Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev [Kyiv], head of Lavra

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Maria
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Re: Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev [Kyiv], head of Lavra

Post by Maria »

Alexander Kuzmin wrote:

Dear Barbara,

I am sorry that I did not write more about Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev for you. Here is the Russian text about him and it is big. http://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Filaret_Amfiteatrov/

Please try to translate it using these two programs:
http://www.translate.ru/
and
https://translate.google.com/

Believe me that to study a foreign language is not a very difficult staff. Just try to Read Russian every day using a dictionary, and very soon it will become easy for you. Also participating some discussions (at least reading it) is very useful. Here are come places to read at least the titles for the beginning (I do not remember if I gave these links before or I was only going to give them):

RTOC news (look at the column to the right): http://catacomb.org.ua/
ROCOR(A) website - http://internetsobor.org/ and http://internetsobor.org/novosti , they publish interesting items.
You will find more cites if you start to read.

I have to tell you that I am leaving the Saint Euphrosynos Cafe. But it was a real pleasure to talk to you and thank you for your kind heart. I will remember you and I believe that we will meet somehow again.

Alexander

Dear Alexander,

Please do not leave. You can always come and post historical events. Those are always appreciated. Plus we will miss your Russian classes. And if you have any questions about English, Jonathan and I have degrees in Linguistics.

There is a gold mine of articles in Russian concerning Russian saints and martyrs of Revolutionary Russia. Of these, you have shared just a smidgen. I was talking with Metropolitan John concerning the hermits, monks, nuns, hierodeacons, hieromonks, and hierarchy who were martyred shortly after the diabolical events that started in 1917. Many knew ahead of time that they would face martyrdom and that is why they retired from the world.

Was Met. Philaret of Kiev one of these saints?

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.

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Barbara
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Re: Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev [Kyiv], head of Lavra

Post by Barbara »

Oh little tears at what Alexander wrote !

But Maria's reply gives me hope that Alexander will not have to leave after all.
Alexander, by popular vote, we want you to stay !

I admit I did not stick with the Russian lessons, though I really want to learn.
Do you know I even applied for a grant a long time ago to go study Russian so I could
read original old documents concerning Church History?
I think Masons were running the organization, so I couldnt get it, much to my disappointment.
Just to show that I really had that intention. What you said above is encouraging.
I do get easily discouraged with a tough language like Russian appears to be. Maybe it's not
difficult !

Anyway, to have had such an interesting personality here has been a really great boon
for all of us, including probably many silent readers who browse and learn.

No, Maria, Met Philaret of Kiev was from the previous century. He was fortunate, along with
his brother hierarchs,to live and repose in the Church without such fierce opposition which troubled
the bona fide Russian hierarchs of the early 20th century.

Alexander, I am glad you remembered this request ! I feared that you would leave without having time to
research Met Philaret [Ampitheatrov]. But we trust you will stay on and follow the advice of Optina Elder Anthony
who wrote to a student of his that when insulted, one should never go to the level of the insulters.

Even our Metropolitan here discussed always kept a fairly good sense of humor when he thought Fr Feofil was
making fun of him. Once in awhile, the prelate snapped angrily : "Are you ridiculing me ?" when for example,
he called in Fr Feofil to find out about his irregular behavior in Church services.
The Starets Feofil only replied by quoting Holy Scripture, never justifying himself. He drove Met Philaret almost to
fury ! But it all worked out.

So we hope so here, too ! Let us know, please, that you will stay.

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Barbara
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Re: Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev [Kyiv], head of Lavra

Post by Barbara »

Maria, shouldn't this be moved to Orthodox Synaxarion ? That category can include holy but uncanonized figures, right ?

I have a few points to make about Met Philaret of Kiev. The first, traveling way back in time, is a little-known fact.

Archbishop Anthony of Voronezh, a holy figure written up in a Jordanville publication which I have just reread --- [ I suddenly felt impelled to dig around in a particular place and turned this slender pamphlet, for which I had been searching quite some time - it was January 2, which turned out to be the exact anniversary of the holy hierarch's repose in 1846, I discovered when reaching the last pages ] --- predicted to the then-Abp of Kazan that he would become Met of Kiev. Archbishop Anthony of Voronezh is an interesting figure on his own, perhaps the topic of a future thread. He was canonized by the MP in 2003.
Apparently, neither Rocor nor any TOC glorified this saintly figure, originally from the Kiev Caves Lavra himself, where he was Deputy Abbot from 1815-1826 and Abbot of the Near [ St Anthony Pechersky ] Caves for nearly 30 years.

The prediction of Archbishop Anthony [ Smirnitsky ] about the elevation of Abp Philaret as head of the former's old Lavra [ and entire Kievan diocese ] in fact occurred in a year's time.

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Re: Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev [Kyiv], head of Lavra

Post by Barbara »

One thoughtful general observation made by Metropolitan Philaret [ Amphiteatrov ] is valuable to remember on the near-anniversary of his repose [ January 3 ].

This avid supporter of monasticism throughout Russia confided his private opinion to a few like-minded souls -- elders of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra --


"I don't understand how older people in general, and monks in particular, can lead their lives if they have not acquired a taste for prayer and the practice of praying.

"It must be unusually difficult and lonely for them.

"Therefore, oh how necessary it is for everyone not wishing to spend their old age in dreariness to become used to prayer early in life."


If this was true then, in the mid-1800s, how about now, in modern America with so many elderly people put into rest homes or 'assisted living' ones ? Surely there is little or no encouragement of prayer in such places. The Kievan Metropolitan was absolutely right.
If the person has not learned himself even simple, basic prayer, which is becoming obsolete in the current society, he or she will not likely find themselves so inclined by the time old age sets in.

It's a good thought to try to encourage older relatives or acquaintances in this direction -- urging them to start right away if they are receptive.

Metropolitan Philaret pinpointed the problem : without this bent for prayer, habits are formed of living life in the most secular way without thought of God or aiming for contact with God through prayer. Then the mind darkens.

The loneliness he describes is unfortunately the least of the resulting problems.
My personal view is that the alarming prevalence of Alzheimers amongst Americans is closely connected with the loss of ability to pray even ordinary prayers. Without God, the people perish.

Imagine, too, if one has the chance to gaze on a beautiful Church like this, versus the mechanistic Western architecture. Surely the sight is uplifting and invites one to go in and pray if not attend a Liturgy :

Image
Kiev Caves Lavra, the seat of Metropolitan Philaret [ Amphiteatrov ] of Kiev and Galicia - 1837 - 1857

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Barbara
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Re: Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev [Kyiv], head of Lavra

Post by Barbara »

"Once, while riding through the woods in a carriage, Vladika ordered the coachman to turn off to Kitayev and, having stopped there for an hour or so, he set out for the cell of the superior of the hermitage in order to speak with him on some matters. On the way, Starets Feofil met him and instead of asking for the Metropolitan's blessings, he took a charred log from under his cassock and threw it at Vladika's feet. The other people around were astonished and thought that the Archpastor would become angered and it would turn out badly for Feofil. But the Metropolitan appeared to take no notice of the incident and continued on his way as if nothing had happened.

Soon after this, Vladika was again in Kitayev and, meeting Feofil in the monastery courtyard, stopped him and said:

"Well, mischievous one, I have not been in your cell for a long time. Today, after the liturgy, I'll drop in to your place for tea. Only see that you don't treat me with the same kind of tea as you did the last time."

"You are welcome, Your Eminence," answered the Starets, bowing to the ground before the Archpastor.

We do not know for certain whether the Metropolitan merely wanted to talk with the Blessed One or, remembering the charred log thrown under his feet, wanted to discover from him the significance of this act, but the fact is that after leaving the church at the end of the liturgy, Vladika went directly to Feofil.

And how did the Blessed One receive him? Upon returning to his cell, he immediately ordered his cell-mate to fill a barrel with water and then add sand to it. When a fairly good "gruel" was thus obtained, the Blessed One smeared the walls of his dwelling with the mud, also the door and door-post and then he spread the mud thickly on the floor. He then covered himself with mud and sat down on the stool in the middle of the room, solemnly awaiting his high guest.

In half an hour the door to the cell opened and the Metropolitan, having stepped in, stopped near the threshold in amazement.

Mud and disorder were everywhere and the master of the cell did not look like a monk but like someone who had just climbed out of a smoke-pipe.

"What is this?" the Archpastor asked angrily.

"Have no doubts, Your Eminence. Please. It's like this after the fire. I had a fire and I kept watering and watering it and so I became dirty."

The angered Archpastor threw a scornful glance at Feofil and retreated hastily. But just before he sat down in his carriage to depart, Feofil's cellmate, Ivan, ran up to him and presented him with three bottles of water.

"From whom is this? What is it for?" the Metropolitan asked.

"From Starets Feofil, Your Eminence. He ordered me to give this present to you and tell you that it will come in handy to pour on the charred log."

"To pour on the charred log? What is all this now? And what did he pour into these bottles? Try it!"

"Water," replied the cell-mate, "plain water, holy Vladika."

"Plain water?"

"Truly it is, Your Eminence."

"Well, place it in front of the coachman. It is evident that the culprit wanted to prophesy something."

Several weeks passed during late autumn. At twelve o'clock midnight on 18-19 November, 1844, Roman Baranov, a postulant at the Lavra, lighted the stove in the prosphora bakery, and together with the other postulants, began preparing the dough for baking prosphora. The supervisor of the prosphora bakery, ryasaformonk Vasily Titov and the general supervisor of the bakery, ryasaformonk Leonid Zatvorny, were preparing to partake of the Holy Mysteries and set out for matins. Upon leaving the church, they went to their cells to read the appointed prayers.

Suddenly, at three o'clock in the morning, the watchman, a postulant of the bakery, Iosif Alferov, noticed the pungent smell of smoke while walking along the corridor dividing the prosphora bakery from the main bakery. Alferov ran to investigate the back part of the courtyard where the wood was kept and where the wooden outbuildings stood, but finding nothing amiss, he glanced through the keyhole of a door which led up a ladder into the attic and saw a raging fire. He grabbed for the key but when he opened the door, the smoke hit him in the face with such force that Alferov recoiled in fear. On closer examination, it could be seen that the wooden scaffold had caught fire near the horizontal flue which led from the stove of the prosphora bakery to the smoke stack. The brothers came running with buckets and strove to extinguish the fire, but their efforts were hampered by the inconvenience of the route to the fire and because of the arrangement of the metal roof. The fire grew stronger and stronger and soon encompassed the entire prosphora bakery. To complete the misfortune, such a strong storm was raging that night that burning wood was carried all the way to Podol and even as far as the Florovsky Monastery.

On the morning of 19 November, the fire spread still farther and penetrated under the metal roof of the Lavra printing shop. The frightened Metropolitan, seeing that the fire was increasing in size and was threatening not only the remaining buildings, but the Great Lavra Church itself, no longer hoped in the weak power of humans. He ordered the doors of the Great Church to be opened and he went there to pray. For a long time he knelt praying tearfully before the holy miraculous icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God, and he called to her in a loud voice, beseeching her help and intercession. After a while he arose, exhausted.

A sacristan had entered the church and stood at a respectful distance.

"Well, what is it?" the Metropolitan asked with a trembling voice.

"Glory be to God!" answered the sacristan. "By your holy prayers the Lavra is saved."

The Metropolitan crossed himself and sighed with relief. Then he walked out of the church and set out for the sight of the inferno. A large gathering of police, firemen, serfs, and armoury and garrison commands had been working together and the fire slowly began to die down. In several hours the flames in the printing shop and other buildings were completely extinguished.

The losses in buildings from the Lavra fire were quite insignificant since only the roofing had burnedwhile the walls remained intact. But when the losses of the huge storage of books and printing machines were calculated, the sum was quite significant, about 80,000 rubles

(Archives of the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra, Matter No. 2520)."

http://livingorthodoxfaith.blogspot.com ... art-8.html


Note the inclusion of serfs amongst the fire brigade ; this was only 17 years before the Emancipation Reform liberating the serfs of the Russian Empire.


A useful reminder, too, to put Icons of the Burning Bush everywhere, in all buildings !

Image

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Maria
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Re: Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev [Kyiv], head of Lavra

Post by Maria »

That is a beautiful icon, Barbara.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.

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Re: Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev [Kyiv], head of Lavra

Post by Barbara »

Thank you ! If I were near a place which sold these, I would buy a lot and put them all over, even in cars. Think of how automotive or boat engines can mysteriously catch fire.

Back to Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev, here are 2 stories which illustrate his unassuming personality and kindly disposition. The first resulted in merely embarrassment to the offending party, a pompous Priestmonk ; the second was a close shave for the good-natured prelate.

This was told by a Father Theofan at Pskov Caves Monastery in 1926, showing that the memory of the Kiev prelate was still fresh in distant corners of the land 70 years later.

Met Philaret was a member of the Holy Synod at the time and a recipient of the Grand Cross of St Andrew and other decorations. He was even received by the Royal Family. He had many tough times due to persecution by people who opposed his stand for truth and ascetic ways. Met Philaret was found to be innocent of whatever the charges were against him and rapidly elevated.

So, once when traveling to a Synod meeting by coach [ horse drawn carriage, it must mean ], he wanted to visit a monastery in Kursk province. The Metropolitan alighted and went ahead so as to arrive sooner, as the ponderous coach crawled along. He was carried in a peasant cart and wore no panagia or sign of his episcopacy.
The Liturgy was beginning in a side chapel of this unnamed monastery, with only a few people attending. There was no one even to go before the priest with a candle, so the Metropolitan turned to a hieromonk, asking him to do this task. This hieromonk responded with a self-important air : "I am not an acolyte. Carry the candle YOURSELF !"

The Metropolitan meekly obeyed that order, walking before the priest carrying a candle.

As the Liturgy concluded, the Archimandrite of the monastery came in to the chapel with other members of the brethren to meet the impromptu high ranking visitor. When the hieromonk saw the ceremonious greeting, he felt ashamed of his pomposity [ today we would call this syndrome narcissistic personality disorder ! ].

But the Metropolitan never showed that he was displeased with the hieromonk's behavior. Imagine such self-control !


2nd story : The Too-Costly Walking Stick

"...the Metropolitan became very interested in the Starets and began to observe him attentively. He decided to visit the Starets in his cell in order to reach a final conclusion concerning the unjust slanders brought against him. The Metropolitan would set out for Feofil's cell often, but each time Feofil tried to prevent Vladika from engaging in idle curiosity. Once the Starets even walled up to the door of his cell with brushwood and smeared it with clay so that the Metropolitan was forced to turn back.

Finally, Vladika, accompanied by his cell-mate, managed to arrive and find Feofil at home. The Blessed One received the high guest very cordially, seating him on the little bench while he went about preparing the samovar. When the water began to boil, he carried the samovar over to the centre of the room, put it on the floor and placed an earthenware bowl under the tap. Then he took the Archpastor's wooden staff and looked at it attentively from all sides.

"And what is this stick worth?" the Blessed One asked, looking at Vladika.

"It's worth nothing," replied the Metropolitan.

"No," said the Starets. "It's worth all of twenty-five rubles."

And with these words he placed the staff on the bowl which was standing under the samovar, removed the tap and threw it into the corner. The water ran out onto the staff, filled the bowl and overflowed onto the floor. Vladika stood up in great confusion, walked across the wet floor and hurried out of the cell.

Several days passed.

It was June and the weather was bright and pleasant. Vladika decided to go for a walk in the woods alone. His manner of dress was such that he looked almost no different from the monks at Goloseyevo. He wore only a simple cassock and cap, carried a plain walking stick in one hand and a Gospel or Apostle in the other. He looked more like a monastery starets than a Metropolitan.

Near the end of the Goloseyevo woods there was a knoll and there, near a fence, stood a plain garden bench on which Vladika always rested. This was Vladika's favourite place because from here there was such a magnificent view; both the city and the Lavra were spread out before the eyes. Enjoying the solitude, the Metropolitan used to sit here for hours at a time, and lifting his saintly hands to heaven, he would send up his secret prayers for the well-being of those living in the holy city and the Pecherskaya Lavra.

This time he wished to perform his usual prayer and knelt down, but just then a man with a club approached him from behind the bushes and, pointing to his cudgel, he asked the Metropolitan:

"And what is this stick worth?"

Vladika wanted to bless him, but the stranger quickly made his aim known:

"Don't bother, just give me what you have of value."

The Metropolitan peacefully pulled out his purse in which there were twenty-five rubles and said, while handing it over:

"Well, brother, I'm sorry for you. There is very little here."

But when Vladika had drawn the flaps of his cassock in order to pull out the purse, the robber had noticed a gold watch with a chain.

"If there is so little here, then give me your watch and chain as well."

Vladika peacefully fulfilled the demand.

"Aha!" said the stranger. "It seems to be gold."

"What of it?" Vladika began. "It would be to your advantage, brother. . ."

"How is it that you are a monk, but you have a gold watch? Or perhaps you are not an ordinary monk? Perhaps you are a treasurer or something like that?"

"No, I am not a treasurer."

"Then who are you?"

"To tell the truth, I am called Metropolitan."

"Metropolitan !!" the stranger cried dumbfounded.

"Well, yes. What is it, my dear one, that makes you so alarmed? The Lord be with you."

The stranger fell at his feet.

"Well, brother, get up and accompany me home and please don't be afraid of anything."

As they approached the hermitage, Vladika turned to speak to the unfortunate one:

"It would be wise, brother, if you gave me back the watch and chain. You see, it is engraved with my name. Who knows what trouble you may get into when you try to sell them. It would be better if you stayed here a while. You can join us as a wanderer and I'll even add some money."

The stranger gave back the watch and Vladika proceeded on to the cottage. Meeting his cell-mate, Father Sergei, in the porch, he ordered him to go quickly to the gate where he would find a wanderer who had been kind enough to accompany him, and invite him in. The cell-mate went beyond the gates, but the stranger had vanished.

"What an unkind person," the Metropolitan said. "Well, may the Lord be with him."

http://livingorthodoxfaith.blogspot.com ... art-8.html


What is interesting is that in that day, even a robber showed respect for the head of the Church in the entire area. He gasped when told by Met Philaret -- who did not immediately volunteer this information, showing no wish to impress anyone whether important dignitary or miscreant -- that he was the Metropolitan. The man bowed down. Can one imagine this happening today anywhere in the Western world when the traditional regard for clergy has diminished under concerted media attack by a variety of nefarious forces ?

Or, under Soviet rule, where Communist hatred of the Orthodox Church resulted in far worse fates of prelates than having a near brush with a robber wielding a cudgel ?

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