Archpriest
Father John Sergiev, rector of Saint Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt,
is the son of a clergyman of the Arkhangelsk province, Pinezhsky
district, in the village of Sura, born in 1829. (He is now 69 years
old). He sleeps no more than three hours a day, and sometimes he barely
manages to take a nap, sitting or riding somewhere in a carriage. He is
always on his feet, constantly serving in the church, confessing and
administering the Holy Mysteries to hundreds of people.
"His Majesty Emperor Alexander III, sensing the approach of His death, wished to see Father John and joyfully greeted him. Father John prayed with the Tsar, and the Tsar felt the power of his prayer. On October 7, in accordance with the will of the Tsar, Father John communed him with the Holy Mysteries. Then summoned by the august sick man on the very day of His repose, Father John, at the request of the Tsar, read a prayer for the healing of the sick man and anointed Him with oil from the miraculous icon. Then, at the request of the Tsar, Father John laid his hands on His head and did not take them away for a long time. The Emperor, being fully conscious, asked Father John to rest, but Father John said that he did not feel tired, and asked Him: 'Is it hard for Your Majesty that I keep my hands on your head for a long time?' But the Tsar said to him: 'On the contrary, it is very easy for me when you hold them.' Then the Tsar continued: 'You are a righteous man: the Russian people love you.' 'Yes,' answered Father John, 'your people love me.' 'They love you,' said the Tsar, 'because they know who you are and what you are.'"
And indeed, Father John's fame extends far beyond Kronstadt and St. Petersburg. And this fame comes from the fact that Father John knows how to distribute the money he collects from donors, and knows how to reward and teach the poor a lesson while giving it out. His Sunday sermons, delivered in Saint Andrew's Cathedral, attract thousands of people. Not everyone hears them, not everyone has the opportunity to be in the cathedral, but everyone wants to hear them... And so Father John began to print them. Then they were transferred to the newspaper "Vedomosti Sankt-Peterburgskogo Gradonachalstva" and, finally, got into a book published by M. G. Krivoshlyk. Father John speaks about prayer, about the church, about miracles in our time, about love, about science, the science of conquering sin. In him, the priest is united with the rhetorician, the philosopher with the common mortal. Every word breathes faith and love for God, a sincere desire to help one's neighbor and to carry one's neighbor away with one's faith. "Love without thinking – love is simple," he said in one place, "do not gaze at the beauty of a man's face, but look at his soul; do not look at his garment (the body is a temporary garment), but look at the one who dresses with it, do not look at the splendor of the house, but look at the tenant, who lives in it and what he is like – otherwise you will offend the image of God in man, you will dishonor the King, by bowing down to his servant, and not giving Him the slightest honor due to him"... “Educated and undereducated youth,” writes Fr. John further, “rarely go to church, do not conduct work on their spiritual education at all, considering it as if unnecessary and giving themselves over to the vanity of life. We must pay attention to this. This is the fruit of pride, spiritual underdevelopment. They consider visiting the temple and public worship to be the work of the common people and women, forgetting that angels serve in the temple with fear together with man and consider this to be the greatest blessing."
This is the general character of Father John’s thoughts. He takes the most topical, everyday phenomena, general questions and examines them with a deep knowledge of the human heart and a sincere desire to teach and instruct. His thoughts are imbued with such faith and love that they are capable of captivating a person. The book is recommended by the Main Directorate of Military Educational Institutions for all classes of cadet corps. There is an age – 13–16 years old - when the young brain is tormented by doubt, when, on the one hand, you have the priest’s simple stories about the creation of the world and about Joshua the son of Nun, who said: “Stand still, sun, and be still, moon” (Josh. 10:12), and on the other, Darwin's theory and information on cosmography do not want to be reconciled... When, on the one hand, life through the crack of the open doors beckons with the temptation of sin, on the other hand, the Church does not yet give spiritual blessedness, it is not yet understood. At these moments, Father John's thoughts, simple and profound, the story of the heartfelt attitude of the Tsar-Peacemaker towards him, can make the young man think and pause at the half-open doors of worldly temptation and, having paused, listen to the distant church chant that calls and pleads... and, who knows, maybe the young soul will be saved, and who will save "one of these little ones" (Matthew 18:6)... In any case, these "thoughts", in a difficult moment of life, can successfully stand against the cheerless, gloomy philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer.
Source: Review of the newspaper "RUSSKY INVALID" (No 126 of June 11, 1900) of M. G. Krivoshlyk's, "Thoughts of Archpriest John Ilyich Sergiev" (1899, St. Petersburg). Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
"His Majesty Emperor Alexander III, sensing the approach of His death, wished to see Father John and joyfully greeted him. Father John prayed with the Tsar, and the Tsar felt the power of his prayer. On October 7, in accordance with the will of the Tsar, Father John communed him with the Holy Mysteries. Then summoned by the august sick man on the very day of His repose, Father John, at the request of the Tsar, read a prayer for the healing of the sick man and anointed Him with oil from the miraculous icon. Then, at the request of the Tsar, Father John laid his hands on His head and did not take them away for a long time. The Emperor, being fully conscious, asked Father John to rest, but Father John said that he did not feel tired, and asked Him: 'Is it hard for Your Majesty that I keep my hands on your head for a long time?' But the Tsar said to him: 'On the contrary, it is very easy for me when you hold them.' Then the Tsar continued: 'You are a righteous man: the Russian people love you.' 'Yes,' answered Father John, 'your people love me.' 'They love you,' said the Tsar, 'because they know who you are and what you are.'"
And indeed, Father John's fame extends far beyond Kronstadt and St. Petersburg. And this fame comes from the fact that Father John knows how to distribute the money he collects from donors, and knows how to reward and teach the poor a lesson while giving it out. His Sunday sermons, delivered in Saint Andrew's Cathedral, attract thousands of people. Not everyone hears them, not everyone has the opportunity to be in the cathedral, but everyone wants to hear them... And so Father John began to print them. Then they were transferred to the newspaper "Vedomosti Sankt-Peterburgskogo Gradonachalstva" and, finally, got into a book published by M. G. Krivoshlyk. Father John speaks about prayer, about the church, about miracles in our time, about love, about science, the science of conquering sin. In him, the priest is united with the rhetorician, the philosopher with the common mortal. Every word breathes faith and love for God, a sincere desire to help one's neighbor and to carry one's neighbor away with one's faith. "Love without thinking – love is simple," he said in one place, "do not gaze at the beauty of a man's face, but look at his soul; do not look at his garment (the body is a temporary garment), but look at the one who dresses with it, do not look at the splendor of the house, but look at the tenant, who lives in it and what he is like – otherwise you will offend the image of God in man, you will dishonor the King, by bowing down to his servant, and not giving Him the slightest honor due to him"... “Educated and undereducated youth,” writes Fr. John further, “rarely go to church, do not conduct work on their spiritual education at all, considering it as if unnecessary and giving themselves over to the vanity of life. We must pay attention to this. This is the fruit of pride, spiritual underdevelopment. They consider visiting the temple and public worship to be the work of the common people and women, forgetting that angels serve in the temple with fear together with man and consider this to be the greatest blessing."
This is the general character of Father John’s thoughts. He takes the most topical, everyday phenomena, general questions and examines them with a deep knowledge of the human heart and a sincere desire to teach and instruct. His thoughts are imbued with such faith and love that they are capable of captivating a person. The book is recommended by the Main Directorate of Military Educational Institutions for all classes of cadet corps. There is an age – 13–16 years old - when the young brain is tormented by doubt, when, on the one hand, you have the priest’s simple stories about the creation of the world and about Joshua the son of Nun, who said: “Stand still, sun, and be still, moon” (Josh. 10:12), and on the other, Darwin's theory and information on cosmography do not want to be reconciled... When, on the one hand, life through the crack of the open doors beckons with the temptation of sin, on the other hand, the Church does not yet give spiritual blessedness, it is not yet understood. At these moments, Father John's thoughts, simple and profound, the story of the heartfelt attitude of the Tsar-Peacemaker towards him, can make the young man think and pause at the half-open doors of worldly temptation and, having paused, listen to the distant church chant that calls and pleads... and, who knows, maybe the young soul will be saved, and who will save "one of these little ones" (Matthew 18:6)... In any case, these "thoughts", in a difficult moment of life, can successfully stand against the cheerless, gloomy philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer.
Source: Review of the newspaper "RUSSKY INVALID" (No 126 of June 11, 1900) of M. G. Krivoshlyk's, "Thoughts of Archpriest John Ilyich Sergiev" (1899, St. Petersburg). Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
