The Case of Father Arseny: New Mythology in Russian Spiritual Literature

Sergey Bychkov Translated by Vera Winn

“Father Arseny, former scholar of church art, became Prisoner No. 18736 in the brutal ‘special sector’ of the Soviet prison camp system. In the darkness of systematic degrada- tion of body and soul, he shone with the light of Christ’s peace and compassion. . . . This narrative, compiled from accounts of Father Arseny’s spiritual children and others whom he brought to God, gives stirring glimpses of his life in prison camp and after his release.” - Promotional introduction from the website of St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press.1

The book Father Arseny has been widely published in numerous editions and has been especially popular around the world as an inspiration for new con- verts to Orthodox faith. In the 2000s it was translated into Greek and English. Its enthusiastic reception merits closer study, for an important reason that most of the book’s readers do not realize: the book is a fiction through and through.

- The Editors

In post-Soviet Russia, a small circle of Transfiguration Monastery near Riga, Moscow churchgoers read Father Ar- where we met Archimandrite Tav- seny and believed that the book was rion (Batozsky, 1898–1978), a Gulag based on the stories of priests and survivor who greatly impressed Bel- laity who were prisoners of Stalinist yakov. In 1978, Belyakov asked me to camps. The book did not pretend to be introduce him to Fr. Alexander Men, biographical, especially since the nar- knowing that I was one of his parish- row circle of its original readers knew ioners. After they met, I asked Father the identity of the author, a physicist Alexander what was it that Belyakov 1 “Father Arseny named Alexander Belyakov, who really wanted. Being a deeply spiritu- 1893–1973: Priest, Prisoner, and Spiri- lived near Moscow. Belyakov was al person and an expert on the human tual Father,” website born in the early 1950s. In the mid-70s, psyche, Father Alexander explained to of St. Vladimir’s he joined the Brotherhood of Saint me that Belyakov was obsessed with a Seminary Press, John the Theologian, an underground kind of idée fixe. Several years later Be- https://www.svpress. Orthodox group led by Arkady Sha- lyakov started showing me chapters com/father-ar seny-1893-1973- tov (who is now Bishop Panteleimon) of a book he was writing about a “Fa- priest-prisoner-and- and myself. Together we visited Holy ther Arseny,” and I realized that his spiritual-father/.

The Wheel 19 | Fall 2019 19 idea had finally become flesh. He sin- An apocryphal cerely believed that this book would portrait of Father Ar- play a special role not only in Russia, seny shown in a 2011 but also worldwide. documentary, in which Father Arseny Drafts of the book circulated in sam- was described as a literary character izdat beginning in the mid-70s. In combining features the early 90s, the magazine Наука and stories of many и религия (Science and Religion) pub- priests imprisoned in lished excerpts from Father Arseny. Gulag. According to Soon after this, the whole book was a nun interviewed in the documentary, the published. Following this first official portrait was revealed publication, more authors joined the to an unnamed project and continued to expand the artist in prayer and book under pen names such as Kira was inspired by Bakhmat and N. T. Lebedev. Begin- the likeness of Tsar Nicholas I. ning in the late 90s, there were mul- tiple publications about secret church life in the USSR. The co-authors of that famous Christian ascetics and Father Arseny based many of their sto- martyrs such as Archbishop Athana- ries on these publications, but often sius (Sakharov) and D. E. Melikhov they did it quite poorly because their knew Father Arseny personally.2 Yet knowledge of the “catacomb commu- Vorobyev’s university also published nities” was limited. a volume on the life of Athanasius, including an index of all names men- These publications fit into Belyakov’s tioned in the archbishop’s letters and general hopes for the book. He sin- other documents, and “Arseny Strelt- cerely believed that this “conciliar” zoff” is not among them. Moreover, text about an Orthodox ascetic would the Journal of the Moscow Patriarch- quickly help to change the spiritual ate regularly published obituaries of atmosphere of Russia. He believed deceased clergymen. But neither in it would inspire Russians, showing 1975 (the year Father Arseny died, them the true way to a revival of Or- according to Belyakov and Father thodox Russia. Accordingly, in the Vorobyov) nor at any time later did early 1990s, Belyakov introduced the the Journal publish an obituary for a 90-year-old priest and elder Vladimir “priest Arseny Streltzoff.” Streltzoff Bykov to Father Vladimir Vorobyov, And although the book claims that rector of Saint Tikhon’s Orthodox Father Arseny was arrested several University in Moscow. Apparently, times, there is no information about it Father Bykov handed the expanded in the Central Archives of the Federal manuscript of Father Arseny over to Security Service. Likewise, no docu- Vorobyov. Rights to the manuscript mentation can be found about an art were appropriated by Saint Tikhon’s historian named Piotr Andreyevitch University and Vorobyev, who pre- Streltzoff—ostensibly Father Arseny’s 2 Отец Арсений, ed. pared and edited the fourth and fifth name before he became a monk—even Vladimir Vorobyev, editions. though the book describes him as an fourth edition (Mos- outstanding connoisseur, a scholar of cow: Православный Свято-Тихоновский In a preface to the fourth Russian edi- Russian architecture, and the author Богословский tion, Vorobyev states that Father Ar- of numerous published articles on the институт, 2000), 6. seny Streltzoff was a real person and subject. The book does not refer to a

20 single document, such as letters to or the soldiers with machine guns on the © 2019 The Wheel. from Father Arseny’s spiritual chil- towers: they are straight out of a Nazi May be distributed for dren. Neither the narrator nor Vorob- camp. This substitution is understand- noncommercial use. www.wheeljournal.com yev cites any verifiable evidence of the able because in the 70s, when the Fa- existence of this “holy father.” That ther Arseny story was being created, it fact alone should raise suspicions that was easy to find detailed descriptions Father Arseny is a fabulation. Howev- of Nazi concentration camps, where- er, let us further consider the book’s as Soviet censorship did not allow the description of the labor camps. Gulag to be discussed.

The narrator states that he met Father In the book, the guards begin the Arseny in the 1930s, in one of Stalin’s day not with a roll call of prisoners, concentration camps. The memoirs of but with checking the security of actual prisoners of the camps, such as the window bars and inspecting the Olga Adamova-Sliozberg, Yevgenia barracks—as if they were afraid that Ginzburg, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, half-dead prisoners might dig an un- and Varlam Shalamov, scrupulously derground passage in order to escape! record their experiences without any The narrator also describes bonfires inaccuracies, even in the smallest de- that ostensibly burned day and night tails. Yet the author of Father Arseny outside the camp, to warm the ground appears unfamiliar with the structure, so deceased prisoners could be buried. regulations, and everyday routine of How thoughtful of the camp authori- the Gulag. Consider the opening of ties. But as Varlam Shalamov writes the book: “The wind carried clouds of in his Kolyma Tales, in the winter the icy snow that broke to form a shard- bodies were simply piled up and in like precipitation. . . . Towers with the summer they were covered with searchlights and guards could be seen dirt.4 And contrary to the narrator’s on the horizon. Stretches of barbed statement, a temperature of minus 27° wire created protective rows between Celsius was not out of the ordinary for which the icy glow of the menacing Kolyma. In fact, prisoners were some- lights could be seen. Between the first times forced to work at 40° and even and last rows of barbed wire police 50° below zero. 2 dogs roamed lazily.” In this poetic 3 Father Arseny 1893– description of a labor camp, the nar- Contrary to the book, neither axes nor 1973: Priest, Prisoner, rator prudently omits its location. saws were banned in the labor camps, Spiritual Father, If it is Kolyma, as the narrative later and firewood did not have to be split trans. Vera Bouteneff (Crestwood: SVS suggests, then there would not have with the help of a wooden wedge and Press, 1998), 5. been “stretches of barbed wire.” Such log. In his novel In The First Circle, Solz- wasteful use of wires would hardly henitsyn describes convicts using saws 4 Varlam Shalamov, have been approved by the author- and axes to cut wood.5 And no, aspi- Kolyma Tales, trans. ities. And if the winter weather was rin in the camps was not “the primary John Glad (New 6 York: W. W. Norton, so brutal, then why did “dogs wan- medication.” It was a luxury. Even ba- 1980), 178. der lazily”? Unlike people, dogs were sic medical supplies were not available valued in concentration camps. They in the pre-war Stalinist concentration 5 Aleksandr I. Solz- were used to escort prisoners to the camps. Similarly, the description of Fa- henitsyn, In the First work sites. Dogs also helped in the ther Arseny sharing his ration of cod Circle, trans. Harry T. search for fugitives. The picture paint- with other prisoners sounds like mock- Willetts (New York: HarperCollins, 2009), ed by the author resembles a Nazi ery to those who know that camp pris- 171–9. concentration camp more than a Sovi- oners subsisted on low-grade bread and et one. The same could be said about hot “soup” with no nutritive content. 6 Father Arseny, 10.

The Wheel 19 | Fall 2019 21 Father Arseny’s speech often sounds strange, as when he cries: “Hey, dear friend [батенька]. Why would you want to fight? You fought as much as you could and where did your ideol- ogy get you?”7 Батенька was one of Lenin’s characteristic expressions. A priest or an intellectual could repeat it only mockingly, and certainly not in conversation with a hero of the Civil War, a former high-ranking So- A symbolic tomb- viet official. stone of Father Arseny in Rostov Ve- liky, erected in 2001 The book is full of similar mistakes on the pretext that and inconsistencies. If Father Arseny Father Arseny had is historical fiction, it should be eval- been once buried in uated by the standards of this genre. the cemetery but his Yet it is glaringly apparent that grave had been lost. the writer did not use appropriate sources such as The Gulag Handbook, most of them had already been pub- an invaluable reference book writ- lished—and there was no mention ten by Jacques Rossi, who experi- of a priest Arseny Streltzoff. More- enced all the “delights” of a Stalinist over, this roster of priests listed side camp. There is also a seven-volume by side seems inherently bizarre: the collection of documents, История antisemite Sergiy Orlov, the ascetic сталинского Гулага (The History of and confessor Alexander Tolgsky, Stalin’s Gulag), published in 2004. the KGB snitch Seraphim Golubtsov, One might argue that the author of and the proponent of church freedom Father Arseny wrote the book during Vsevolod Spiller. the Soviet years, when these funda- mental works did not yet exist. But Soon after, Vorobyov began raising today, when the book is republished, money to build a memorial to Father why not correct all the absurdities Arseny. It was recently erected near and inconsistencies? Rostov Veliky. The inscription reads: “In memory of the venerable elder All these flaws pale in comparison hieromonk Arseny (1894–1975).” Fa- with the narrator’s overriding desire ther Arseny’s real grave was alleged- to prove that the book is about a real ly lost. How could it be that the grave historical person. Since the 1990s, of such an outstanding confessor dis- first the author and then the publish- appeared from the face of the Earth? ers have sought evidence to substan- Even in the brutal 1930s and 40s, the tiate Father Arseny’s existence. Final- graves of Orthodox ascetics were 7 Father Arseny, 14. ly, the 2000 edition of the book stated venerated and carefully guarded by that Moscow priests Vsevolod Spill- grateful spiritual children. If the book 8 Отец Арсений, ed. er, Alexander Tolgsky, Sergiy Orlov was indeed based on the memoirs of Vladimir Vorobyev, and perhaps Seraphim Golubtsov Father Arseny’s spiritual children, fourth edition (Mos- knew Father Arseny personally.8 This how could they allow the destruc- cow: Православный Свято-Тихоновский statement was not supported by any tion of his grave, and if it had been Богословский documents. Spiller’s and Tolgsky’s destroyed, why they did not restore it институт, 2000), 6. archives were preserved—indeed, or at least record its location?

22 faced temptations and dangers. The © 2019 The Wheel. hermit who fled into the desert and May be distributed for The above arguments seem sufficient noncommercial use. who lived there for years without the www.wheeljournal.com to show that Father Arseny is a mod- sacraments, the monastery as a com- ern fiction. More important, however, munity isolated frome the rest of the is that its content often contradicts the Church—did they in fact separate spirit of both Scripture and Orthodox themselves from the whole Christian tradition. The question raised by the body? Were they not dividing the book’s popularity is why so many people of God? Were they not sub- Orthodox Christians prefer reading stituting an individualistic piety for apocryphal stories to studying Scrip- that communal spirituality that is the ture. The secret of its success is that very essence of Christianity? Were not it describes an Orthodox community the ascetic feats of the desert fathers completely disconnected from the of- mere human techniques for acquiring ficial Orthodox hierarchy and from grace, that made grace itself no lon- contemporary life, and based instead ger a free gift of God? It is clear that on the secret rules of the prewar “cata- all these deviations have appeared in comb church.” The life of this commu- the history of monasticism, but it is nity is presented as a stylized image no less clear that after some hesita- of nineteenth-century Russian Or- tions the Church created institutions thodox life. Thisis is why traditional- and defined doctrines which were ists became so fond of this book. For able to cope with the temptations.”9 them, Father Arseny was an example of traditional Orthodoxy in contrast Meyendorff writes that Evagrius Pon- to a reality that was constantly chang- ticus, an ascetic who practiced in the ing, and not always for the better. For Egyptian desert during the fourth the book’s admirers, it is irrelevant century, introduced gnostic elements whether Father Arseny is a real per- into the doctrine of prayer developed son or a fictional character. by the desert fathers. A native of Pon- ta (Asia Minor) and a disciple of the Historically, the life of the Russian great Cappadocians, Saint Basil the Church was based on a monastic tem- Great and Saint Gregory the Theolo- plate. Monastic life in ancient Russia gian, Evagrius was also a student of was considered the highest form of Origen of Alexandria, whose theolog- Christianity. It attracted those who ical teachings were declared heretical sincerely wanted to reach the king- by the Second Council of Constanti- dom of God as quickly as possible, nople in 553. Nevertheless, followers cutting off all worldly temptation of Evagrius carefully preserved his once and for all. The writings of ascet- teaching on prayer, and included it in ics have always been the highest au- the Philokalia under the pen name Ni- thorities in spiritual life, especially in lus of Sinai. In his treatise On Prayer, all matters related to prayer. For many Evagrius rarely refers to the Holy of today’s faithful, this ascetic extreme Scriptures and never mentions Jesus still represents the essential ideal of Christ. the Russian Orthodox Church. In the seventh century, the doctrine 9 Protopresbyter John Meyendorff, one of prayer was further developed by John Meyendorff, of the eminent church historians and St. Gregory Palamas a hermit who lived in the monas- and Orthodox Spiri- theologians of the twentieth century, tery of Saint Catherine near Sinai, tuality (Crestwood: observes: “The monastic way of life Saint John Climacus. His famous SVS Press, 1974), 18.

The Wheel 19 | Fall 2019 23 © 2019 The Wheel. treatise The Ladder of the Divine As- Troepolsky’s preface to Russian edi- May be distributed for cent was popular in ancient Russia. tions of the book resembles the framing noncommercial use. It is worth noting that before and af- of Father Arseny in both style and spirit: www.wheeljournal.com ter the Mongol Era, Russian Ortho- doxy’s exposure to patristic writings The Pilgrim’s stories are the ac- was mostly limited to homilies and curate descriptions of events sent ascetic literature such as The Ladder by Providence to this pious man and The Philokalia. so that he could learn useful les- sons. Every sane person should In the nineteenth century, a number of agree that the practical study of apocryphal spiritual writings appeared life is more accurate and convinc- in Russia. Perhaps the most famous ing than abstract theories, and is The Way of a Pilgrim: Candid Tales of should therefore conclude that the a Wanderer to His Spiritual Father. The events described by this pilgrim manuscript of this book was allegedly were as enlightening for him as discovered in the archives of Optina they are instructive and useful for Pustin monastery, but the elder Macari- those who read about them with us of Optina warned that one should be an open heart. Having only this in careful about its authenticity. The Way of mind, the recorder of these “Tales” a Pilgrim was edited by Bishop Theoph- tried his best to keep the original an (Govorov), who was canonized in words of the Pilgrim as much as 1988. Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov), possible, without any embellish- who was personally acquainted with ment, in order to show more clear- the book’s actual author—Hieromonk ly the enlightening power of the Arseny Troepolsky——believed that grace of Jesus Christ. However, it the text should be treated with extreme is important to mention that this is caution. not a fabrication or a moral fiction.

The Pilgrim was a real person and he narrated his adventures in good Nineteenth-century conscience. The recorder of his Russian edition of stories met him several times in The Way of a Pilgrim. the 1800s and 1820s. Many pious people also met him and heard his stories, supported by reliable facts. The Pilgrim was of average height, his temperament was san- guine, his body was lean from a temperate and harsh life, and he had beautiful expressive eyes and 10 Arseny Troepolsky, preface to some a small, neatly kept blond beard. Russian editions of He was loving and humble to- Father Arseny, quoted wards everyone. Fifteen years af- in A. M. Pentkovsky, ter the narrator last met him, in “Кто написал the Levensky district of the Oryol «Откровенные рассказы province, he encountered a kind странника»,” elder who turned out to be the Журнал Московской uncle of the Pilgrim, and said that Патриархии 1 the Pilgrim had died in piety in his (2010): 57. homeland.10

24 This introduction resembles the prem- ferent worlds. The clergy and laity ise of Father Arseny. Yet unlike the au- tended to blame the episcopate for thor of that book, Father Troepolsky distorting the authenticity of the Or- focuses on the wanderer’s teaching thodoxy and following the “spirit of rather than his personality (though the times,” indulging in luxuries. The Troepolsky still insists on his histori- Moscow clergy, whose opinion matte- cal reality). This book had a decisive reded to their provincial colleagues, influence on the author of Father Ar- actively promoted Father Arseny. In seny. It introduced the author to the Je- doing so, the clergy were implicit- sus prayer. Living in the Soviet Union, ly telling their superiors, who were Belyakov sought to confront atheism still following Metropolitan Sergius with a portrait of genuine spirituality. by demonstrating their loyalty to the government, that they only pretend- There are many other similarities be- ed to be obedient to the episcopate, tween these two fictional characters while in fact they were as free as the of the nineteenth and twentieth cen- “catacomb church” that survived the turies, despite the differing conditions Bolshevik persecution. in which they are said to have lived. First of all, they exist away from the We must briefly touch on the spiritu- Church. They live on their own as if al roots of both the Pilgrim and Father there were no Christ and the Church Arseny. It is important to pay tribute had never been established. The Pil- to Troepolsky, who knew patristic grim preaches about salvation outside literature well and who stayed in the Church. This perspective can be various monasteries of Russia. Nev- explained, but not justified. The crisis ertheless, many of his ideas are based of church life in nineteenth-century not in the gospel tradition, but in the Russia is no secret among contempo- ideas of non-Christian religions— rary historians. Bishops Brianchanin- primarily Buddhism and, in part, ov and Govorov, who were outstand- Sufism, as Meyendorff demonstrates ing preachers, left their episcopacies in his book on Gregory Palamas. Tro- and retreated to the cloister in order to epolsky did not conceal these roots; it teach their contemporaries the princi- is enough to read his commentary on ples of the Christian life. the eighteenth century hagiograph- ical text Житие старца Василиска More generally, both Father Arseny Туринского (Life of the elder Vasilisk of and the Pilgrim exist outside real life Turinsk). After Troepolsky read the and its problems. Not being a church life story of this elder, he experienced historian, the author of Father Arseny- a spiritual transformation. The au- had no idea about the heated disputes thor, Vasilisk’s disciple Zosima Verk- of the late 1920s, 30s, and 40s concern- hovsky, describes the sweet, blissful ing the pro-government path chosen states his teacher experienced as a for the Church by Metropolitan Ser- result of practicing the Jesus Prayer. gius (Stragorodsky), later Patriarch of For both Verkhovsky and the author Moscow. Even though Moscow cler- of Father Arseny, the Jesus Prayer is gy faithfully served the Patriarchate, like a magic wand, able to solve all in their hearts they felt the historical problems. And not only for the one falsehood of “Sergianism.” The gap who masters it but also for others between the episcopate on the one who are loyal to the magic wand’s hand and the priests and laity on the owner. The problems disappear and other was too great. They lived in dif- only the sweet sensations, so lucidly

The Wheel 19 | Fall 2019 25 described by Basilisk and Troepolsky, ther Arseny demonstrates a kind of remain. But what about the feeling of spiritual illness on the part of readers being abandoned by God? And the who take them seriously. Gethsemane suffering of Christ and his followers? And Golgotha? And The religious philosopher Georgy Fe- the mission of the Church? Somehow dotov once warned: “There has never both Zosima and the writer of Father been a concept in Russia about the bib- Arseny forgot that, while ascetics lical canon which strictly distinguish- lived in the desert and for years per- es between the Holy Scriptures and the formed ascetic feats in order to attain works of the holy fathers. All religious dispassion and wisdom, they were writings, if they were not clearly he- prepared to leave the desert when the retical, were called sacred and divine. Church needed them. The Russian people had a special pas- sion for apocrypha, because of their Every spiritual text ought to be eval- fairy tale, imagination-inspiring con- uated by a special theological com- tent.”11 Twenty-eight years after the mission to determine whether it ac- downfall of Communism, the biog- cords with holy Scripture or belongs raphies of Russian new martyrs have to the false teachings about which not been collected and published. The Jesus warned in the Gospel. Deci- stories of their experiences might help sions about such writings have to be us to evaluate the spiritual state of the 11 George Fed- made by the church in council. But Russian Orthodox Church and twen- otov, Русская this requires competent local coun- ty-first century Russian society sober- религиозность, vol. cils whose judgment is accepted by ly. Spiritual sobriety lies at the core of 1 (Moscow: Мартис Sam & Sam, 2001), all Orthodox Christians. I believe the the virtue that was so appreciated by 51–2. popularity of apocrypha such as Fa- Christ, whose name is Humility.

Sergei Bychkov is a historian, poet, journalist, and publisher. He is the editor of the complete works of Georgy Fedotov and the author of many other books and articles on the history of the Rus- sian Church.