Memories and reflections of Archbishop John (Shakhovsky)

John (Shakhovskoy)
(1902 - 1989), Archbishop b. San Francisco (Orthodox Church in America). In the world, Prince Dmitry Alekseevich Shakhovskoy, was born in Moscow on August 23, 1902. The prince came from the old noble family of the Shakhovskys, which originated from Rurik and the holy prince Vladimir, through the holy noble princes Theodore of Smolensk and his sons, David and Konstantin of Yaroslavl. His grandfather, General Ivan Leontievich Shakhovskoy, took part in the Battle of Borodino. “The feeling of Russianness,” by his own admission, he owed most of all to his father, Alexei Nikolaevich, leader of the nobility in the city of Venev, Tula province and chamberlain of the Court [1].

He received his first education at the St. Petersburg Alexander Lyceum [2].

In 1919, Dmitry took part in battles as part of the White Guard.

In the summer of 1920 he left Russia from Crimea.

He began studying in 1921 in Paris at the Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques.

He received his next education in Belgium, at the famous ancient Catholic University of Louvain, for 3 years he completed a course in the history department of the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature [3].

He collaborated with Russian magazines and published poetry. As a student he published the magazine “Blagomarnenny” (1926).

It was in Belgium, in 1926, in the early spring that he “was called to monasticism” [4].

On August 23, 1926, “on the day of my 24th birthday, at dawn, I was tonsured in one of the church sanctuaries of the Panteleimon Monastery and I was given the name John, in honor of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. I left Athos for a new life in new clothes.”

[5].

Then he studied at the Theological Institute of St. Sergius of Radonezh (Paris). With his acceptance of holy orders from Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov), he received the blessing of a rector in the Russian community of the city of Belaya Tserkov (Serbia), where he was a teacher of the Crimean Corps, a teacher at the Pastoral School and the founder of the Orthodox Missionary Book Publishing House “For the Church!”

After that, he stayed in Paris for about a year, where he helped establish the Spassky parish in Asnieres. In 1932 he was appointed rector of St. Vladimir's Church in Berlin.

Archbishop John later recalled:
“My Berlin parish of St.
book Vladimir was not only the place of my parish work, but... became the center of printing, missionary and evangelistic work. Over the years, I had to publish many books and visit all European countries except Albania with the word of the gospel to the people of the Russian diaspora. My lecture trips to Latvia, Estonia and Finland, where the indigenous Russian population remained, were especially comforting and fruitful” [6].

Published the magazine “For the Church!” (Berlin, 1932-1936). During the war he conducted missionary work among Russian prisoners of war. His publishing business is liquidated by the Gestapo, even the Orthodox edition of the Bible is confiscated [7].

At the end of the war, the then Archimandrite John moved to Paris, and at the beginning of 1946 - to the United States of America through the petition of his spiritual son, the famous aircraft designer I. I. Sikorsky. A year later, the Council of Bishops of the American Metropolis elected him bishop.

Having become part of the “American Metropolis” of Metropolitan Theophilus, on May 11, 1947 in New York he was ordained Bishop of Brooklyn with the appointment of dean of the St. Vladimir Orthodox Theological Academy in New York.

At www.ancestry.com

We managed to find an interesting document: it turns out that back in October 1949, Vladyka was listed as STATELESS, that is, “stateless.” And at the same time, the nationality column is marked as American. We learn this from the document: Passanger Manifest; Pan American Airways, Inc. Aircraft N-1031 V USA Flight no. 101/2 London, England to New York, USA October 2nd 1949. Out of 55 passengers, the 45th seat is for the Vladyka: “SHAHOVSKOY, JOHN”. And his home address is written as follows: “59.E. 2nd St., NYC."

In December 1947, he was put on trial by the Council of Bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Holy Synod imposed a ban on him for stubborn opposition to reunification with the Moscow Patriarchate and for illegally anathematizing Archbishop Macarius, who had reunited with the Moscow Patriarchate.

Since 1948, periodically, since 1951, regularly, and since 1953, he conducted his “Conversations on Faith” weekly on the Voice of America radio station. The Lord said this:

“Every Sunday since the beginning of the fifties, I have had the joy of entering with my word many houses and ships of the world, where the Russian word is understood, and the ear of a person is opened to the great truth about God, the Father of people, and about the living, immortal human soul

.

For this, he fell into the category of anti-Soviet in the USSR, and the archpastor was persecuted by Soviet journalists and party functionaries (see magazines: Yunost, Kommunist for the 1960s).

On December 5-8, 1950, he participated in the VIII All-American Metropolitan Council in New York as Bishop of Brooklyn [8], but in the same year he was appointed San Francisco and Western American.

In 1961 he was elevated to the rank of archbishop.

He took part, as a delegate of the American Metropolis, in the main ecumenical conferences. He was in charge of the South American diocese and the foreign affairs of the Metropolis. He cared for Orthodox Americans during the Korean War, which was fought with the participation of the USA and the USSR.

Archbishop John was one of the main warriors for the Autocephalous American Church. On this matter, he had his own point of view: America deserves to have its own Orthodox Church, which can unite diverse peoples. And in 1970, the Russian Orthodox Mother Church granted autocephaly to the Americans. However, a number of Local Churches still do not agree with the decision of the Russians; the Patriarchate of Constantinople is at the head of this rejection.

Since 1978 he has been retired and lived in Santa Barbara.

He died on May 30, 1989, and was buried in Santa Barbara, in the Serbian cemetery.

Faith. God and man:

Faith is entry into the highest reality.

Job says an amazing word... “There is no mediator between us (between God and him, man) who would lay his hand on both of us” (Job.9:33)... the fallen world is hungry for a mediator who, like a link, would connect heaven and earth... all those religious world teachers who appeared in human history, like Buddha, Mohammed, and others, laid their hand only on man. They were, perhaps, filled with good intentions, but they were people and therefore could not truly connect man with God. Only the true, perfect God-man, the Alpha and Omega of the universe, the Word of God, the Logos, the image of the Hypostasis of the Father, the Incarnate Radiance of God’s Face, the Lord. The One could unite Divinity with humanity once and for all. And in Him alone now every union of God with man is accomplished, with those sons of men who, like Job, thirst for the sonship of God, recognize and hear the voice of the Heavenly Father.

The first dark fear of a person is the fear of seeing God... The second dark fear of a person is the fear of seeing a person... Just as a person is afraid of not finding God, so he is afraid of finding God, of seeing his Savior inside himself and inside another person. Sometimes a person is afraid to find higher humanity in himself and in his brother... Running away from a person is only the second stage of leaving God. Those who have left God, but have not yet left man, are close to returning to God...

Man is afraid to meet himself, because by finding himself, man can find God.

The horror of one’s inadequacy to God, which sometimes lives very deeply, explains man’s unbelief, this dark human fear of discovering God in himself or somewhere in the world. “There is no God!”... “There cannot be God in a world where there is so much evil and suffering!” After all, this is already knowledge about God, and already awe at one’s own and the world’s inadequacy to Him. In unbelief there is the horror of the possibility of meeting God. Fear is pushed aside, the soul is calmed by disbelief...

...it’s scary to upset your Beloved! This is the fear of Christ's disciples. Man then no longer fears the torment of his unfaithfulness to God, but the loss of this torment...

press

In 1925 - 1926 he edited the literary magazine "Blagognerenny" in Brussels. Two issues were published.

In 1928 - 1930 - director of the Orthodox missionary publishing house "For the Church". He published the newspaper “Struggle for the Church” in Paris (several issues were published). Editor of the newsletter “For the Church”, the magazine “Chronicle: Organ of Orthodox Culture”.

In 1931 Archbishop. Feofan (Bystrov) spoke of John (Shakhovsky):

About the activities of hieromonk Fr. John (Shakhovsky) I do not have any exact information. I only know that he is engaged in publishing books and leaflets with religious and moral content. The choice of content of these books leaves me somewhat bewildered. For example, he published excerpts from Isaac the Syrian under the flowery title “The Flame of Things.” - According to the judgment of the elders, - St. Isaac the Syrian cannot be recommended for initial reading by the laity[1].

Regular author of the magazine “Put”, “Vestnik RHD”. Author of the newspaper "Vozrozhdenie".

Since 1948, he hosted the program “Conversations with the Russian People” on the Voice of America radio station. Since March 1951, he has been publishing “For the Church,” a supplement to the San Francisco newspaper “Russian Life.”

Regular author of “New Russian Word” (New York), “Russian Life” (San Francisco).

Author of the preface to the first edition of the novel “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov (1967, YMCA-Press). He called Bulgakov's work metaphysical realism and noted that for the first time in the conditions of the Soviet Union, Russian literature began to seriously talk about Christ as a Reality standing in the depths of the world.

On October 25, 1974, he attended a concert by Alexander Galich in Paris.

Corresponded with Fr. Alexander Menem (1979 - 1980), author of the preface to the book “Sacrament, Word and Image”.

article “The hour is near”

He welcomed Hitler's invasion of the USSR. In the newspaper “Novoe Slovo” dated June 29, 1941, Archbishop. John (Shakhovskoy) wrote in the article “The Hour is Near”:

“What comes in blood and dirt will leave in blood and dirt. The misanthropic doctrine of Marx, which entered the world through war, comes from war. “I gave birth to you, I will kill you!” - the war now shouts to Bolshevism. What desirable days did both sub-Soviet and Foreign Russia live to see? Not today or tomorrow the paths to a free life, a free confession of the faith of Christ, and free words about God will open. Before his death in Moscow, at the beginning of Bolshevism, the Athonite elder, the righteous Aristocles, said these words, literally written down (by people close to the author of these lines): “The salvation of Russia will come when the Germans take up arms.” And he also prophesied: “The Russian people will have to go through many more humiliations, but in the end they will be a lamp of faith for the whole world.” The blood that began to be shed on the Russian fields on June 22, 1941, is the blood that is shed instead of the blood of many thousands of Russian people who will soon be released from the prisons, dungeons and concentration camps of Soviet Russia. This alone fills the heart with joy. The best shepherds will be given to the Church, the best scientists - to Russian science, the best writers - to the people, fathers - to their children, and children - to their parents, beloved husbands will return to their wives from the distant north; how many friends who were sent away will unite again... It is impossible to imagine how much joy people will have... Providence saves the Russian people from a new civil war, calling on foreign power to fulfill its destiny. The bloody operation of overthrowing the Third International is entrusted to a skilled German surgeon, experienced in his science. There is no shame in lying under this surgical knife for someone who is sick. Every nation has its own qualities and gifts. The operation has begun, the suffering it causes is inevitable... It was Provided that we should no longer wait for the overthrow of the godless international by the hand of the Russian people bound in all their places. It is no longer possible to expect that those so-called “Christian governments”, which in the recent Spanish struggle were both materially and ideologically not on the side of the defenders of the Christian faith and culture, will take on this task. Exhausted and enslaved in camps, factories and collective farms, the Russian people were powerless to rise up against the international atheistic force entrenched in the Kremlin. The iron-precise hand of the German army was needed. She is now tasked with knocking down the red stars from the walls of the Russian Kremlin. And she will shoot them down if the Russian people don’t shoot them down themselves. This army, which has marched through its victories throughout Europe, is now strong not only by the power of its weapons and principles, but also by the obedience to the Higher Call, Providence imposed on it beyond all political and economic calculations. The Sword of the Lord acts above all human things. A new page in Russian history opened on June 22, on the day of celebration by the Russian Church - the memory of “All Saints who shone in the Russian land.” Isn’t this a clear sign even for the most blind that events are guided by the Higher Will? On this purely Russian (and only Russian) holiday, connected with the Day of Resurrection, the disappearance of the demonic cries of the “International” from the Russian land began... Inner resurrection depends on the human heart; it is prepared by much prayer and patient suffering. The cup is filled to the brim. A “great earthquake” begins “to shake the foundations of the prison, and soon the bonds of all will be loosened” (Acts 16:26). Soon, soon the Russian flame will rise above the huge warehouses of godless literature. The martyrs of the faith of Christ and the martyrs of love for one's neighbor and the martyrs of human truth will come out of their dungeons. Desecrated temples will be opened and illuminated by prayer. Priests, parents and teachers will once again openly teach children the truth of the Gospel. Ivan the Great will speak with his voice over Moscow and countless Russian bells will answer him. This will be “Easter in the middle of summer,” about which a hundred years ago, in the insight of a joyful spirit, the great saint of the Russian land, St. Seraphim. Summer has come. Russian Easter is near..."

Mercy, love, trust, selfishness, fear:

A true miracle is pity.

True mercy is always simple and active. It is a will that is ready for any work, a heart that agrees to endure any sorrow for the sake of love.

The lover ceases to be afraid. “Love conquers fear” (1 John 4:18)… But this only applies to true love. Unfaithful love, driven by passion or lust, does not know fearlessness; it does not conquer fear, but strengthens it, because it strengthens a person’s self.

He who has achieved love possesses every thing without stealing it. This is the Kingdom of God. “We have nothing, and... we possess everything” (2 Cor. 6:10).

If there is no unifying love, what is alien always remains alien...

Abduction... is a sin leading to death - for it is against Love, Life.

The secret of Prometheus's lawlessness is not that he steals fire, but that he steals.

Anyone who steals someone else’s property is lawless because he cannot make this someone else’s property his own...

The offender offends, first of all, himself.

The “active egoist” offends, the “passive” one gets offended.

Love loves the person himself; not his sins, not his madness, not his blindness...

Yes, you can love, but not trust. But isn’t trust a sign of an open soul, and isn’t openness a property of love? No, love is broader than openness. And without the openness of the soul, there can be love in this world...

Evil must be hidden so as not to dirty anyone. Good things must be hidden so as not to spill. It is necessary to conceal for the benefit of everyone. Hiding the soul of its evil is sometimes a spiritual necessity; hiding one's goodness is almost always wisdom...

Not all “indirectness” is untruth; and not every “distrust” is a betrayal of the last trust.

The last trust can only be in God...

Of course, one should not have distrust of the person himself, but of his given state.

The main suffering of a person who has left God is self-love.

Fear is the agony of a soul being excommunicated or separating itself from God. Fear is the agony of loneliness.

This is the law of the spirit: forgetting God, a person forgets his own face, depersonalizes himself. Losing the truth, a person loses his life with it. And all the difficulties and all human failures (especially in marriage and family life) are connected with this.

He who leaves God also leaves himself.

After the war

During the war, he headed the missionary committee of the Central European Metropolitan District of the ROCOR.

In February 1945 he moved to Paris, and at the beginning of 1946 - to the USA, with the help of Igor Sikorsky. Accepted into the jurisdiction of the American Metropolitanate. In 1946-1947 - rector of the temple in Los Angeles. From May 11, 1947 - bishop. Brooklyn, Vicar Met. Theophilus (Pashkovsky), rector of St. Vladimir's Theological Seminary (until 1950).

In December 1947, he was put on trial by the Council of Bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate. He was banned for resisting reunification with the Moscow Patriarchate.

Since 1950 - bishop. San Francisco and Western American. Since 1961 - archbishop. He was also in charge of the South American diocese and the foreign affairs of the Metropolis.

Since 1948, he hosted the program “Conversations with the Russian People” on the Voice of America radio station. Since March 1951, Archbishop. John (Shakhovskoy) publishes “For the Church” - a supplement to the San Francisco newspaper “Russian Life”.

Active participant in the ecumenical movement, member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches from the American Metropolis from 1954 to 1968.

Archbishop John (Shakhovskoy) took part in the 2nd General Assembly of the WCC, held in 1954 in Evanston (Illinois, USA). Participant Gen. Assembly in New Delhi (India) from November 19 to December 5, 1961

Archbishop John (Shakhovskoy) at the assembly of the World Council of Churches, 1961 New Delhi.

At the assembly in New Delhi, together with other figures, Bud. “American autocephaly” enters into first contacts with Metropolitan. Nikodim (Rotov). Since 1963, together with oo. A. Schmemann, I. Meyendorff participates in secret negotiations with Metropolitan. Nikodim (Rotov) and others about the granting of “autocephaly” to the American Metropolis.

In 1970, Archbishop. John (Shakhovskoy) became one of the founders of the so-called “American Autocephalous Church,” a modernist corporation unrecognized by any Local Church except the Moscow Patriarchate.

Doctor of Divinity from St. Vladimir's Seminary and Columbia University (1976), and Doctor of Divinity from the University of California at Berkeley in 1979. Honorary President of the International Society named after. F.M. Dostoevsky (International Dostoevsky Society).

He retired in 1973 and returned temporarily in 1975. In 1979 he finally retired.

The author of the preface to the first edition of the novel “The Master and Margarita” is M.A. Bulgakov (1967, YMCA-press). He called Bulgakov's work metaphysical realism and noted that for the first time in the conditions of the Soviet Union, Russian literature began to seriously talk about Christ as a Reality standing in the depths of the world.

Corresponded with Fr. Alexander Menem (in 1979-1980), author of the preface to the book “Sacrament, Word and Image”.

He opposed the glorification of St. Royal Martyrs of the Russian Church Abroad in 1981

Person's character. Pride and vanity. Sobriety and humility:

...character is formed and developed from free human reactions to the world around us... So the person himself sculpts from his spiritual qualities and abilities either a human or an animal image.

Vanity is a sign of not only moral, but also mental stagnation.

And in the life of societies and peoples, “pride comes before destruction.” The level of culture is directly proportional to social and international modesty.

...our soul must know... its spiritual limits.

We are not free to avoid what is given to us regardless of our will; but we are always free to transform every life event and word into light, to make it necessary for ourselves and others. This is the point of our freedom. Through all events, all sorrows and joys, a person has both the power and happiness to move towards God's truth, which has no end... There is no “fate”, no “blind fate”. There is the Unsleeping Eye of God’s love and our freedom to be in it.

education

Graduated from the Sevastopol Naval Telegraph School.

He studied at the School of Political Sciences in Paris (1920 - 1922), graduated from the historical department of the Faculty of Philosophy and Philology of the University of Louvain (1926).

In 1926 he entered the Paris Theological Institute, but did not graduate. Teacher at the Pastoral School in Bila Tserkva (Yugoslavia). Law teacher at the Don Cadet Corps.

He gave lectures and conversations at religious meetings of the Brotherhood of St. Sergius of Radonezh, theological courses, and in the “Orthodox Cause” association.

He travels with lectures throughout Europe, in particular to Latvia, Estonia and Finland. Here he had a collision with the schmich. John (Pommer):

“In recent years, the persecution of Bishop John (Pommer) has been carried out mainly through the so-called Russian Student Orthodox Movement (RSHD). The Bishop, who loved children and youth very much, initially reacted very sympathetically to the newly emerged unity, however, when the essence of this organization with international connections began to emerge, he moved away from it, and the members of the unity joined the persecution (although they were not its instigators)... This became especially aggravated persecution after the stay in Riga of Archimandrite John (Shakhovsky), whom the Bishop did not allow to serve in Riga, apparently rightly judging that such a fickle (in the sense of submission) clergy should not be encouraged. It seems that the archimandrite left enraged... But he left, and his numerous supporters (and, mainly, numerous fans), mostly members of the unity, subsequently made every effort to poison the life of the Bishop.”

Rector of St. Vladimir's Theological Seminary (1947 - 1950).

Doctor of Divinity from St. Vladimir's Seminary and Columbia University (1976), and Doctor of Divinity from the University of California at Berkeley in 1979. Honorary President of the International Dostoevsky Society.

Good and evil:

...darkness does not exist as something opposite to light, but lies only in the will of resistance to God, in the dislike of free creation. For a free creature cannot be forced to love. There is no evil as something opposite to God. Evil lies in the free will of both the embodied and disembodied spirit.

The moral state of a person becomes especially difficult when his soul, as if infected with an apocalyptic “trichina,” is included in some collective evil of the world... In collective evil, moral perversity has more reasons for self-justification, although self-justification, psychologically, usually does not require any reasons.

The will of demons turns on pigs...

The demons of the Gadarenes, having lost a person, want to vampirically enjoy at least some creature... Just so as not to remain in this terrible loneliness of their own malice and not finding an object of lust for themselves - a selfhood tormented in itself by the torments of hell... Truly terrible is this abyss that has no nowhere out of herself and not wanting to open up to God.

Like the Gadarene spirits, we, blind people living on earth, do not turn our faces to the Lord - the Sun of Truth and Life, but we are looking for “pigs” for ourselves, so that our emptiness does not appear before us... “Pig” is any filling of emptiness his own - not the Lord.

Why doesn’t a person accept the Lord?.. The Gadarenes were saddened by the death of their pigs.

Intolerance:

Rigorism and puritanism are alien to the evangelical spirit. Pharisee righteousness without love is darker in the eyes of God than any sin. But the lukewarmness of Christians in fulfilling the commandments is just as dark. Both those who practice Pharisees and those who trade and smoke in the temple of God are equally expelled from the temple.

The human narrow, proud, sick mind, not transformed by the Spirit of God, equally strives for division and seeks a reason for it, no matter who this mind belongs to - Orthodox or sectarian.

Orthodoxy does not shine in an Orthodox society, in one that is proud of its Orthodoxy.

You cannot defend Orthodoxy in a pagan way.

Orthodoxy... is spirit and life and has as its fruit only life.

... the spirit of sectarianism ... is the spirit of mental (not spiritual) jealousy. This is the rationalization of faith, maintaining the purity of faith and the loss of depth. This is the damage to love.

creation of the Orthodox Church in America

At the Third General Assembly of the WCC in New Delhi, together with other figures of the future “American autocephaly”, he entered into first contacts with Metropolitan. Nikodim (Rotov). Since 1963 together with oo. Alexander Schmemann and John Meyendorff participates in secret negotiations with Metropolitan. Nikodim (Rotov) and others about the granting of autocephaly to the American Metropolis.

In 1970, Archbishop. John (Shakhovskoy) becomes one of the founders of the Orthodox Church in America, a modernist corporation unrecognized by any Local Church except the Moscow Patriarchate.

Life, time and eternity, the vanity of the world, social upheavals and conflicts:

Only a moment of the present is the point of contact of a person with the reality of the Eternal. Only the present, in fact, is what a person has, his free will... The concept of “future” is least of all similar to “eternal,” says Lewis. The “future” is the most “temporary”, the most unreal part of a person’s time.

Noise is the only self-defense of evil from the voice of a quiet human conscience, from the quiet Word of God... Noisy slogans weave the legend of the “future”... Only man has forgotten about his death... no amount of noise can shield you from evil and death. There is only one salvation: the Risen Christ.

Gospel sinfulness is a “shepherd’s pipe” compared to the annoying, deafening and shameless music of sin of our days. Not only individually, but also collectively, the people of our age rebel against the Spirit of God. White is so persistently called black in the world, and black is called white. “The mountains fall on us and the hills cover us” (Luke 23:30)!

The purpose of the revolution is for the benefit of all, and justifies great grievances against people. Soulless planners who do not see a living person operate with humane phrases.

... it is impossible to justify a means as an end.

...a person, first of all, needs to become a real person in order to begin to change the world for the better. And when morally blind people “change the world,” they change it for the worse. They want to “change” the world without knowing this world, without believing in the moral essence of either it or man. How can you improve the world without improving the human heart? An ocean of blood has been shed and continues to be shed for the sake of abstract projects of the future.

...the idea of ​​materialism, as alien to the moral understanding of the world and man, cannot create a real community between people; the idea of ​​materialism is opposite to the very essence of the spiritual true community of people and deepens human division.

An “incident” for a person is something as necessary in life as bread. Perverted human nature contemplates the world not as a reflection of heavenly harmony, where every little thing is precious for its direct relationship to the great whole of God's world; The fallen nature of man contemplates the world as a boring meaninglessness, where one can only look for various pleasures and where events of various curiosity constantly occur. People rush to “news”... “News” blocks the entrance to the Divine Mysteries in the world.

A civilization that is unbalanced and not held together by the highest meaning of life leads to the destruction of humanity, increasingly complicates, complicates and ruins its own world.

JOHN

(Shakhovskoy Dmitry Alekseevich; 08/23/1902, Moscow - 05/30/1989, Santa Barbara, California, USA), archbishop. San Francisco and Western American Orthodox Church in America, spiritual writer. He came from an ancient princely family, his father was an active state councilor. In 1912 he entered the Tsarskoye Selo Levitskaya school. In 1915 he was admitted to the Imperial Alexander Lyceum, where he studied until 1917. Since the summer of 1918, he was in the white volunteer units, and was shell-shocked in the battles near Tsaritsyn. In 1919, he was appointed radio operator on the cruiser Almaz. In the summer of 1920, being under 18 years of age, he was transferred as a radio operator to the Russian Shipping and Trade Company. In the same year he was evacuated to K-pol, then went to Paris. Lived with a relative, king. M. A. Shakhovskaya. In 1921, I. entered the Paris Free School of Political Sciences (École Libre des Sciences Politiques). In the same year, he met I. A. Bunin, B. K. Zaitsev and M. A. Aldanov. In 1922, he became a student of economics at the University of Leuven (Louvain) in Belgium, but soon transferred to the historical department of the philosophical and verbal department. Parishioner c. in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Brussels, whose rector was Rev. Peter Izvolsky.

John (Shakhovskoy), Archbishop. San Francisco. Photo. 60s XX century John (Shakhovskoy), Archbishop. San Francisco. Photo. 60s XX century

In May 1922 he published his first poems in zh. “Russian Thought”, edited by P. B. Struve. The following year he published his first poetry collection in Paris. "Poems", followed by "Songs without Words" (Brussels, 1924) and "Objects" (Brussels, 1926). I started to become interested in Russian. religious philosophy, spoke with articles in N. A. Berdyaev’s magazine “The Path”. In 1924, in Brussels, he became a member of the Belgian Pen Club, where he communicated with famous poets and writers G. K. Chesterton, P. Claudel, P. Valery, the Thoreau brothers, V. Blasco Ibañez. In the same year, he decided to publish a religious and philosophical collection, and then a magazine. He corresponded on this issue with the brothers P.E. and E.E. Kovalevsky, K.E. Kern (later Archim. Cyprian) and N.M. Zernov. In 1926 he became the editor of 2 issues of lit. published in Brussels. and. “Well-Intentioned”, in which A. M. Remizov, F. A. Stepun, M. I. Tsvetaeva, S. Ya. Efron, V. F. Khodasevich, M. L. Goffman, Aldanov, critics D. collaborated. I. Svyatopolk-Mirsky and K.V. Mochulsky.

According to D. Shakhovsky, “during this last period of my secular life, previously significant phenomena and pneumatological phenomena began to happen to me, the meaning and religious importance of which I understood only later. These mystical real phenomena were an internal separation of me from my path completely devoted to literature.” He became the bishop's spiritual son. Veniamin (Fedchenkov; later Metropolitan), who in 1925 served as a teacher and instructor at the Orthodox Theological Institute of St. Sergius of Radonezh in Paris. 5 Sep. 1926, on the day of his 24th birthday, with the blessing of Bishop. Veniamin D. Shakhovskoy took monastic vows at the Russian Great Martyr Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos with the name John in honor of St. ap. John the Theologian. In the same year, upon returning from Athos, I. entered the Sergievsky Institute in Paris. Here he met Fr. Sergius Bulgakov, under whose guidance he wrote the work “On the Names of God,” dedicated to name-glorification. 2 Dec. 1926 Met. Eulogius (Georgievsky) in the Paris Cathedral of St. blgv. Alexander Nevsky I. was ordained a deacon.

In the beginning. In 1927, he went to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (from 1929 Yugoslavia) to Bishop. Veniamin, appointed Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), Metropolitan. Anthony (Khrapovitsky) to the position of head of theological and pastoral courses and rector of the Russian. parish in Bela Tsrkva. For some time I. lived in Serbia. Petkovica monastery near Sabac. On March 6, bishop was ordained. Benjamin as a priest. He was the 2nd priest of the temple in the name of the Great Martyr. George at the Crimean Cadet Corps in Bela Tsrkva. After the departure of Bishop. Veniamin retired to the Petkovitsky Monastery of I. on September. 1927, rector of the St. George Church and teacher of the law of the cadet corps. The bishop did not approve of the decision. Veniamin on the transition to canonical subordination to the Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan. Sergius (Stragorodsky; subsequently Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'); wrote a letter to Met. Sergius, in whom he defended the dissociation of foreign clergy from him.

Since 1928, I. was also the director of the Orthodox Missionary Publishing House in Bela Tsrkva. According to the recollections of contemporaries, he performed divine services every day, visited the sick and needy, to whom he provided all possible assistance. At Easter, Christmas and Epiphany, he talked with parishioners about faith and preached. He was the organizer of construction and the first abbot of the Russian. temple in the name of St. ap. John the Theologian in Bela Tsrkva, teacher at the Pastoral School and Orphanage. In 1928, I. visited the Bishop of Ohrid. St. Nicholas (Velimirović), who became for I. a model of “the ministry of apostolate of our days, a shepherd alien to conventions, striving for the spontaneity of faith.” Friendship between I. and bishop. Nicholas continued until the end of his days.

I. promoted the idea of ​​“white monasticism” - secret tonsure of women into monasticism, who remained to live in the world. To expand missionary activity, he organized the book publishing house “For the Church!”, which he called Orthodox missionary. The publishing house published selected texts of the works of St. fathers, excerpts from the diary of St. right John of Kronstadt, children's church literature, liturgical books, etc. On a rotator (mechanical copying machine), I. printed missionary “Belotserkovsky leaflets” for the flock. Soon the first collection of his articles “Church and the World” (Belaya Tserkov, 1929), previously published in issues of the same name in Russian, was published. newspapers in Belgrade. I. also issued 2 releases of gas. “Struggle for the Church” (subtitle: “One-day newspaper of the struggle for Russian Spiritual Restoration”).

The secret tonsures carried out by I. were not approved by the Synod of Bishops of the ROCOR. In 1931, Metropolitan. Anthony (Khrapovitsky) forbade I. to publish in the Parisian magazines “Put”, “Bulletin of the Russian Student Christian Movement”, “Sergius Leaves”, and also to write reviews of books published by YMKA-Press. In June 1931, I. came under the jurisdiction of the head of the Western European Exarchate of Rus. parishes of the K-Polish Patriarchate Metropolitan. Eulogius (Georgievsky). I. outlined the reasons for the transition in the brochure “Why I left the jurisdiction of Metropolitan. Anthony" (P., 1931). Metropolitan Eulogius blessed I. to engage in missionary work at the Sergius Metochion in Paris. In con. July 1931 I. on behalf of Metropolitan. Eulogia served as a traveling priest of a camp church: he traveled by car to minister to the Russians. communities remote from temples; became one of the organizers of the Orthodox Church. parish in the suburbs of Paris Asnieres, the first rector of the Asnieres church. in the name of the All-Merciful Savior. The first services were held in the hall of the Museum of the Life Guards Cossack Regiment in Asnieres.

In Feb. 1932 I. was appointed dean of the Russian. parishes in Germany that were under the jurisdiction of the Western European Exarchate. From April 1 the same year he became rector of St. Vladimir's Church in Berlin. At this time, the Russian diaspora was interested in occult sciences, I. explained to parishioners the incompatibility of Orthodoxy with false teachings, read a series of lectures criticizing esoteric views, belief in the transmigration of souls, reincarnation, etc. He was actively involved in missionary work, publishing a missionary bulletin “For the Church: The Struggle ( then “Bulletin of the Struggle”) for Orthodox Spiritual Restoration” (Berlin, 1932-1936), published sermons, conversations, selected texts from the works of St. fathers. and other Orthodox literary I. often traveled with sermons throughout Europe, and made lecture trips to Latvia and Estonia. In 1935 he was elevated to the rank of abbot, in 1937 to the rank of archimandrite. In 1937, during the civil war in Spain, I. visited Russian for the purpose of pastoral care. volunteers who served in the army of the general. Franco. From the end 30s German The authorities had a negative attitude towards the activities of the Orthodox Church. parishes of the Western European Exarchate in Germany, they were considered insufficiently loyal to Nazism. I. was repeatedly summoned for interrogation by the Gestapo. Under pressure authorities, he was forced to transfer to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Berlin. Seraphim (Lyade), since 1942 he was a member of the diocesan council of the German diocese of the ROCOR. In the beginning. 1941 I., despite the prohibition of the authorities, published in Leipzig the full text of the Bible, as well as the New Testament and the Gospel of Mark, citing the fact that this was necessary for worship.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, I. decided that he was dumb. the occupation of the USSR will put an end to the communist regime, and made corresponding statements, but later he changed his view. In his parish, I. organized a community of sisters of mercy, an orphanage, an outpatient clinic, and the collection and dispatch of warm clothes to the occupied territories. Secretly from the Nazi authorities, candles, icons, crosses, communion wine, orthodox prayers were sent to Russia. Liter. On Sundays, weddings of up to 25 couples and baptisms of up to 80 people took place in St. Vladimir’s Church. per day. I. also often conducted funeral services for deceased Soviet prisoners of war and those deported to work in Germany, who, as a rule, were buried in common graves. In 1942, I. visited a prisoner of war camp near Bad Kissingen. Together with the priest. Alexander Kiselev, who served with I. in St. Vladimir’s Church since 1941, he confessed and gave communion to Soviet prisoners of war. During the war years I. turned to him. Lutheran and Catholic. bishops with a request to help stop the extermination of Soviet prisoners of war and the extermination of the Orthodox Church. Serbs in Croatia. Was associated with Germany. church resistance, participated in secret Christian meetings in the apartment of the Berlin pastor Ungnad. In the beginning. 1943 The Gestapo searched I.’s apartment, as well as the book warehouse of the missionary publishing house “For the Church!” I.'s things, books, papers and letters were sealed or confiscated. I. was given a written undertaking not to leave Berlin and was forbidden to send religions. literature and conduct publishing activities.

In 1945, for some time I. lived on the estate of the Dukes of Leuchtenberg in Bavaria, and later moved to France. In Jan. 1946, having received an invitation from aircraft designer I. I. Sikorsky, he arrived in the USA and joined the non-canonically declared self-governing Orthodox American Metropolis (since 1970, after the granting of autocephaly to the Russian Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church in America). In the same year, Met. Theophilus (Pashkovsky) of San Francisco and all America and Canada was appointed rector of the Holy Mother of God Church in Los Angeles. On May 11, 1947, in New York, the Council of Bishops of the American Metropolis consecrated him Bishop of Brooklyn and appointed him dean of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Church. Theological Academy in New York. He actively advocated the autocephaly of the American Metropolis. By the Decree of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on December 12. 1947 together with Metropolitan. Theophilus and other bishops of the non-canonical metropolitanate were banned from the priesthood and ordered to be brought to the episcopal court “for stubborn resistance to the calls of the Mother Church for communication: for involving their flock in a schism” (ZhMP. 1948. No. 1. P. 11). Since 1948 (from 1953 weekly) for 40 years he hosted the pastoral radio program “Conversations with the Russian People” on the Voice of America radio station.

Since 1950, Bishop of San Francisco and Western America. He visited Russian parishes in the countries of the South. America, was in charge of foreign affairs of the American Metropolis. During the Korean War in July 1953, he visited Seoul to convey the blessing of the Orthodox Church. soldiers who were in Amer. units as part of the UN troops, and also visit the Korean Spiritual Mission destroyed during the fighting. In 1961, I. was elevated to the rank of archbishop. In 1954-1968 represented the Orthodox American Metropolis on the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches.

I. was interested in events in Russia and met with compatriots who had been to the USA. In 1967 he wrote a preface to M. A. Bulgakov’s book “The Master and Margarita” (P., 1967), in 1971 - to the collection of poems by A. A. Galich “Poem of Russia: Poems and Songs of the Soviet Underground” (P. ., 1971), and in 1980 - to the work of Rev. A. Me “Sacrament, Word and Image: Divine Services of the Eastern Church” (Brussels, 1980). In May 1975 he retired and lived in Santa Barbara. He still appeared on the radio and corresponded, including with Fr. Alexander Men. Continued lit. creativity under the pseudonym Wanderer.

I. is the author of numerous works, in which questions of Christ are closely intertwined. faith, world and Russian. culture, the fate of Russia and its people in the twentieth century. How did the spiritual writer address Ch. arr. to the genres of apologetic conversations addressed to a wide range of readers, and lit. portrait; reflections on outstanding Russian writers, about the influence of their work on the spiritual life of the country. The essays written by I. are based on the traditions of hagiography and pastoral teachings addressed to believers, on the authority of the Holy Father. The Scriptures are short and have a moral and preaching orientation. The author’s goal is to show in action the power of the commandment: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). I.'s works were published in Russian, English, German, Serbian, Italian. and Japanese languages.

Buried in Serbian Orthodox Santa Barbara Cemetery.

Arch.: RGVA. F. 500. Op. 3. D. 450, 453; F. 1470. Op. 1. D. 17.

Works: Collection. fav. works: In 5 volumes, New York; P., 1965-1977; Glory of the Resurrection. Bila Tserkva, 1928; Church and World: Essays. White Church, 1929. Tallinn; Berlin, 1934; About the purpose of man and the paths of the philosopher // The Path. P., 1931. No. 31. P. 53-69; Why did I leave the jurisdiction of Metropolitan. Antonia. P.; Novi Sad, 1931; White monasticism. Berlin, 1932, 1937; About reincarnation: Dialogue. Brussels, 1932; A parable about unjust wealth. Berlin, 1932; Bless God for everything. Berlin, 1933. Calistoga (Calif.), 1971; The Birth of Light: (Mystical play) // For the Church. Berlin, 1933. No. 20; Is the brotherhood of religions possible? P., 1934; Judaism and the Church according to the teachings of the Gospel. Berlin, 1934; Life: (Contemplation). P., 1935; Conversation between seven Orthodox Christians about Sofia. Berlin, 1936; The will of God and the will of man. Berlin, 1937; About the glorification of Fr. John of Kronstadt. Berlin, 1938; Rule of the spirit. P., 1938; Prophetic spirit in Russian. poetry: Lyrics of Alexei K. Tolstoy. Berlin, 1938; The path to the north. Berlin, 1938; Reflections on Pushkin's religiosity. Berlin, 1938; Orthodox philosophy Shepherding: Path and Action. Berlin, 1938. St. Petersburg, 1996; Spanish letters. Berlin, 1939; Seven words about the country of the Gadarenes. Berlin, 1939; Tolstoy and the Church. Berlin, 1939; Sirens. Brussels, 1940; About the seven fervors of the spirit. Munich, 1946; The word for naming in ep. Brooklyn in the Cathedral of the Holy Protection in New York on May 11, 1947 New York, [1947]; The Mystery of the Church. New York, 1947; Man and fear: Experience of pneumatology. ethics. N.Y., [1948]; Ten words about faith. Buenos Aires, 1950; Faith and responsibility. New York, 1954; Time for faith. N.Y., 1954, 1988; Another touch to the wounds. New York, 1956; Russian Church in the USSR. New York, 1956; Apocalypse of petty sin: [Sk.]. Berkeley, 1957. St. Petersburg, 1997. M., 2006; Network: Words from the first years of pastoring. Berkeley, 1957; Notes on love for God and man. New York, 1959; Letters about the eternal and the temporary. New York, 1960; Wanderings: (Lyrical Diary). N.-Y., 1960 (pseud.: Wanderer); 80th anniversary of Fr. Vasily // VRSHD. 1961. No. 61. P. 4-5; Letters to believers. San Francisco, 1962; Leo of the Church: In memory of L. A. Zander // VRSHD. 1964. No. 75. P. 36-37; Leaves of the Tree: (Experience of Orthodox Spiritual Studies). New York, 1964; Religion in America. San Francisco, 1964; Book of Testimonies. New York, 1965; Book of lyrics. P., 1966 (pseud.: Wanderer); In memory of a fellow saint // New Russian. word. 1966. No. 19515. P. 5; Dialogue with Church Russia. P., 1967; Abolition of the month: (Lyrical poem). NY, 1968 (pseud.: Wanderer); Boring Garden. San Francisco, 1970 (pseud.: Wanderer); Choosing silence. San Francisco, 1971 (pseud.: Wanderer); Contemplation. San Francisco, 1971; Moscow conversation about immortality. New York, 1972; Selected lyrics. Stockholm, 1974 (pseud.: Wanderer); Ironic letters: [Poems]. P., 1975 (pseud.: Wanderer); To the history of Russian. intelligentsia: (Tolstoy's Revolution). N.-Y., 1975. M., 2003; Biography of Youth: Establishing Unity. P., 1977; Poem about Russian love. P., 1977 (pseud.: Wanderer); Correspondence with Klenovsky. P., 1981; Faith and authenticity. P., 1982; Amazing land. [California], 1983; Favorites. Petrozavodsk, 1992; Philosophy of the game // Enlightener. 1995. No. 2/3. pp. 182-191; Conversations with Russian by the people: (According to the materials of the book “Time of Faith”). M., 1998; Hymn to small good // AiO. 1999. No. 2(20). pp. 300-303; Selected: In 2 volumes. N. Novg., 1999; About the mystery of human life. M., 1999; Recordings of a pure voice: How to live according to the Gospel. St. Petersburg, 2002; Establishing Unity: [Memoirs]. M., 2006.

Lit.: Berdyaev N.A. About the pride of the humble: Answer by Hierom. John // The Way. 1931. No. 31. P. 70-75; Appointment of archim. John Shakhovsky to Los Angeles // New Dawn. 1946. April 16; Zenkovsky V.V. Review of the book. “Notes on love for God and man” // VRSHD. 1959. No. 53; Chinnov I. In memory of the archpastor and poet: (About Archbishop John Shakhovsky) // New Journal. 1989. No. 176. P. 286-293; Correspondence between the archbishop. I. (Shakhovsky) and Fr. A. Menem (1979-1980) // Vestn. RHD. 1990. No. 160. P. 285-292; Linnik Yu. V. Philosopher of the future: Archbishop. John of San Francisco (Shakhovskoy) // John of San Francisco, Archbishop. Favorites. Petrozavodsk, 1992. P. 5-11; Archbishop John of San Francisco (1902-1989) // North. 1991. No. 10. P. 131-143; Sapov V.V. Shakhovskoy Dmitry Alekseevich // Lit. encyclopedia Rus. Abroad, 1918-1940: Writers Rus. Abroad. M., 1997. S. 447-449; Archbishop John (Shakhovskoy) and his correspondents: (Materials for the biography of Archbishop John) // TsIV. 1998. No. 1. P. 64-92; Alexandrov E. A. John (Shakhovskoy), Archbishop. // Rus. American: Review issue. 2000. No. 22. P. 77-78; Shkarovsky M.V. Nazi Germany and Orthodoxy. Church. M., 2002. Passim; Ezova L. D. Book. Dmitry Shakhovskoy, archbishop. John of San Francisco // Russia and the modern world. 2003. No. 4(41). pp. 196-206; Kharchenko N.P. Archbishop. John of San Francisco (Shakhovskoy): On eternal spiritual values ​​and anti-values ​​reflected in concepts, images and definitions // Ros. compatriots in the Asia-Pacific region: Prospects for cooperation. Vladivostok, 2003. pp. 267-274; Daryalova L.N. Archbishop. John of San Francisco: “The Word of the Shepherd” and life portraits // Cyril and Methodius: Spiritual Heritage. Kaliningrad, 2005. pp. 143-161; Nivier A. Orthodox. clergy, theologians and church. Russian figures emigration to the West. and Center. Europe, 1920-1995: Biogr. reference M.; P., 2007. pp. 231-233.

K. V. Biryukova

Knowledge and ignorance:

Let it not seem strange that a person needs to learn some kind of ignorance. This ignorance will not be ignorance. Still less, it will be ignorance. In an effort to get away from false knowledge, a person sometimes ends up praising ignorance and rejecting the blessed culture of knowledge. This is the path of a false philosophy of ignorance, the path of the Pharisees, adopted by some tax collectors who stand apart from the life of the world and exalt themselves above the Pharisees of science. This is not the path the Lord gives to overcome the temptation and emptiness of false knowledge.

In the present state of humanity, no knowledge should be felt as knowledge. All knowledge must be experienced as ignorance.