Remembering Hieromonk Seraphim Rose on the feast (July 2) of his mentor and spiritual father, St John (Maximovitch), Archbishop of Shanghai and San Francisco
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| Fresco of St John Maximovitch, Brother José Munoz & Fr Seraphim Rose, Holy Dormition Church in northern Moscow, Russia. |
In a new article advocating for the glorification of Blessed Father Seraphim (which I intend to cover more in a future post), I came across this important affirmation:
Another theme we see with saints, often times they come in pairs. St. Gregory of Nyssa was a disciple under his brother St. Basil the Great. St. Augustine was the disciple of St. Ambrose of Milan. St. Justin Popovich was the disciple of St. Nikolai Velimirovich. St. Sophrony was the disciple of St. Silouan the Athonite. St. Ephraim was the disciple of St. Joseph the Hesychast. There’s countless more examples.
Who was Fr. Seraphim Rose a disciple of? St. John Maximovitch.
The connections between St John and Fr Seraphim began early in then Eugene's life in the Orthodox Church:
“Gleb, as we have seen, had been much more privileged than Eugene in having known a whole host of great “living links” with Orthodox tradition. In December of 1962, however, Eugene met the greatest of them all: the future Saint, Archbishop John Maximovitch. Interestingly, Archbishop John arrived in San Francisco one year to the day after Eugene had first met Gleb: the Feast of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple.” [1]
After Archbishop John's arrival in San Francisco, “Eugene was immediately aware of the change." As Hieromonk Damascene describes it in his epic biography of Father Seraphim:
When he attended services in the Cathedral, he saw the new bishop wholeheartedly taking part, sometimes pulling out services to relatively unknown saints, especially those of Western European lands. There was something unearthly in this tiny, bent-over old man, who by worldly standards seemed hardly “respectable.” Archbishop John’s hair was unkempt, his lower lip protruded, and he had a speech impediment that made him barely intelligible. He sometimes went about barefoot, for which he was severely criticized. Instead of the glittering, jeweled mitre worn by other bishops, he wore a collapsible hat pasted with icons embroidered by his orphans. His manner was at times stern, but a playful gleam could often be seen in his eyes, especially when he was with children. Despite his speech problem, he had a tremendous rapport with children, who were absolutely devoted to him... [2]
Commenting years later on the Archbishop’s apparently strange actions, Eugene wrote: “Even though I didn’t understand them, I glimpsed something deeper in them, and they taught me not to be satisfied just with fulfilling the external parts of services, etc." Such actions were related to what in Orthodox tradition is known as “foolishness for Christ’s sake”: the renouncing of the “wisdom of this world” for the wisdom of God. [3]
Hieromonk Damascene goes on to describe St John's extreme asceticism, and the miracles associated with him: healings, clairvoyance, saving people from disaster through foreknowledge, even levitating in prayer bathed in divine light.
As Eugene was later to write, however, such miracles were not remarkable in themselves: “All this can easily be imitated by false miracle-workers.... In the case of Archbishop John, those who have come to believe through him have been moved not first of all by his miracles, but by something that moved their hearts about him. [4]
The reader very familiar with the writings and lectures of Blessed Father Seraphim will recognize these excerpts from his much beloved talk delivered at UC Santa Cruz in 1982, published later by St Herman Press as the slim book, God's Revelation to the Human Heart. That Fr Seraphim would focus on Archbishop John decades after his repose in crafting this beautiful and inspiring message lets us see something of the depth of St John's impact on young Eugene.
Fr Damascene continues his account:
Eugene heard stories of the Archbishop’s profound compassion: of how in Shanghai he had gone to the most dangerous neighborhoods to rescue neglected children from brothels, and abandoned ones from garbage cans; of how emotionally scarred children, closed in upon themselves after witnessing the brutalities of war and revolution, would blossom out at a word from him; of how he would always visit people in hospitals, after which believers and unbelievers alike would be healed through the grace that flowed from him; of how hardened criminals would suddenly and inexplicably weep when they saw him making the rounds of their prisons, though they had never set eyes on him before; of how, wherever he was, he had a practice of making rounds all night long, stopping before people’s rooms to bless and pray for them as they slept on, unawares. [5]
The connection between Eugene and Archbishop John was not limited to the saintly archpastor's apostolic impact on Eugene's soul during his formative months and years in the Church:
It did not take long for Archbishop John to take notice of the thirsty soul of Eugene, who stood at the back of the Cathedral and ardently prayed. People who were with Archbishop John during that time noticed that he took a special interest in Eugene, as if seeing in him something extraordinary. He summoned him several times to draw closer to the kliros and the altar...
With the encouragement of Archbishop John and his devoted priest Fr. Leonid Upshinsky, Eugene was soon chanting and reading Church Slavonic services not only at the Cathedral but also on the kliros in St. Tikhon’s Home, where Archbishop John lived. Having overcome his bashfulness, he felt at peace. In spite of his American accent, he was accepted by everyone as if he had always belonged on the kliros. [6]
This period of formation under the inspired guidance of Archbishop John left an indelible imprint on the soul of Eugene:
Archbishop John needed to give Eugene few instructions and explanations. Eugene internalized “the spiritual image of the Archbishop, whom he perceived as a reflection of Christ Himself; and he was to carry this image throughout his life as a source of guidance. [7]
Late in his short life, Fr Seraphim would reflect on his experience wth Archbishop John as follows:
I found in Chinese philosophy the noblest view of man, until I encountered Orthodoxy and the Orthodox Lives of Saints. Then, shortly after I was received into the Orthodox Church, I met Archbishop John, who was the noblest man I had ever met. [8]
Fr Damascene concludes this portion of his chapter on St John as follows:
The fact that Archbishop John had extensive theological knowledge meant much less to Eugene than the fact that he was one who knew God and had direct contact with Him. Although his speech was barely intelligible, Archbishop John was able to transmit to Eugene the “heart of hearts” of Orthodoxy in a way that no words could. [9]
The bond between St John and the future Fr Seraphim was one further forged in prayer, which was key to the founding of the St Herman Brotherhood, Press, and Monastery: "All this time, almost from the time of his arrival in San Francisco, Archbishop John had been praying before an icon of Blessed Herman for the realization of a missionary brotherhood in his name..." [10]
After affirming their mutual desire and commitment to forming just such a missionary brotherhood, "the brothers reflected on how this had come about through the prayers of Archbishop John." [11]
The new brotherhood launched an Orthodox bookstore near the Russian cathedral, and set about planning and working towards their initial goal of publishing a journal. In the meantime, Eugene's theological education was to begin in earnest:
Archbishop John, ever working to increase apostolic activity, summoned his vicar Bishop Nektary and the rest of the local clergy in order to form a series of theological courses. The courses began meeting several times a week and were highly successful... Eugene attended the courses for three years... Seeing Eugene’s willingness and his ability, Archbishop John looked for opportunities to let him do a little missionary work of his own. Once he asked Eugene, instead of hearing a presentation at St. Tikhon’s Home, to give one himself. The talk went well, but afterwards Eugene faced his first head-on challenge as a missionary. [12]
Eugene's training and practicum now underway in earnest, Archbishop John saw an opportunity to apply Eugene to writing about the Faith:
Archbishop John gave Eugene another missionary opportunity when, in 1963, he asked him to contribute articles to a local newsletter called Pravoslavny Blagovestnik (Orthodox Tidings). This small publication, begun by Archbishop Tikhon, had previously been solely in Russian, but now Archbishop John wanted at least one English article to be included in each issue... Approving of everything Eugene wrote, he never made a correction.
It was thus in Orthodox Tidings that Eugene began to be published. His articles for it, which have been posthumously published in the book Heavenly Realm, covered a variety of topics: feast days, saints, and teachings on the spiritual life. [13]
Archbishop John passed to Eugene his love for sharing the the Orthodox Faith, and for embracing the Faith in all the various nations and places where it had been established, as this important passage from his biography reveals:
As the brothers had hoped, young American spiritual seekers also began to come into the store. Bishops and clergy in the area... would send any Americans interested in Orthodoxy to see the brothers. Other seekers, of course, would come in right off the street...Besides introducing new American people to ancient Christianity and supplying the spiritual needs of Russians, the [St Herman Brotherhood] bookstore became a center for Orthodox Christians of all ethnic backgrounds: Greek, Arabic, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian, etc. Having just been visited by a young Greek man “expressing his love for true Orthodoxy,” Eugene wrote in his Chronicle: “It is God Who sends everyone to us. What is the meaning for us of this meeting?
“We must become, in some way and to some measure, a meeting place for all Orthodox who wish to remain faithful to the true Church, so that there can be in some fashion a united testimony of true Orthodoxy, and a communion of the faithful remnant of all Orthodox peoples." [14]
The St. Herman Press was, of course, the next step, and — at that time — the most important work Eugene and Gleb had undertaken ( a work which the St Herman Monastery continues to this day). St John, as with every phase of Eugene's growth in the faith, and as with his blessing of the Brotherhood and their Bookstore, was right there at the beginning of this next step:
On September 30, Eugene recorded: “Today, less than twenty-four hours after our printing press arrived, Archbishop John came to our shop ‘by chance.’ When he saw the press his first thought was to bless it with holy water and prayer, which he did immediately. Thus our press is spiritually born on this day.”
...The same day he blessed the printing press, the Archbishop wrote back [to Gleb], suggesting a title [for the brotherhood's press]:
"Dear Gleb!
"May the Lord bless you in the second year of the Brotherhood’s activity, and in its necessary undertakings. It would be good to call the publication you have planned 'The Orthodox Word'.
"I’m calling God’s blessing upon you and all members of the Brotherhood. +Archbishop John" [15]
Archbishop John was in close contact with Eugene and Gleb as they worked towards publishing their first issue:
Feeling their inadequacy and inexperience as editors of an Orthodox journal, however, the brothers wanted a safeguard against making errors. “We hope Vladika John will be our permanent censor,” Eugene had noted in October of 1964... The brothers asked Archbishop John, as their hierarch, to carefully approve each issue before publication. They hoped this would also bring them into closer contact with him and thereby be a boon to their missionary endeavors. The outcome, however, was not what they expected.
When Gleb explained the contents of the first issue before printing it, Archbishop John gave his approval without hesitation and emphatically said, “Print!” And when asked about subsequent issues, he approved before the brothers could even tell him what was in them.” [16]
This practice finally led to a crisis moment:
After the publication of the fifth issue, a reader became quite incensed at a certain article that Eugene had written... Expressing his indignation, the reader returned the issue with notes in the margins...
Hurt by this bitter response, the brothers told Archbishop John what had happened. As Eugene looked on, Gleb asked the Archbishop, “Why didn’t you check over this issue so we would have known before we printed it?!”
Having learned the contents of the article in question, the Archbishop looked keenly into Gleb’s eyes. “Didn’t you attend the courses at the seminary?” he asked.
“Yes,” Gleb said.
“And didn’t you complete them?”
“Yes.”
“Did you have Archbishop Averky as your instructor?”
“Yes.”
“And weren’t you taught that in times of trouble, each Christian is himself responsible for the fullness of Christianity? That each member of the Orthodox Church is responsible for the whole”
“Church? And that today the Church has enemies and is persecuted from outside and within?”
“Yes, I was,” Gleb affirmed.
This, the Archbishop went on to tell the brothers, was why he deliberately did not look over each issue of their magazine. He wanted them to be responsible for what they printed. If they made mistakes, they would be the ones to answer for them before God, and would not be tempted to blame others. In times like these, he said, it is crucial for the preservation of Christianity that Orthodox workers be able to work for Christ without depending on others every step of the way. It is praiseworthy when they do creative work without waiting for detailed instructions.
“Besides,” the Archbishop concluded, “what you wrote in that article is in agreement with Archbishop Averky, and I happen to agree with him.” [17]
The trust and responsibility which Archbishop John invested in Eugene and Gleb provided an important learning experience, as well as stoking them with motivation and growing confidence in the sureness of their path.
The proximity of the Bookstore to the Cathedral meant that the brothers saw Archbishop John frequently, and indeed, he often stopped by to share lives of saints, icons, and all manner of interesting items for their edification and for The Orthodox Word journal, including many saints of the West. But less than two years after blessing the press, he would repose in the Lord. His final visit with them is very touching and even prophetic, and bears quoting at some length here:
On June 28, 1966, Archbishop John came into the bookstore bringing the miracle-working Kursk Icon of the Mother of God... After the Archbishop had blessed the shop and printing room with the icon, he proceeded to talk to the brothers about saints of various lands. “He promised,” wrote Eugene in his Chronicle, “to give us a list of canonized Romanian saints “disciples of Paisius Velichkovsky. He mentioned having compiled (when in France) a list of Western pre-schism saints which he presented to the Holy Synod.”
In particular, Archbishop John talked to the brothers about St. Alban (t305), the first martyr of Britain. Out of his little portfolio he pulled a short life of the Saint, together with a picture postcard of an eleventh-century cathedral, located in the town of St. Albans near London, which had been built over the site of the Saint’s martyrdom and in which his relics had been interred. The Archbishop looked up into Gleb’s eyes to see if he got the point. St. Alban, like most of the saints of Western Europe, was not in the Orthodox Calendar; and before Archbishop John had started compiling lists of these saints, Eastern Christians had not even thought of raising them from obscurity and praying to them.
The Archbishop said that in the evening he would serve a Vigil... and in the morning he would serve the Liturgy. Again he looked searchingly into the brothers’ eyes, and with a smile said he wished they would come to the services.
Eugene made a point to go to the evening service, but both he and Gleb failed to attend the Liturgy the following morning. It was the middle of the week, The Orthodox Word was behind schedule, and they were swamped with work.
The brothers were never again to see Archbishop John in their shop. Soon he made a trip to Seattle, carrying with him the Kursk Icon.
“Eugene and Gleb were informed of Archbishop John’s death in the evening, a few hours after it occurred. Immediately they remembered how he had wanted them to attend the Liturgy at the St. Tikhon Chapel; and they lamented that, in not coming, they had perhaps missed some last word of instruction for the Brotherhood.
In his Chronicle, Eugene wrote: “Tonight we were informed, just before the beginning of the All-night Vigil, of the sudden death of our beloved Vladika Ioann, in Seattle. The Brotherhood mourns the loss of its Archpastor and spiritual guide. Perhaps this is the end of the first stage of the existence of our Brotherhood. This truly righteous man was a gentle guider and inspirer of our first unsure steps, and now, weak as we are, we will be from now on ‘on our own.’ May our dear Vladika Ioann, now in the Kingdom of Heaven, be our guide still, and may we be faithful to his example of true Orthodox life and to the spiritual testament which he has left us....”
“Amid the talk of the ‘testament of Vladika Ioann,’ what has our Brotherhood to offer? This seems to be clearly indicated both by our very nature and by Vladika Ioann’s instructions to us. On his last visit to us especially, he talked of nothing but saints — Romanian, English, French, Russian. Is it not therefore our duty to remember the saints of God, following as closely as possible Vladika’s example? I.e., to know their lives, nourish our spiritual lives by constantly reading them, making them known to others by speaking of them and printing them — and by praying to the saints.” [18]
The description of Archbishop John's funeral by Hieromonk Damascene in his biography of Blessed Father Seraphim describes the outpouring of love and veneration for the departed hierarch. It really is well worth reading. Near the end of the chapter, we have these vignettes:
Gleb was the last one to touch Archbishop John’s body as the coffin lid was being closed for the last time. As the lid went down, he saw the tear-drenched face of Archbishop Leonty. Their eyes met. The Archbishop shone with a radiant smile and said, “Now we have a Saint!”
A few months after Archbishop John’s repose, Eugene noted that “He has already been glorified in the hearts and prayers of those who knew him, and there is daily pilgrimage to his tomb.... From the time of the burial service not a day has passed but that some of the Archbishop’s spiritual children have come to ‘speak to Vladika,’ to read the Psalter that is constantly open before his grave, and to seek his intercession.”
Thus began the posthumous veneration of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco, the wonderworker of the latter times. [19]
The veneration of Archbishop John continued unabated after his burial, with the bishops and clergy serving weekend Liturgies, weekday services, and daily reading of the psalter at his crypt below the cathedral. For their part, "Eugene and Gleb strove to keep Archbishop John’s memory alive by publishing articles about him in The Orthodox Word. It was Eugene who wrote the prima vita (first Life) of Blessed John, which would later form the basis of all subsequent biographies," including Blessed John the Wonderworker, published by St Herman Press in 1987. "Miracles began happening at the Sepulchre, and Eugene and Gleb strove to verify them from the mouths of witnesses with the view of publishing them.” [20]
One can see, even from this brief overview, the vibrant and holy bond between Eugene Rose/Fr Seraphim and Archbishop John. St John mentored Eugene at the kliros itself, arranged for theological classes to afford Eugene instruction he would otherwise never have been able to get outside of an Orthodox seminary, found opportunities for Eugene to begin writing reflections on the faith even before the Brotherhood was formed, and then blessed and was responsible for the formation of the St Herman Brotherhood, its bookstore, its press and The Orthodox Word. But even more it is the manner, the phronema with which St John accomplished all these tasks which Eugene absorbed and which helped him have the highest possible model of sanctity struggling in faith and self-sacrifice.
Yes, saints often times come in pairs. They certainly did in the case of St John Maximovitch and Blessed Hieromonk Seraphim Rose.
Chosen wonderworker and superb servant of Christ, who pourest out in the latter times inexhaustible streams of inspiration and a multitude of miracles. We praise thee with love and call out to thee: Rejoice, O Holy Hierarch John, wonderworker of the latter times.
—Kontakion to St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco (Tone 8), composed by Fr. Seraphim Rose
As a faithful ascetic of Saint Herman, you flowered as a spiritual rose in Platina. As an illuminator of Orthodoxy in America, your writings bring hope throughout the world. Having taught us the True Faith, O Blessed Seraphim, pray to God for us.
— Troparion to Blessed Father Seraphim of Platina (Tone 4) [21]
NOTES:
[1] Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works, Hieromonk Damascene, St Herman Press, Platina CA, Third Edition, 2010, Chapter 27, Apple Books Edition.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] “God’s Revelation to the Human Heart, Fr Seraphim Rose, St Herman Press, Platina CA, pp. 18, 22.”
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Hieromonk Ambrose (formerly Fr. Alexey Young), “Personal Reminiscences of Fr. Seraphim,” OW, no. 226 (2002), p. 237. A talk by Fr. Ambrose at the St. Herman Monastery on the 20th anniversary of Fr. Seraphim’s repose (Sept. 2, 2002).
[9] Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works, Hieromonk Damascene, Chapter 27.
[10] Ibid, Chapter 35.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid, Chapter 36.
[14] Ibid, Chapter 37.
[15] Ibid, Chapter 38.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Ibid. Chapter 42.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Ibid. Chapter 43.
[21] From the Akathist to Blessed Father Seraphim of Platina