Theophan the Recluse

Born on January 10 (23), 1815 in the village of Chernava, Yelets district, Orel province (now the Izmalkovsky district of the Lipetsk region ) in the family of a village priest Vasily Timofeevich Govorov and his wife Tatyana Ivanovna. The family had three daughters and four sons ^[1] : Lyubov (b. 1802), Ivan (1809-1843), Evdokia, George (in the future Feofan), Semyon, Anna (1825-1874), Gabriel.

Education

In 1823 he was sent to study at the Livensky Theological College . The moral and spiritual climate in the school was the most favorable. A capable, well-trained lad easily passed the course of a religious school and six years later (in 1829) was among the best students transferred to the Oryol Theological Seminary . At this time, Archimandrite Isidore (Nikolsky) was appointed rector of the seminary; philosophical sciences were taught by Euthymius of Ostromyslensky , hieromonk Platon (Gorodetsky) was a literature teacher, later Metropolitan of Kiev and Galitsky. In the seminary, George studied as successfully as in the school. It was here that the young man first began to consciously work on himself. Already at that time, his characteristic was the love of solitude. The seminar sheets noted that he was distinguished by a “propensity for solitude; instructive in dealing with comrades; sets an example of industriousness and good manners; meek and silent. " At the end of the seminary, in 1837, as the best pupil of his course, he was sent to the Kiev Theological Academy, despite the fact that the then rector of the seminary, Archimandrite Sofoniy (Sokolsky) , “who appreciated the firm memorization of the textbook in his students more than Govorov did not differ , didn’t mean it and was even against it ” ^[2] .

During his training in Kiev, events occurred that influenced the choice of the life path of Georgy Govorov: in 1838 his mother died, and a year later - his father. On October 1, 1840, he petitioned the academic authorities to tonsure monasticism ; On February 15 (27), 1841 , the 26-year-old Georgy Govorov received from the rector of the Kiev Theological Academy archimandrite Jeremiah (Solovyov) a monastic tonsure with the name Theophanes in honor of the Monk Theophanes the Confessor . April 6 of the same year, on the day of his episcopal ordination, Jeremiah ordained Theophanes to be a hierodeacon , and on July 1 - to a hieromonk .

In the Field of Spiritual Enlightenment

In 1841, Hieromonk Feofan was among the first to graduate from the Academy with a master 's degree in theology for the course essay “Review of the By-Law Religion,” which was sent to the Holy Synod among the best essays, a permanent member of which Metropolitan of Moscow Filaret indicated in his review: “This essay concludes there is so much information and thoughts about the Mosaic Law that they serve as sufficient evidence of the writer's knowledge, giving him the right to a master’s degree. ” Immediately after graduating from the academy, Feofan was appointed rector of the Kiev-Sofia Theological College , in the higher department of which he began to teach Latin .

December 7, 1842 he was identified as inspector and teacher of psychology and logic of the Novgorod Theological Seminary ; December 18, approved in the degree of Master of Theology.

On October 16, 1844, he was appointed to the post of Bachelor of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy in the Department of Moral and Pastoral Theology . Since March 22, 1845, Hieromonk Feofan - Assistant Inspector of the Academy; On July 3, he was appointed a member of the committee to review the abstracts of the subjects taught at the seminary. For zealous fulfillment of duties on May 25, 1846, he was awarded the title of Cathedral Hieromonk of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra .

However, at that time he was already attracted to a solitary monastic life; in a letter to his spiritual father Jeremiah, who tonsured and ordained him, he wrote: “By my academic position I begin to be burdened with intolerance. I would go to church, and sat there ” ^[3] . On August 21, 1847, at his request, he was appointed a member of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem , led by Archimandrite Porfiry (Uspensky) . In Jerusalem, Theophanes learned icon painting, perfectly studied the Greek language, thoroughly French, studied Jewish and Arabic. In Palestine, he became acquainted with the ancient asceticism of the eastern monasteries, with the monuments of ascetic writing of past centuries; He began translating the creations of the Holy Fathers of the Greek Philokalia . In addition, he became closely acquainted with heterodox faiths, knowing both the strength of their propaganda and weakness. Theophanes' works did not go unnoticed: on May 5, 1851 he was granted the “cabinet golden pectoral cross”, and on February 14, 1852, by the definition of the Holy Synod, he was approved as the “correspondent of the conference of the Kiev Theological Academy” ^[4] .

In 1853, the Crimean War began , and on May 3, 1854, the mission was withdrawn. The return took place through Europe: Theophanes visited many cities, visited temples, museums, libraries, educational institutions; Archimandrite Porfiry and Hieromonk Theophanes had an audience with Pope Pius IX ^[5] .

Upon his return to Russia, he was identified as a teacher of canon law at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy; April 14, 1855 elevated to the rank of archimandrite . In September of the same year, he was appointed rector of the Olonets Theological Seminary , which was located in the building of the Petrozavodsk Theological College; Archimandrite Feofan was to organize the construction of his own building for the seminary. At this time, he wrote: “We do not have a seminary. By right of the strong, we live in a building bought for the school, and it’s in the apartment. The seminary bursa is also in the apartment, which is very, very inconvenient ” ^[6] . In October 1855, he was identified as a member of the Olonets spiritual consistory . At the suggestion of Archbishop Arkady, he was appointed censor of the sermons of the Olonets diocese. At the seminary, he organized an anti-splinter library.

Less than a year later, on May 21, 1856, he was appointed rector of the Russian embassy church in Constantinople ( Ottoman Empire ), as he was well acquainted with the Orthodox East. Theophanes was instructed to collect information about the brewing Greco-Bulgarian split . For his labors on April 17, 1857, he was awarded the Order of St. Anne of the 2nd degree.

In May 1857, he was appointed rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. In addition to the administration, he was entrusted with the supervision of the teaching of the Law of God in secular educational institutions of the St. Petersburg District; He was the chairman of the committee at the Academy of Sciences for the publication of the works of Byzantine historians, and since 1858, he was the chairman of the committee for translating the Holy Scriptures into Russian. He regularly delivered sermons on major holidays - in 1859 they were published as a separate book: “Words of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy of the Rector Archimandrite Feofan” ^[7] . During his rectorship, the 50th anniversary of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy (February 17, 1859) was celebrated, and Theophanes was awarded "for excellent, zealous and useful service with the badge of the Order of St. Vladimir of the 3rd degree."

Bishopric

On May 29, 1859, Archimandrite Theophanes was “commanded by the highest authority to be the bishop of Tambov and Shatsky, ” and on June 1 in the Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra he was consecrated bishop by Metropolitan of St. Petersburg Gregory Philipelope Philip of Greece , On July 5, he took over the administration of the diocese ^[8] . The Tambov diocese was one of the most extensive and crowded: there were only 1172 priests, 681 deacons, and several hundred monks; there were many sectarians and schismatics among the population. Bishop Theophanes paid particular attention to preaching; He accompanied almost every worship with a sermon.

Ivan Korsunsky noted:

A deep knowledge of all the movements of the human heart and its spiritual needs, an experienced acquaintance with the spiritual life, extensive knowledge in the field of Holy Scripture, and creations of the patristic, and natural, historical and other sciences, and other high virtues distinguish the words of Blessed Theophanes to the Tambov flock, extraordinary clarity, liveliness and ease of presentation extremely strong impressed the audience

- Korsunsky I.N. His Grace Bishop Feofan, former Vladimir and Suzdal. - M., 1895

Bishop Theophanes and the clergy argued, "that preaching is his first, direct and sacred duty, and at the same time it should be an internal need, if only to treat his high ministry correctly and consciously" ^[9] . The Tambov Kazan Monastery at the Bishop's House became the center for preaching; the teacher of the Tambov seminary Ivan Sladkopevtsev was distinguished by excellent teachings here. In the Tambov Diocesan Vedomosti, Bishop Feofan published his homiletical treatise, “How to Make a Sermon,” which outlined the distinguishing features of the sermon, gave practical advice on how to compose it, and cited his own example: “The peculiarity of my sermons is that they are not composable <...> These are written impromptu. ” The director of the Tambov Teachers' Institute, I. I. Dubasov, noted: “Bishop Feofan raised the mental and moral character of our diocese, attracting several people with academic education among the clergy, which was a rarity before him” ^[10] . The publication of four issues of “Letters on the Christian Life” (St. Petersburg, 1860) dates back to this time.

In November 1861, Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery was transferred from the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese to the jurisdiction of His Grace Theophanes (for several months) to eliminate the disturbances that arose in him.

July 22, 1863 Bishop Theophanes was moved to the ancient and more extensive Vladimir department . According to the statistics of 1864, “in the Vladimir province there were 1,254,960 inhabitants, including 9541 males and 11,434 females from the spiritual department; 20 male monasteries, in which 467 monks lived, and 8 female monasteries, in which there were 659 nuns; 1152 Orthodox churches. 270 schools established by the clergy ” ^[11] . In the Vladimir diocese, which needed Orthodox missionary work, since there were many raskolniki and sectarians here, the glory of the preacher was finally strengthened for Theophanes. Of great importance was his “Instruction for the Preaching of the Word of God”, published on November 27, 1864 in the “Vladimir Diocesan Vedomosti”; in the same year he sent Hieromonk Moses to Moscow to verify old printed books; in the Vyaznikov district, he opened the “Epiphany Orthodox Brotherhood”. In 1865, a female diocesan school was opened by his cares.

For his archpastoral activities on April 19, 1864 he was awarded the Order of St. Anne of the 1st degree.

In May 1865, Bishop Theophanes wrote to Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov) who had already retired:

... Absolutely fussed. And very often I rush on your way. How would this be arranged! I do not see the gate for my myopia. Sometimes you are ready to take up a pen and write a petition about it; Yes, something in the chest crosses. And I remain at one desire. We will sit by the sea and wait for the weather. And sins and burdens, and passions and beat on the sides.

On March 11, 1866, in a letter to Nikolai Elagin, he said: "The petition is signed and sent to the Holy Synod on this day."

Shutter

His request was surprised and initially dissatisfied with Metropolitan Isidor (Nikolsky) ^[12] and Metropolitan Filaret (Drozdov) ^[13] ; other hierarchs of the Russian church.

In a letter to Metropolitan Isidore of May 30, 1866, explaining his motives and impulses, Theophanes wrote: “<...> I am looking for peace, so that I can calmly indulge in what I wish for, but not for [ sic ] sake, but with the indispensable intention that there be the fruit of labor - not useless and not unnecessary for the Church of God. I have in mind to serve the Church of God, only to serve in another way ” ^{[14] [15]} .

The request for his dismissal was granted on June 17 of the same year, with his appointment as rector in the Vyshenskaya desert of the Tambov diocese. But already on September 19, at his request, he was dismissed from running the monastery.

The first six years of his stay at the Vyshensky monastery, he did not retire completely, although he was allocated a separate outbuilding . He even had the idea of ​​returning to active bishopric activity, and in 1872 he was even invited to take over the Moscow diocese ^[16] .

In 1872 he went into the shutter , first for the duration of fasting, then for a whole year, after which it was decided to shutter completely. Having arranged the Epiphany Church house in his cell, he served in it on Sundays and holidays, and for the last eleven years - daily.

Since 1873 he was engaged in translations of ascetic books; humbly wrote about himself: “A shutter was made of my constipation. There is nothing reclusive here. I locked myself so as not to interfere, but not in the forms of the most rigorous asceticism, but in the forms of unhindered book writing ” ^[17] . He did not flatter himself: “You can stagger around the world with the doors shut, or let the whole world into your room” ^[18] .

When the Tambov governor visited him, Feofan came out of the bolt only once. Thus, he expressed his obedience to the earthly authorities. In the king, in the governor, in the father, in the master, he saw a hierarchical order, which must be absolutely obeyed. Every hierarchical order, whether it be a governor or a father, must be aware that with him “power is important, not exalting, but not degrading oneself, attractive, but not seducing” ^[19] .

In addition to works, he conducted extensive correspondence: every day the mail brought from 20 to 40 letters, while Bishop Feofan always answered each.

Theophanes in one of his letters more than 50 years in advance predicted a revolution in Russia ^[20] . He proposed tough measures to fight the revolution: censorship of the press, the death penalty for revolutionary activity.

In 1876, Theophanes published a translation into Russian of the first volume of " Kindness " (the work of Nicodemus Svyatogorets). He received a doctorate for him.

Since 1890 he was an honorary member of the Holy Prince Vladimir Brotherhood .

In recent years, he suffered from rheumatism , neuralgia , cardiac arrhythmia and dizziness, as well as progressive cataracts , as a result of which he became blind in his right eye in 1888 ^[21] .

He died on January 6, 1894 , on the feast of the Epiphany . At his death, no one was present.

The funeral service for the deceased was performed on January 11 by Bishop Jerome (of Instance) of Tambov with a large gathering of clergy and people. He was buried in the Kazan Cathedral of the Vyshenskaya desert , in the Vladimir chapel.

The library of ancient manuscripts of eastern ascetics, collected by Theophanes and bought after his death from the heirs of the Moscow merchant Losev, was transferred to the latter in the Moscow church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi ^[22] .

At the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1988 , dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia , Theophan the Recluse was glorified in the face of the saints ; in the acts of the Council it was noted:

A deep theological understanding of Christian doctrine, as well as its experimental implementation, and as a result, the height and sanctity of the life of the saint, allow us to look at his writings as a development of patristic teachings while preserving the same Orthodox purity and enlightenment.

June 29, 2002 the relics of St. Theophanes were transferred from the church of the village of Emanuilovka ( Shatsky district of the Ryazan region ), where they were stored since 1988 ^[23] , to the Vyshensky convent . March 14, 2009 the relics were transferred from the Assumption Cathedral to the Kazan Cathedral of the Vyshensky Monastery.

Like a number of other saints ( Filaret of Moscow , Joasaph of Belgorod , John of Kronstadt ), Theophanes had his own personal ascetic prayers; the text of the prayer of Theophan the Recluse was put by the laurel hieromonk Nathanael (Bachkalo) to music ^[24]

About Prayer

An important place in the writings of Theophan the Recluse is occupied by soteriology , namely, specific instructions regarding a righteous life. He highly worshiped Jesus' prayer , but understood its limitations, since “feeling for God” (“warmth of the heart”) is more important than the name of Jesus “in the tongue”. Heart prayer is more important than smart. Theophanes insisted that prayer could be "without words." ^[25] . He criticized the identification of prayer with “divine thought,” that is, meditation on God. Prayer is the work of the heart, and divine thought is the work of the mind ^[26] Accordingly, the worship service for Theophanes “is not arranged at all for teaching, but for the outpouring of holy feelings” ^[27]

Reflecting on how the prayer of a believer reaches the saints to whom it is addressed, Feofan compared the perception of prayer with the action of the electric telegraph : “When a true prayer - heartfelt - moves in the soul, then it is by that element, acting on it like a ray light flies to the saints and tells them what we want and what we pray for. There is no gap between our prayer and hearing - it is only necessary that the prayer comes from the heart. We have it and a telegraph shell for the sky. The same prayers, which come not from the heart, but from the head only from the tongue, do not give a ray rising to heaven, and are not heard there. Yes, this is not prayer, but only prayer techniques ” ^[28] . Constant prayer is part of a state such as Goviniya , in which a person prepares to meet the Lord through the acceptance of the Sacraments. Theophan equates reverence with the fear of God ^[29] .

About the Church

In the field of ecclesiology, Theophanes, in addition to the New Testament Church, recognized the "Old Testament Church" ^[30] . Theophanes criticizes the "papists" and "Protestants" who plunged Europe into a crisis of "falsehood, unbelief and indifference" ^[31] . He claims that “when there is no Church, there is no salvation”, likening the Church to Noah’s ark . The logic of the saint is this: “salvation without grace is impossible; grace is not given without the sacraments ; Sacraments are not performed without the priesthood. No priesthood , no sacraments; no sacraments, no grace; there is no grace, there is no salvation ” ^[32] . Accordingly, spiritual growth is possible only in the Church, through “magnificent priesthoods” and “everyday goodness” ^[33] .

About grace

In the doctrine of grace, he developed the doctrine of “gracious arousal”, which comes from outside and puts a person in a “preferential state”. Moreover, this condition can be painful and accompanied by sadness, in which a person begins to feel a different, more perfect life. A person can either take advantage of this state and embark on the path of salvation, or fall into the usual “whiteness” ^[34] . After a person has already chosen the path of salvation, grace comes to him as “ boldness ”, which means “the alignment of the power of God with the powers of man” and the highest degree of “hope” ^[35] .

Political Views

Theophanes criticizes the "progressives" for the fact that they perceive humanity "as one person" and, crying for the "good of all mankind", often neglect their loved ones ^[36] .

In one of his letters (dated May 3, 1881 ) he wrote: “How was the French revolution ? At first, materialistic views spread. They shook both Christian and religious beliefs. Disbelief went wild: there is no God; man is a lump of mud; there’s nothing to wait for. Despite the fact that a lump of mud could be trampled on by everyone, it turned out: don’t hush! do not touch! give freedom! And they gave! Demands began - they were reasonable, then half-witted, crazy there. And everything went upside down. What do we have?! In our country, materialistic views gain more and more weight and generalize. The forces have not yet taken, but are taking. Unbelief and immorality are also expanding. The demand for freedom and arbitrariness is freely expressed. It turns out that we are on the path to revolution. How to be? It is necessary - to stop freedom of intentions - to squeeze the mouth of journalists and newspaper people. Unbelief to declare a state crime; material views forbid under the death penalty. Material views through schools are spreading. The Laplace theory of self-education of the world with the addition of Darwin’s nonsense is in the lessons ” ^{[37] [38]} .

The philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev was critical of the bishop and his work, saying that he “was a little original as a thinker, did not feel any problems and expressed indignant moral and social views” ^[39] .

In 1954, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the saint’s repose, the bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad Averky (Taushev) wrote about its meaning: a terrible disaster, which was approaching not loyal to his loyalty to St. Orthodoxy, the Russian people, foresaw the terrible bloody abyss into which he rolled. Everything foretold by Bishop Theophanes, as we see now, has come true. <...> The preaching was holy. Theophanes that “the Lord will again send our same teachers to us to bring us to our senses and put us on the path to correction”, for “this is the law of God's truth: to heal from sin, by whom one is keen on him” ” ^[40] .

In 2010, the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church began work on the study and popularization of the literary heritage of St. Theophan the Recluse. The texts of 35 volumes of the complete works of St. Theophan the Recluse were prepared. In 2016, the first volume of the six-volume Chronicle of the Life and Works of St. Theophan the Recluse was published ^[41] .

Theophan the Recluse's activity is divided in 1872 - before and after leaving the shutter.

Before the shutter is written:

• Collection of sermons "The Word of Archimandrite Theophanes" ( 1859 ).
• Words to the Tambov flock ( 1861 ).
• The lecture book “The Path to Salvation” ( 1868 - 1869 ; during the life of the author - 5 publications) on Orthodox education and upbringing (including youth).

Throughout the shutter (until his death) in the monastery are written:

• “Letters on the Christian Life” (4 issues; fully published after death in 1898-1901 ) - reflections on the Christian life, overcoming temptations and weakness, the final destinies of mankind.
• "Letters to various persons about different objects of faith and life." (1892)
• A monumental translation of the most authoritative patristic collection - " Kindness " (in 5 volumes; total 3,143 s.)
• Translation of the work of Lorenzo Skupoli called "Invisible abuse" ^[42] .
• "The tracing of Christian moralizing" (1891)
• "What is spiritual life and how to tune in to it."
• " Psalm one hundred and eighteenth, interpreted by Bishop Theophanes " (1891). [scan]
• Nine books of “Interpretations on the Epistles of the Holy Apostle Paul”.
  • Interpretation of the Epistle of St. Apostle Paul to Philemon
  • Interpretation of the Epistle of St. Apostle Paul to the Colossians
  • Interpretation of the Epistle of St. Apostle Paul to the Galatians
  • Interpretation of the Epistle of Paul to Titus
  • Interpretation of the First Epistle of the Apostle Paul to Timothy
  • Interpretation of the Second Epistle of the Apostle Paul to Timothy
  • Interpretation of the Epistle of St. Apostle Paul to the Ephesians
  • Interpretation of the first eight chapters of the Epistle of St. Apostle Paul to the Romans
  • Interpretation of IX - XVI chapters of the Epistle of St. Apostle Paul to the Romans
  • Interpretation of the First Epistle of st. Apostle Paul to the Corinthians
  • Interpretation of the Second Epistle of st. Apostle Paul to the Corinthians
  • Interpretation of the Epistle of St. Apostle Paul to the Philippians
  • Interpretation of the First Epistle of st. Apostle Paul to the Solunians
  • Interpretation of the Second Epistle of st. Apostle Paul to the Solunians
• On the Use of a New Translation of the Old Testament Scriptures
• Ancient monastic charters

Modern Reprints

• Ancient monastic charters: pr. Pachomius the great, sv. St. Basil the Great, etc. John Cassian and etc. Benedict, collected by Bishop Theophanes / Comp. Bishop Theophan the Recluse; Reprint ed. 1892 - Riga: Pilgrim-Blagovest, 1995. - 654, VIII, [10] p. - 6000 copies. - ISBN 5-87310-019-5 .

• St. Theophanes the Recluse of Vyshensky. Letters to different people about different objects of faith and life. - M .: Lepta Book, 2007 . - 800 s. - ISBN 978-5-91173-038-3 .

• Archimandrite George (Tertyshnikov) . St. Theophan the Recluse and his doctrine of salvation. - M .: Rule of Faith, 1999 .-- 570 p. - 6000 copies. - ISBN 5-7533-0078-2 .
• Clement, Metropolitan of Kaluga and Borovsky . The ministry of St. Theophan the Recluse (Vyshensky) in Palestine in the first part of the Russian Spiritual Mission (1847-1853) / in 4 parts. - 2017 .: part I , part II , part III , part IV
• Mikhail Khitrov, prot. Life of St. Theophanes the Recluse of Vyshensky . - [Reprint. Vol.]: B. m.: Pravoslav. St. Tikhonov. theologian. Institute, [1992?]. - M .: Tipo-Lithography by I. Efimov, 1905. - 227, [2] p.

• Archimandrite George (Tertyshnikov) Life and work of St. Theophan the Recluse
• Saint Theophan the Recluse. (Brief biography) on the website of the Holy Assumption Monastery of Vyshensky
• Project for the publication of the complete works of St. Theophan the Recluse
• Proceedings of St. Theophanes
• The advice of St. Theophan the Recluse
• Theophan the Recluse, Thoughts for every day of the year according to church readings from the Word of God
• Letters from St. Theophan the Recluse to the future elder Theodosius of Karul the Holy Mountaineer
• A spark of mental inquisitiveness
• Proceedings of St. Theophan the Recluse on the website of the Tver Diocese