THE GOLDEN CHAIN The Lives of Archbishop Theophan of Poltava, Archbishop John of San Francisco, Archbishop Joasaph of Canada, Archbishop Andrew of Rockland and Metropolitan Philaret of New York Vladimir Moss © Copyright: Vladimir Moss, 2010 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................3 I. ARCHBISHOP THEOPHAN OF POLTAVA..................................................4 Early Years.............................................................................................................4 At the Theological Academy ..................................................................................6 Rasputin...............................................................................................................10 Bishop of Yamburg...............................................................................................12 Bishop of Astrakhan.............................................................................................20 Archbishop of Poltava ..........................................................................................23 The Revolution.....................................................................................................28 Exile in Serbia......................................................................................................31 In Bulgaria...........................................................................................................35 Dogmatic Disputes ..............................................................................................42 In France: Final Years and Repose ......................................................................48 II. ARCHBISHOP JOASAPH OF CANADA AND ARGENTINA ................53 Early Years...........................................................................................................53 In Exile.................................................................................................................54 Archpastoral Work...............................................................................................55 Repose and Miracles ............................................................................................55 III. ARCHBISHOP JOHN OF SAN FRANCISCO ............................................57 Early Years...........................................................................................................57 Emigration ...........................................................................................................59 Bishop of Shanghai...............................................................................................60 Vladyka and the Soviets.......................................................................................65 Archbishop of Western Europe ............................................................................71 Archbishop of San Francisco................................................................................75 Repose and Glorification......................................................................................77 IV. ARCHBISHOP ANDREW OF ROCKLAND ..............................................81 Early Years...........................................................................................................81 Optina and the Priesthood ..................................................................................83 War and Emigration............................................................................................87 Novo-Diveyevo ....................................................................................................89 Repose ..................................................................................................................93 V. METROPOLITAN PHILARET OF NEW YORK .........................................95 Early Years...........................................................................................................95 Confessor against Communism .........................................................................102 Confessor against Ecumenism...........................................................................111 The Third All-Diaspora Council........................................................................119 Conflicts in the Synod........................................................................................123 Sorrows and Joys................................................................................................127 The Anathema against Ecumenism ...................................................................130 Repose ................................................................................................................133 Miracles .............................................................................................................134 2 INTRODUCTION St. Symeon the New Theologian writes that the saints are like a golden chain, and that it is our aim to become attached to the last link in the chain. The saints whose lives are described in this little book (we call them “saints” out of conviction, even if only two of them have been officially glorified) form a golden chain of a similar kind: they represent the continuity of sanctity in the Russian Church Abroad from its earliest years to the most recent times. Thus their lives also enable us to form a kind of panorama of the life of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in time and space, from its beginnings in the South of Russia just after the revolution to its foreign mission-fields in Eastern and Western Europe, China, Australia and the United States. Moreover, since all of these saints were born in pre-revolutionary Russia, we are given glimpses into the rich spiritual life of that period. Thus St. John of Kronstadt, the Optina elders and the Tsar-Martyr enter into these pages, as well as several of the confessors of the Catacomb Church of post- revolutionary times. These saints are linked also in more personal ways. Thus the first in the series, Archbishop Theophan of Poltava, was the spiritual father of the second in the series, Archbishop Joasaph, and lived in the monastery of Milkovo in Serbia at the same time as the third in the series, Archbishop John Maximovich, was beginning his monastic struggle there. Again, both the fourth and the fifth in the series, Archbishop Andrew of Rockland and Metropolitan Philaret of New York, worked together with Archbishop John in the United States (and in Metropolitan Philaret’s case, in China, too). May this little book encourage Orthodox Christians to pray more to these newly revealed intercessors before the Throne of God, and strengthen our faith that, even in these our terrible times, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, and that the wonderful river of Orthodox holiness will not dry up to the end of the age! June 29 / July 12, 2010. Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Repose of Archbishop Adrian of Rockland. East House, Beech Hill, Mayford, Woking. GU22 0SB. 3 I. ARCHBISHOP THEOPHAN OF POLTAVA Early Years The future Archbishop Theophan was born in the village of Podmoshie, Novgorod province on December 31, 1874 (1873, according to another source). His father was the village priest, Fr. Demetrius Bystrov, and his mother was called Maria. He was baptized with the name Basil, since the feast day of St. Basil the Great (January 1) was the nearest to his birthday. When he was seven years old, Basil had an extraordinary prophetic dream. He saw himself standing in hierarchical vestments and wearing a golden mitre in the high place during the Divine Liturgy. And his father went up to him and censed him. It should be pointed out that the child had never yet witnessed a hierarchical service. In the morning Basil told his mother the dream. His father, who was sitting in the next room, heard him and said: “Look a new Joseph has appeared!” But the prophecy in the dream was fulfilled exactly. Many years later, when Archbishop Theophan was going to be consecrated to the episcopate, the Holy Synod asked his father to take part in the service. And during the service he censed his son in the sanctuary in front of the holy altar… As a child, his parents told him, Basil did not know any prayers by heart, but he would fall on his knees in front of the icons and burble out, weeping: “Lord, You are so great and I am so small!” He was quiet and concentrated, and did not take part in childish games. But at the same time he was radiant and joyful. He tasted of the fruits of prayer, and kept a strict watch on his inner life. He loved the severe landscape of the north of Russia, which spoke to him of God the Creator. And he breathed in the pious, humble spirit of the peasants around him. Basil went to the parish school, where his extraordinary intellectual talents were first revealed. He was able to read a page once and repeat it almost word for word, and jumped class three times. Then he went to theological seminary, which he finished three years before those who had begun with him. Having finished his secondary studies at the theological seminary, the young Basil had to pass an examination to enter the Theological Academy in St. Petersburg. 4 “I was then scarcely seventeen. I was much younger than all the other candidates, and I looked like a schoolboy… I was not afraid of the entry examination because I had a good knowledge of the seminary programme. And then there came the time of the written examination in philosophy marked by the famous Professor