Bishop Nektary of Seattle

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Barbara
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Bishop Nektary of Seattle

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News of the death of Vladyka Nektary was unexpected for everyone who knew him. We all knew that he was sick, we knew for many years of his exhausting suffering, but somehow we grew accustomed to it. It seemed nothing warned us of his speedy departure from us, just the day before he attended all-night vigil at the Cathedral in San Francisco and prayed to the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. The very feast day of the newly-canonized passion-bearers, and the end of early Liturgy, news spread that Vladyka had died.

Bishop Nektary, born Oleg Mikhailovich Kontsevich in Latvia in 1905, spent his childhood and early years in Malorussia [Belarus—transl.]. Graduating from school, Oleg Kontsevich enrolled in the Communications Engineering Institute, ultimately earning a graduate degree. He then held factory jobs, and finally emigrated, first to Germany, then to America. It would seem his fate differed little from hundreds of thousands of “displaced person,”—known as DP. But these mundane facts hid something much greater.

The late Vladyka served as a living bond with Optina Pustyn [Hermitage], and with the New Martyrs of the Russian Church. One of the most sacred recollections of Vladyka was how in his youth he was in the altar as an acolyte during a divine service celebrated by Patriarch Tikhon. Vladyka told us how Hieromartyr Onufry of Elizavetgrad would visit their home; Vladyka knew other New Martyrs personally. Vladyka would speak out with great Divine joy about their canonization by the Church, and about the first church dedicated to their name, located in Oregon, which was part of Vladyka’s vicariate.

Vladyka would say to the author of this article: “Just imagine, when we prayerfully raise our voices with the words ‘Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, pray to God for us,’ they all turn to the Divine Throne and exclaim; ‘Lord have mercy!’ and the Lord, by their prayers, bestows mercy on the Russian Church.” Vladyka firmly believed this. I remember how during the canonization service, when the powerful magnification of the New Martyrs was sung, the tears of endearment and fervent prayer that accompanied Vladyka’s participation in this prayer. It might seem strange that it was noticeable with so many clergymen and worshipers present. But it really was, because of all our hierarchs, Vladyka was the only eyewitness to the events of the 1920s and 30’s, when so many passion-bearers shone forth. It is worth noting that Vladyka himself was tonsured a reader in 1930 in Taganrog by Bishop Iosif (Chernov), and so was a member of the clergy of the persecuted Church.

Other sacred memories of Vladyka were from when Optina Pustyn was not yet closed, and his entire family was under the spiritual guidance of the last inspired elder, Hieromonk Nektary. Even before it was closed, the Kontsevich family continued to receive spiritual nourishment from the elder, who was in exile at the time. In his memory, Vladyka’s mother was tonsured a nun with the name Nektaria, and later our Vladyka received this name. By this time, Vladyka came to know Archbishop Andrei (Rimarenko), who was then just a young priest, Fr Adrian, and also sought spiritual the guidance of the great elder. Their friendship rekindled in Kiev during the German occupation, and Vladyka Nektary was evacuated with a group of believers under Fr Adrian to Berlin, where Fr Adrian became the senior priest of the cathedral, and Oleg Mikhailovich served as a subdeacon in the same cathedral. Vladyka often said: “I am a chronic subdeacon.” This was noticeable in the way he served, which was marked by its ritualism, ceremony and pious prayerfulness. There was not a single unneeded motion, everything was perfectly measured, and Vladyka’s giant stature have him an unusual stateliness, none of which was feigned, everything was natural and simple. One of Vladyka’s characteristic traits was what he himself called “my pathological punctuality.” Everyone who served with him knew that one could set one’s watch by the time of his arrival at the cathedral, exactly at 9:45 am.

Upon Vladyka’s arrival in America (in 1953), he entered monasticism, and, ordained to the deaconate and then the priesthood, he was appointed to the cathedral in San Francisco. There his pastoral service continued until 1962, when he was called to the episcopal service.

The archpastoral service of Vladyka began in the difficult period of church troubles in San Francisco connected with the construction of the new cathedral, and the Enemy of Mankind was fanning the flames of human passions and meddled with this good task. Vladyka suffered many blows himself for this, which he staunchly endured. After Vladyka John (Maximovich) died, and before Archbishop Anthony (Medvedev) arrived in San Francisco, Vladyka Nektary wisely and calmly ran the diocese, directing church life back into a normal routine.

As Vicar of the Western American Diocese, Vladyka had to tend to its northern region, providing fatherly care for the spiritual needs of Orthodox Christians scattered throughout various regions without a parish church. Vladyka also loved St Herman’s Skete in Platina [where Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) lived—ed.], and shared its joys and sorrows.

Probably most dear about Vladyka to us, his spiritual children, to whom he had limitless paternal love, was that after making confession to Vladyka, we would depart like we were walking on air. His gift as a spiritual father was uncommon. Even if he had to rebuke us for something, Vladyka always did it gently and with his ever-present humor, so the person accepted the criticism without anger, but happily.

This is the Vladyka we keep in our memory. Simple, gentle, accessible, he loved to say: “I don’t know how to be a bishop,” and at the same time was staunch in matters of faith and principle.

The funeral and burial of the late hierarch was performed at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY, on Thursday, February 10, 1983. Leading the services was Archbishop Anthony of San Francisco and Western America, along with Archbishop Laurus of Syracuse and Holy Trinity, twelve priests, two protodeacons and four deacons. The coffin was carried around the church to the singing of “Helper and Protector,” and interred in the earth behind the altar in the monastic cemetery. The sorrow of loss was eased because there was deep snow all around and a bright sun shone, like in Russia, which Vladyka so loved.

We believe that it was no accident that Vladyka departed from us on the feast day of the Holy New Martyrs of Russia, but that his labors towards their glorification were pleasing to the Lord, and that now he is with the Church Triumphant together with the New Martyrs, praising the Lord and praying for us sinners. By his prayers, o Lord, have mercy on us!

Protodeacon Andre Papkov
(now Protopriest and Senior Priest of the Cathedral in Chicago).

Pravoslavnaya Rus’, No. 3, 1983.
http://synod.com/synod/engdocuments/ena ... 30yrs.html

Note : Evidently, Bishop Iosif [Chernov] was a Catacomb Bishop.
This year's Feast of the New Martyrs will fall on a Sunday !

Last edited by Barbara on Thu 1 February 2018 11:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Bishop Nektary of Seattle

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Sermon of Bishop Nektary [Kontzevich] on the Canonization of the New Martyrs, given to a Youth Conference in 1981. At that point, the Glorification was still some months away.

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

God has gathered us here today on the eve of a wondrous event—the glorification of the Holy New Martyrs of Russia. It will bear great importance, because it is taking place in a period of a titanic struggle between good and evil, an epoch of almost total apostasy from God, from faith in Him, from the Church, and as a consequence, from the work for salvation. Another important point in the coming canonization is that it can have great spiritual and historical significance, as it may open a path for the rebirth of Russia and can save her from death in the grip of the godless regime.

Of course, this will depend on how it is viewed by the remaining faithful Orthodox Christians in Russia, and how we in the diaspora view it. We know that our martyrs have long ago been glorified by the Lord from the moment of the martyric deaths, but the Holy Church declares their holiness to her flock and calls for prayers to them. Before canonization, the Church prays for the repose of their bright souls, but afterwards the Church entrusts them with the task of praying for us sinners on earth before the Divine Throne. And we know how abundantly our compatriots fill the ranks of the righteous, and we will pray to them that they in turn pray before God’s Throne for the salvation of Russia and of us sinners.

As we approach the glorification of the Holy New Martyrs of Russia, we bear witness to the strengthening and dissemination of evil throughout the world. If we pay attention to what is happening all around us, we cannot fail to see that there are many pieces of evidence of a powerful and terrifying organized and secret force, boasting unlimited resources and opportunities, striving to destroy religious faith, especially Orthodox Christianity, as well as the spiritual and physical decay of the young generation. We presume that detailed plans towards this wicked end are already being enacted.

In the forthcoming Church canonization we sense the hope for deliverance of our Fatherland from the bonds of atheism, for we believe in the holy prayers of God’s saints.

On the other hand, we see how the devil and his minions have struck the Orthodox Church in our Homeland with full force. Let us therefore first talk about the teaching of the Church on the origins of evil.

There is an unseen war being waged between good and evil in the world. Rising up against God—Absolute Good—is the devil—absolute evil. Few people today understand the full meaning and significance of Church events, of what is happening on the government, social, family and personal levels. Most deem there subjective ponderings, judgments and conclusions--which are almost always wrong--as the truth. How are we to escape errors and subjectivity, and achieve true understanding of public events and phenomena that affect our lives? The Orthodox Christian world-view helps in this regard.

Only Divine revelations given to us in the Bible and through the Divinely-inspired Holy Fathers can teach us about the higher spiritual world and its laws, about spiritual truths. The higher, other world is different from ours. We can understand it only through analogy with our world, since our world is a reflection of the higher one, though a great deal cannot be described in earthly terms. Apostle Paul said: “How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Corinthians 12:4), that is, he heard words which man cannot repeat. So much of what the author of Genesis, Moses, wrote, along with the other prophets, is spoken with the primitive language of their time, and can appear to us to be naïve. But the truths they reveal lie at the foundation of the Orthodox Christian world view and Christian philosophy.

God created the universe from nothing. The spiritual world was created first, granted wisdom and the Divine property of free will. The spiritual angels were created at the edge of time. With their creation, time began. St Dionysius the Areopagite, in his wonderful work “The Celestial Hierarchy,” reveals the mysteries and structure of the angelic world. It is a hierarchical universe, divided into various levels: there are nine Orders of angels, divided into 3 groups of 3 ranks each: the higher, middle and lower Orders. The highest are the six-winged Seraphim, the many-eyed Cherubim and the Thrones. “Seraphim” means “fiery,” he burns with love for God. “Cherubim” means “beholding,” he beholds Divine wisdom and is immersed in its mysteries, and God abides upon the Thrones. The middle group are the Powers, Virtues and Dominions. The last, the Angels, Archangels and Principalities, which depends on the middle ranks. All the Angels together are innumerable, while there are only seven Seraphim.

The highest of all Angels, the crowning glory of creation, was the Morning Star, Lucifer. He stood closest to God and had the power to address Him directly. All the heavenly powers praised the Creator in perfect harmony.

But there is evil in our world; its origin outside of our world; how did evil enter our universe?

Lucifer did not bear his loftiness and he fell. Pride doomed him: drunk with glory, he imagined that he could be like God, and rebelled against Him. Prophet Ezekiel described the fallen Lucifer in these mystical terms: “The Lord came unto me, saying… Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God… Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee... thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire” (Ezekiel 28:13-17). And our Lord Jesus Christ said: “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18).

When Satan rebelled against God, a third of the angels followed him. Among those who remained faithful to God there was confusion, and the heavenly peace was disrupted. One of the highest Seraphim exclaimed “Who but God?” which in ancient Hebrew is “Michail.” And from this moment Archangel Michael led the heavenly host against the rebellious spirits, who were cast out of Heaven. This is the origin of evil.

The fallen Satan know a great deal, he knew that God would no longer create new angels. The harmony of the spiritual world was violated, the fullness of heavenly hosts was harmed, and Satan rejoiced at wickedness, but was shamed.

God, in His innate greatness, then created the visible world.

Through the endless expanse of the universe, stars of stunning beauty and harmony sparked to life, and amid these great cosmos, a speck appeared—the Earth. The holy priest Fr John of Kronstadt put it this way: “The Lord deemed that in human form He would supplant the loss of angelic spirits which had fallen, and this is the endless shame and eternal punishment for those proud spirits.” When Satan saw that humankind is able to occupy the thrones abandoned by the fallen angels, he could not endure the humiliation, he burned with cruel hatred towards humankind, and decided to poison mankind with temptation. “Ye shall be as gods” (Genesis 3:5), said the great tempter, the ancient evil of the first humans.

Mankind, however, fell at the very dawn of existence, Adam and Eve succumbing to this temptation. After the Fall, Satan was condemned by God and became absolute evil, the devil, Satan. From that time he wages war not only against God but fights for every human soul. Human nature was injured from original sin, and evil and death entered earthly life, and its order was distorted. After Adam’s fall, Divine grace receded and a evil flooded the world, and mankind alone could not resist the onslaught; what was needed was that the Savior-Messiah promised to our ancestors in Eden was to come, the Seed of the Woman, Who would crush the head of the serpent.

Millennia passed into history, and some two thousand years before the Birth of Christ, God called upon Abraham and makes him the father of a special nation. This nation remained the sole bearer of the faith in one Almighty God. Through special grace, God raised a special lineage of King David, within whose genetic line holiness steadily increases, until this stream of grace gave us the Most-Pure Virgin, the Mother of God, the Most Holy, without personal sin. It was only thanks to this that the Incarnation of the Son of God on Earth could take place. Born of the Most-Pure Virgin through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ the Son of God, the Savior of the World, God the Word, Logos. He, the Creator of the universe, through Him by Whom all things were made. That was the beginning of the New Testament.

And the devil with redoubled wrath responded to the Birth of Christ. Many innocent infants were killed by decree of King Herod—another Herod, coaxed by the devil, ordered the beheading of John the Baptist. The devil was incensed in his struggle against God; he inspired hatred towards Christ among the Scribes and Pharisees, the priests, the leaders of the Jewish people: “They cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him” (Luke 23:21), “His blood be on us, and on our children” (Matthew 27:25). And this chosen people of Abraham who knew the one God, transform into the servants of the devil and lead a brutal campaign against the Christian world. And the Lord bears witness: “Ye are of your father the devil” (John 8:44).

Christ sacrifices Himself through His life, teachings, sufferings, blood, death and Resurrection, manifesting the Redemption of mankind. Angels tremble in amazement before this inscrutable mystery, the ineffable and Divine love. For mankind cannot save his soul through his own efforts. “Without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), says the Lord. Man can only be saved through Christ the Savior, in the vineyard established by Him, the Church, through the aid of the grace-filled Mysteries of the Church, established by the Lord. The Church of God, created by the Lord Himself and imbued with the Holy Spirit, shines with indescribable Divine beauty. The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church is a single spiritual organism. There is only one truth, and that truth is Christ, therefore there can only be one Church—our Orthodox Universal and Apostolic Church, which Christ obtained through His Blood and which chastely preserved her salvific teachings.

But we know that Satan immediately assailed the Church established by the Lord. The servants of Satan began their persecutions, periods of mass martyrdom commenced. The Church was also harmed by heresies and schisms. The devil and his servants expended special efforts against the Orthodox Church, especially the Russian Orthodox Church, as one that preserved the faith founded on the dogmas as laid out by the Holy spirit at the Ecumenical Councils.
I recall the words spoken by Gleb Alexandrovich Rahr. “With what sorrow,” he would say, “that we meet people who consider themselves Orthodox Christians and express such thoughts as ‘I think that you can go to a Catholic church, too,’ or ‘you can attend a church of another jurisdiction,’ and so on and so forth. It’s always 'I think'… ” Even more sorrowful is when you hear Orthodox Christians who say “I believe in my own way.” Such words pull one out of the walls of the Church, they deprive one of the Holy Mysteries and the supernatural grace of the Holy Spirit. A person such as this will be doomed from the terrible spiritual ailment of the pride of reason, deeming himself more wise than the host of holy monastic fathers who achieved holiness within the bosom of the Orthodox Church. They consider themselves smarter that the Holy Fathers of the Ecumenical Councils, through whom the Holy Spirit laid out the dogmas and rules of the Church. Finally, in trusting their own judgments, they relegate the Church as imperfect and elevate themselves higher than Christ, as though He had not established a perfect Church.

What terrifying pride and blasphemy!

And so, lest we stray from the path of salvation, we must first of all belong to the True Church—the Orthodox Church, and receive as children her dogmas, her canons, rules and the spirit of her teachings. “ “Verily I say unto you,” said the Lord, “except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Outside of the walls of the Church there can be no salvation.

Truly, in the history of the Local (National) Churches, there was never such murderous persecution as the Russian Orthodox Church is enduring. A satanic, militantly-atheist regime has taken hold of our Homeland, and we cannot hope that this government will change for the better, for Satan is perfect only in evil. But everything is possible for the Lord, and He can emancipate Russia from evil. A great deal depends on us.

And so we prepare for the canonization of the Holy New Martyrs of Russia. Many books, articles and memoirs were written about the martyrs, their sufferings and the brutality of their executioners. Let us remember the suffering of Metropolitan Vladimir, the first hierarch to be martyred; Metropolitan Veniamin, Metropolitan Iosif and other archpastors, along with thousands of clergymen and millions of laypersons who died in prisons and concentration camps.

Rarely do we consider the mystical aspect of this matter, which is very important. As mentioned, God has long ago glorified the martyrs, from the moment of their deaths. Having endured suffering, they defeated evil and have earned the boldness to intercede on our behalf before the Lord. Every apparent victory of the executioners was actually a defeat for them.

It is especially important to note the martyric end of our Tsar, Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich, and his August Family. He was the last monarch to be anointed as an Orthodox Tsar. He was the Anointed of God. This Mystery is performed by the Church during the coronation, when the Tsar enters the Royal Doors into the altar and partakes of the Holy Mysteries as a clergyman, taking the Body and Blood of Christ separately. In this way, the Holy Church emphasizes the great spiritual importance of the service of a monarch, elevating him to the rank of clergyman.

And so the Tsar is the Anointed of God, a cleric of the Church, the bearer of the special grace of the Holy Spirit. This Divine power, working through the Anointed, restrained the spread of evil, the mystery of lawlessness. Apostle Paul, in 2 Thessalonians, writes: “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). The devil has long hastened to gain power and produce the Antichrist, but he could not so long as we had the Anointed of God, who restrained him. The mystery of iniquity needed freedom to act, it needed to remove the Anointed one, which was permitted by God for the sins of the entire Russian people.

So the “restrainer” of iniquity has been taken from us, and from that moment we witness the reckless abandon and spread of evil throughout the world. A terrible evil was committed, that of regicide. The Tsar, the Anointed of God, the Protector of the Orthodox Church, the head of an Orthodox state, was killed. The “restrainer” was killed.

Just as Christ was crucified for the sins of the whole world on Golgotha, abandoned by all, so was our Tsar brought to sacrifice for the sins of Russia, and was also abandoned. No one helped their Tsar in the days of his sufferings, when he was held prisoner by the satanic regime. Today, the sin of regicide lies heavily upon the Russian people, especially upon those who commit evil, but also upon each one of us. If we are to harbor at least the smallest hope that this sin is removed from the conscience of Russia, we must not only redouble our repentance but canonize the Tsar and all of the Holy New Martyrs. For he received his martyric death for the Orthodox Faith, for the Holy Church, for the Fatherland. This is what a certain priest from Russia wrote to us:

“The historic, global meaning of the martyrdom of the Imperial Family, on the level of a biblical event, is that the Constantinian Period of the Church of Christ comes to an end, and a new, martyric, apocalyptic period commenced. It begins with the voluntary self-sacrifice of the Emperor and his Family.”

The tragedy of the Royal Family is a curse upon the Russian Land, it has become a symbol, a prophesy of the long procession of the cross of Russia, the death of tens of millions of her sons and daughters. The canonization of the Royal Martyrs will remove the sin of regicide from Russia and will emancipate her from the chains of evil.

How are we to prepare for the great event of canonization? First of all we must bolster our Orthodox faith and adhere to all the laws of the Church, center our lives around Church. We must more frequently make confession with our priest for our personal sins, and make sure we don’t stray from the Church. The Holy Spirit established the commandments of the Church, and we cannot harbor our own opinions if they differ in any way.

We often hear people who identify as Orthodox Christians say: “I don’t believe in the devil,” when in fact, the Lord came to the world to deliver us from the devil’s clutches. We know how He mercifully offers us aid in the Holy Mysteries, and we know that without God there is no salvation, which is only possible within the confines of the Church.

We nurture the hope that when news of the glorification of the Tsar at the head of all the New Martyrs reaches our faithful in the Homeland, who like us suffer the guilt of regicide, then heartfelt, tearful prayers will be lifted to the Tsar: “Holy Tsar-Martyr Nicholas the Passion-bearer and all the Holy New Martyrs of the Russian land, pray for us sinners!” We believe that the Tsar, who grieves for suffering Russia, will bow before the Divine Throne and will redouble his prayers for the salvation of Russia. The blood of the martyrs cries out to the heavens, and the Lord, heeding our repentant groans and the holy prayers of His humble servant, our Tsar-Martyr, can perform a miracle and remove the sin of regicide from the Russian people, and can topple the communist yoke from the Russian land. All things are possible for the Lord, and He can replace sorrow with joy, and raise up Holy Orthodox Rus.
Amen.

San Francisco.
http://synod.com/synod/engdocuments/ena ... rtyrs.html

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Re: Bishop Nektary of Seattle

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Sermon by Bishop Nektary on the Healing of the 10 lepers

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Today the Holy Church relays to us the Gospel teaching of how the Savior healed the ten lepers.

The Lord Jesus Christ was on His way to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Upon entering a town, He was met by ten lepers.

One could not but look with sympathy at these unfortunate men, for they suffered a terrible infectious disease which was at the time widespread and caused untold hardship. Victims were covered in putrid sores, their bodies rotting and decaying, and parts of their bodies would actually fall off, their faces turned unrecognizable.

The sick also suffered bitterness, for by Mosaic law, they were obliged to show themselves to the priests, who, confirming their disease, were driven out from society and had no right to enter towns and villages, fated to wander the wilderness; they were even prevented from drinking from the same water sources.

So these ten “living corpses,” rejected by all, dared not approach Christ, but believing in His great healing power, cried out: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests.” For by the same law of Moses, the priests could declare them free of their ailment and they could return to society.

Evangelist Luke then recounts how they were healed as they walked to the city. Imagine their amazement, having been rejected by their relatives, their mothers, fathers, children and friends. Having lost all hope for healing, they had no choice but to wander the desert. Now by the word of the Lord, they headed to show themselves to the priests and saw their bodies miraculously healing, their pain subsiding, their limbs restored, and they became healthy human beings once again.

Undoubtedly, this miracle and living joy of healing allowed them to sense the omnipotence of Jesus. Restored in body, they were purified and could return to the joys of life.

It would seem that a just sense of gratitude would have compelled them to return to their Benefactor and thank Him with all their hearts, which were now filled with joy over their healing. The Lord would have received this gratitude and given them the new light of His grace.

But as the Gospel tells us, only one of them returned and with a loud voice praised God and fell to His feet, and that man was a Samaritan. How close is he to our hearts today. How good was he in his trembling and inspired elation, having seen himself healed, without hesitation hurrying back to his Savior. And how the Lord doubtless rejoiced over the return of this once lost lamb. But only one of them returned. What of the rest? They left, probably forever.

The Lord was sorrowful over these nine and He said: “Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.” For if they did not remember Him directly after being cleansed, would they remember Him when they return to the pleasures and cares of this world?

Let us not seek answers to this crude ingratitude of the healed Jews. Let us turn to ourselves, and alone with our conscience, with pure heart compare ourselves to those who were healed. Can we not join the Samaritan who humble fell to the Savior’s feet in gratitude? How bold would that be of us!

We are like the successors of the nine ungrateful Jews, and together with them we do not thank the Lord for His great mercies and His all-gracious providence for us sinners.

The gifts and mercies of the Lord to us unworthy people are countless. The Lord summoned us from non-existence, creating us in His image and likeness. The Lord granted us a Divine gift—free will. He gave us the ability, in continually making ourselves more perfect, to approach our Creator.

But when we abused this gift and willingly submitted to evil, caught and enslaved by the devil, God them sent His Only-Begotten Son for the absolution of our sins with at the dearest Cost—His Own Blood. If only we would repent.

The Lord bestowed upon us countless material, physical, emotional and spiritual goods, leading us by His Providence towards salvation. But how often do we notice, with every single step we take, the Hand of the Savior in our lives?

Even the fact that we live in this country, well-fed and free; that we now stand in church and are present at Divine Liturgy, is a great mercy of God. Shall we not fall to His feet in gratitude? Даже то, что мы с вами находимся в этой стране сыты и свободны; даже то, что мы сейчас находимся здесь в Храме и присутствуем на Божественной Литургии — есть величайшая милость Божия.

In the Epistle reading today of St Paul, he talks about the need to be thankful to God, calling upon us to participate in the legacy of the saints; His Son, Who delivered us from the reign of darkness and leading us to the Kingdom of His Beloved Son, in Whom we have the expiation and forgiveness of our sins. We see very many other passages in Holy Scripture that call upon us to be grateful to the Lord. St Paul wrote: “in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God,” And to the Ephesians: “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Addressing the Thessalonians, he said: “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

And so in thanking the Lord we should not just do so for joys and pleasures, but even for sorrows, even grave sufferings. For through great sufferings one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

With this attitude we can overcome suffering for the sake of the Lord, lifting up prayers of gratitude, and then sorrow will turn to joy.

There was a certain Hieromonk Nikon, who was arrested by the Bolsheviks in Optina Hermitage and sent to Turkistan. Suffering from tuberculosis, weak and feeble, enduring beatings and an unjust trial, sent to hard labor in a terribly hot region, this holy martyr wrote to his friends that he was limitlessly grateful to God that He allowed him to endure all this....

He wrote that he deemed the following words as though addressed to him personally: “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Let us fall to His feet, bringing thanks to the Christ Child, offering gratitude, repentance and love and with humility and tears of endearment pray not only for our needs but for our Fatherland which is suffering under the decay of communism.. let us pray together with them: “Jesus our Teacher, have mercy on us,” and may the Lord respond: “Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” Amen.

http://synod.com/synod/engrocor/enser_b ... nnikh.html

Regarding the Hieromonk Nikon to whom Bishop Nektary refers, this was the cell attendant of St Barsanuphius who went on to become an Optina Elder himself. Elder Nikon wrote to Bishop Nektary's mother Alexandra - by then the nun Nektaria - that he was "in Paradise". This may have been at a later stage when Elder Nikon was sent to the dreadful camps in the far north and became a New Martyr himself. [ < = I will check this information and correct it if I am wrong here ]

The idea is that Fr Nikon was happy to suffer for his Lord. How far along this Hieromonk had come from his early days at Optina ! Nicholas Belyaev confessed his thoughts of boredom living even in Optina's most select quarter, the Skete. "There is nothing to look forward to," the 21-year old novice complained to Elder Barsanuphius. "Just feast day after feast day," Nicholas yawned.

However, over the years of training, the student learned from his instructor how to correctly view life from a spiritual perspective. The result was these holy sentiments expressed by Hieromonk Nikon in the midst of dire captivity by the inhuman Bolshevik tormentors of the Orthodox clergy.

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Re: Bishop Nektary of Seattle

Post by Justice »

Thank you for sharing this Barbara. Truly a saintly man.

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Barbara
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Re: Bishop Nektary of Seattle

Post by Barbara »

That's nice of you to say, Justice.
I have planned to add more material from Bp Nektary's life today, but got way behind. Hopefully, tomorrow.

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Re: Bishop Nektary of Seattle

Post by Barbara »

Here is an earlier version of Bishop Nektary's powerful speech to the Youth Conference, with the date given as August 8, 1981 :

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...

God foreordained us to gather here at this conference on the threshold of the wondrous event of the canonization of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

This event has great significance because it occurs in an epoch of intense confrontation, of war between good and evil, an epoch of almost universal apostasy of men from God, from faith in Him, from the Church and, as a consequence, from the work of salvation.

And what is very important is that this forthcoming canonization can have a tremendous spiritual and historical significance; that is, it can open up a path to the rebirth of Russia and can save it from final destruction in the clutches of the God-fighting authority.

Of course, all this will depend on how the rest of the still-believing Orthodox people in Russia will accept this event, and how we will accept it in exile away from Russia.

We know that our martyrs have been already glorified by the Lord a long time ago, from the moment of their martyric death; but the Holy Church with its canonization or glorification thereby informs its children of the holiness of the New Martyrs and summons them to raise their prayers to God. Before the canonization, the "earthly Church" is praying for the repose of the martyrs' holy souls; and after the canonization they receive from the Church, so to speak, an obedience to pray for us sinners at the throne of the altar of God. And we, knowing how abundantly our countrymen have increased the number of God-pleasers, will turn to them that they may raise their holy prayers to the altar of God, for the salvation of Russia and for us sinners.

At the threshold of the canonization of Russia's New martyrs, we are witnesses of how evil is being strengthened and perpetrated throughout the whole world with unusual strength and rapidity. And if we are attentive to all that occurs around us, we will unquestionably see many examples which convince us that there exists a powerful, frightful and unusually organized secret power, a power that possesses limitless opportunity and huge means, and consciously places before itself the aim of the liquidation of religion as well as the spiritual and physical demoralization of the young generation. [Those who hold this power] assume that they can realize this criminal aim by means of carefully prepared plans, the execution of which is already happening.

In the proposed church Act of the canonization of [the] New Martyrs, we sense hope for [the] liberation of our Russia from the bonds of [the] God-fighters, because we believe in the holy prayers of the righteous ones of God. But we see how the devil and his servants with frightful power rise up against [the] Orthodox Faith within the Church in our country. Therefore, at the beginning of our talk let us speak about the Church teaching on the derivation of evil.

In the world there occurs a fierce battle of good and evil--unseen warfare. Against God--the absolute good--rose the devil--absolute evil.

But of contemporary people, there are few who understand the true spiritual meaning and significance of Church events; events of state; and social, family and personal events. Most people accept as true their personal, subjective calculations and judgements, their conclusions (which are always wrong).

How can we avoid mistakes and subjectivity, and achieve a correct understanding of the events which take place and the phenomena which surround us and touch our lives? In this the Orthodox world-view helps us.

About the spiritual world above and its rules, its spiritual truths, we can know only from Divine Revelation which is given to us in the Bible, and from that which is revealed to us by God-inspired Holy Fathers.

The heavenly other world is different from our earthly world. Of that world, the highest one, we can have an understanding only by analogy with our world, as long as our world is a reflection or symbol of the highest. And much of that world is impossible to transmit in our language.

The Apostle Paul witnesses "how that he was caught up in paradise, and heard unspeakable words" (II Cor. 12:4). That is, he heard words which a man cannot interpret.

Therefore, much of what the chronicle of Moses says, and also what the prophets say in the very primitive language of their time, can seem, from a superficial view, rather naive; but the truth opened by it became the foundation of the Orthodox world-view and [of] Christian philosophy.

God created the world out of nothing. At first the spiritual world was summoned to life. It was gifted with reason and the God-like quality of free will. Spirits, the angels, were created at the border of time, as St. Basil the Great says. From their creation time began.

St. Dionysius the Areopagite, in his remarkable composition On the Heavenly Hierarchies, reveals the mysteries of life and the creation of the angelic world. This angelic world is a[n] hierarchical world; that is, it is divided into different levels according to height. There exist nine levels of the angelic orders, divided into three groups, three ranks in each: the highest rank, the middle, and the lower. The ranks of the higher group are: the six-winged Seraphim, the many-eyed Cherubim, and the Thrones. Seraphim means flaming: they burn with flaming love towards God. Cherubim means contemplative: they contemplate God's wisdom and penetrate into its mystery. Upon the Thrones rests God. The middle group is comprised of Principalities, Authorities and Powers. The last group, the lower one, consists of Dominions, Archangels and Angels. The number of all the Angels is thousands of thousands. These words are used to describe the uncountability of their multitude, whereas there are only seven Seraphim.

But of the highest of the angels, the "crown of creation," there was only one: Lucifer--the "Morning Star," the "Son of the Dawn." He was closer to God than all who stood near Him, and had the power of direct contact with Him.

All [the] heavenly powers, in heavenly harmony, glorified the Creator.

But in our world there is Evil. Its beginning is outside the world. it came to us from outside. From where did it originate?

Lucifer could not endure his glory and he fell. Pride destroyed him. Infatuated by his glory, he became proud that he himself could be as God.

The Prophet of God Ezekiel testifies with such concealed words about the fallen Lucifer: "Thus spake the Lord: Thou art the stamp of perfection, the fullness of wisdom and the crown of beauty, thou who dwelt in Eden in the garden of God. Thou wast anointed by Cherubim in order to bless, and I placed thee to do that. Thou wast on the holy mountain of God. Thou didst walk amidst the flaming stones; thou wast perfect in thy ways from the days of thy creation until there was found in thee unrighteousness. Thy countenance was filled with untruthfulness and thou didst sin; and I cast thee as unclean from the mountain of God." And the Lord Jesus Christ confirmed this with these words: "And I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven" (Luke 10:18).

When Lucifer rose up against God, he was followed by a third of all the angels. Among those who remained faithful to God there occurred confusion. The heavenly harmony was disturbed. Then one of the higher Seraphim exclaimed: "Who is like God?!" (which is the meaning, according to ancient Hebrew, of the name Michael) and from that moment Archangel Michael headed the heavenly army and the rebellious spirits were cast down from heaven.

Thus appeared evil in the world.

The fallen Lucifer knew much. He knew that God would not create angels anymore. The harmony of the life of the spiritual world was disturbed. The fullness of [the] heavenly powers was damaged. Lucifer was malevolent, and was put to shame.

God in His grandeur then created the VISIBLE WORLD.

In the limitless spaces of the universe, there began to shine star-like worlds of dazzling beauty and harmony. And in the midst of this enormous cosmos there was a lost speck: our EARTH, upon which our Lord, after forming nature and the animal world out of nothing and dust, created MAN and gave him the greatest gift, FREE WILL.

In this was completed God's creation of the visible world.

All God's creation--is beautiful. The Bible says: "And God saw everything that He had created, and it was good," or, according to the Slavonic, "everything was beautiful." And the most beautiful creation--was MAN.

The vocation of man was to fulfill the number of fallen angels and to restore the disrupted fullness. Righteous John of Kronstadt said, "The Lord deigned to create man out of dust and with such earthly beings to complete the lack in the angelic worlds, which was a consequence of the falling away of the proud spirits. And this was infinite shame and infinite punishment to the proud ones."

When Lucifer saw that man was capable of occupying the "empty thrones" abandoned by the fallen angels, he could not endure his disgrace, was inflamed with vicious hatred and envy towards man, and decided to destroy him, beginning to pour out the poison of evil and saying to him, "You will be as Gods." Thus whispered the tempter, the "primordial evil," to the newly-created people.

And humanity fell at the dawn of its existence in the persons of our forefathers, not being able to overcome this temptation.

After the fall of the first created people, the tempter Lucifer was cursed by God and became absolute Evil, The Devil, Satan.

Since then he conducts was not only with God, but for each human soul.

Man's nature was harmed by the first sin. Evil and death entered our earthly world, and in such a way the harmony was also broken. After the fall of first-created Adam, the grace of God stepped away and a flood of evil began to flow upon the whole earth. Man, with his strength, could not any longer stop and conquer evil.

For this reason, there had to come the One Who had been promised to our forefathers still in Paradise: the SAVIOUR, the MESSIAH, the "SEED OF [THE] WOMAN," Who will "CRUSH THE HEAD OF THE SERPENT." He is the Creator of the world: everything is made by Him.

With blessed guidance, God trained a special line, the lineage of King David, in which from generation to generation holiness was collected and grew until the time when this blessed line gave [us] the PURE VIRGIN--the MOTHER OF GOD, the HOLIEST OF THE SAINTS, already without personal sin. Only because of this blessing was the incarnation of the Son of God upon this earth possible.

The time of promised fulfillment came. Born of the pure Virgin through the descent of the Holy Spirit was CHRIST--the SON OF GOD, the SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD, GOD THE WORD.

This was the beginning of the New Testament.

But with special hatred the devil rose up against the Infant Christ--many innocents were killed according to the decree of Herod, who was hoping to destroy Christ together with them. Further, at the instigation of the devil, [another Herod] ordered the beheading of St. John the Baptist.

The devil became still more hardened in his war against God. He whispered to the Scribes, Pharisees and archpriests--the leaders of the Jews--hatred towards Christ. "Crucify, crucify Him," they screamed. "His blood be upon us and our children." ... And these leaders of the chosen people of Abraham, who knew the One God, turned into the servants of demons, who conduct cruel war against the whole Christian world.

But God limitlessly loved His creation, man, so much so that He sent His Only-begotten Son to give Him to death on the Cross in order to save the fallen creation. And Christ brings Himself forth in sacrifice. With His life, His teachings, His suffering, His Blood, His death and resurrection, He performs the redemption of the whole human race. Before this incomprehensible mystery of immense divine love, all the angels are stunned and tremble.

Thus man himself, with naught but his own powers, cannot perform the act of salvation of his soul. "Without Me ye can do nothing," says the Lord. Man can be saved only by Christ the Saviour in the enclosure which He created, the Church, with the help of the grace-filled sacraments of the Church.

Thus the Lord created His Church.

With unusual divine beauty shines the Church of God, created by the Lord Himself and wafting the Holy Spirit.

The Church--the mystical Body of Christ--is the only spiritual organism. The Truth is one--Christ. Thus, there can only be one true Church. This Church is our Orthodox, Catholic and Apostolic Holy Church, which Christ acquired through His Blood and which in virgin purity preserved the teaching of the Saviour up to our days.

And we know how Satan rose up at once against the [newly] created Church of the Lord. With the servants of Satan persecutions began, the period of martyrs arrived. The Church began to be torn by heresies and schisms, which continue into our apostate times.

With great regret, and within the Church, we sometimes sorrowfully hear people who consider themselves faithful, believing and even Orthodox proudly say: "I believe according to my own opinion." Such people, usually, consider unnecessary the observance of fasts and various Church traditions, or they doubt the existence of evil spirits and criticize the rules, canons and even church dogmas, forgetting that the Orthodox Church was founded on canons and church dogmas which were confirmed by the Holy Spirit in the Councils of the Holy Fathers. She, the Orthodox Church, is enriched with spiritual experience and the writings of a whole host of the Holy Fathers who dedicated their whole lives to inward activity, having studied to perfection the laws of ascent according to the divine ladder of virtues and the laws of healing spiritual wounds and vices.

A man who "believes according to his own opinion" leads himself out of the enclosure of the Church, depriving himself of the Holy Mysteries and the supernatural grace of the Holy Spirit. This man perishes from frightful spiritual sickness--the PRIDE OF THE MIND--since he considers himself wiser than the Holy Fathers of the Ecumenical Councils, who with the Holy Spirit expounded the dogmas and rules of the Church. He who "believes according to his own opinion" considers himself wiser than the Saints and Fathers who attained sanctity in the bosom of the Orthodox Church. And, finally, he who "believes according to his own opinion" considers the Holy Church imperfect and with this places himself higher than Christ, Who, it seems, has not created a perfect Church. He who "believes according to his own opinion" does not notice how he places himself in the ranks of the enemies of Christ, confessing a frightful contemporary heresy--Ecumenism. This is frightful pride and blasphemy.

And so in order not to deviate from the right path of salvation, first of all it is necessary to belong to the true Orthodox Church and like a child accept dogmas in the spirit of her teaching. "Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven," says the Lord (Matt. 18:3).

There is no salvation outside the enclosure of the Church.

From the day of the fall of Russian monarchy, the devil with special hatred rose against the Orthodox Church of Russia. Truly, in the history of all the local churches, there has been no more fatal persecution of the Church, which has [been] endured and still [is being] endured in the Russian Orthodox Church.

In our Russia was confirmed the God-fighting satanic power; and therefore we cannot hope that it--this authority--can change towards the better, since Satan can perfect himself only in evil.

But with God everything is possible--He is powerful to free Russia from the bonds of the devil.

Much depends on how we, together with the believing Russian people, will accept the news of the canonization of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

Thus, we are preparing ourselves for the historic church Act--the glorification of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. About these martyrs and their sufferings, about the cruelty of their tortures, many books, articles and memoirs have been written.

Let us remember the confessor, our Patriarch Tikhon, the executed Metropolitan Vladimir and other executed and tormented hierarchs: Benjamin, Joseph, Andronicus, Hermogenes, Peter, Cyril, Agathangelus, and many other archpastors. Let us remember the thousands of priests and millions of lay people who were killed in prisons and concentration death camps because of their confession of faith.

As we have already said, all the New Martyrs have already been glorified by God from the moment of their martyric death; but rare is he who pays attention to the mystical aspect of the question. This, however, is very important because, having endured martyrdom, they become conquerors of evil and have boldness with the Lord to pray for us and [to] fulfill the number of those who please God. Therefore, the apparent victory of the torturers who killed their victims actually turns out to be their defeat by the= martyrs.

It is especially important to note the martyric death of our Tsar, Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich, and his family. He was the last Monarch anointed by the holy chrism to reign. The Tsar was and is anointed by God.

This Mystery is performed by the Church during the Coronation, and the Anointed of God enters the Royal Doors into the altar, goes to the altar table and receives the Holy Mysteries as does the priest, with the Body and Blood of Christ taken separately. Thus the Holy Church emphasizes the great spiritual significance of the podvig of ruling as a monarch, equaling this to the holy sacrament of the priesthood.

Thus, the Emperor is Anointed of God. He is the sacramental image, the carrier of the special power of the Grace of the Holy Spirit. This divine power, which acts through the Anointing by God, restrained evil, the "mystery of iniquity."

The Holy Apostle Paul, in the Second Epistle to [the] Thessalonians, writes: "The mystery of iniquity is already in action but is not fulfilled up to today, until there will be taken away from the midst he who restraineth" (II Thes. 2:7).

Our spiritual writer, Bishop Theophan the Recluse, and others explain that by this "he who restraineth" one can understand the power of the Tsar.

The devil already, it seems, had for a long time been trying to manifest antichrist but could not because of the divine grace fully active though the Anointing by God: "he who restraineth" did not give him such= possibility.

In order for the "mystery of iniquity" to receive freedom of action, it was necessary to take from the midst the "restraining one," which precisely occurred by the allowance of God because of the sins of the Russian people.

Thus occurred the frightful deed--REGICIDE.

The Emperor, the Anointed of God, the Protector of the Orthodox Church, the Head of the Orthodox Government, was killed. He who restraineth was killed. And from that moment the "mystery of iniquity" received freedom; and we are all witnesses to the unrestrained reign and propagation of evil in the whole world.

From what we have said above, it is absolutely clear that the evil deed was RITUALISTIC, and not a political killing, which was demonstrated also by the cabalistic signs on the wall of the cellar of the Ipatiev house, where this truly satanic evil deed was performed.

As Christ was crucified on Golgotha for the sins of the whole world and abandoned by all, so also was the Emperor presented as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole of Russia and abandoned by all. No one rendered help to their Emperor in the days of his temptations, when he was a prisoner of the God-fighting satanic power. Therefore, the mortal sin of regicide lies hanging over all Russian people, and consequently, in this or that measure, over each of us.

And if this is so, then in order to have at least a small hope of removing the sin from the conscience of Russia it is necessary, besides our deep repentance, to canonize the Emperor as the head of all the Russian New Martyrs. After all, he accepted a martyric end for the Orthodox Faith, for the Holy Church, for his homeland.

Here is what Priest Gleb Yakunin writes concerning this: "The tragedy of the Imperial Family lies as a curse upon the Russian land, having become a symbolic prologue to the long path of the cross of Russia, to the perdition of tens of millions of its sons and daughters. The canonization of the Royal Martyrs will be for Russia the removal of the sin of regicide, finally freeing it from the evil spell."

How should we prepare ourselves for the day of the great even of the canonization of Russia's New Martyrs?

We have a flicker of hope that the news of canonizing the Emperor as the head of all the New Martyrs of Russia will reach still-believing Orthodox Russian people in our homeland, who together with us, understanding the heaviness of the sin of regicide over Russia, will with repentant tears beg the Lord for forgiveness and in the prayerful singing of all hearts will call on the help of Tsar Nicholas: "Holy Tsar-Martyr and Passion-Bearer Nicholas, together with all the New Martyrs of the Russian land, pray to God for us sinners."

Then we believe that the holy soul of the Emperor, who feels deep sorrow for Suffering Russia, will bow down before the throne of God and will perform intensified prayer for the salvation of Russia and us sinners. "The blood of the martyrs is crying to Heaven."

And the Lord will hear our repentant plea; and--hearing the holy prayer of His humble servant, our Tsar-Martyr -- will in His power PERFORM A MIRACLE.

Having taken from the conscience of the Russian people the heavy sin of regicide, with the breath of His lips He will be able to blow from the face of the Russian Land the communist yoke and all the uncleanness of the God-fighting power.

With God, everything is possible!

He has the power to transform sorrow into joy and WILL RESURRECT HOLY ORTHODOX RUSSIA.

Amen.

Reprinted from "The Orthodox Word," No.s 142-143

http://www.orthodox.net/articles/1981-b ... y-rpt.html

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Re: Bishop Nektary of Seattle

Post by Barbara »

There are surprisingly few pictures of Bishop Nektary on the internet. Of course, he reposed on St Xenia's Day, Feb 6, 1983, so there wasn't the same situation as today where reports and photos of Bishops' activities are widely published.

Incidentally, the young Oleg Kontzevich revered St Xenia [ then Blessed Xenia ] of St Petersburg ; later, as a hierarch, Bishop Nektary did his best to promote her canonization by the Rocor Synod, which occurred in September 1978. Apparently this may have been a sign from Heaven that the Bishop of Seattle and close collaborator with St John Maximovitch reposed on the newly glorified Saint's February Feast Day 5 years after the Synod's magnificent ceremony.


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