it his duty to point out
these
errors.
In 1926 there was published in Sremski Karlovtsy in Serbia the
second
edition of Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky)s
Dogma of Redemption, an
attempt to conceptualise the mystery of Christs redemption of
mankind by
means of a sharp contrast between redemption understood as an
act of
supremely compassionate love and redemption understood as the
satisfaction
of Gods justice, the so-called juridical theory. The juridical theory
was
rejected by Metropolitan Anthony as scholastic, and he sharply
criticised
several Fathers of the Russian Church for teaching it. In particular,
he
criticised the
Catechism of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, which his
supporters proposed to replace with his own
Catechism containing his own
monistic theory of redemption. According to Metropolitan Anthony,
our
salvation was not accomplished by a restoration of justice between
God and

man, but by an outpouring of Christs compassionate love for man

onto the
whole of mankind. In accordance with this theory, the central point
in the
redemption of mankind was located by the metropolitan in the
Garden of
Gethsemane, rather than on the Cross.
Archbishop Theophan, supported by his vicar in Russia, Bishop
Seraphim
(Sobolev) of Lubny, profoundly disagreed with the metropolitan. He
considered the so-called juridical theory to be Orthodox, and
Metropolitan
Philarets
Catechism in no need of replacing. And he considered Metropolitan
Anthonys
Catechism to contain serious dogmatical errors relating to the
dogmas of redemption and original sin.
The issue came to a head in a session of the Synod held in
Yugoslavia in
April, 1926. On the one hand, the Synod expressed its approval of
Metropolitan Anthonys
Catechism. On the other hand, no decision was made
to replace Metropolitan Philarets
Catechism with that of Metropolitan
Anthony.
However, the dispute rumbled on underground. Thus in letters to
Hieroschemamonk Theodosius of Mount Athos, who took the side of
Archbishop Theophan, Metropolitan Anthony expressed the suspicion
that
Archbishop Theophan was in spiritual delusion and continued to
show
himself in fundamental disagreement with the juridical theory of
Anselm
and Aquinas, completely accepted by P[eter] Moghila and
Metropolitan
Philaret. And again he wrote: We must not quickly return to Peter
Moghila,
Philaret and Macarius: they will remain subjects for historians.
For his part, Archbishop Theophan was unhappy that Metropolitan
Anthony did not abandon his heretical views on redemption, but only
refrained from pressing for their official acceptance by the Synod. As
he wrote
on February 16/29, 1932: Under the influence of the objections
made [against
his work], Metropolitan Anthony was about to take back his
Catechism, which
had been introduced by him into use in the schools in place of
Metropolitan
Philarets
Catechism. But, as became clear later, he did this insincerely, and

with exceptional persistence continued to spread his incorrect

teaching
On Redemption and many other incorrect teachings contained in his
Catechism.
Another dogmatic issue on which Archbishop Theophan and Bishop
Seraphim cooperated fruitfully was the Sophianist heresy of Fr.
Sergius
Bulgakov. (Another theologian who worked on this issue was
Hieromonk
John Maximovich, the future holy hierarch.) This heresy was based,
according
to Vladyka in a letter he wrote in 1930, on the book of Fr. [Paul]
Florensky,
The Pillar and Ground of the Truth
. But Florensky borrowed the idea of Sophia
from V.S. Soloviev. And V.S. Soloviev borrowed it from the medieval
mystics.
In V.S. Soloviev Sophia is the feminine principle of God, His other.
Florensky tries to prove that Sophia, as the feminine principle of
God, is a
special substance. He tries to find this teaching in St. Athanasius the
Great
and in Russian iconography. Protopriest Bulgakov accepts on faith
the basic
conclusions of Florensky, but partly changes the form of this
teaching, and
partly gives it a new foundation. In Bulgakov this teaching has two
variants:
a) originally it is a special Hypostasis, although not of one essence
with the
Holy Trinity (in the book
The Unwaning Light), b) later it is not a Hypostasis
but hypostasisness. In this latter form it is an energy of God coming
from the
essence of God through the Hypostases of the Divinity into the world
and
finding for itself its highest created union in the Mother of God.
Consequently, according to this variant, Sophia is not a special
substance, but
the Mother of God. According to the Church teaching, which is
especially clearly revealed in St. Athanasius the Great, the SophiaWisdom of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. Here, in the most general
terms, is the essence of Protopriest Bulgakovs
teaching on Sophia! To expound any philosophical teaching shortly is
very
difficult, and so it is difficult to expound shortly the teaching of the
sophianists on Sophia. This teaching of theirs becomes clear only in
connection the whole of their philosophical system. But to expound
the latter
shortly is also impossible. One can say only: their philosophy is the

philosophy of panentheism, that is, a moderate form of

pantheism. The
originator of this panentheism in Russia is V.S. Soloviev.
Bulgakov was only one of a series of heretical teachers who were
teaching
in the 1920s and 30s in the Theological Institute of St. Sergius in
Paris, such as
Nicholas Berdyaev, Lev Zander and Nicholas Zernov. By no means all
the
Paris theologians supported him. Fr. Georges Florovsky, for example,
strongly criticized him. However, Metropolitan Eulogius of Paris
supported
them, and was in turn supported by them, which, combined with the
intrigues of the communists, laid the basis for the schism of the
Paris
exarchate from the Russian Church Abroad that took place in 1927.
The
sticking point was Eulogiuss refusal to allow Synodal supervision of
the St.
Sergius Institute, and his refusal to break links with the masonically
inspired
and financed YMCA, proved the sticking point on which hopes of a
permanent reconciliation foundered.
Archbishop Averky writes: Archbishop Theophan was the first to
expose
and document the anti-Christian nature of certain so-called Christian
organizations, some of which were eager to extend their influence to
the
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and even to subjugate it
to
themselves somewhat by rendering financial assistance much
needed by our
refugees who had no stable sources of their own to draw from in
exile.
Vladyka Theophan himself categorically refused to accept the
monthly
allowance offered to him by these organizations, and did not
approve of those
who did, for he believed that this caused them to lose their spiritual
freedom,
and that in one way or another they would consequently be forced
to do the
will of their sponsors. Vladyka Theophan guarded his independence
and
spiritual freedom, preferring a beggarly existence to a secure
situation. This
discloses the most characteristic trait of our great pastor, a trait
which he
shared with the great Fathers of Christian antiquity: any compromise
of

conscience, no matter how small, was for him altogether

inconceivable. In all
of his actions and conduct, in his private life as well as in his service
to the
Church and society, he was utterly constant, never departing in any
way from
what
his
convictions
dictated.
Absolute
incorruptibility,
uncompromising
honesty and straightforwardness, demand for unconditional loyalty
to the
true Church, to the Word of God, and to Patristic tradition these
were his
hallmarks, ideals which guided his life and which he liked to see in
other
servants of the Church as well.
In August, 1926, Archbishop Theophan wrote: The real causes of
the
division are deeper than it seems at first glance. Two of them are
especially
significant. They consider the Soviet authorities as ordained by
God, but
we consider them antichristian. On the basis of overwhelming
documentary
evidence, we recognized that the YMCA is a masonic organization.
They
consider it a Christian organization.
And he predicted: Metropolitan Eulogius will not give in. Those
around
him are pushing him toward schism. We could let him have his way,
but we
cannot entrust the fate of Orthodoxy to him. He is ensnared in the
nets of the
[masonic] YMCA. The YMCA in turn is having a demoralizing effect on
student groups. In the magazine
The Way 5, Professor Berdyaev stated
openly that the schism in the church is unavoidable and necessary.
Metropolitan Eulogius is the only hierarch who has raised his
consciousness
to the realization that it is necessary to reform Orthodoxy, and he is
therefore
a tool of Gods Providence in our days!
Vladyka took a very strict attitude towards the Paris exarchate. As
Helen
Kontzevich relates, in Paris, Archpriest Sergius Chetverikov asked to
come
and see Archbishop Theophan, to converse with him on the theme of
the
Jesus Prayer. But he was presented with the condition that he cease
all contact
with the YMCA. The Archpriest did not agree to it.

Archbishop Averky says that Vladyka Theophan foresaw both the

schism
of Metropolitan Eulogius of Paris and that of Metropolitan Platon in
America;
he warned and admonished, but his warnings were not heeded in
time and
the subsequent reproach of those who broke away not only had no
positive
results, but even deepened the division, as Vladyka had also
foreseen. Such
ecclesiastical schisms and divisions caused Vladyka to sorrow in his
heart, to
suffer in his soul and to grieve. Although he had at the very
beginning
identified the root of the problem, he did not always approve of the
measures
taken to stop the schisms and establish unity in the Church, and he
indicated
the errors sometimes made in so doing.
Although Eulogius at times sought, and obtained, reconciliation with
Metropolitan Anthony and the other hierarchs, his heretical
entourage was
stronger, as Vladyka had predicted. First he joined the Moscow
Patriarchate
under Metropolitan Sergius. But then, when Sergius demanded
political
loyalty to the Soviet Union, he turned to Constantinople.
However, by 1927-28, both the Moscow and the Constantinople
patriarchates had fallen away from the truth of Orthodoxy, and
Vladyka
Theophan was prominent in defending that truth against their
innovations.
One of the last Hierarchical Councils that Vladyka attended
condemned
the notorious declaration of Metropolitan Sergius, which recognized
the
Soviet power as established by God and placed the Russian Church
in more
or less complete dependence on it. As he wrote on September 1,
1927: It is
impossible to recognize the epistle of Metropolitan Sergius as
obligatory for
ourselves. The just-completed Council of Bishops rejected this
epistle. It was
necessary to act in this way on the basis of the teaching of the Holy
Fathers on
what should be recognized as a canonical power to which Christians
must
submit. St. Isidore of Pelusium, having pointed to the presence of the
Godestablished
order of the submission of some to others everywhere in the life of

rational and irrational beings, draws the conclusion:

Therefore we are right to say that the thing in itself, I mean power,
that is,
authority and royal power, have been established by God. But if a
lawless
evildoer seizes this power, we do not affirm that he has been sent by
God, but
we say that he, like Pharaoh, has been
permitted to spew out this cunning and
thereby inflict extreme punishment on and bring to their senses
those for
whom cruelty was necessary, just as the King of Babylon brought the
Jews to
their senses. (
Works, part II, letter 6).
Bolshevik power in its essence is an antichristian power and there is
no
way that it can recognized as God-established.
In relation to the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the introduction
of the
new calendar into that patriarchate and other churches, Vladyka
Theophan
was similarly uncompromising. Thus only an Ecumenical Council,
he
wrote, can introduce a new Church calendar, as the First
Ecumenical Council
introduced the one which we now use. Any other unauthorized
introduction
cannot be recognized as canonical. Unlike Metropolitan Anthony
(Khrapovitsky), who, though opposed to the new calendar
innovation,
argued in favour of remaining in communion with the new
calendarists, and
served with the new calendarist patriarch Miron on more than one
occasion,
Archbishop Theophan adopted the zealot line of the Greek and
Romanian
Old Calendarists. And he wrote two extended works on the subject.
In one of
them, written in 1926, he wrote:
Question. Have the pastors of the Orthodox Church not made
special
judgements concerning the calendar?
Answer. They have, many times with regard to the introduction of
the
new Roman calendar both in private assemblies and in councils.
A proof of this is the following. First of all, the Ecumenical Patriarch
Jeremiah II, who lived at the same time as the Roman calendar
reform,
immediately, in 1582, together with his Synod condemned the new
Roman

system of chronology as being not in agreement with the Tradition of

the
Church. In the next year (1583), with the participation of Patriarchs
Sylvester
of Alexandria and Sophronius VI of Jerusalem, he convened a Church
Council.
This Council recognised the Gregorian calendar to be not in
agreement with
the canons of the Universal Church and with the decree of the First
Ecumenical Council on the method of calculating the day of Holy
Pascha.
Through the labours of this Council there appeared: a Conciliar
tome,
which denounced the wrongness and unacceptability for the
Orthodox
Church of the Roman calendar, and a canonical conciliar Decree
the Sigillion
of November 20, 1583. In this Sigillion all three of the abovementioned
Patriarchs with their Synods called on the Orthodox firmly and
unbendingly,
even to the shedding of their blood, to hold the Orthodox Menaion
and Julian
Paschalion, threatening the transgressors of this with anathema,
cutting them
off from the Church of Christ and the gathering of the faithful
In the course of the following three centuries: the 17
th, 18th and 19th, a
whole series of Ecumenical Patriarchs decisively expressed
themselves
against the Gregorian calendar and, evaluating it in the spirit of the
conciliar
decree of Patriarch Jeremiah II, counselled the Orthodox to avoid it
Question. Is the introduction of the new calendar important or of
little
importance?
Answer. Very important, especially in connection with the
Paschalion,
and it is an extreme disorder and ecclesiastical schism, which draws
people
away from communion and unity with the whole Church of Christ,
deprives
them of the grace of the Holy Spirit, shakes the dogma of the unity
of the
Church, and, like Arius, tears the seamless robe of Christ, that is,
everywhere
divides the Orthodox, depriving them of oneness of mind; breaks the
bond
with Ecclesiastical Holy Tradition and makes them fall under conciliar
condemnation for despising Tradition
Question. How must the Orthodox relate to the new calendarist

schismatics, according to the canons?

Answer. They must have no communion in prayer with them, even
before
their conciliar condemnation
Question. What punishment is fitting, according to the Church
canons, for
those who pray with the new calendarist schismatics?
Answer. The same condemnation with them
In France: Final Years and Repose
As early as 1928 Archbishop Theophan wrote to one of his spiritual
children: I would like to retreat in silence from all things and from
henceforth, but I do not yet know whether this is Gods will. On
April 16/29,
1931 he left Bulgaria and moved in with a couple known to him from
St.
Petersburg, Theodore and Lydia Porokhov, who were living in
Clamart, near
Paris.
It is not known for certain why Vladyka left Bulgaria for reclusion in
France. A desire for deep inner prayer, which is easier in reclusion,
was
probably one factor. Another, according to his cell-attendant, the
future
Schema-Monk Epiphanius (Chernov), was the deteriorating state of
his
relations with his vicar, Bishop Seraphim. A third, according to the
same
source, was a desire to check out a report that the Tsar was alive
and living in
France!
Certainly Vladyka was depressed about the state of the Churches,
and
perhaps felt that he with his uncompromising views could make no
further
contribution to public Church life. Thus on September 12, 1931 he
wrote from
Clamart: You complain about developments in ecclesiastical affairs
in your
country. I do not know the details of your situation, but I think that
the
religious and moral state of other Orthodox countries is no better,
perhaps
even worse. I can at least state with assurance that this is true both
of Russia
under the yoke and of Russia in the Diaspora. Regarding
ecclesiastical matters
there, I have an enormous amount of material at my disposal:
approximately
700 pages in all. I have at my disposal materials about ecclesiastical
affairs

here as well which are no less important nor less voluminous. The
overall
conclusion that can be drawn from these materials is horrifying. Yet
there is,
of course, amid this general darkness a grace-filled remnant that
still
perpetuates the Orthodox faith both here and there. Our times
seem to be
apocalyptic.
The salt is losing its savour. Among the Churchs highest pastors
there remains a weak, dim, contradictory and incorrect
understanding of the
written word. This is subverting spiritual life in Christian society and
destroying Christianity, which consists of
actions, not words. It grieves me to see
to whom Christs sheep have been entrusted, to see who it is that
oversees their
guidance and salvation.
But this is tolerated by God. Let those in Judaea flee to
the mountains! With these words the great Russian hierarchs
Metropolitan
Philaret of Moscow and Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov characterized
the state
of ecclesiastical affairs in their own times, sixty years ago. Do we
not have
even greater reason to repeat these threatening words at the
present time?
One contributing factor to Vladykas decision almost certainly was
his
strained relations with Metropolitan Anthony over the Dogma of
Redemption
and other matters. According to Helen Kontzevich, Metropolitan
Anthony
wrote to Vladyka after their disagreement over the dogma, and
refused him
permission to come to any more sessions of the Synod. Whether this
is true or
not, the relations between the two hierarchs were definitely
strained.
However, this did not lead to Vladyka formally breaking relations
with the
Church Abroad, for the newspapers reported that he concelebrated
with
Archbishop Seraphim (Lukianov) of Paris, and gave sermons.
Vladykas letters became increasingly apocalyptic in tone. Already in
1931
he predicted a new war in Europe. And Czechoslovakia will be the
first to
succumb to this threat!, he added
On April 31, 1936 he wrote: Have you noticed what is happening in
the

world today? The leaders of the worlds governments are all doing
the same
thing: they all speak about world
peace. The leaders of France and of states
friendly to her are also very insistent in speaking about ways to
guarantee
security
, as if this were the essential precondition of this peace. One
cannot
help but recall the words of the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the
Thessalonians: The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the
night. For
when they shall say peace and security, then sudden destruction
cometh upon
them as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape
(I
Thessalonians 5.3). Everybody who loves the Truth must not only
take note of
the signs of the times, but also follow these observations to their
logical
conclusion.
Regarding the affairs of the Church, in the words of the Saviour,
one of
the most awesome phenomena of the last days is that at that time
the
stars shall fall from heaven (Matthew 24.29). According to the
Saviours own
explanation, these stars are
the Angels of the Churches, in other words, the
Bishops (Revelation 1.20). The religious and moral fall of the Bishops
is,
therefore, one of the most characteristic signs of the last days. The fall of the
Bishops is particularly horrifying when they deviate from the doctrines of the
faith, or, as the Apostle put it, when they would pervert the Gospel of Christ
(Galatians 1.7). The Apostle orders that such people be pronounced anathema.
He said, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that
which
ye have received, let him be accursed (anathema) (Galatians 1.9). And one
must
not be slow about this, for he continues, A man that is an heretic, after the
first
and second admonition reject, knowing that he that is such is subverted, being
condemned of himself (Titus 3.10-11). Moreover, you may be subject to
Gods
judgement if you are indifferent to deviation from the truth: So them because
thou art lukewarm, and neither cold not hot, I will spew thee out of My
mouth (Revelation 3.6).
Clouds are gathering on the worlds horizon. Gods judgement of its
peoples and of hypocritical Christians, beginning with heretics and lukewarm
hierarchs, is approaching.
Soon after moving to France, Vladyka discovered that he was being

followed. He had to stop going to church in the Rue Odessa in Paris, and told
one of his people in Bulgaria that life in Clamart was not peaceful. Later he
explained that there had been a night-time descent on the house where he
lived. It appears that the Soviets were trying to kidnap Vladyka as they had
kidnapped General Kutepov in 1931 and General Miller in 1937. And
although they did not succeed, after his death his papers were all sent to
Moscow
Seeking a safer refuge, in 1936 Vladyka moved with the Porokhovs to
Mosne, near Amboise on the Loire. Soon after this Theodore Vassilievich
Porokhov was murdered. In 1939 Lydia Nikolaevna Porokhova, in
monasticism Maria, also died. Six months later, on September 1, 1939,
Vladyka and the Porokhovs niece, Anastasia Vassilievna, were taken by a
former landowner of Poltava, Maria Vassilievna Fedchenko, to a little
property which she rented at Limeray, in the same region. Here there were
three caves suitable for living in. In the first lived Vladyka. In the second was
a church. In the third lived Anastasia Vassilievna. And Maria Vassilievna
lived in a house next to the caves. There was also a place for some domestic
animals, and for twelve Doberman-pinchers, who were chained up during the
day but were released into the park during the night, probably so as to protect
Vladyka from his enemies. After his death, they were all sold.
Archbishop Theophan reposed peacefully at three oclock in the morning
on February 6/19, 1940, the feast of St. Photius the Great. According to one of
those present, there were no more than four people present at the funeral of
the great and holy hierarch, who was vested in his hierarchical vestments
with the mitre and panagia that the Tsar had presented him with at his
consecration. The funeral was celebrated by Hieromonk Barnabas, his
confessor, who lived in the same village. According to Helen Yurievna
Kontzevitch: At Archbishop Theophans funeral he was deprived of the
burial rite due to him as a bishop, and was buried as a simple monk by order
of Metropolitan Eulogius. He was buried by Hieromonk Barnabas, who had
inquired of Metropolitan Eulogius concerning the rite of burial.
Vladyka was buried in plot 432 in the municipal cemetery of Limeray.
On the fortieth day after his repose he appeared to his spiritual son
and the
future Archbishop of Canada Joasaph, who witnessed: After the
death of my
marvelous instructor, I was terribly afflicted It was very difficult for
me and
I prayed much for him. And then, on the night of the fortieth day
after his
repose, I dreamed that I was standing in front of a magnificent
church from
which were proceeding a multitude of hierarchs after the service. I
recognized
the great hierarchs: Saints Basil the Great, John Chrysostom,
Gregory the
Theologian and many others. Suddenly, in the middle of them I saw
his
Eminence Theophan! I ran up to him:
Your Eminence, where are you coming from?

Well, as you can see, we have just celebrated the Liturgy together.
Come
with us.
I followed him. All this took place in a spacious automobile or was
it a
boat? which began to sail in the air, so to speak. We passed by
mountains,
forests and valleys of an indescribable beauty. My elder began to
show me
these dwellings and revealed to me their destiny:
That one will be saved, but that one over there at the bottom of
the valley
will perish.
It was terrible to see! And all around us there were beautiful
gardens and
a sweet perfume. I contemplated them with delight and without
being sated.
For a long time we were carried about in this way in the air, in the
middle of
this magnificence. Finally I could not restrain myself and asked:
But where are we?
His Eminence Theophan answered me: And why do you not
understand? In Paradise!
From that moment I was reassured, having understood that my
dear
instructor had been found worthy of eternal blessedness.
Miracles of healing have been attributed to Archbishop Theophan
since his
repose.
Thus when he died in 1940 Helen Yurievna Kontzevich had had a
terrible
toothache; she prayed to him and the pain disappeared instantly.
Towards the end of her life she had a vision of him, after which she
wrote a
troparion to him:
TROPARION. TONE 3
Defender of the right belief in Christs redemption,
thou didst endure afflictions and death in exile,
O holy father, Hierarch Theophan,
pray to Christ God to save our souls.
Sources: The
Works of Archbishop Theophan in printed and manuscript form;
Archbishop Theophan of Poltava and Pereyaslavl,
Selected Letters, Liberty, TN:
St. John of Kronstadt Press, 1989; V.K.,
Russkaia Zarubezhnaia Tserkov na
Steziakh Otstupnichestva (The Russian Church Abroad on the paths
of Apostasy)
, St.
Petersburg, 1999, pp. 29-30 (in Russian); Monk Anthony (Chernov),

Vie de
Monseigneur Thophane, Archevque de Poltava et de Pereiaslavl
(The Life of his
Eminence Theophan, Archbishop of Poltava and Pereyaslavl)
, Lavardac: Monastre
Orthodoxe St. Michel, 1988 (in French); Monk Anthony (Chernov),
private
communication; Sergius and Tamara Fomin,
Rossia pered Vtorym Prishestviem
(Russia before the Second Coming),
Sergiev Posad, 1994; Richard Bettes,
Vyacheslav Marchenko,
Dukhovnik Tsarskoj Semi (Spiritual Father of the Royal
Family)
, Moscow: Valaam Society of America, 1994, pp. 60-61 (in Russian);
Archbishop Averky (Taushev),
Vysokopreosviaschennij Feofan, Arkhiepiskop
Poltavskij i Pereiaslavskij (His Eminence Theophan, Archbishop of
Poltava and
Pereyaslavl)
, Jordanville: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1974 (in Russian);
Archbishop Anthony of San Francisco,
The Young Elder: A Biography of Blessed
Archimandrite Ambrose of Milkovo,
Jordanville: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1974,
p. 39; Abbot Herman, Helen Yurievna Kontzevitch,
The Orthodox Word, vol.
35, 6 (209), November
-December, 1999, pp. 286-290; Edvard Radzinsky,
Rasputin
, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000; Polischuk, E.S. (ed.),
Imiaslavie. Antologia (Name-worshipping. An Anthology)
, Moscow, 2002, p. 518
(in Russian); Gubanov,
Tsar Nikolai II-ij i Novie Mucheniki (Tsar Nicholas II and
the New Martyrs),
St. Petersburg, 2000, p. 770 (in Russian); M.E. Gubonin, Akty
Sviateishago Patriarkha Tikhona (The Acts of His Holiness Patriarch
Tikhon)
,
Moscow, 1994, p. 995 (in Russian);
Pisma Blazhennejshago Mitropolita Antonia
(Khrapovitskago),
(The Letters of His Beatitude Metropolitan Anthony
(Khrapovitsky)),
Jordanville: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1988 (in Russian); Vie
de lArchevque Thophane de Poltava, Orthodoxie,
, December, 1996, pp.
6-12 (in French); V. Moss,
The Mystery of Redemption, Cafepress, 2007;

Arkhiepiskop
Feofan
Poltavsky.
http:www.pravde.ru/mason.htm.
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Izbrannie

Trudy,