Recollections of Metropolitan Laurus, I

I can't claim to have known the late Metropolitan Laurus any better than the hundreds who have had the great privilege of living and praying with him at Holy Trinity Monastery and Seminary in Jordanville, NY. Many will offer better and more thorough memorials, but I thought I could at least add my widow's mite to the growing wealth of tributes.

One didn't have to spend long in Jordanville to understand that Vladyka Laurus was not simply a monk, but a deeply cenobitic monk. Every morning, without fail, Vladyka attended Midnight Office, which began at 5:00 am, and then the Divine Liturgy. He attended every meal in the trapeza (refectory) every day, eating the same humble food as did the monks and seminarians. After each meal he would walk the length of the trapeza, through the entry area, and then through the print-shop before reaching the elevator that would take him to his modest office on the third floor. Anyone could approach him during this relaxed walk, to receive a blessing, ask a question, or simply exchange a few words with him. He never walked past anyone who wanted his attention. He was equally accessible in his office: one only had to knock. His "skete" a few hundred yards from the main monastery buildings was a simple, very small cottage – hardly larger than a cabin in a grove of trees. He always dressed as a simple monk, wearing a simple gray or light blue cassock, a black monastic belt, and a simply black skufia (cap). An outsider, seeing him walking around the monastery, would never have guessed that he was a bishop. Indeed, when he made his first trips to Russia in the early 1990s, he traveled wearing a simple priestly cross, and appeared for all the world a simple Carpatho-Russian batiushka.

Vladyka Laurus always spoke simply and clearly, often seasoning his words with a gentle and playful humor. All the words he spoke publicly were his own: he wrote all his sermons and addresses himself, never relegating this task to secretaries or helpers. Under this simplicity of manner, however, lay a great wealth of knowledge: Vladyka was deeply read in the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Holy Fathers (he had particular affection for the works of St John Chrysostom and St John of Kronstadt); he had a mastery of every detail of the liturgical services; he was at home in any epoch of Christian history; he had a "pan-Orthodox" view of the Church, having traveled widely throughout the Orthodox world; and he knew the lives of the saints backwards and forwards. Indeed, along with being Rector of Holy Trinity Seminary for several decades, he taught classes every year until the early- to mid-nineties, when his strength began to lessen and his responsibilities to increase. His was a wisdom that he did his best to conceal, but which always shown through.

I'll continue to put down my thoughts piecemeal over the next few days, but I'm sure much better tributes will be appearing all over the press and Internet.

Once again: May his memory be eternal!

Why Fast? II

The late Vladyka Laurus, with deacons, after the Paschal Liturgy, 2007.

For photographs of the late Metropolitan in repose, taken the day of his departure from this earthly life, see here.

Why Fast?

Why fast? So that we can greet the Lord's Resurrection with the same Paschal joy as the late Metropolitan Laurus shows in this photograph, taken in Jordanville on the third day of Pascha, 2007.

The Cross of Metropolitan Laurus

The late Metropolitan Laurus was a man of deep and abiding humility, a true monk. He never sought power or abused his authority, but submitted himself in obedience to the tasks the Church asked him to fulfill, often at the price of great personal suffering. In his last years he suffered very, very deeply from those who opposed his efforts to restore unity to the Russian Orthodox Church, torn apart by the great upheavals of the twentieth century. He listened attentively to every protest, wept over every lost sheep, and followed what he believed to be God's will.

I vividly recall his brief, impromptu remarks upon having been clothed as Metropolitan in 2001. He based his remarks on John 21:18:

Verily, verily I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.

These words exemplify for me Vladyka's profound humility and deeply Christian sense of humor. He will be missed very, very deeply.

Funeral of Metropolitan Laurus

Here is the schedule for the funeral and burial of His Eminence, Metropolitan Laurus, at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY:

Thursday, March 20:

• 4:30 pm Matins

• 7:30 Great Compline and a Litia for the Departed

Friday, March 21:

• 5:00 am Midnight Office and Hours

• 8:00 Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

• 11:00 Funeral and burial

Directions to the monastery are here.

A panikhida (memorial service) will be held at the Cathedral of the Sign in New York City (93rd & Park) on Wednesday, March 19, at 7:00 pm.

His Eminence, Archbishop Hilarion of Sydney, will be commemorated in place of Metropolitan Laurus until the election of a new First Hierarch.

Photograph: The late Metropolitan Laurus in church, reading aloud a text by the Holy Fathers during services last week.

UPDATE: A very nice video news story from Russia Today, in English, can be viewed here.

Eternal Memory: Metropolitan Laurus

His Eminence, Metropolitan Laurus of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, has reposed in the Lord.

From what I have heard, he served the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on Friday, then felt too ill to perform tonsures later that evening. He was found in his "skete" (his small cell a few hundred yards from the monastery) this morning, having reposed in his sleep.

The Lord chose to receive Vladyka Laurus on the Sunday of Orthodoxy.

The Church on earth has lost a great hierarch, pastor, teacher, and monk. Many, many people are now spiritually orphaned. I myself have known Vladyka Laurus for thirty years. It is almost impossible to imagine Church life without him.

I will post news on funeral arrangements, etc., as they become available. The monks at Jordanville are currently preparing his body, and will soon move it to the main church.

Please pray for the soul of the newly-departed servant of God, Metropolitan Laurus.

May his memory be eternal!

Sunday of Orthodoxy

Today is the Sunday of Orthodoxy, on which we commemorate the final restoration of the Holy Icons, and of the Church's conquest over heresy in general. Today's Gospel reading about the calling of Nathanael (John 1:43-51) may at first sight appear to have little to do with this commemoration. Bishop Atanasije offers an explanation of the connection in a sermon given precisely one year ago:

God created man in the image of His Son so that, at the time of Christ’s incarnation, the Son of God could become man, assume the image of man, and reveal the dimensions and ranges of the human image, so that man could become God-like, Christ-like, Trinity-like. This is what Philip was saying to Nathaniel when he said, Come and see. Nathaniel went, and the Lord helped him to open his heart further, and that is when he recognized the Son of God in Him, in that “son of Joseph,” as He was regarded. Among the Jews, it was mandatory that a girl not remain unmarried. But, because the Holy Virgin Mary had vowed her virginity to God, the high priest of the time gave her to Joseph, as his betrothed, so that under the guise of marriage her secret could be kept –the secret being that from her, by the Holy Spirit, that is, by God Himself, the New Adam would be born, just as Adam was born in the beginning without a woman. Birth from a woman, that is, the normal human kind of birth, is not the only kind of birth. God can, as He said, of these stones raise up children of Abraham (Mt. 3:9). But God arranged it so that people would be born of Adam and Eve. Christ also followed that human path by becoming man: He went through the womb of the virgin-mother, and his father was the Heavenly Father. And He was born as the true Son of God and Son of Man, the one and only Christ, the eternal Representation, the Image of the True and Living God, the Image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). He has now become the true image, the face, the icon of man; that is to say, the Original of our image has revealed Himself, the Prototype of Man. This is what we celebrate today, on the Sunday of Orthodoxy.

He later adds how we can recognize our own Orthodoxy by venerating our Prototype:

When we leave at the end of the Divine Service, having partaken of Communion, to walk around the church and carry the Holy Icons and sing, We venerate Thy Holy Image, Thy Icon, O Lord, let us also ask this of the Lord: Show us, O Lord, as Thou hast shown Nathaniel, Thy Divine Image in ourselves and in our brethren, so that we may observe Thy Prototype, which is ours, given to us and conveyed to us. Then may we know by this that we are Orthodox. I repeat, Orthodoxy is not a big organization, a mighty force. You will hear many people ask: “What is the Church doing?” I say: “It is doing nothing, but it serves Divine Liturgy.” This was also said by a Russian priest at a meeting in Europe, when Russians were first allowed to leave the country after Stalin’s horrific persecutions. He and others were met by Protestants, Catholics, the organizers of the meeting, and they asked him: “What is the Russian Church doing? What mission does it have in Russia today?” And the priest said: We serve the Liturgy! Others laughed, not understanding that this is the greatest work that can be accomplished in this world and in this history, behind which is God’s Eternity.

These words of an anonymous and much-suffering Russian priest are, to me, the perfect response to anyone questioning the "relevance" of Orthodoxy: We serve the Liturgy! This also reminds me of Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic's imagined exchange, cited earlier, between Tolstoy and the Synod who had anathematized him:

"My understanding is against your traditions," said Tolstoi.

"Our traditions are against your understandings," replied the Holy Synod.

If nothing else, the Sunday of Orthodoxy should teach us that there is no reason we should feel that we must be forever on the defensive. The Church, after all, is the pillar and ground of Truth (I Tim 3:15).

St Theophan the Recluse, writing at a time when the Rite of Orthodoxy was under much criticism among the Russian intelligentsia, observes why its Anathemas are not only necessary, but indeed acts of love:

Does the holy Church really err in judging them, binding them, and casting them out? And would it really be love for man if she regarded the actions of such people with indifference and left them at liberty to destroy everyone else? Would a mother permit a snake to freely crawl up to and bite her little child, who does not understand the danger? If some immoral person were to gain access to your family and begin tempting your daughter, or your son -- would you be able to regard their actions and their speeches with indifference? Fearing to gain a reputation for being inhumane and old- fashioned, would you tie your own hands? Would you not push such a person out the door and close it against them forever?! You should view the actions of the holy Church in the same way. She sees that individuals of corrupt mind appear, and corrupt others -- and she rises up against them, drives them away, and calls out to all those who are her own: Beware -- so-and-so and such-and-such people wish to destroy your souls. Do not listen to them; flee from them. Thus she fulfills the duty of motherly love, and therefore acts lovingly -- or as you put it, humanely.

At the present time, we have a proliferation of nihilists, spiritists and other pernicious clever ones who are carried away with the false teachers of the West. Do you really think that our holy Church would keep silence and not raise her voice to condemn and anathematize them, if their destructive teachings were something new? By no means. A council would be held, and in council all of them with their teachings would be given over to anathema, and to the current Rite of Orthodoxy there would be appended an additional item: To Feuerbach, Buchner, and Renan, to the spiritists, and to all their followers -- to the nihilists - - be anathema. But there is no need for such a council, and there is no need either for such an addition. Their false teachings have already all been anathematized in advance in those points where anathema is pronounced to those who deny the existence of God, the spirituality and immortality of the soul, the teachings concerning the all-holy Trinity and concerning the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you not see with what wisdom and foresight the holy Church acts when she makes us perform the present proclamation and listen to it? And yet they say, "This is outdated." It is precisely now that it is relevant. Perhaps 100 years ago it was not relevant. But one must say concerning our time, that if a Rite of Orthodoxy did not as yet exist, it would be needful to introduce one, and to perform it not only in the capital cities but in all places and in all churches: in order to collect all the evil teachings opposed to the Word of God, and to make them known to all, in order that all might know what they need to beware of and what kind of teachings to avoid. Many are corrupted in mind solely due to ignorance, whereas a public condemnation of ruinous teachings would save them from perdition.

If there were no Rite of Orthodoxy we would need to introduce one! The Rite of Orthodoxy, with its thundering Anathemas is not only not a disturbing leftover from the past, but a test and reminder of our own Orthodoxy.

I haven't much time to write more today, so I'll leave you with some valuable links:

• Services for the Sunday of Orthodoxy: Vespers, Synodikon, Canon of the Synodikon.

• Audio (in Slavonic) of the late Protodeacon Nikolai Porshnikoff reading part of the Rite of Orthodoxy. This thundering reading should curl the toes of anyone who has ever harbored an heretical thought. The full Rite (also in Slavonic), as performed at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY, last year, can be heard here.
  

• On the Holy Icons, by St Gregory Palamas.
  

• A sermon given by St Tikhon, later Patriarch of Moscow, in San Francisco, on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, 1903.
  

• The Sunday of Orthodoxy of and the Current State of Affairs by Photios Kontoglou.
  

• A sermon on the Sunday of Orthodoxy by Fr Alexander Schmemann.

• Finally, you might think of looking at some of my older posts: Why Do We Venerate Icons?, The Flesh Became the Word, and The Icon and the Image.

What God is as great as our God? Thou art God Who workest wonders! (Ps. 76:14-15)