Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt. Life. John of Kronstadt - illness and death. Prayers that Saint John of Kronstadt prayed

Our holy righteous father John, the Wonderworker of Kronstadt, was born on October 19, 1829 in the village of Sura, Pinezhsky district, Arkhangelsk province - in the far north of Russia, in the family of a poor rural sexton Ilya Sergiev and his wife Theodora. The newborn seemed so weak and sickly that his parents hastened to baptize him immediately, and named him John, in honor of the Venerable John of Rila, celebrated that day by the Holy Church. Soon after his baptism, baby John began to noticeably improve. Pious parents, attributing this to the gracious action of St. the sacraments of baptism began to direct his thoughts and feelings towards God with special zeal, accustoming him to diligent home and church prayer. From early childhood, his father constantly took him to church and thereby instilled in him a special love for worship.

Living in harsh conditions of extreme material need, the youth John early became acquainted with bleak pictures of poverty, grief, tears and suffering. This made him focused, thoughtful, and introverted, while at the same time instilling in him a deep empathy and compassionate love for the poor. Without getting carried away by the inherent childhood Through games, he, constantly carrying the memory of God in his heart, loved nature, which aroused in him tenderness and admiration for the greatness of the Creator of every creature.

In his sixth year, the youth John, with the help of his father, began to learn to read and write. But reading and writing was difficult for the boy at first. This saddened him, but it also prompted him to especially fervently pray to God for help. When his father, having collected the last funds from his poverty, took him to the Arkhangelsk parish school, he, especially acutely feeling his loneliness and helplessness there, found all his consolation only in prayer. He prayed often and fervently, fervently asking God for help. And so, after one of these fervent prayers, at night, the boy suddenly seemed to be shocked all over, “as if a curtain had fallen from his eyes, as if the mind had opened in his head,” “it felt light and joyful in his soul”: the teacher of that day clearly appeared to him, his lesson, he even remembered what he was talking about. It got a little light, he jumped out of bed, grabbed his books - and oh, happiness! He began to read much better, began to understand everything well and remember what he read.

From that time on, the youth John began to study well: he was one of the first to graduate from college, the first to graduate from the Arkhangelsk Theological Seminary, and was admitted at public expense to the St. Petersburg Theological Academy.

While still studying at the seminary, he lost his dearly beloved father. As a loving and caring son, John wanted to look for a position as a deacon or psalmist straight from the seminary in order to support his old mother, who had no means of support. But she did not want her son to lose his higher spiritual education because of her, and insisted on his admission to the academy.

Having entered the academy, the young student did not leave his mother without care: he obtained clerical work for himself from the academic board and sent all the meager earnings he received to his mother.

While studying at the academy, John was initially inclined to devote himself to missionary work among the savages of Siberia and North America. But God’s Providence was pleased to call him to a different kind of pastoral activity. One day, thinking about his upcoming service to the Church of Christ during a solitary walk through the academic garden, he returned home, fell asleep and in a dream saw himself as a priest serving in the Kronstadt St. Andrew's Cathedral, which in reality he had never been to before. He took this as an order from above. Soon the dream came true with literal accuracy. In 1855, when John Sergiev graduated from the academy with a candidate of theology degree, he was asked to marry the daughter of the archpriest of the Kronstadt St. Andrew's Cathedral K. Nesvitsky, Elisaveta, and to be ordained a priest to serve in the same cathedral. Remembering his dream, he accepted this offer.

On December 12, 1855, he was ordained to the priesthood. When he first entered the Kronstadt St. Andrew's Cathedral, he stopped almost in horror at its threshold: this was exactly the temple that had long before appeared to him in his childhood visions. The rest of life is about. John and his pastoral work took place in Kronstadt, which is why many forgot even his last name “Sergiev” and called him “Kronstadtsky”, and he himself often signed his name that way.

Marriage o. John, which was required by the customs of our Church for a priest serving in the world, was only fictitious, necessary for him to cover up his selfless pastoral deeds: in reality, he lived with his wife, like brother and sister. “There are many happy families, Lisa, even without us. And you and I, let’s devote ourselves to serving God,” he said to his wife on the very first day of his married life, remaining a pure virgin until the end of his days.

Although once Fr. John said that he did not lead an ascetic life, but, of course, he said this only out of deep humility. In fact, carefully hiding his asceticism from people, Fr. John was the greatest ascetic. The basis of his ascetic feat was unceasing prayer and fasting. His wonderful diary “My Life in Christ” clearly testifies to this ascetic struggle of his with sinful thoughts, this “invisible warfare” that the ancient great ascetic fathers commanded to all true Christians. Strict fasting, both mental and physical, was naturally required of him by the daily celebration of the Divine Liturgy, which he set for himself as a rule.

At the first meeting with his flock, Fr. John saw that here he had no less field for selfless and fruitful pastoral activity than in distant pagan countries. Unbelief, heterodoxy and sectarianism, not to mention complete religious indifference, flourished here. Kronstadt was the place of administrative expulsion from the capital of various vicious people. In addition, there were many laborers who worked mainly in the port. They all lived, for the most part, in miserable shacks and dugouts, begging and drinking. City residents suffered a lot from these morally degenerate people, who were called “posadskys.” It was not always safe to walk through the streets at night, because there was a risk of being attacked by robbers.

It was on these that it seemed moral dead people, despised by everyone, and our great shepherd, filled with the spirit of genuine Christ’s love, turned his attention. It was among them that he began the wondrous feat of his selfless pastoral work. Every day he began to visit their wretched homes, talked, consoled, looked after the sick and helped them financially, giving away everything he had, often returning home undressed and even without boots. These Kronstadt “tramps”, “scum of society”, whom Fr. John, by the power of his compassionate pastoral love, made people again, returning to them the human image they had lost; they were the first to “discover” the holiness of Fr. John. And this “discovery” was then very quickly accepted by the entire believing people of Russia.

He tells an unusually touching story about one of these cases of spiritual rebirth thanks to Fr. To John, one artisan: “I was 22-23 years old then. Now I’m an old man, but I remember well how I saw the priest for the first time. I had a family, two children. I worked and drank. The family was starving. My wife was slowly collecting around the world. We lived in a crappy kennel. Once I came back, not very drunk. I saw some young priest sitting, holding his little son in his arms and saying something to him affectionately. The child listened seriously. It still seems to me that the priest was like Christ in the picture “Blessing of Children ". I wanted to swear: they were wandering around... but the father’s gentle and serious eyes stopped me: I felt ashamed... I lowered my eyes, and he looked - he looked straight into my soul. He began to speak. I don’t dare convey everything, what he said. He said that there was paradise in my closet, because where there are children, it is always warm and good, and that there is no need to exchange this paradise for the children of the tavern. He did not blame me, no, he justified everything , only I had no time for justification. He left, I sit and remain silent... I don’t cry, although my soul feels as if it were before tears. My wife is watching... And since then I have become a man..."

Such an unusual pastoral feat of the young shepherd began to cause criticism and even attacks on him from all sides. Many for a long time did not recognize the sincerity of his mood, mocked him, slandered him verbally and in print, and called him a holy fool. At one time, the diocesan authorities forbade even giving him a salary, since, having received it in his own hands, he distributed everything to the poor to the last penny, and called him for an explanation. But all these trials and mockery of Fr. John endured it courageously, without changing anything to please those who attacked him in his adopted way of life. And, with God’s help, he defeated everyone and everything, and for everything that in the first years of his pastorate they laughed at him, reviled him, slandered and persecuted him, they later began to glorify him, realizing that before them was a true follower of Christ, a true shepherd who believed his life for his sheep.

“You must love every person in his sin and in his shame,” said Father John. “You must not confuse man—this image of God—with the evil that is in him.”... With such consciousness he went to people, all of them. conquering and reviving by the power of his truly pastoral compassionate love.

Soon opened in o. John and the wondrous gift of miracles, which glorified him throughout Russia and even far beyond its borders. There is no way to list all the miracles performed by Fr. John. Our unbelieving intelligentsia and its press deliberately suppressed these countless manifestations of the power of God. But still, many miracles are recorded and stored in memory. An exact recording of the story of Fr. himself has been preserved. John about his first miracle to his fellow priests. This story breathes with deep humility. “Someone in Kronstadt fell ill,” Father John told about it. “They asked for my prayerful help. Even then I already had this habit: not to refuse anyone’s request. I began to pray, committing the sick person into the hands of God, asking "The Lord fulfills His holy will over the sick. But suddenly one old woman comes to me, whom I have known for a long time. She was a God-fearing, deeply religious woman, who spent her life as a Christian and ended her earthly journey in the fear of God. She comes to me and persistently demands from me that I pray for the sick person only for his recovery. I remember then I was almost afraid: how can I, I thought, have such boldness? However, this old woman firmly believed in the power of my prayer and stood her ground. Then I confessed to the Lord my insignificance and my sinfulness, saw the will of God in this whole matter and began to ask for healing for the pain. And the Lord sent His mercy to him - he recovered. I thanked the Lord for this mercy. Another time, through my prayer, the healing was repeated . Then, in these two cases, I directly saw the will of God, a new obedience from God - to pray for those who ask for it."

Through the prayer of Fr. John really happened and now, after his blessed death, many wondrous miracles continue to happen. They were healed by prayer and the laying on of hands by Fr. John the most serious illnesses, when medicine was lost in its helplessness. Healings were performed both in private and in front of a large crowd of people, and very often in absentia. Sometimes it was enough to write a letter to Fr. John or send a telegram for the miracle of healing to happen. Particularly remarkable was the miracle that happened in front of everyone in the village of Konchanskoye (Suvorovskoye), described by chance by the Suvorov commission of military academy professors that was then there (in 1901). A woman who suffered from demonic possession for many years and was brought to Fr. John, in an unconscious state, was completely healed by him a few moments later and brought back to the normal state of a completely healthy person. Through the prayer of Fr. John made the blind see. The artist Zhivotovsky described the miraculous shedding of rain in an area suffering from drought and threatened by forest fire, after Fr. John offered his prayer there. O. John healed not only Russians with the power of his prayer Orthodox people, but also Muslims, Jews, and foreigners who approached him from abroad. This great gift of miracles was naturally the reward of Fr. John for his great deeds - prayerful works, fasting and selfless deeds of love for God and neighbors.

And soon all believing Russia flowed to the great and wondrous miracle worker. The second period of his glorious life and his exploits has begun. At first, he himself went to the people within the confines of one of his cities, and now the people themselves from everywhere, from all over Russia, rushed to him. Thousands of people came to Kronstadt every day, wanting to see Fr. John and receive some kind of help from him. He received an even greater number of letters and telegrams: the Kronstadt post office was supposed to open a special branch for his correspondence. Along with letters and telegrams flowed to Fr. John and huge sums of money for charity. Their size can only be judged approximately, because, receiving money, Fr. John immediately gave everything away. According to the most minimal estimate, at least one million rubles passed through his hands a year (a huge amount at that time!). With this money Fr. John fed a thousand beggars every day, built a wonderful institution in Kronstadt - the “House of Diligence” with a school, church, workshops and an orphanage, founded a convent in his native village and erected a large stone church, and in St. Petersburg built a convent on Karpovka, in which he was buried after his death.

To the general sorrow of the residents of Kronstadt, in the second period of his life, the period of his all-Russian glory, Fr. John had to leave teaching the Law of God at the Kronstadt City School and at the Kronstadt Classical Gymnasium, where he taught for over 25 years. And he was a wonderful teacher of the law. He never resorted to those teaching methods that often took place then in our educational institutions, that is, neither to excessive severity, nor to the moral humiliation of the incapable. U o. John, the measures of encouragement were not marks, nor the measures of intimidation - punishment. His success was born of his warm, sincere attitude both towards the very work of teaching and towards his students. Therefore, he had no “incapables.” In his lessons, everyone, without exception, eagerly listened to his every word. They were waiting for his lesson. His lessons were more of a pleasure, a relaxation for the students, than a heavy duty or work. It was a lively conversation, a fascinating speech, an interesting, attention-grabbing story. And these lively conversations of the shepherd-father with his children were deeply imprinted in the memory of the students for the rest of their lives. In his speeches addressed to teachers before the start of the school year, he explained this method of teaching by the need to give the fatherland, first of all, a person and a Christian, relegating the issue of science to the background. There were often cases when Fr. John, having interceded for some lazy student sentenced to expulsion, himself began to correct him. Several years passed, and the child, who seemed to show no hope, became a useful member of society. The special significance of Fr. John emphasized the reading of the lives of saints and always brought separate lives to lessons, which he distributed to students to read at home. The nature of such teaching of the Law of God. John is clearly captured in the address given to him on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his teaching at the Kronstadt gymnasium: “You did not teach dry scholasticism to the children, you did not teach them dead formulas - texts and sayings, you did not demand from them lessons memorized only from memory; on bright, receptive souls you sowed the seeds of the eternal and life-giving Word of God."

But this glorious feat of fruitful teaching of the law by Fr. John had to leave his all-Russian counseling for the sake of an even more fruitful and broad feat.

You just need to imagine how Fr.’s day went. John in order to understand and feel the full weight and greatness of this unparalleled feat of his. Fr. got up. John every day at 3 a.m. and prepared to serve the Divine Liturgy. At about 4 o'clock he went to the cathedral for Matins. Here he was already met by crowds of pilgrims, eager to receive at least a blessing from him. There were also many beggars there, to whom Fr. John gave alms. Matins Fr. John certainly always read the canon himself, giving this reading great importance. Before the start of the liturgy there was confession. Confession, due to the enormous number of people who wanted to confess to Fr. John, was introduced by him, out of necessity, general. This general confession made a stunning impression on all participants and eyewitnesses: many repented out loud, loudly shouting out their sins without shame or embarrassment. St. Andrew's Cathedral, which could accommodate up to 5,000 people, was always full, and therefore communion and the liturgy took a very long time before 12 o'clock. the day did not end. According to eyewitnesses and co-workers, Fr. John, the performance of Fr. John's Divine Liturgy defies description. A tender gaze, sometimes touching, sometimes sorrowful, in the face the radiance of a well-disposed spirit, prayerful sighs, sources of tears exuding internally, impetuous movements, the fire of priestly grace, penetrating his powerful exclamations, fiery prayer - these are some of the features of Fr. John during the service. Service o. Joanna represented a continuous fervent prayerful outburst to God. During the service, he was truly a mediator between God and people, an intercessor for their sins, he was a living link connecting the earthly Church, for which he interceded, and the heavenly Church, among whose members he hovered in spirit at those moments. Reading about. John on the choir - this was not a simple reading, but a lively, enthusiastic conversation with God and His saints: he read loudly, clearly, soulfully, and his voice penetrated the very soul of those praying. And during the Divine Liturgy, all the exclamations and prayers were pronounced by him as if with his enlightened eyes, face to face, he saw the Lord before him and spoke with Him. Tears of tenderness flowed from his eyes, but he did not notice them. It was obvious that Fr. During the Divine Liturgy, John experienced the entire history of our salvation, felt deeply and strongly all the Lord’s love for us, felt His suffering. Such service had an extraordinary effect on everyone present. Not everyone came to him with firm faith: some with doubt, others with distrust, and others out of curiosity. But here everyone was reborn and felt how the ice of doubt and unbelief gradually melted and was replaced by the warmth of faith. There were always so many people taking communion after general confession that sometimes there were several large bowls on the holy altar, from which several priests administered communion to the faithful at the same time. And such communion often lasted more than two hours.

During the service, letters and telegrams were brought to Fr. John directly to the altar, and he immediately read them and prayed for those whom he was asked to remember.

After the service, accompanied by thousands of believers, Fr. John left the cathedral and went to St. Petersburg on countless calls to the sick. And he rarely returned home before midnight. It must be assumed that many nights he had no time to sleep at all.

It was possible to live and work like this, of course, only in the presence of God’s supernatural, gracious help!

But the very glory of Fr. Joanna was his greatest feat, hard work. Just think that everywhere he appeared, a crowd of people eager to at least touch the miracle worker instantly grew around him. His admirers even rushed after a fast-moving carriage, grabbing it by the wheels with the danger of being mutilated.

At the request of the believers, Fr. John had to travel to different cities of Russia. These trips were a real triumph for Christ's humble servant. The crowd of people was in the tens of thousands, and everyone was overwhelmed with feelings of heartfelt faith and reverence, the fear of God and the thirst to receive a healing blessing. While passing about. John on the steamer, crowds of people ran along the shore, many knelt down as the steamer approached. In the Ryzhovka estate, near Kharkov, where Fr. John, grass, flowers, and flower beds were destroyed by a crowd of thousands. Thousands of people spent days and nights camped near this estate. Kharkov Cathedral during the service of Fr. John on July 15, 1890 could not accommodate the worshipers. Not only the entire cathedral, but also the area near the cathedral could not accommodate the people, who even filled all the adjacent streets. In the cathedral itself, the singers were forced to sit in the altar. Iron bars were broken everywhere due to the crush. July 20 Fr. John performed a prayer service at Cathedral Square- there were more than 60,000 people. Exactly the same scenes took place in the Volga cities: Samara, Saratov, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod.

O. John was in royal palace in Livadia during the last days of the Emperor’s life Alexandra III, and the very death of the Emperor followed in his presence. The sick Emperor met Fr. John with the words: “I did not dare to invite you myself. Thank you for coming. Please pray for me. I am very unwell”... This was October 12, 1894. After the joint kneeling prayer of the Sovereign alone with Fr. John saw a significant improvement in the patient’s health and raised hopes for his complete recovery. This went on for five days; On October 17, the deterioration began again. In the last hours of his life, the Emperor spoke of Fr. John: “You are a holy man. You are a righteous man. That is why the Russian people love you.” “Yes,” answered Father John, “your people love me.” Dying, after receiving the Holy Mysteries and the sacrament of consecration of oil, the Emperor asked Fr. John to lay his hands on his head, saying to him: “When you keep your hands on my head, I feel great relief, but when you take them away, I suffer greatly - do not take them away.” Father John continued to hold his hands on the head of the dying Tsar until the Tsar gave up his soul to God.

Having reached a high degree of prayerful contemplation and dispassion, Fr. John calmly accepted the rich clothes presented to him by his admirers and dressed himself in them. He even needed this to cover up his exploits. He gave away all the donations he received, down to the last penny. So, for example, having once received a package from the hands of a merchant in front of a huge crowd of people, Fr. John immediately handed it over to the poor man’s outstretched hand, without even opening the package. The merchant got excited: “Father, there are a thousand rubles!” “His happiness,” Fr. calmly answered. John. Sometimes, however, he refused to accept donations from certain people. There is a known case when he did not accept 30,000 rubles from one rich lady. In this case, the foresight of Fr. John, for this lady received this money through unclean means, for which she later repented.

Was. John and a wonderful preacher, and he spoke very simply and most often without special preparation - impromptu. He wasn't looking beautiful words and original expressions, but his sermons were distinguished by extraordinary strength and depth of thought, and at the same time exceptional theological scholarship, with all their accessibility to understanding even ordinary people. In every word he felt some kind of special strength, as a reflection of the strength of his own spirit.

Despite all his extraordinary busyness, Fr. John, however, found time to keep a kind of spiritual diary, writing down daily his thoughts that came to him during prayer and contemplation, as a result of “the gracious illumination of his soul, which he received from the all-enlightening Spirit of God.” These thoughts formed a whole wonderful book, published under the title: “My life in Christ.” This book represents a genuine spiritual treasure and can be placed on a par with the inspired works of the ancient great fathers of the Church and ascetics of Christian piety. IN full meeting essays about. John's 1893 edition “My Life in Christ” occupies 3 volumes of more than 1000 pages. This is a completely unique diary, in which we find an unusually instructive reflection of the author’s spiritual life for every reader. This book will forever remain a vivid testimony of how our great righteous man lived and how all those who want to not only be called, but actually be Christians should live.

A wonderful monument to the holy person Fr. John and inexhaustible material for edification are also three volumes of his sermons, containing a total of up to 1800 pages. Subsequently, many more individual works by Fr. John, published as separate books in huge quantities. All these words and teachings by Fr. John is a genuine breath of the Holy Spirit, revealing to us the unsearchable depths of the Wisdom of God. They are striking in their marvelous originality in everything: in presentation, in thought, in feeling. Every word is from the heart, full of faith and fire, in thoughts there is amazing depth and wisdom, in everything there is amazing simplicity and clarity. There's not a single extra word, no" beautiful phrases“You can’t just “read” them - you must always re-read them, and you will always find in them something new, living, sacred.

“My Life in Christ” soon after its publication attracted everyone’s attention so much that it was translated into several foreign languages, and even became a favorite reference book among Anglican priests.

The main idea of all written works of Fr. John - the need for true ardent faith in God and life by faith, in a constant struggle with passions and lusts, devotion to faith and the Orthodox Church as the only one who saves.

In relation to our Motherland - Russia, Fr. John showed himself to be the image of a formidable prophet of God, preaching the truth, denouncing lies, calling for repentance and predicting the imminent punishment of God for sins and apostasy. Being himself the image of meekness and humility, love for every person, regardless of nationality and religion, Fr. John treated with great indignation all those godless, materialistic and free-thinking liberal movements that undermined the faith of the Russian people and undermined the thousand-year political system Russia.

“Learn, Russia, to believe in God Almighty, who rules the destinies of the world, and learn from your holy ancestors faith, wisdom and courage... The Lord has entrusted us, Russians, with a great saving talent Orthodox faith... Rise up, Russian man!.. Who taught you disobedience and senseless rebellions, which never happened before in Russia... Stop being crazy! Enough! It is enough to drink a bitter cup full of poison - both for you and for Russia." And he menacingly prophesies: "The Russian Kingdom is wavering, tottering, close to fall." "If things go like this in Russia, the atheists and anarchist madmen will not be subject to the righteous punishment of the law, and if Russia does not cleanse itself of the multitude of tares, then it will become desolate, like the ancient kingdoms and cities, wiped off the face of the earth by God’s justice for their atheism and their iniquities." "Poor fatherland, will you ever prosper?! Only when you adhere with all your heart to God, the Church, love for the Tsar and the Fatherland and purity of morals."

The subsequent events of the bloody Russian revolution and the triumph of godless, misanthropic Bolshevism showed how right the great righteous man of the Russian land was in his dire warnings and prophetic foresights.

To the difficult feat of serving people in the last years of his life, Fr. John was joined by a painful personal illness - an illness that he meekly and patiently endured, never complaining to anyone. He decisively rejected the instructions of the famous doctors who used him - to maintain his strength with modest food. Here are his words: “I thank my Lord for the suffering sent down to me to purify my sinful soul. Holy Communion revives.” And he continued to receive communion every day.

On December 10, 1908, having gathered the rest of his forces, Fr. John himself celebrated the Divine Liturgy for the last time in Kronstadt St. Andrew's Cathedral. And at 7 o'clock. 40 min. on the morning of December 20, 1908, our great righteous man peacefully departed to the Lord, having predicted in advance the day of his death.

In the burial of Fr. John, tens of thousands of people participated and were present, and many miracles were performed at his tomb both then and in subsequent times. It was an extraordinary funeral! Throughout the entire space from Kronstadt to Oranienbaum and from the Baltic Station in St. Petersburg to the Ioannovsky Monastery on Karpovka there were huge crowds of crying people. Until that time, such a number of people had never been at any funeral - this was a completely unprecedented event in Russia. The funeral procession was accompanied by troops with banners, the military sang “How Glorious,” and troops lined trellises along the entire road through the city. The funeral service was performed by St. Petersburg Metropolitan Anthony at the head of a host of bishops and numerous clergy. Those who kissed the hand of the deceased testify that the hand remained neither cold nor numb. Funeral services were accompanied by general sobs of people who felt orphaned. Exclams were heard: “Our sun has set! To whom has our dear father abandoned us? Who will now come to the aid of us, the orphaned and the weak?” But there was nothing mournful in the funeral service: it rather resembled a bright Easter matins, and the further the service went, the more festive the mood among the worshipers grew and increased. It was felt that some kind of gracious power was emanating from the coffin and filling the hearts of those present with some kind of unearthly joy. It was clear to everyone that a saint, a righteous man, lay in the tomb, and his spirit hovered invisibly in the temple, embracing with his love and affection all those gathered to pay his last debt to him.

They buried Fr. John in the church-tomb, specially built for him in the basement of the monastery he built on Karpovka. This entire church is remarkably beautifully lined with white marble; The iconostasis and tomb are also made of white marble. On the tomb (with right side temple) lies the Holy Gospel and a carved miter, under which an unquenchable pink lamp burns. Many expensive, artistically executed lamps constantly glow over the tomb. A sea of light from thousands of candles lit by pilgrims floods this marvelous shining temple.

Now the great work of church glorification of our wondrous righteous man, by the grace of God, has been accomplished. Oh, if only this joyful event would revive in the hearts of all Orthodox Russian people the most important covenant of the ever-memorable Fr. John and prompted them to follow him with all determination: “We need general, moral cleansing, nationwide, deep repentance, a change in pagan morals to Christian ones: let us cleanse ourselves, wash ourselves with tears of repentance, let us be reconciled with God - and He will be reconciled with us!”

At the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on June 7-8, 1990, St. right John of Kronstadt was canonized, and his memory was established on December 20 / January 2 - the day of the blessed death of the holy righteous man.

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Ioannovsky Monastery is one of the main shrines of St. Petersburg, the place of labor and resting place of the great Russian saint St. right Father John of Kronstadt.

Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt (Ivan Ilyich Sergiev) was born on October 19, 1829 (old style) or November 1 according to the current style. in the village of Sura, Pinezhsky district, Arkhangelsk province, in the family of a clerk (deacon), whose ancestors served as priests for about three centuries. The child was born very weak, the parents did not hope that he would survive, and immediately at birth he was baptized with the name of the Bulgarian saint of the 10th century celebrated on this day. St. John of Rylsky.

He graduated from the Arkhangelsk Parish School (1839-1845), in 1851 – with honors from the Arkhangelsk Theological Seminary and entered the St. Petersburg Theological Academy as a “state-paid student”. In the same year, his father died, and John, while studying at the Academy, began to serve as a clerk, sending his small salary to his mother and sisters. As a student, John dreamed of becoming a monk and becoming a missionary in the east of the country, but later he changed his mind, devoting his life to returning to Christ the residents of the capital and its environs who had departed from the faith.

Shortly before completing his studies, John married Elizaveta Konstantinovna Nesvitskaya, the daughter of the keymaster of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt, persuading her to lead a chaste life. In the summer of 1855, John received a candidate of theology degree for his work “On the Cross of Christ in the guise of imaginary Old Believers.” On December 12, 1855, in the St. Petersburg Peter and Paul Cathedral, Bishop Christopher (Emmau) of Revel ordained him a priest of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt. During all the years of his priestly service, Fr. John celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the cathedral almost every day, and in the last 35 years of his life he served daily (last time - December 9, 1908). On April 26, 1875, he was elevated to the rank of archpriest, and from February 8, 1895 until his death, he was rector of St. Andrew's Cathedral.

Since 1857, Father John has been a teacher of law at the Kronstadt City School, and since 1862, also at the new classical gymnasium. He created the country's first Houses of Diligence to help the poor (in Kronstadt - in 1882), nurseries, hospices, shelters and other charitable institutions. Founded 4 convents and more than 50 farmsteads. He consecrated several dozen churches in the St. Petersburg diocese. In 1874 he created the “Guardianship of St. ap. Andrew the First-Called,” was an honorary member of the Alexander-Svirsky Brotherhood.

St. John possessed the gifts of healing and clairvoyance, and was the largest church benefactor of the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Since the 1880s gained wide popularity in Russia and abroad. Father John, the only shepherd of the Russian Church, was given the right to make general confessions. Every year up to 80 thousand pilgrims came to see him in Kronstadt; Up to 5-6 thousand worshipers gathered in St. Andrew's Cathedral. Almost every day he visited St. Petersburg. In October 1894, he was called by Emperor Alexander III to alleviate his dying sufferings; on October 17, he gave communion to the emperor. A writer, he kept a spiritual diary - an outstanding theological and edifying work. In 1894, his first edition, “My Life in Christ,” was published. Since 1893 - honorary member of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. During the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907. elected an honorary member of the Union of the Russian People, sharply speaking out against the revolutionaries and denouncing, first of all, their godlessness. Towards the end of his life. John received all the distinctions that an Orthodox priest could be awarded: he was a mitred archpriest (May 6, 1899), had highest awards empire (including the Order of St. Anne, Vladimir and Alexander Nevsky - December 9, 1905), in December 1906 he became a present member of the Holy Synod.

On June 3, 1964, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia named Fr. John to the Saints. The Russian Orthodox Church canonized him at the Local Council on June 7-8, 1990, and his glorification took place on June 14, 1990.

Troparion to John of Kronstadt:

Champion of the Orthodox faith. / The Russian land is sad, / a shepherd who rules and is a faithful figure, / a preacher of repentance and life in Christ. / A reverent servant of the Divine mysteries / and a daring prayer book for people, / the righteous Father John, / a healer and wonderful miracle worker, / praise the city of Kronstadt / and the adornment of our church, / pray to the all-good God / to pacify the world and save our souls.

Living in harsh conditions of extreme material need, the youth John early became acquainted with bleak pictures of poverty, grief, tears and suffering. This made him focused, thoughtful, and introverted, while at the same time instilling in him a deep empathy and compassionate love for the poor. Not being carried away by the games characteristic of childhood, he, constantly carrying the memory of God in his heart, loved nature, which aroused in him tenderness and admiration for the greatness of the Creator of every creature.

In his sixth year, the youth John, with the help of his father, began to learn to read and write. But reading and writing was difficult for the boy at first. This saddened him, but it also prompted him to especially fervently pray to God for help. When his father, having collected the last funds from his poverty, took him to the Arkhangelsk parish school, he, especially acutely feeling his loneliness and helplessness there, found all his consolation only in prayer. He prayed often and fervently, fervently asking God for help. And so, after one of these fervent prayers, at night, the boy suddenly seemed to be shaken all over, “as if a curtain had fallen from his eyes, as if the mind had opened in his head,” “it felt light and joyful in his soul”: the teacher of that day clearly appeared to him, his lesson, he even remembered what he was talking about. It got a little light, he jumped out of bed, grabbed his books - and oh, happiness! He began to read much better, began to understand everything well and remember what he read.

On December 12, 1855, he was ordained to the priesthood. When he first entered the Kronstadt St. Andrew's Cathedral, he stopped almost in horror at its threshold: this was exactly the temple that had long before appeared to him in his childhood visions. The rest of life is about. John and his pastoral activities took place in Kronstadt, which is why many forgot even his last name “Sergiev” and called him “Kronstadtsky”, and he himself often signed his name that way.

Marriage o. John, which was required by the customs of our Church for a priest serving in the world, was only fictitious, necessary for him to cover up his selfless pastoral deeds: in reality, he lived with his wife, like brother and sister. “There are many happy families, Lisa, even without us. “And you and I, let’s devote ourselves to serving God,” he said to his wife on the very first day of his marriage, remaining a pure virgin until the end of his days.

It was to these seemingly morally lost people, despised by everyone, that our great shepherd, filled with the spirit of genuine Christ’s love, turned his attention. It was among them that he began the wondrous feat of his selfless pastoral work. Every day he began to visit their wretched homes, talked, consoled, looked after the sick and helped them financially, giving away everything he had, often returning home undressed and even without boots. These Kronstadt “tramps”, “scum of society”, whom Fr. John, by the power of his compassionate pastoral love, made people again, returning to them the human image they had lost; they were the first to “discover” the holiness of Fr. John. And this “discovery” was then very quickly accepted by the entire believing people of Russia.

He tells an unusually touching story about one of these cases of spiritual rebirth thanks to Fr. To John, one artisan: “I was then 22-23 years old. Now I’m an old man, but I remember well the first time I saw Father. I had a family, two children. I worked and drank. The family was starving. My wife slowly collected from all over the world. We lived in a crappy kennel. I come once, not very drunk. I see some young priest sitting, holding his little son in his arms and saying something to him affectionately. The child listens seriously. It seems to me that the priest was like Christ in the picture “Blessing of the Children.” I wanted to swear: they were wandering around... but the father’s gentle and serious eyes stopped me: I felt ashamed... I lowered my eyes, and he looked, looking straight into my soul. He started talking. I don’t dare convey everything he said. He talked about the fact that I have paradise in my closet, because where there are children, it is always warm and good, and that there is no need to exchange this paradise for the children of the tavern. He didn’t blame me, no, he justified everything, but I had no time for justification. He left, I sit and remain silent... I don’t cry, although my soul feels the same as before tears. My wife is watching... And since then I have become a man..."

“We must love every person both in his sin and in his shame,” said Fr. John. “There is no need to confuse man - this image of God - with the evil that is in him”... With such a consciousness, he went to people, defeating everyone and reviving everyone with the power of his truly pastoral compassionate love.

Soon opened in o. John and the wondrous gift of miracles, which glorified him throughout Russia and even far beyond its borders. There is no way to list all the miracles performed by Fr. John. Our unbelieving intelligentsia and its press deliberately suppressed these countless manifestations of the power of God. But still, many miracles are recorded and stored in memory. An exact recording of the story of Fr. himself has been preserved. John about his first miracle to his fellow priests. This story breathes with deep humility. “Someone in Kronstadt fell ill,” this is how Fr. John. - They asked for my prayer help. Even then I already had this habit: never refuse anyone’s request. I began to pray, committing the sick person into the hands of God, asking the Lord to fulfill His holy will over the sick person. But suddenly an old woman whom I had known for a long time comes to me. She was a God-fearing, deeply religious woman who spent her life as a Christian and ended her earthly journey in the fear of God. She comes to me and insistently demands that I pray for the sick person only for his recovery. I remember then I was almost afraid: how can I - I thought - have such boldness? However, this old woman firmly believed in the power of my prayer and stood her ground. Then I confessed my insignificance and my sinfulness before the Lord, saw the will of God in this whole matter and began to ask for healing for the pain. And the Lord sent him His mercy - he recovered. I thanked the Lord for this mercy. Another time, through my prayer, the healing was repeated. Then in these two cases I directly saw the will of God, a new obedience from God - to pray for those who ask for it.”

Through the prayer of Fr. John really happened and now, after his blessed death, many wondrous miracles continue to happen. They were healed by prayer and the laying on of hands by Fr. John the most serious illnesses, when medicine was lost in its helplessness. Healings were performed both in private and in front of a large crowd of people, and very often in absentia. Sometimes it was enough to write a letter to Fr. John or send a telegram for the miracle of healing to happen. Particularly remarkable was the miracle that happened in front of everyone in the village of Konchanskoye (Suvorovskoye), described by chance by the Suvorov commission of military academy professors that was then there (in 1901). A woman who suffered from demonic possession for many years and was brought to Fr. John, in an unconscious state, was completely healed by him a few moments later and brought back to the normal state of a completely healthy person. Through the prayer of Fr. John made the blind see. The artist Zhivotovsky described the miraculous shedding of rain in an area suffering from drought and threatened by forest fire, after Fr. John offered his prayer there. With the power of his prayer, Father John healed not only Russian Orthodox people, but also Muslims, Jews, and foreigners who turned to him from abroad. This great gift of miracles was naturally the reward of Fr. John for his great deeds - prayerful works, fasting and selfless deeds of love for God and neighbors.

And soon all believing Russia flowed to the great and wondrous miracle worker. The second period of his glorious life and his exploits has begun. At first, he himself went to the people within the confines of one of his cities, and now the people themselves from everywhere, from all over Russia, rushed to him. Thousands of people came to Kronstadt every day, wanting to see Fr. John and receive some kind of help from him. He received an even greater number of letters and telegrams: the Kronstadt post office was supposed to open a special branch for his correspondence. Along with letters and telegrams flowed to Fr. John and huge sums of money for charity. Their size can only be judged approximately, because, receiving money, Fr. John immediately gave everything away. According to the most minimal estimate, at least one million rubles passed through his hands a year (a huge amount at that time!). With this money Fr. John fed a thousand beggars every day, built a wonderful institution in Kronstadt - the “House of Labor” with a school, church, workshops and a shelter, founded a convent in his native village and erected a large stone church, and in St. Petersburg built a convent on Karpovka, in which he was buried after his death.

To the general sorrow of the residents of Kronstadt, in the second period of his life, the period of his all-Russian glory, Fr. John had to leave teaching the Law of God at the Kronstadt City School and at the Kronstadt Classical Gymnasium, where he taught for over 25 years. And he was a wonderful teacher of the law. He never resorted to those teaching methods that often took place then in our educational institutions, that is, neither excessive severity nor moral humiliation of the incapable. U o. John, the measures of encouragement were not marks, nor the measures of intimidation - punishment. His success was born of his warm, sincere attitude both towards the very work of teaching and towards his students. Therefore, he had no “incapables.” In his lessons, everyone, without exception, eagerly listened to his every word. They were waiting for his lesson. His lessons were more of a pleasure, a relaxation for the students, than a heavy duty or work. It was a lively conversation, a fascinating speech, an interesting, attention-grabbing story. And these lively conversations of the shepherd-father with his children were deeply imprinted in the memory of the students for the rest of their lives. In his speeches addressed to teachers before the start of the school year, he explained this method of teaching by the need to give the fatherland, first of all, a person and a Christian, relegating the issue of science to the background. There were often cases when Fr. John, having interceded for some lazy student sentenced to expulsion, himself began to correct him. Several years passed, and the child, who seemed to show no hope, became a useful member of society. The special significance of Fr. John emphasized the reading of the lives of saints and always brought separate lives to lessons, which he distributed to students to read at home. The nature of such teaching of the Law of God. John is vividly captured in the address presented to him on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his teaching at the Kronstadt gymnasium: “You did not teach dry scholasticism to the children, you did not teach them dead formulas - texts and sayings, you did not demand from them lessons memorized only by memory; on bright, receptive souls you sowed the seeds of the eternal and life-giving Word of God.”

But this glorious feat of fruitful teaching of the law by Fr. John had to leave his all-Russian counseling for the sake of an even more fruitful and broad feat.

You just need to imagine how Fr.’s day went. John in order to understand and feel the full weight and greatness of this unparalleled feat of his. Fr. got up. John every day at 3 a.m. and prepared to serve the Divine Liturgy. At about 4 o'clock he went to the cathedral for Matins. Here he was already met by crowds of pilgrims, eager to receive at least a blessing from him. There were also many beggars there, to whom Fr. John gave alms. Matins Fr. John certainly always read the canon himself, attaching great importance to this reading. Before the start of the liturgy there was confession. Confession, due to the enormous number of people who wanted to confess to Fr. John, was introduced by him, out of necessity, general. This general confession made a stunning impression on all participants and eyewitnesses: many repented out loud, loudly shouting out their sins without shame or embarrassment. St. Andrew's Cathedral, which could accommodate up to 5,000 people, was always full, and therefore communion and the liturgy took a very long time before 12 o'clock. the day did not end. According to eyewitnesses and co-workers, Fr. John, the performance of Fr. John's Divine Liturgy defies description. A tender gaze, sometimes touching, sometimes sorrowful, in the face the radiance of a well-disposed spirit, prayerful sighs, sources of tears exuding internally, impetuous movements, the fire of priestly grace, penetrating his powerful exclamations, fiery prayer - these are some of the features of Fr. John during the service. Service o. Joanna represented a continuous fervent prayerful outburst to God. During the service, he was truly a mediator between God and people, an intercessor for their sins, he was a living link connecting the earthly Church, for which he interceded, and the heavenly Church, among whose members he hovered in spirit at those moments. Reading about. John on the choir - this was not a simple reading, but a lively, enthusiastic conversation with God and His saints: he read loudly, clearly, soulfully, and his voice penetrated the very soul of those praying. And during the Divine Liturgy, all the exclamations and prayers were pronounced by him as if with his enlightened eyes, face to face, he saw the Lord before him and spoke with Him. Tears of tenderness flowed from his eyes, but he did not notice them. It was obvious that Fr. During the Divine Liturgy, John experienced the entire history of our salvation, felt deeply and strongly all the Lord’s love for us, felt His suffering. Such service had an extraordinary effect on everyone present. Not everyone came to him with firm faith: some with doubt, others with distrust, and others out of curiosity. But here everyone was reborn and felt how the ice of doubt and unbelief gradually melted and was replaced by the warmth of faith. There were always so many people taking communion after general confession that sometimes there were several large bowls on the holy altar, from which several priests administered communion to the faithful at the same time. And such communion often lasted more than two hours.

During the service, letters and telegrams were brought to Fr. John directly to the altar, and he immediately read them and prayed for those whom he was asked to remember.

It was possible to live and work like this, of course, only in the presence of God’s supernatural, gracious help!

But the very glory of Fr. Joanna was his greatest feat, his hardest work. Just think that everywhere he appeared, a crowd of people eager to at least touch the miracle worker instantly grew around him. His admirers even rushed after a fast-moving carriage, grabbing it by the wheels with the danger of being mutilated.

At the request of the believers, Fr. John had to travel to different cities of Russia. These trips were a real triumph for Christ's humble servant. The crowd of people was in the tens of thousands, and everyone was overwhelmed with feelings of heartfelt faith and reverence, the fear of God and the thirst to receive a healing blessing. While passing about. John on the steamer, crowds of people ran along the shore, many knelt down as the steamer approached. In the Ryzhovka estate, near Kharkov, where Fr. John, grass, flowers, and flower beds were destroyed by a crowd of thousands. Thousands of people spent days and nights camped near this estate. Kharkov Cathedral during the service of Fr. John on July 15, 1890 could not accommodate the worshipers. Not only the entire cathedral, but also the area near the cathedral could not accommodate the people, who even filled all the adjacent streets. In the cathedral itself, the singers were forced to sit in the altar. Iron bars were broken everywhere due to the crush. July 20 Fr. John performed a prayer service on Cathedral Square - there were more than 60,000 people. Exactly the same scenes took place in the Volga cities: Samara, Saratov, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod.

Father John was in the royal palace in Livadia during the last days of the life of Emperor Alexander III, and the very death of the Sovereign followed in his presence. The sick Emperor met Fr. John with the words: “I did not dare to invite you myself. Thank you for coming. Please pray for me. I am very unwell”... It was October 12, 1894. After the joint kneeling prayer of the Sovereign alone with Fr. John saw a significant improvement in the patient’s health and raised hopes for his complete recovery. This went on for five days; On October 17, the deterioration began again. In the last hours of his life, the Emperor spoke of Fr. John: “You are a holy man. You are righteous. That’s why the Russian people love you.” “Yes,” answered Fr. John, “Your people love me.” Dying, after receiving the Holy Mysteries and the sacrament of consecration of oil, the Emperor asked Fr. John to lay his hands on his head, telling him: “When you keep your hands on my head, I feel great relief, but when you take them away, I suffer greatly - do not take them away.” Father John continued to hold his hands on the head of the dying Tsar until the Tsar gave up his soul to God.

Was. John and a wonderful preacher, and he spoke very simply and most often without special preparation - impromptu. He did not look for beautiful words and original expressions, but his sermons were distinguished by their extraordinary power and depth of thought, and at the same time by their exceptional theological scholarship, with all their accessibility to understanding even by ordinary people. In every word he felt some kind of special strength, as a reflection of the strength of his own spirit.

Despite all his extraordinary busyness, Fr. John, however, found time to keep a kind of spiritual diary, writing down daily his thoughts that came to him during prayer and contemplation, as a result of “the gracious illumination of his soul, which he received from the all-enlightening Spirit of God.” These thoughts formed a whole wonderful book, published under the title: “My life in Christ.” This book represents a genuine spiritual treasure and can be placed on a par with the inspired works of the ancient great fathers of the Church and ascetics of Christian piety. In the complete works of Fr. John’s 1893 edition “My Life in Christ” occupies 3 volumes of more than 1000 pages. This is a completely unique diary, in which we find an unusually instructive reflection of the author’s spiritual life for every reader. This book will forever remain a vivid testimony of how our great righteous man lived and how all those who want to not only be called, but actually be Christians should live.

A wonderful monument to the holy person Fr. John and inexhaustible material for edification are also three volumes of his sermons, containing a total of up to 1800 pages. Subsequently, many more individual works by Fr. John, published as separate books in huge quantities. All these words and teachings by Fr. John is a genuine breath of the Holy Spirit, revealing to us the unsearchable depths of the Wisdom of God. They are striking in their marvelous originality in everything: in presentation, in thought, in feeling. Every word is from the heart, full of faith and fire, in thoughts there is amazing depth and wisdom, in everything there is amazing simplicity and clarity. There is not a single extra word, there are no “beautiful phrases”. You can’t just “read” them - you must always re-read them, and you will always find in them something new, living, sacred.

“Learn, Russia, to believe in God Almighty, who rules the destinies of the world, and learn from your holy ancestors faith, wisdom and courage... The Lord has entrusted to us, Russians, the great saving talent of the Orthodox faith... Rise up, Russian people!.. Who taught you disobedience and rebellion senseless, the likes of which never existed in Russia before... Stop being crazy! Enough! It’s enough for you and Russia to drink the bitter cup full of poison.” And he menacingly prophesies: “The Russian Kingdom is wavering, tottering, close to falling.” “If things go like this in Russia, and the atheists and anarchist madmen will not be subject to the righteous punishment of the law, and if Russia is not cleansed of many weeds, then it will be desolate, like the ancient kingdoms and cities, wiped out by God’s justice from the face of the earth for their atheism and for their iniquities." “Poor fatherland, will you ever prosper?! Only when you adhere with all your heart to God, the Church, love for the Tsar and the Fatherland and purity of morals.”

To the difficult feat of serving people in the last years of his life, Fr. John was joined by a painful personal illness - an illness that he meekly and patiently endured, never complaining to anyone. He decisively rejected the instructions of the famous doctors who used him - to maintain his strength with modest food. Here are his words: “I thank my Lord for the suffering sent down to me to purify my sinful soul. Revives - Holy Communion." And he continued to receive communion every day.

In the burial of Fr. John, tens of thousands of people participated and were present, and many miracles were performed at his tomb both then and in subsequent times. It was an extraordinary funeral! Throughout the entire space from Kronstadt to Oranienbaum and from the Baltic Station in St. Petersburg to the Ioannovsky Monastery on Karpovka there were huge crowds of crying people. Until that time, such a number of people had never been at any funeral - this was a completely unprecedented event in Russia. The funeral procession was accompanied by troops with banners, the military sang “How Glorious is How Glorious,” and troops stood in trellises along the entire road through the entire city. The funeral service was performed by St. Petersburg Metropolitan Anthony at the head of a host of bishops and numerous clergy. Those who kissed the hand of the deceased testify that the hand remained neither cold nor numb. Funeral services were accompanied by general sobs of people who felt orphaned. Exclams were heard: “Our sun has set! To whom did my dear father leave us? Who will come to the aid of us now, the orphans and the weak?” But there was nothing mournful in the funeral service: it rather resembled a bright Easter matins, and the further the service went, the more festive the mood among the worshipers grew and increased. It was felt that some kind of gracious power was emanating from the coffin and filling the hearts of those present with some kind of unearthly joy. It was clear to everyone that a saint, a righteous man, lay in the tomb, and his spirit hovered invisibly in the temple, embracing with his love and affection all those gathered to pay his last debt to him.

They buried Fr. John in the church-tomb, specially built for him in the basement of the monastery he built on Karpovka. This entire church is remarkably beautifully lined with white marble; The iconostasis and tomb are also made of white marble. On the tomb (on the right side of the temple) lies the Holy Gospel and a carved miter, under which an unquenchable pink lamp burns. Many expensive, artistically executed lamps constantly glow over the tomb. A sea of light from thousands of candles lit by pilgrims floods this marvelous shining temple.

priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, mitered archpriest

short biography

John of Kronstadt(real name - Ioann Ilyich Sergiev; October 19 (31), 1829, village of Sura, Pinezhsky district, Arkhangelsk province - December 20, 1908 (January 2, 1909), Kronstadt, St. Petersburg province) - priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, mitered archpriest; rector of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt; member of the Holy Governing Synod since 1906 (avoided participation in meetings); “the inspirer of the creation and honorary member” of the Union of the Russian People. Preacher, spiritual writer, church and public figure of right-wing conservative and monarchist views. Honorary member of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. He was assessed extremely negatively by official propaganda in the USSR.

He was buried in the Ioannovsky Monastery he founded on Karpovka (St. Petersburg).

Canonized among the righteous by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia on October 19 (November 1), 1964; subsequently, on June 8, 1990, by the Russian Orthodox Church ( holy righteous John of Kronstadt).

The memory is celebrated on December 20 and June 1 according to the Julian calendar (in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia - also on October 19).

Origin and relatives

Born on October 19, 1829 in the village of Sura, Pinezhsky district, Arkhangelsk province, he was the first-born in poor family. “Due to poor health” he was baptized in the house on his birthday and named in honor of St. John of Rila.

Paternal grandfather - Mikhail Nikitich Sergiev, born in 1779, priest of the Sursky parish. Other ancestors in my father's family had been priests for at least 350 years. Documents mention Yakov Sergiev (1687) and Mikhail Sergiev (1755-1756) among the clergy of the Pinega district.

Father - Ilya Mikhailovich Sergiev, born July 13, 1808, graduated from the district religious school, after which he returned home and served all his life as sexton of the St. Nicholas Church in the village of Sura, near which he was buried. According to John himself, his parent “died early, 48 years old, in 1851.”

Maternal grandfather - Vlasiy Porokhin, deacon of the Surskaya Church.

Mother - Feodora Vlasevna, née Porokhin. Born February 8, 1808. Married on July 22, 1828. The marriage had six children, four boys and two girls, of whom three survived. She died in Kronstadt from cholera, at the age of 63. A chapel-tomb was built over her grave in Kronstadt, restored in 2008.

Brothers - Nikita and Vasily - died in infancy; Ivan - died of consumption at the age of 18. Sister Anna married the deacon of the Sura parish, Vasily Fidelin. Their eldest son, Ivan Vasilyevich Fidelin, moved to Kronstadt and became the personal secretary of Father John of Kronstadt; in 1892 he published his collected works. Sister Daria married a peasant from the village of Gorskoy, Semyon Malkin. Her granddaughter, Lyubov Alekseevna Malkina, born in 1920, grandniece of John of Kronstadt, lived in Sura.

Studies

In 1839 he entered the Arkhangelsk parish school as a student of his own, and by the end of it he was the first student. He moved to the Arkhangelsk Theological Seminary, graduated from it in 1851 as a second student, and for his success in the same year he was sent to study at public expense at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, which he graduated in 1855 with a candidate of theology degree, having defended his thesis “About the Cross of Christ in the denunciation of imaginary Old Believers”.

Family

According to Father John, while studying at the theological academy, he saw himself in a dream in priestly robes, serving in the cathedral of the city of Kronstadt. A few days later, he received an offer to marry the daughter of the rector of that very cathedral and agreed. Father John had no children; according to his " Brief Life” in the official publication of the Moscow Patriarchate, the spouses “took upon themselves the feat of virginity.” His wife, Elizaveta (1829-1909), is the daughter of the archpriest of the Kronstadt St. Andrew's Cathedral, Konstantin Nesvitsky. The first officially compiled (with the blessing of the hierarchy of the Russian Church Abroad) “Life” (1964) said that “the marriage of Fr. Joanna<…>there was only a fictitious one, which he needed to cover up his selfless pastoral exploits.”

The couple raised the two daughters of Elizaveta Konstantinovna’s sister, Anna, Elizaveta and Rufina, as their own children. The latter subsequently married midshipman Nikolai Shemyakin, receiving 6,000 rubles in gold as a dowry from Father John. Rufina Shemyakina recorded the sermons of the last years of Father John’s life and in 1909 published two books about her uncle and aunt.

Judging by the entries in Father John's personal diary, his wife began to show jealousy, suspicion and even hostility towards him from the mid-1870s; A diary entry in 1883 indicates that Father John’s “household” did not fast (even in the first week of Lent) and showed “disrespect for church decrees.”

At the end of her life, Elizaveta Konstantinovna underwent a serious operation, after which she lost her legs. She died on May 22, 1909, her funeral service was conducted by Bishop Kirill (Smirnov) of Gdov, and was buried in the fence of St. Andrew’s Cathedral.

Service

I wanted to become a monk and become a missionary to preach Christianity to the peoples of Siberia and America. But seeing that the residents of the capital “know Christ no more than the savages of some Patagonia,” he decided to stay here. After his ordination, he was sent to Kronstadt, a place of administrative deportation of asocial individuals and numerous beggars and unskilled workers. In Kronstadt, Father John “began to visit shacks, dugouts and poor apartments. He consoled abandoned mothers, nursed their children while the mother did the laundry; helped with money; admonished and admonished drunkards; He distributed all his salary to the poor, and when there was no money left, he gave away his cassock and boots and returned home barefoot to the church house.” This even led to the fact that at one time his salary was given not to him, but to his wife.

On December 10, 1855, in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Bishop Christopher (Emaussky) of Revel, vicar of the St. Petersburg Metropolis, was ordained a deacon, and a day later, on December 12, 26-year-old John was ordained a priest at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Kronstadt, in which he served for 53 years, until his death.

Since 1857 - teacher of law at the Kronstadt City School; from 1862 he taught the Law of God at the local classical gymnasium - for the next 25 years.

His innovative attitude to his pastoral duties, expressed, in particular, in the extreme emotionality of his sermons (as eyewitnesses said, he often shed tears at them), met in the 1860s with misunderstanding and disapproval from other clergy of the cathedral in which he was then only the third priest, as well as the school authorities.

According to his personal diary, the first instance of what he perceived as the healing of a sick person through his prayer occurred on February 19, 1867, when he wrote: “Lord! I thank You, because through my prayer, through the laying on of my priestly hands, You healed the youth (Kostylev). 19 Feb. 1867.<…>».

Since 1875 - archpriest; from 1894 - rector of St. Andrew's Cathedral; since 1899 - mitred archpriest.

From the very beginning of his ministry, he was engaged in private charity, and from the 1880s he expanded it: he founded the “House of Diligence” (a workhouse with workshops), a school for the poor, a women’s almshouse, and an orphanage. Divine services in the parishes of St. Petersburg, performed by him at the invitation of the merchants, at times caused friction with the local clergy, as well as discontent with the St. Petersburg Metropolitan Isidore.

Contrary to the practice then accepted in the Russian Church, he introduced general confession (in the sacrament of repentance), and called for frequent communion of the Holy Mysteries (in Russia at that time it was common to commune twice or even once a year, during Lent).

He was an honorary member of the Holy Prince Vladimir Brotherhood.

All-Russian fame

In the 1870s, Paraskeva Kovrigina was involved in spreading the fame of the spiritual gifts of Archpriest Sergiev in Kronstadt; after the regicide on March 1, 1881, she moved her activities to St. Petersburg.

On December 20, 1883, in the capital’s newspaper “Novoye Vremya”, Alexei Suvorin published a “Statement of Thanks” on behalf of a number of private individuals, which, according to the compilers of the “Life” of Father John, was “the beginning of the all-Russian fame of the Kronstadt priest.”

By the beginning of the 1890s, he received such veneration among the people that everywhere in Russia, wherever it became known about his arrival, many people gathered in advance; Crowds gathered around him and literally tore his clothes (once the residents of Riga tore his cassock into pieces, everyone wanting to have a piece for themselves).

Every year since 1891 he traveled to his homeland in Sura; all trips, as Abbot Ioann (Samoilov) writes, are described; a few days later a detailed description of the visit appeared in local newspapers: he was greeted by crowds of thousands of people, creating difficulties for ensuring movement and safety.

Charity

The growing fame and veneration of John of Kronstadt led to large sums of money being donated to him - personally and by postal orders. Large amounts(up to 50 thousand rubles) Father John donated for the construction and maintenance of charitable institutions, schools, hospitals, monasteries and churches, donated to charitable societies, including other faiths (Tatars, Jews). Father John said about his charity: “God has neither Greeks nor Jews. I don't have my own money. They donate to me and I donate. I often don’t even know who and where sent me this or that donation. That’s why I donate to where there is a need and where this money can be useful.” Father John's secretary said that in June 1895 he sent 25 thousand rubles by mail to various petitioners, not counting personal sacrifices from hand to hand, the amount of which no one knew, not even Father John himself.

On the other hand, the fame of the generosity of John of Kronstadt attracted a huge number of petitioners to him - from simple beggars to rich merchants who fell into despair due to a critical situation (bankruptcy, losing at cards, etc.). Father John moved around Kronstadt, accompanied by an entire “army” of beggars, to whom he distributed alms twice a day - morning and evening. Before distribution, the crowd of beggars was divided into dozens, each of whom was given a ruble, which was then divided into 10 people. This amount is 10 kopecks. in the morning and 10 kopecks. in the evening - enough to find food for the day and pay for an overnight stay. The more he gave away money, the more people donated to him. According to various sources, from 150 thousand to a million rubles a year passed through the hands of Father John.

Church built in the village of Sura by Fr. John of Kronstadt. Photo 1986

In 1891, he built a stone parish church in his native Sura, which represented a group of 16 villages located both along the Pinega River and its tributary Sura; in another part of the village he founded a convent (John the Theological Women's Community).

By the 1890s, a local industry had developed in Kronstadt to serve the significant flow of pilgrims who came in the hope of meeting John. Due to the physical impossibility of paying attention to everyone, John was forced to hire a staff (female secretaries) who were in charge of selecting visitors; as a result, inevitably, a kind of business developed around him, and some of his secretaries, taking bribes into their pockets for the opportunity to visit, “made themselves a small capital and earned the wrath of those who turned to them for assistance.”

At the bedside of the dying Alexander III

On October 8, 1894, he arrived simultaneously with Queen Olga of the Hellenes and Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna (on the latter’s initiative) in Livadia to visit the dying Emperor Alexander III. On the anniversary of salvation royal family in 1888, on October 17, he served the liturgy in Oreanda, then, arriving at the palace, he communed the Emperor with the Holy Mysteries; On October 20, in the last hours of the emperor’s life, he anointed his body with oil from the lamp, after which, at the request of the dying man, he laid his hands on his head. Staying at the bedside of the dying king contributed to the further growth of his popularity in society. At the same time, after the death of Alexander III, Father John was no longer invited to the emperor and empress.

According to Nadezhda Kitsenko, based on entries in his personal diary, his stay in Livadia (as well as the publication in the press of the dialogue that took place, according to John himself, between him and the king) made him invulnerable to the criticism that had previously taken place from the clergy and attempts to “pacify” him. In addition, it finally shaped John’s political worldview, in which autocracy was the absolute religious and political ideal.

At the coronation of Nicholas II

On May 14, 1896, in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, among some other members of the white clergy, he took part in the service of the liturgy, which immediately followed the ceremony of the sacred coronation of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

Lifestyle

He got up around four o'clock in the morning, after the service in the Kronstadt Cathedral, which ended around noon, and visited visitors and local residents of Kronstadt who invited him for one need or another. Usually these were requests for prayer at the patient's bedside. Then he went to St. Petersburg. In the summer by boat to Oranienbaum, and in the winter on the ice on a sleigh. In St. Petersburg he also visited people who asked him to visit, as well as public events and celebrations, for example, the opening of factories. Late in the evening, often after midnight, Fr. John was returning home to Kronstadt. During the period of Great Lent, he canceled his daily trips to St. Petersburg, but, after visiting apartments in Kronstadt, he accepted confession in St. Andrew’s Cathedral. Since it was big number those wishing to go to confession with him, it was very long and often lasted from one or two in the afternoon until two in the morning, and sometimes Father John confessed until the morning service. Very tired by eleven in the evening, he interrupted confession for half an hour to ride in a stroller around fresh air and regain strength, after which he returned to the cathedral again and continued confession. Often during the day I did not have the opportunity to eat food properly. Didn't have any personal time. I slept very little, not always even 3-4 hours. He lived in this mode every day for several decades.

Appearance

Father John of Kronstadt was of average height, his movements were impetuous and sharp, he was very cheerful for his age and looked young beyond his years, “the usual friendly smile shone on his face.”

According to his admirers and hagiographers, “the most appearance Father John was special, somehow charming, involuntarily endearing everyone’s hearts to him: the sky was reflected in his eyes, compassion for people was in his face, and the desire to help everyone was in his address.”

Many “self-witnesses” noted about Fr. John’s blue eyes “pierce right through the interlocutor”: “Father looked at me with some special look, which in rare moments I was able to observe from him - some kind of, if I may say so, otherworldly look. The pupils disappeared, and as if the blue sky was looking out of the eyes, it seemed as if Father had disappeared and only that one look remained.”

From the story of one former drunkard, who, after looking at Fr. Ioanna stopped drinking: “I stood by the carriage, opened the doors for him, I try to hold myself straighter... Then I looked into his eyes, and his eyes were looking at me, not just angry, but deep without end, the further you look, the deeper they burn with such fire that I felt scared. I grabbed my head, saying I wasn’t wearing a hat: I was so scared. The priest was obviously angry. Then he apparently had mercy. - “Why are you drinking, my dear?” Since then I haven’t drunk.”

Some people blamed Father John for wearing expensive clothes. However, according to eyewitnesses, he did not order it for himself, and accepted it only so as not to offend the donors, who sincerely wanted to thank him or serve him in some way.

Personal diary

From December 14, 1856, he kept a diary, which is stored in the Russian State Historical Archive and which was first used in a study (2000) by Nadezhda Kitsenko, a professor at the State University of New York at Albany ( q.v.). The contents of the diary entries, reflecting John’s personal experiences and thoughts, are distinguished by extreme self-criticism and an “even openly negative” tone towards himself. Such an attitude towards oneself is quite typical for Orthodox asceticism.

According to Nadezhda Kitsenko, the entries in Father John’s diary indicate that in the first decades of his pastoral activity he experienced and painfully experienced a feeling of class humiliation; his psychological rejection of the environment of the poor and beggars was determined by his own social origin, which weighed heavily on him. The diaries give a picture of the internal religious and everyday life of Father John, his attitude towards politics, literature, heterodoxy and heterodoxy. Frequent references to the disease gastrointestinal tract, which Father John suffered for many years and attempts to overcome it with diet, consumption of yogurt, mineral water and so on. The diaries of Saint John testify that he paid considerable attention to dreams (including nightmares), wrote them down, perceived them as temptations, absolution for sins, teachings, prophecies, denunciations:

October 23. I saw in a dream before the morning two live pigs, covered with dough, as they do before Easter - on Good Friday or Saturday. These pigs are you glutton
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt. Death diary. 1908, May-November. Ed. "Father's house". M., St. Petersburg, Kronstadt 2006. P. 80, 81.

Father John's statements in his diary are sometimes harsh and naturalistic. Individual words and entries in editions of St. John's diary are replaced or omitted by publishers or church censorship. Thus, in the diary of St. John for May - November 1908, published in 2006 with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II (reviewer Abbot Peter Pigol), there is no entry for October 9 from mentioning the physiological details of John’s illness, and in the previous entry the word “boobs” was replaced by “men.”

Social activity

In 1903, together with Bishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky) of Volyn, he condemned the Kishinev pogrom (their jointly signed “Tale of the Kishinev Events” (Kishinev, 1903, and Odessa, 1903) was distributed by Jewish societies), which brought upon himself the anger and indignation of extreme right. At the same time, in a letter to the “Christians of Chisinau” dated May 23, 1903, he asked them for forgiveness for condemning exclusively the pogromists and stated that “the Jews themselves were mainly to blame for the pogrom.” In a private letter dated October 31, 1905, he explained the events of the revolution of 1905-1907 in Russia: “... the culprits are, in all likelihood, Jews who bribed our hooligans to kill, rob, and burn Russian people.” In his messages, condemning the revolution, he called: “ The Lord has entrusted to us, Russians, the great saving talent of the Orthodox faith... Arise, Russian people!”

According to the researcher of ultra-right movements Walter Laqueur, in 1906, in one of his sermons, John of Kronstadt justified the pogroms by explaining that it was God’s punishment, as Laqueur writes, “for grave sins against the government.”

Honorary member of the Kazan Temperance Society I. I. Sergiev (Kronstadt) (photo from the magazine “Activist” for December 1898)

John of Kronstadt was known as an ascetic and popularizer of the temperance movement in the Russian Empire. He was, in particular, an honorary member and donor of the Kazan Temperance Society, which published in mass editions “The Words of Father John Ilyich Sergeev against Drunkenness” and his other sermons and appeals.

The House of Diligence opened under St. Andrew's trusteeship, opened through the efforts of John of Kronstadt and Baron Otto Buxhoeveden, was of great importance. In the house there were various workshops, schools, a shelter, a people's canteen and an outpatient clinic. The successful activities of the Kronstadt House of Diligence became widely known, which led to the emergence of similar institutions throughout Russia - by the end of the 19th century there were already about a hundred of them.

John of Kronstadt was acutely worried about the political and military defeats of Russia. He considered their reasons to be the lack of faith and short-sightedness of Tsar Nicholas II, his indulgence in unbelief and blasphemy, and the sins of the people:

Do not grieve inconsolably about the misfortune of your fatherland, about lost wars... about the loss of warships... about the enormous losses of the state from arson... Grieve that you are making bad progress towards the incorruptible, eternal fatherland, prepared in heaven, that your heart is far from God. The earthly fatherland suffers for the sins of the tsar and the people, for the lack of faith and short-sightedness of the tsar, for his indulgence in the unbelief and blasphemy of Leo Tolstoy and the entire so-called educated world of ministers, officials, officers, and student youth. Pray to God with tears of blood for the general lack of faith and corruption of Russia.

Lord, may the sleeping king, who has ceased to exercise his power, arise; give him courage, wisdom, foresight.

Participation in the “Union of the Russian People”

John of Kronstadt became the inspirer and one of the founders of the Union of the Russian People (RUN) in 1905. He supported the Union not only spiritually, but also with large sums of money. Welcoming the 3rd All-Russian Congress of Russian People, held in October 1906, he wrote in a telegram: “I enthusiastically follow the speeches and actions of the Congress.” On November 26 (December 9), on the day of memory of St. George the Victorious, in the presence of tens of thousands of members of the RNC, he consecrated the banner and banner and presented them to the kneeling Chairman of the Union, Alexander Dubrovin.

In 1907, John of Kronstadt joined the Union of the Russian People. On October 15, 1907, he was unanimously elected as an honorary member of the Union for life: “The Main Council of the Union of the Russian People unanimously calls on You, revered shepherd, to provide unceasing prayerful protection to the cause of its service for the benefit of the great Russian People.” He was a member of many branches of the RNC, participated in events organized by the "allies", spoke at monarchist meetings and religious processions. In addition to the RNC, the Russian Monarchist Party was also “under the direct patronage” of John of Kronstadt.

The German specialist in the history of the Russian Church, Gerd Stricker, writes about John of Kronstadt:

He is a typical example of how a person of sound conservative convictions, under the influence of rapidly changing events, the meaning of which he was no longer able to understand, changes them to more radical ones: he agreed to be elected an honorary member of the “Union of the Russian People” , known for his participation in pogroms and assassination attempts on liberal politicians.

Criticism of Leo Tolstoy

From the beginning of the 1890s, he increasingly criticized the popular writer and influential public figure Count Leo Tolstoy.

John believed that Leo Tolstoy developed a religious system of a pantheistic nature (“There is no Creator God; I am part of God”), which, according to Archpriest John Vostorgov, had a number of contradictions, and outlined it in his published works. On February 20-22, 1901, by decision of the Holy Synod No. 557, he was recognized as having fallen away from the church.

The Church believes that Tolstoy rejected the doctrine of the divinity of Christ, the dogmas of the trinity of the Divine, of redemption, of immaculate conception and resurrection from the dead. In his “Response to the Synod” (1901), Tolstoy wrote: “The fact that I have renounced the Church, which calls itself Orthodox, is absolutely fair.” “It is also said that I reject all sacraments. This is completely fair. I consider all sacraments to be crude... witchcraft.” In “Address to the Clergy” (1902), Tolstoy wrote: “...is there a book in the Christian world that has done more harm to people than this terrible book called the ‘sacred history’ of the Old and New Testaments?”

Father John denounced Tolstoy in his sermons; he also wrote more than 20 articles in defense of the Orthodox faith, among them “The response of the church pastor to Leo Tolstoy to his “Appeal to the Clergy”” (1903), “On the soul-destroying heresy of Count L.N. Tolstoy” ( 1907, 4th edition), “In denouncing the false teachings of Count L. Tolstoy. From the diary" (1910).

Father John blamed Tolstoy, in particular, for the fact that the latter “perverted the whole meaning of Christianity,” “set out to... lead everyone away from faith in God and from the Church,” “mocks the Holy Scriptures,” “mocks the Church with satanic laughter.” , “perishes along with his followers.” He believed that Tolstoy’s teachings intensified the “corruption of morals” of society, that his writings “poisoned many young men and women,” that Tolstoy’s “subverted Russia and prepared its political destruction.”

He predicted a “fierce” death for him: “The death of a sinner is fierce. And his death - Tolstoy - will be fear for the whole world. (Of course, the relatives will hide this.) “- wrote John of Kronstadt in his diary of 1907-1908. Father John’s associate Yakov Ilyashevich claimed that the prophecy came true, referring to the words of the count’s sister that in last days Throughout his life, Tolstoy allegedly suffered from visions of terrible monsters.

In his diaries, Father John repeatedly prayed for death for Leo Tolstoy:

September 6, 1908 Lord, do not allow Leo Tolstoy, the heretic who surpassed all heretics, to reach the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, whom he terribly blasphemed and blasphemes. Take him from the ground - this stinking corpse, which stinks the whole earth with its pride. Amen"; “Lord, remove M. Anthony, J. Janitcheva and other unfaithful people! ... L.Tolst<ого>take it.

Illness and death

He first became seriously ill in December 1904; On January 3, 1905, at his request, the sacrament of the Blessing of Oil was performed on him by the clergy of St. Andrew's Cathedral, which took place in front of a large crowd of people around the house of Father John.

For the past three years he has suffered from a “painful illness” Bladder"Some admirers connect the latter with the legend about the injuries inflicted on Father John in groin area, in one of the houses where he was invited supposedly to pray over the sick, which Father John asked his companions not to tell anyone about, “so that there would be no pogroms.” Communicating the Holy Mysteries daily; celebrated the last liturgy on December 9, 1908; in recent days, the Holy Gifts were brought to his house every day.

He died in Kronstadt on December 20, 1908 at 7:40 am in the 80th year of his life; He did not leave a spiritual will or any financial savings.

Burial

Funeral services in St. Andrew's Cathedral were led by Bishop Kirill (Smirnov) of Gdov; Local military officials were present, in particular, a distant relative of the deceased - the commander of the Kronstadt port, Rear Admiral Ivan Grigorovich.

On December 22, the body was transported from Kronstadt on a sleigh across the ice to Oranienbaum, then in a mourning saloon car to the Baltic Station. In St. Petersburg, reinforced police squads were placed along the route of the procession; at the station, which was completely cordoned off, there were “mass of police.” Through the mayor Daniil Drachevsky, the procession was ordered to go past the Winter Palace, along the embankment. The body was delivered to the Ioannovsky Monastery on Karpovka around 20:00. 30 minutes, after which the parastasis began, performed by Bishop of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogory Mikhei (Alekseev), the spiritual child of the deceased.

On December 23, at 5 o’clock in the morning, by order of the chief of police, Colonel Galle, people’s access to the temple was stopped; correspondence from the Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper from St. Petersburg read: “<…>At 9 o'clock in the morning, December 23, the clergy begin to gather at the Ioannovsky Monastery. Around the monastery and in the church it is quite deserted: pilgrims are allowed in here only with special invitation cards from Abbess Angelina, without which the police did not even let the clergy in... And instead of yesterday’s religiously excited crowd of people, eager to worship the ashes of their beloved shepherd, only the chosen and official are visible faces... There is also an excessive abundance of police officers, almost equal in number to the invited public... It was a shame this desertion at the tomb of the shepherd-lover of the people<…>" The funeral liturgy and subsequent funeral service were led by Metropolitan Anthony of St. Petersburg, co-served by Archbishop Sergius of Finland and other bishops, with a host of clergy; the funeral homily at the end of the liturgy, instead of the communion verse, was pronounced by the relative of the deceased, Archpriest Philosopher Ornatsky; Before the funeral service, Metropolitan Anthony also said a word.

Tomb

Father John, according to his will and with the Highest permission, was buried in the temple-tomb, which he built for himself in the crypt of the Ioannovsky Monastery on Karpovka. The temple was consecrated at his request in honor of the heavenly patrons of his parents - the holy prophet Elijah and the holy queen Theodora by the Lavra dean on December 21, the day after his death.

Opinions about John of Kronstadt

Positive

Saint Theophan of Poltava believed: “His works are not enough to just read; they need to be studied, like the works of the Holy Fathers.”
As A.V. Kruglov recalled, “When Fr. John addressed the people before confession; his words burned through the heart. He was not an orator, but his speech had a mighty power, because his every teaching was nothing less than a revelation of his fiery heart and his beliefs.
K. Leontyev: “I don’t know him personally; I believe in great prayer and miracles; ... a sick person wrote to him, asking him to pray for the servant of God K-n and received healing very soon. This is a special gift; but his sermons are extremely weak and routine... Judging by the sermons from. John, you really don’t see much intelligence in him.”

Criticism in literature and print

According to Nadezhda Kitsenko, Nikolai Leskov’s story “Midnight Owls,” published at the end of 1891, was a cruel satire of both Father John himself and those around him. Critic Akim Volynsky in the book “N. S. Leskov" wrote that the author of "Midnight Office" visited Kronstadt and that "agidation" where believers in the miracles of John of Kronstadt gathered. Leskov's negative attitude was also manifested in the caustic handwritten note "Archpriest Ivan Sergiev (Kronstadt) in three editions" and in letters to L.N. Tolstoy: “These days he healed my friend, the young lady Zhukova and the priest who lives above me: both died, and he did not bury them.”

After the publication of the Supreme Manifesto on October 17, 1905 and the subsequent liberalization of censorship, the Russian press began to publish negative articles and cartoons about John of Kronstadt, sometimes of an obscene and mocking nature. John of Kronstadt was attacked by liberal and Old Believer publications, as well as some private individuals, for his departure on October 27, 1905 from Kronstadt to St. Petersburg during the Kronstadt Uprising. In big Soviet encyclopedia it was indicated that John left Kronstadt due to fear of a revolutionary uprising. A satirical image of John leaving Kronstadt soon appeared in the magazine “Machine Gun”. At the same time, Father John was in Kronstadt on the night of October 26-27, during the most severe unrest, and served the liturgy there on the morning of October 27. Outraged by this kind of publication, his admirers wanted to establish a society to protect Father John from attacks from the press, but the draft Charter of the society was not approved by Metropolitan Anthony. The writer Pavel Basinsky believes that if John of Kronstadt had gone to the rebels, who had destroyed, among other things, wine cellars, to exhort them with the word of God, he would have committed heroic deed, and writes that “this day (October 27) of Father John was no different from his other days, except that in conditions of a state of emergency he had to ask permission to serve (a prayer service regarding the events taking place), and usually in the afternoon he and went to St. Petersburg on his own business.”

John of Kronstadt with the leaders of the Johannite sect, to the right of the archpriest is Matryona Ivanovna Kiseleva (Porfiria), to the left is Nazariy Dimitriev (Elder Nazariy)

The name of John of Kronstadt is associated with the emergence of a religious movement - the Johannites. Playwright Viktor Protopopov, based on critical newspaper publications about John of Kronstadt, wrote the play “Black Crows” in 1907; in this work, John of Kronstadt was portrayed as a pseudo-healer, and his Johannite supporters as sectarian fanatics. The play was performed to full houses on the stages of theaters in the Russian Empire. It aroused, on the one hand, the approval of part of Russian society and the critical press, on the other hand, the indignation of another part of the believing part of Russian society - mostly monarchists and Black Hundreds, who regarded the play as blasphemous and slanderous. A number of articles against the Black Crows appeared in the press. Thanks to the arrival in St. Petersburg of the Black Hundred bishops of Saratov Hermogenes (Dolganev) and Oryol Seraphim (Chichagov), their complaints to the Holy Synod, the performance of the play on stages was prohibited in the Russian Empire. After the death of John of Kronstadt, in 1912, the Holy Synod condemned the Johannites and declared them a sect, one of the trends in Khlysty.

Life surgeon Nikolai Velyaminov, who, together with Father John in Livadia, witnessed the last days of the life of Emperor Alexander III, assessed Father John and the emperor’s attitude towards him this way (in a book published in exile in 1920): “Livadia also gave me enough material for observations of this undoubtedly remarkable priest. I think that he was a believer in his own way, but above all, he was a great actor in life, amazingly able to lead the crowd and individual weaker-character people into religious ecstasy and take advantage of the situation and prevailing conditions for this. It is interesting that Father John influenced women and the uncultured crowd most of all; He usually acted through women; he sought to influence people at the first moment of meeting them, mainly with his gaze that pierced the whole person - those who were embarrassed by this gaze completely fell under his influence; those who withstood this gaze calmly and dryly, Father John did not like and loved them more wasn't interested. He affected the crowd and the sick with the hysterical tone in his prayers. I saw Father John in Livadia among the courtiers and at the deathbed of the sovereign - he was a man who made almost no impression on me personally, but who undoubtedly had a strong influence on weak natures and the seriously ill. Then, a few years later, I saw him at a consultation as a patient in Kronstadt, and he was the most ordinary, decrepit old man, who strongly wanted to live more, to get rid of his illness and did not at all strive to make any impression on those around him. That’s why I allowed myself to say that he was, first of all, a great actor...”

Memory of him

Veneration and canonization

He was very widely revered as a man of prayer, a miracle worker and a seer already during his lifetime. In the 1880s, a group of fanatical admirers emerged from among his admirers, receiving the name Johnnites, who revered him as the reincarnated Christ (which was regarded as a type of the Khlysty sect; they were recognized by the Holy Synod as a sect on April 12, 1912; Father John himself rejected them and condemned, but its very presence created a scandalous reputation in certain circles.A significant part of the repentant Johannites in 1919 were accepted by Metropolitan Benjamin of Petrograd into communion with the Church, and Patriarch Tikhon established their community in Oranienbaum, ordaining its member Alexy Vyatkin in 1923 as a priest.

On the occasion of the death of Father John, a rescript from Emperor Nicholas II dated January 12, 1909 addressed to Metropolitan Anthony of St. Petersburg followed, in pursuance of which the Holy Synod issued a ruling on January 15. In it, in particular, it was prescribed to create an annual “ prayerful remembrance"of Archpriest John Sergiev on the day of his death, and in the current year - on the fortieth day after death: "On January 28, perform a funeral liturgy in the St. John the Theological Convent of St. Petersburg, the burial place of the deceased, and after that, according to reading the highest rescript, the full composition of the Holy Synod performed a memorial service for the deceased.”

In St. Petersburg, the Society in Memory of John of Kronstadt was created, which held meetings at the City School House named after A. S. Pushkin.

Yakov Ilyashevich, better known under the pseudonym Sursky.

The order of the Chairman of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Anthony, dated September 28/October 11, 1929, ordered, in connection with the 100th anniversary of the birth of “the great prayer book of the Russian land, the righteous man. Archpriest John Sergiev” to perform the liturgy and “prayerful commemoration in God of the deceased Fr. John of Kronstadt."

For the first time, the issue of canonization of John Sergiev in the Russian Church Abroad was raised in November 1950 by Count Apollo Sollogub, who took the initiative to submit a petition from the laity to Metropolitan Anastasius to consider the issue of canonization at the ROCOR Council of Bishops then held in New York (the first in the United States); The Council of Bishops, in response to the request, blessed the creation of a committee at the Synod of Bishops to perpetuate the memory of Father John of Kronstadt, consisting of clergy and laity under the chairmanship of Archbishop John (Maximovich) of Brussels and Western Europe. On January 2, 1951, after a memorial service for Father John in the Ascension Cathedral in New York, Sollogub read a report that listed a number of cases of miracles through the prayers of Father John Sergiev; the report concluded with the appeal: “Let there be canonization of Fr. John of Kronstadt is a symbol of the resurrection of great Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church and the entire Russian people." It was expected that the decision on glorification could be made by the ROCOR Council of Bishops in October 1953; however, the Council decided to postpone canonization until a time when it would be possible to convene a Local Council of the entire Russian Church.

In June 1964 in New York, the Council of Bishops of the ROCOR decided: “1. To recognize the righteous Father John of Kronstadt as God's Pleasant, numbered among the Saints who have shone in the Russian land; 2. Perform a solemn glorification of him on October 19 of this year, the day of memory of St. John of Rila, whose name he bore from baptism;<…>" The message of Metropolitan Philaret (First Hierarch of the ROCOR since May 27 of the same year) dated November 1, 1964, on the occasion of the glorification of Father John, emphasized the legality of such an act and called on “Russian Orthodox people,” regardless of jurisdiction, to resort to the prayerful help of the holy saint. John of Kronstadt became the first saint canonized by the Russian Church Abroad.

On October 31 - November 2, 2009, celebrations dedicated to the 180th anniversary of the birth and 100th anniversary of the death of John of Kronstadt were held in St. Petersburg, in which representatives of 144 churches around the world dedicated to him took part; minor planet No. 16395 was given the name “John the Righteous.” In the Ioannovsky Monastery there is a famous icon of St. John with his stole and his vestments. A piece of the epitrachelion is also found in the Trinity-Izmailovsky Cathedral in St. Petersburg, in an icon that is an exact copy of a monastery icon. In the Ferapontov Monastery there is also a phelonion of Father John, in which he performed divine services there in 1906-1907.

Temples dedicated to John of Kronstadt

Temples dedicated to John of Kronstadt:

at the Sura convent of John of Kronstadt in the village of Sura, Arkhangelsk region;
Church of John of Kronstadt in St. Petersburg;
Church of John of Kronstadt in Melitopol;
under Pomeranian state university in Arkhangelsk;
in the village of Bereznik, Arkhangelsk region;
in Mytishchi (Moscow region);
in Hamburg;
in San Diego, California, USA;
in Balabanov, Kaluga region;
in Ryazan;
in Zaporozhye;
in Kostroma;
in Vladivostok;
in Vykhino-Zhulebin (Moscow);
in Cheryomushki (Moscow);
in the Golovinsky district of Moscow (on Kronstadt Boulevard);
at the Rostov State Transport University in Rostov-on-Don;
In Volgograd;
in Cheboksary;
in Elektrostal;
in Domodedovo (Moscow region);
in the village of Kislukha, Altai region, convent;
in Pestov (Novgorod region);
in Zhigulevsk, Samara region;
in the village of Alekseevka, Khvalynsky district, Saratov region, in the St. John’s Convent;
in the village of Krasny Klyuch in the Nizhnekamsk region of the Republic of Tatarstan;
in Kyiv;
in Tatarsk, Novosibirsk region;
in Sokol, Vologda region;
In Nizhniy Novgorod ( temple complex in the Shcherbinki-2 microdistrict it unites two churches: in honor of the great martyr and healer Panteleimon and in honor of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt (consecrated in 2013)).

Commemorative coin

In 2012, the island of Niue issued a commemorative coin in the face value of 1 New Zealand dollar with an image on its reverse side of Righteous John of Kronstadt against the backdrop of Kronstadt St. Andrew's Cathedral. The coin is made of 925 silver, weighs 28.28 grams and has a circulation of 5,000 copies.

Other

From 1897 to 1907 the Russian steamship bore the name “John of Kronstadt”. Since 2017, the name “John of Kronstadt” has been borne by the new communication boat of project 21270 Navy Russian Federation.

Essays

Numerous religious and educational works of John of Kronstadt were composed on the basis of sermons and diary entries; the central place among them is occupied by “My life in Christ, or minutes of spiritual sobriety and contemplation, reverent feelings, spiritual correction and peace in God” (1894).

"My life in Christ". Title page St. Petersburg edition of 1905

Preface to the book

First page

In the work about “The beginning and end of our earthly world. The experience of revealing the prophecies of the Apocalypse,” published under the authorship of John of Kronstadt, reports that the “fiery catastrophe” described in the Bible will be a consequence of the collision Globe with a comet or other celestial body. Speaking about the beginning of the world, he mentions the “Canto-Laplace hypothesis of creation.” He connects “utter darkness” with the “black space of the firmament,” which can be observed already 6-7 miles from the surface of the Earth and through which the souls of the dead rush on their way to God. John of Kronstadt believed that science and the Bible do not contradict each other, since “besides the six-day creation, there was an even earlier initial creation - pre-temporal, in which the heavens and earth created by God together formed one whole, covered with waters,” however, he rejected the “fable of millions of centuries existence of the earth" During his lifetime the following were also published:

Complete works, St. Petersburg, 1890-1894.
On the beatitudes of the Gospel, St. Petersburg, 1896.
Conversations about God the Creator and Provider of the world, St. Petersburg, 1896.
Thoughts on various subjects of Christian faith and morality, St. Petersburg, 1897; 2nd ed. 1899.
Words and teachings spoken in 1896, 1897 and 1898, St. Petersburg, 1897-98.
A few words to denounce the false teaching of Count L.N. Tolstoy, M., 1898.
The truth about God, the world and man, Kronstadt, 1899.
Knowledge of God and self-knowledge acquired from experience, St. Petersburg, 1900.
The truth about God, about the Church, about the world and about the human soul. From a new diary. Reflections of an Orthodox Christian, M., 1900.
Gracious thoughts about heavenly and earthly things, St. Petersburg, 1901.
A simple Gospel word to the Russian people, 1902.
Christian philosophy, St. Petersburg, 1902.
Conversation between Father John of Kronstadt and pastors on June 21, 1904 in the city of Sarapul. Vyatka Diocesan Gazette. 1904
Thoughts of a Christian, St. Petersburg, 1905.
The path to God. St. Petersburg, 1905.
Contemplations and feelings of the Christian soul, St. Petersburg, 1905.