Mother Joanna

[尼古拉前执事]

I offer here a life of perhaps the most
recent new confessor, who died less than a year ago in Suzdal. I suggest
that the criterion of membership of the True Church is: those who share
M. Joanna's faith are in, and those who do not are out.

Mother Joanna, in the world Lydia Afanasievna Sanina, was born into a
pious Ukrainian family in the village of Novaya Mayachka, Kherson
province, in 1917. Matushka lived a long life replete with suffering.
The would-be nun received training to be a teacher in Nalchik, in the
Caucasus, where her family had moved from the Ukraine. She was able to
teach Russian language and literature, but left her post as teacher
because her programme included antireligious propaganda.

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 When the heretical renovationists came to power, Lydia and her

parents stopped going to the renovationist churches. Nor did they go to
the churches when the sergianists took the place of the renovationists.
"We knew," she said, "that they were all working with the God-fighters.
Our parish priest constantly ran to the NKVD."

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 During collectivization Lydia's parents, Athanasius and Anastasia

(in monasticism Agnia) were arrested. Before the arrest their property
was seized. On returning from school the young Lydia saw a cart loaded
with their property. Even their warm clothes had been taken
("dekulakization" took place in late autumn). For some time the whole
family hid in neighbouring villages.

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 During one of these nights, Lydia saw in her sleep the Mother of

God, who calmed her and promised her help. And truly, the next morning a
passer-by put them into his cart and took them out of danger. However,
this was only a brief respite: soon her parents were arrested.

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 "My parents were persecuted and oppressed for being true to Holy

Orthodoxy," reminisced Mother Joanna. The godless authorities made her
father, Athanasius Sanin, choose between recognising Metropolitan
Sergius' 'declaration of apostasy', or face punishment. Athanasius
Sanin, a man of great Christian conscience and human dignity, chose to
go to prison rather than betray his Church. He died in prison years
later after suffering bestial tortures. Mother Joanna's mother,
Anastasia, spent a quarter of a century in Soviet jails, but emerged
unbroken.

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 Deprived of their parents, Lydia and her younger sister Maria now

began a life on the run, constantly changing their place of residence
and suffering great need. She never acceded to Sergius' declaration.
Together with other True Orthodox Christians she has to go underground,
into the catacombs, to survive.

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 In 1947 (or 1948) she was arrested. It happened as follows. One day

a man came to her house pretending to be a believer. He had a
penetrating, heavy glance and a dark, unkind face. "Oh how terrible,"
muttered Lydia Afanasyevna quietly. She repeated this many times,
forcing the embarrassed man to depart from her. After this she expected
arrest every day. Two weeks after the visit of this "Judas" she was
arrested.

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 "What have you arrested me for?" she asked her interrogator. "I'm

not a thief, I'm not a bandit, I'm not some kind of trickster, I've
never done anyone any harm."

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 In reply one of the chekists laughed and said: "If you were, we

would not have touched you."

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 "Do you recognise the Soviet church?"

 "No, I don't," replied Lydia Afanasyevna.

 "Why?"

 "Because Soviet power does not recognise God, which means its

church doesn't either. The only Church I recognise is the Holy, Catholic
and Apostolic Church."

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 She was not beaten or tortured, as they did to many other

prisoners, but subjected her to more refined torments. Having confined
her to a narrow solitary cell, they did not allow her to sleep. Every
time she collapsed from exhaustion onto the floor (there was no bed),
they loudly clanged the door bolts. They summoned her to interrogations
in the middle of the night. Her sister, who was arrested with her and
who had a nine-year-old son in freedom, was given a tape to listen to.
It was the voices of playing children; the name of her son was shouted
out loud. These were the moral torments with which the executioners
sought to break their faith, forcing them to recognise sergianism. One
of the investigators tried to apply hypnosis, but did not attain his
aim. Another began loudly to blaspheme the Mother of God - and was
immediately paralysed. A sharp pain pierced him, and for several weeks
he was taken to hospital.

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 At the trial, as during the interrogations, the sisters replied

that they could not recognise the sergianist church insofar as it was
supported by the God-fighters.

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 "Yes, it is our church," confirmed the judges.

 The trial took place on Holy Wednesday, the very day on which Judas

betrayed Christ. The judges decreed that they wereguilty of "affiliation
with the highly dangerous sect of the TOC" (i.e. True Orthodox
Christians) and were sentenced to be shot.

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 Don't weep," said Lydia Afanasyevna to her saddened sister.

"They're only doing this to frighten us. They won't shoot us. But if
they do shoot us, what a light death for God." She was right. After
pausing for the news of the verdict to shake the condemned women, the
judges declared that the sentence of capital punishment was commuted to
25 years' forced labour.

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 "No, God will not allow it," said Lydia Afanasyevna to her sister.

"For what?"

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 For two "Glory"s from the 17th kathisma written on a scrap of

paper, which the judges declared constituted the spreading of religious
literature and betrayal of the Homeland? In fact, their term of
imprisonment was later reduced to seven years.

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 In her Last Spiritual Will and Testament, written about a year

before her death, Matushka wrote that the judge's words "execution by a
firing squad" did not frighten her at all. She was actually exhilarated
that her suffering would soon be coming to an end, and that she would,
at last, go to the bosom of the Lord, having suffered for her faith and
the True Church.

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 However, at the last minute her inhuman pain and unbearable

suffering resumed. They were sent to the building sites on the Volga-Don
canal. In the rain and the cold, under a biting wind, they had to endure
the unbearable burdens of camp life.

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 "There, on the Don," said Matushka, "the winds are strong. We walk

in the wet. It's pouring off us. And we didn't fall ill."

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 Only with God's help was Matushka able to bear the full measure of

suffering and live. Even in the labour camps with their miserly food and
hard living conditions, she tried to observe the fasts times as best she
could. During Lent, prison guards would intentionally give her nothing
but meat to eat. She would remove meat from her soup and eat only the
broth.

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 In 1955 Lydia Afanasyevna was released. Soon her sister Maria was

also released. Together with their mother, who had returned from prison
still earlier, they lived a quiet life, secretly praying and waiting for
the regeneration of Orthodoxy. Around them a small catacomb community
was formed. God sent them a faithful priest - Fr. Mark, and in 1960
Lydia Afanasievna received the first monastic tonsure. In 1974, she took
the monastic vows of the small schema and the monastic name Seraphima.

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 Once several of her neighbours had dreams which they could not

understand, and they went to her for explanations. One woman had dreamed
of a large and beautiful iconostasis standing as it were in the middle
of Matushka Seraphima's room, and priest celebrating the Divine Liturgy.
Another man saw in the yard of the Sanins an old well full of clean,
transparent water. But in the well he saw some terrible threatening
monsters which disturbed the water and filled it with all kinds of
rubbish (he was an unbeliever at the time). From all these stories the
penetrating mind of the nun understood that the Lord wanted to show her
something significant connected with the destinies of Orthodoxy.

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 In 1990, they heard of a legally established local parish

canonically subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and having
no relations with the Moscow Patriarchate. Matushka Seraphima hesitated
for a long time, fearing lest this was yet another trap. At one moment
she decided to go, then she put off her trip. But immediately she left
her home in Vyatka for Suzdal her fears fell away

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 On seeing Suzdal, she fell in love with the place. "Your will live

with us," said Vladyka Valentine to her. And so it turned out. By this
time the sister had died, and as had the other members of her community,
and she decided to spend the rest of her days in Suzdal. Here she lived
for seven years (in which it is impossible not to see a reward sent to
matushka from the Lord for the seven years she suffered in the camps).

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 A monastic community was formed around her. In 1994, the community

was formally organised as the Convent of the Holy Hierarch John
(Maximovich). Shortly before her death, Mother Seraphima took the vows
of the great schema and received the name of that great archpastor of
the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. After a long and painful illness
from cancer, she reposed in the Lord on Sunday, August 8, 1999, at the
age of 82. She was buried on August 10, the day of the Smolensk icon of
the Mother of God.

Vladimir Moss

[尼古拉前执事]

And this is the last will and testament of Mother Ioanna:

On Sunday, August 15, on the eve of the ninth day of the repose of
Mother Joanna, following a liturgy at the St. Constantine Cathedral in
Suzdal, Bishop Theodore of Borisovsk of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous
Church read out the autobiographical Last Will and Testament of Mother
Joanna from the pulpitt:-

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 "Being in sober recollection and healthy mind, albeit physically

weak, I ask my cell-attendant, Novice Elena (Novosilova), to write down
my oral spiritual testament.

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 "I, the unworthy Schema-Abbess Joanna (Sanina), witness to the

ineffable blessings of God revealed through His goodness to me. I
recognize that my life has drawn to its end and it is difficult to say
what was greater in the path I have trodden in life: joy or sorrow.

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 "I can only witness that the Lord has always been with me and I can

only repeat again and again the word of the Hierarch John Chrysostom:
"Glory to God for all things", for the Lord strengthened me in prison
and during the days that I was free from imprisonment; the Lord
surrounded me with the care of those who served Him with all their heart
and bore their most laborious cross in life with Christian patience.
These people led me along the path of Christian and monastic good works.

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 "It was first of all my pious parents Athanasius and Anastasia (Nun

Agnia) Sanin who taught me the first steps of Christian piety, opened
Christ to my child's heart, and led me into the enclosure of the Holy
Orthodox Church.

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 "My parents were persecuted and oppressed by the godless

authorities for being true to Holy Orthodoxy. My father, Athanasius, was
placed under guard and given the choice: recognize the declaration of
apostasy or not. His Christian conscience and human decency did not
allow him to betray the Church and Orthodoxy. He was not destined to
leave prison, where he reposed in God, amidst the sufferings and horrors
of incarceration. My mother Anastasia (Nun Agnia) spent 25 years in
prison. She left it unbroken and without having succumbed to the
violence of those who wanted to force her to betray the Holy
Church and Holy Orthodoxy.

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 I, too, Schema-Abbess Joanna, was not spared the godless court and

the terrible interrogations in which the interrogators not only
humiliated a man's dignity but alos suppressed his personality,
disfiguring him and desolating his soul. Only God's help, deep faith and
burning prayer supported the weak strength of a man.

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 "Shooting!" - the word pronounced at the trial brought me the joy

of the end of suffering for Christ and the attaining of the crown of
martyrdom. How I then wanted to receive it! The Providence of God judged
otherwise, execution by shooting was commuted to 25 years in prison.

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"Exhausting days of heavy, anguished labour. Terrible nights of

interrogations, the screeching of opening doors, the crashing of bolts
and the fear of saying a word that might cast a shadow on anyone near or
distant, whether relatives or acquaintances, or even a completely
unknown person. The fear of speaking.

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 "Now all that is behind me - a long, long life.

 "Our community, headed by our confessor, Hieromonk Seraphim

(Goloshchanov), former member of the Drand Monastery, preserved the
traditions and ordinances of the Most Holy Patriarch Tikhon religiously.
We never became part of the sergianist patriarchate, never bowed our
head to accept the spiritual yoke of the leaders of that organization.
The Truth of Orthodoxy - this was always the chief thing for us.

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 "It is a great pity that so many people failed to see in Sergius'

teaching the seeds of a renovationist heresy, a subtle spiritual
delusion akin to that which St. Nicetas of Novgorod and the Venerable
Isaac, the Hermit of the Caves Monastery, once fell prey to. The fruit
of that heresy has led its believers to spiritual insensitivity, to
tepidness. Only a fire burning bright can warm you and dry your clothes.
A smoldering fire has none of these qualities; it has only acrid smoke
and the stench of burning.

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 "Founded by Stalin's henchman, Metropolitan Sergius, his Moscow

Patriarchate can only repress and spiritually mutilate, making
lawlessness the law. Its mutilation is not immediately noticeable; its
spiritual venom penetrates the minds of Orthodox people drop by drop.
The psychological objective in this is to break down their spiritual
immune system to make them ready to accept the Antichrist. The internal
is replaced by the external. Remember: belief in lies and demonic
allurements destroys your soul (said Holy HierarchIgnatius
Brianchaninov). Recall these words of the Holy Apostle
Paul as often as you can: "[they perished] because they refused to love
the truth and so be saved. And for this reason God shall send them a
strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." (II Thessalonians
2.10-12) Let not these words ever come true for us!

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 Eternal memory to our spiritual mentors who rest in God - Hieromonk

Seraphim, Hieromonk Tikhon, Monk Mark, Priest Michael, Schema-Abbess
Laurentia and her sisters. They bequeathed their conviction and devotion
to the truth of Orthodoxy to me. Our community consisted of about 200
people. Hard as it was to find true pastors after Hieromonk Seraphim
passed away, the Lord always sent them our way. Verily did His words
come true for us: 'Seek and you will find; knock and the door will
open." I cannot help but admit that it was with the greatest
circumspection and wariness that I came to Suzdal in search of a
confessor for our community. Then our sisters and all those of one mind
with us also came to visit. Those were the first unforgettable hours of
wholesome prayer in a real church adorned with holy icons. By the
iconostasis and the Holy Royal Gates, by the tombs of the holy
saints and miracle-workers of Suzdal. What bliss has the Lord granted to
our community and to me at the end of my earthly life! Sixty-seven long
years we did not dare to step inside a church for fear that we become
part of sergian delusion. Not only did the Merciful God dispose that I
visited the blessed city of Suzdal; he disposed that I stay here and
fulfill my sacred mission as Mother Superior of the monastery of the
Holy Hierarch and Wonderworker John Maximovich. With great fear and
trembling I entered on this walk of life, trying in every way to justify
the trust placed in me. I undoubtedly made many mistakes, witting and
unwitting. I was bold and irritable, but I sincerely loved and love God
and the truth of our Holy Orthodox Church. I was always zealous and am
zealous now for the glory of God, for the prosperity of our holy
community of the Hierarch and Wonderworker John Maximovich.

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 "I ask the forgiveness and blessing of the builder of our

community, his Eminence Archbishop Valentine, their Graces Vladykas
[Theodore and Seraphim], our clergy and all those with whom I have had
communion.

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 "I am grateful to the worshippers and dwellers of Suzdal for their

attentiveness and kindness. May the Lord show His mercy to all of you
and may He order your life for the good in all piety and purity, may he
strengthen your hearts in the holy truth of our Orthodoxy.

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 "Do not abandon your rule of prayer, be zealous in Orthodoxy;

treasure the memory of our Holy New Martyrs, and keep our abode safe.
Turn neither to the right nor to the left. Follow the path bequeathed to
us by our Lord; it will lead you to eternal life in the Kingdom He
pledged to us.

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 "Schema-Abbess Joanna Sanina, Lydia Afanasievna. 14 September,

1998."

--
Reader Constantine Wright