PRIEST
SERAFIM GAN
Archbishop Yuvenaly of Tsitsikar (Kilina, +1958)
(Towards the 80th anniversary of the Cathedral of the Mother
of God of Kazan Cathedral in Harbin)
photo-report
From the Editors:
Before embarking upon the biography of Archbishop Yuvenaly (Kilin)
of Tsitsikar, the founder and Superior of the Mother of God of Kazan
Monastery in Harbin, China, it is worth saying a few words about
the Harbin Diocese, in which this wondrous monastery was found.
Protopriest
Aristarkh Ponomarev writes: ÒAfter the revolution, a stream of refugees
swamped Northern Manchuria. Harbin changed completely. The Russian
population grew by several times. Together with the refugees and
military, many clergymen arrived. Most of them had retreated with
the White Army from the Volga and Kamensk regions, from the Urals
and Siberia, having been military chaplains, with a minority of
them leaving their native lands with the exiles. In February 1920,
Archbishop Mefodii (Gerasimov) of Orenburg and Turgai arrived, and
in August of that year Bishop Meletii (Zaborovsky) of Chitin and
Zabaikal came. Among the refugees there were more than a few eminent
activists of church society. For the Vladivostok Diocesan Authorities,
in whose jurisdiction was the strip of territory delineated by the
Chinese Railroad (KVzhd), it was difficult enough to devote attention
to church matters in Manchuria. The course of events on the Pacific
could not inspire hope that this last stronghold of the White Movement
would hold: its political situation was extremely uncertain and
alarming. The entire oblast was simmering with Red partisans, finally
turning into a military theater. Contact with Vladivostok was often
broken. Yet in Harbin, all the conditions for normal church life
were in place. It was only natural, then, that by the beginning
of 1922, the leading ecclesiastical and social circles of Harbin
gave birth to the idea of forming a diocese of Harbin towards the
purposes of normalizing church life in Manchuria. This notion was
approved and adopted by the Supervisor of the KVzhd, an engineer
by the name of Ostroumov, who promised material support from the
Railroad. Together with him, a group of Orthodox Christians sought
and gained the establishment of a Harbin Diocese by the Ecclesiastical
Authorities abroad with an episcopal see in Harbin, and the assignment
of Archbishop Mefodii of Orenburg and Turgai.
Archbishop
Mefodii was well known to the refugees from the Diocese of Zabaikal,
Tomsk and Orenburg, whom he then continued to lead; they formed
a significant portion of the mass of exiles in Harbin, and they
had an earnest, filial love for him. Invited by the Parish Council
of St. Nicholas Cathedral for Sunday and holiday services, Archbishop
Mefodii soon became renowned both to the old residents of Harbin
and to its entire church-going populace, which came to love this
flaming patriot, this fatherly archpastor, incessant beseecher of
the Lord and experienced administrator with all their hearts. For
this reason, when the idea of creating a Harbin diocese appeared,
the name of Archbishop Mefodii was on everyone’s lips as the desired
head of the new diocese.
The Supreme
Ecclesiastical Administration abroad, hearing the intercession of
the Supervisor of the KVzhd and his aide, decreed: Ò1) In light
of the special, extraordinary situation in which the alienated KVzhd
region is found in an administrative and political sense, in light
of the complete cessation of contact with His Holiness Patriarch
of All Russia and the supreme ecclesiastical organs, and the disrupted
contact with the cathedral city of Vladivostok, where Bishop Michael
of Vladivostok resides, in whose jurisdiction the KVzhd region exists,
to temporarily establish, in the alienated strip of he KVzhd region,
an independent see with its cathedra in the city of Harbin. 2) To
appoint His Eminence Mefodii, Archbishop of Orenburg, to this cathedra
with the title of Archbishop of Harbin and (blank), directing him
to organize a temporary Diocesan Administration.Ó This decree was
made known to Archbishop Mefodii and Bishop Michael of Vladivostok
by the Supreme Ecclesiastical Administration by an ukase dated March
16/29, 1922.
On June 30,
1922, Archbishop Mefodii reported to the SEA abroad that 1) he assumed
control of the newly-opened diocese on June 2, 2) he organized a
temporary diocesan council and 3) as soon as the mechanism of the
diocesan administration would be finalized, he would convene a diocesan
congress for the election of the members of the diocesan council,
to form other diocesan institutions and to decide various matters
of diocesan life. At the same time, referring to the undetermined
second part of the title of the bishop of the Harbin Diocese, and
reporting on the decision of Diocesan Council to name the bishop
of the Harbin Diocese in accordance with the general opinion of
local church society the ÒBishop of Harbin and Manchuria,Ó Archbishop
Mefodii sought the SEA’s blessing. By its ukase of September 1,
1922, the SEA confirmed this title. The Supervisor of the KVzhd
issued Order No. 148 on June 30, 1922 as follows: ÒHis Eminence
Archbishop Mefodii reported to me that with the blessing of His
Holiness Patriarch Tikhon he is appointed Archbishop of Harbin and
Manchuria. I announce this while in transit for your information.Ó
According to
available documentation, the establishment of the Harbin Diocese
was an act of the Supreme Ecclesiastical Authority abroad, but there
is reliable information indicating that His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon
granted his permission and blessing for it. According to this information,
Archbishop Mefodii sent him a report on the need to establish a
diocese for Harbin, taking advantage of the trip from Harbin to
Moscow of a fully trustworthy and devoted Russian Orthodox person.
In the aims of secrecy--in light of the searches conducted of passengers
from Harbin upon entry onto the territory of the USSR--the report
was written by hand in the tiniest of handwriting by one of the
Harbin choir directors masterful in such writing, and inscribed
on a tiny piece of paper which was then sewn into the shoe sole
of a courier. Archbishop Mefodii received a telegram from His Holiness
consisting of nothing but ÒI bless.Ó This telegram does not exist
in the archives of the Diocesan Council, but this is explained by
knowledgeable persons by the fact that Archbishop Mefodii held it
in strict secrecy. This might explain why the above directive does
not include a reference to the ukase by the SEA Abroad on the appointment
of Archbishop Mefodii to the Harbin cathedra, but the blessing for
this by His Holiness the Patriarch is mentioned.
A member of
the first composition of the Harbin Diocesan Council, Prof. Miroliubov,
sent three telegrams to His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon on the ostensibly
incorrect actions of the Synod of Bishops Abroad. These telegrams
received the following responses from His Holiness: ÒTo the Member
of the Diocesan Council Miroliubov, Harbin. Follow the decrees of
the Council of 1918. Patriarch Tikhon;Ó the second: ÒHarbin. To
the Member of the Diocesan Council Miroliubov. I confirm the signature
of the telegram, Patriarch Tikhon.Ó
Archbishop
Mefodii comes to the conclusion, ÒIn answering N.I. Miroliubov as
a member of the Diocesan Council, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon
confirmed his recognition of the Harbin Diocesan Council as a lawful
ecclesiastical administrative organ, and, consequently, confirmed
his recognition of the canonical existence of the Harbin Diocese.Ó
Upon concluding the Diocesan congress, the following telegram was
sent to His Holiness from the Ruling Bishop and the Diocesan Congress:
ÒMoscow, Donskoy Monastery. To His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon. The
delegates of the Diocesan Congress of the Harbin Diocese, gathering
to fulfill the ukase of the Synod of Bishops for the reelection
of members of the Diocesan Council, guided by the decrees of the
Council of 1918 and confirmed by Your Holiness by the decision of
the Synod of Bishops of the Supreme Ecclesiastical Authority of
7/20 November 1920, peacefully conducted the elections. In providing
this report, the elected members once again respectfully greet Your
Holiness and, in testimony to their loyalty, ask Your holy prayers
and blessings. (Your Holiness’) lowest servant, Archbishop MefodiiÓ
(citation taken from Protopriest Aristarkh Ponomarev’s ÒChristianity
in the Far EastÓ).
In the 1920’s,
Archbishop Sergii (Tikhomirov) of Japan, elevated to the rank of
metropolitan in 1931, called Harbin Òchurch-loving,Ó because the
period of the archpastoral service of His Eminence Mefodii was remarkable
in the great church-building effort: 22 churches, including those
at educational institutions, and by the end of his life there were
46 churches and two monasteries in the diocese. During his rule
over the Harbin Diocese, a charitable arm was established at the
Diocesan Council, a Benevolent Fund for needy clergymen, the Orphanage
ÒHouse of AsylumÓ with a free pharmacy and clinic housing over 140
residents; parishes formed theological-missionary courses and spiritually-benevolent
discussions, attention was paid to the propriety and uniformity
of church services, five diocesan congresses were convened which
included clergy and laity, many were drawn into service to the church,
many edifying epistles and ecclesio-theological works: ÒOn Church
Troubles,Ó ÒOn the Convening of a So-called Ecumenical Council,Ó
ÒOn the Living Church,Ó ÒOn the Meaning of the Self-renovatin of
Holy Icons,Ó ÒThe Mystery of the Resurrection of Christ,Ó ÒA Denunciation
of the Gathering of the Impious Calling Themselves the ‘Living Church’Ó
and many others. In October 1929, Archbishop Mefodii, on the 35th
anniversary of his episcopacy, was elevated to the rank of metropolitan
by decree of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad.
Vladyka died on March 15/28, 1931, on the day of the Glorification
of the Mother of God.
That same year,
the Synod Abroad appointed His Eminence Meletii (Zaborovsky) as
Archbishop of Harbin and Manchuria, who officiated at the consecration
of Archbishop Yuvenaly at the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God Monastery.
Here we will embark upon the biography of Archbishop Yuvenaly:
His Eminence
Archbishop Yuvenaly, born Ivan Kelsievich Kilin in April 1875 of
religious parents from peasant stock in the Vyatsk guberniya. From
early childhood he was drawn to the Church and monastic life. This
youthful love for the Divine was given to him by his pious mother,
who often told him of her pilgrimages among the holy places of Russia,
as Vladyka recalled in the speech he gave during his consecration
into the episcopacy: ÒMy home religious rearing and education was
given to me by my pious mother, who in her childhood had, with her
grandmother, worshiped at holy monasteries—Solovki, in Sarov, Tikhvin
and other places in Russia. When asked by my grandmother to give
his blessing to enter a convent, a pious elderly hieromonk of the
Tikhvin men’s monastery in Novgorodskaya guberniya did not give
her blessing, but said prophetically that this peasant girl Maria
would marry and her offspring would be clergymen. And so, by the
mercy of God, it was. My elder sister, my godmother, two sons finished
Perm Theological Seminary and one of them, Konstantin Yumin, died
as a clergyman in exile in a Bolshevik prison. My second sister,
Nun Aglaida, filled with humble monastic sensibilities, passed away
in a convent. My youngest brother is a priest, separated from his
family, enduring the heavy cross of priestly service. My cousin
also bears the heavy burden of the life of a schema nun. I remember
my distant relative—first a humble priest in my native land of the
Sarapulsk uezd, Vyatsk guberniya, Fr. Michael Platonovich Krasnoperov,
later, in monkhood Mefodii, upon finishing the Kazan Theological
Academy, after service to a bishop, was called to the episcopacy
himself in the city of Petropavlovsk, Omsk Diocese, where he met
his martyrdom in 1922.Ó
Successfully
finishing the local school in Arzamastsev, Ivan entered the Sarapulsk
Uezd School, graduating in 1889. Here he met his first elder-mentor,
Bishop Afanasii of Sarapulsk (later Archbishop of Ekaterinburg),
who had a benevolent influence on the boy: ÒThe blessed Vladyka,
during the final exams on the Law of God of the uezd school, pointed
me out of all others with a greeting and blessing, giving me the
best mark in the examination for my reading by heart of the 50th
Psalm, giving an explanation of its historical genesis. This encouragement
by His Grace was the greatest joy in my youth, and for the rest
of my life I thankfully pray for the blessed Vladyka Afanasii.Ó
In 1894, after
the early death of his father, who had been a member of he Sarapulsk
Zemsky Administration for many years and a local clerk, young Ivan,
with his mother’s blessing, undertook a pilgrimage to the holy monastery
in Verkhotursk, where at the relics of St. Simeon he was overcome
by a firm desire to become a monk. This good intention was eagerly
and joyfully approved by his mother, who blessed him with a copy
of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God which she had received
from the prophetic spiritual father of Tikhvin Monastery, to enter
St. Nicholas Missionary Monastery in Belogorsk, called the ÒSiberian
Mt. AthosÓ by the people. Freed from military service, he was included
among the monastic brotherhood.
Here the novice
Ioann, a cell-attendant and aide to the Superior, Archimandrite
Varlaam, whom he loved and respected greatly, obeyed him in everything
and made a significant contribution to the building of houses and
churches for the monastery and the completion of the construction
of the monastery cathedral on Belaya mountain. On July 2, 1900,
he was tonsured into monkhood with the name Yuvenaly, and in three
weeks was ordained a hierodeacon by Bishop Peter of Perm, and on
February 12, 1902, the successor of Bishop Peter, His Grace Ioann,
elevated him to the rank of hieromonk. During these years, Hieromonk
Yuvenaly, accompanying Fr. Valaam, was able to visit many holy sites:
the Holy Land, the Holy Mount Athos (1907), Kievo-Pecherskaya and
Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavras, New Athos and Valaam monasteries,
Optina and Sarov monasteries (1903), and many others: ÒI was encouraged
and inspired by those wondrous examples of strict monastic life
that I saw during my travels among the Russian monasteries and hermitages,
especially during the memorable years of traveling with my abba,
Varlaam, to the Holy Land and Mt. Athos. During my first summer
of my service as a clergyman, I was spiritually strengthened by
being at the Sarov celebrations during the opening of the righteous
remains of St. Seraphim. Then I gained a great deal of spiritual
pleasure from the services in Kronstadt and other places, having
been able to serve several times with the venerable beseecher-of-God
of the Russian land, Protopriest Ioann Sergiev of Kronstadt, from
whom I also received guidance and advice on monastic and pastoral
service. Deeply heartwarming were the personal conversations and
written instructions of the podvizhnik elders of the Athos and Russian
monasteries, for example, Elder Gavriil and others—which humbled
and strengthened my weak spirit and prevented me from sinking into
an abyss of sin in the stormy seas of life.Ó It is interesting to
note that Fr. Yuvenaly participated in the cleansing of the relics
of St Seraphim at their opening in 1903.
That same year,
Fr. Yuvenaly, with the blessing of Bishop Ioann of Perm, was appointed
by Archimandrite Varlaam to head, and to build, the podvorie [branch]
of the monastery in the city of Perm, where among a wide variety
of large structures he built the Church of St. John Chrysostom.
In 1910 he was transferred to the Episcopal House in Perm and appointed
its ekonom [manager]. As manager, at the end of 1911, Hieromonk
Yuvenaly, greatly enjoying the stories of the eminent missionary
of Kamchatka, his co-server in Harbin, Hieromonk Nestor (Anisimov),
he Òburned with the holy inspiration and desire to go to distant,
frigid Kamchatka,Ó but instead, through the intercession of Bishop
Palladii of Perm and the decree of the Holy Ruling Synod, he was
elected in February 1912 as the first hegumen and builder of the
Tabor Transfiguration of the Savior Hermitage. Here Fr. Yuvenaly
audited missionary courses under A.G. Kuleshov and became known
for his zealous church-building; in 1912, Transfiguration of the
Savior Cathedral was completed, and in 1915, the house church of
the Mother of God of Kazan and the summer Elevation of the Cross
Church. On July 19, 1912, on the feast day of St Seraphim of Sarov,
Bishop Palladii elevated him to the rank of hegumen in the Annunciation
Church of the Synodal podvorie. In 1915, he was appointed as dean
of all monasteries of the Perm Diocese by New Martyr Archbishop
Andronik of Perm, and in June of the following year, he was made
an archimandrite.
In connection
with the martyrdom of Saint Andronik of Perm, Archimandrite Varlaam
and other clergymen in 1918, Fr Yuvenaly together with a few monastics
from Belogorsk hid from the Bolshevik persecutions (over 400 monastics
were shot in the Belogorsk Monastery). In accordance with the words
of Christ: ÒBut when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into
anotherÓ (Matth. 10:23), Archimandrite Yuvenaly moved to Chita in
1919, and in 1920 found himself in Harbin. Upon arriving in that
city, he was appointed the rector of Dormition Church and head of
the new Russian cemetery. In 1922, with the blessing of Archbishop
Mefodii of Harbin and Manchuria, he founded a men’s monastery on
Krestovsky Island, in the outskirts of Harbin, but that very year
he was sent to Serbia, where he became the superior of one of the
men’s monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church. During his absence,
the monastery’s superior was Hieromonk Nifont.
Returning to
Harbin in 1924, the archimandrite was once again appointed to build
the new Kazan Mother of God monastery, moved now to New Modyagow,
where he built a splendid, three-altared church in honor of the
Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, with the altar on the right devoted
to Great Martyr Panteleimon and Archangel Michael on the left; a
printshop, cells for a multitude of monastic brethren and a hospital
named after the late Harbin doctor V.A. Kazem-Bek.
On August 4/17,
1924, Archbishop Mefodii blessed of the foundation of the Kazan
Cathedral of the monastery, and in December of that year the finished
church was consecrated, in which icons of the Mother of God particularly
venerated by the monks were found: the great Kazan icon of the church,
and two miraculously renewed icons, the Vladimir Mother of God and
the ÒBurning Bush.Ó In the St Panteleimon section of the church
an icon of the Great Martyr that was particularly adored was kept,
which was sent from Mt. Athos by the elder Schema-monk Denasii (Yushkov).
The monastery
printshop issued a spiritual-moral periodical, Khleb Nebesniy [ÒBread
of HeavenÓ] the editor of which for 10 years was Archimandrite Yuvenaly,
a position later assumed by Archimandrite Vasily (Pavlovsky) and
the famous church writer, historian and singer of Harbin, E.N. Sumarokov.
Among the multitude of publications put out by the monastery were:
Detskoye Chtenie [ÒChildrens’ ReadingsÓ], a compendium titled Rozhdestvenskii
Blagovest [ÒChristmas TidingsÓ], Polniy molitvoslov s kanonami I
pravilom ko Sv. Prichashcheniyu [ÒComplete Prayer-book with Canons
and Rules for Holy CommunionÓ], the compendium Nadezhda [ÒHopeÓ]
with an explanation of the Lord’s prayer and the 9 beatitudes, Pesnopeniya
Strastnoi I Paskhal’noi Sedmitsy i dvunadesyatykh prazdnikov s perevodom
ikh na Russkii yazyk [ÒSinging from Passian and Holy Weeks and the
Twelve Holidays with Translations into the Russian LanguageÓ] Zhitiya
Svyatykh [ÒLives of the SaintsÓ], Khristianskaya zhizn’ po Dobrotoliubiyu
[ÒChristian Life According to the PhilokaliaÓ], Serdtse chelovecheskoye.
Opyt izobrazheniya dukhovno-nravstvennogo sostoyaniya lyudei grezhnykh
i pravednykh [ÒThe Human Heart. An Attempt at Characterizing the
Spiritual-Moral Condition of Sinners and Righteous PeopleÓ], Kratkiy
slovar’ inostrannykh slov N.P. Pokrovskogo [ÒA Brief Glossary of
Foreign Words by N.P. PokrovskyÓ], Tserkovniy entsyklopedicheskiy
slovar’ archimandrita Feodosiya [ÒAn Ecclesiastical Encyclopedic
Dictionary by Archimandrite TheodosiusÓ], Put’ pravoslavnogo khristyanina
v Tsarstvo Nebesnoye [ÒThe Path of the Orthodox Christian to the
Kingdom of HeavenÓ], Kratkiy ocherk vozniknoveniya, ustroyeniya
i zhizni obiteli [ÒA Brief Outline of the Foundation, Establishment
and Life of the MonasteryÓ] and many others. Besides their own printshop,
the monastery had other workshops: for icon-painting, furniture-making,
bookbinding, shoemaking, and tailoring.
The hospital, which provided medical treatment free of charge, was
established at the monastery in memory of Dr. V.A. Kazem-Bek, who
never charged a fee. At the beginning of 1932, it was furnished
with 17 cots. Every year, on the eve of August 4, the day Dr. Kazem-Bek
reposed, the monastery Cathedral held a parastas with an enormous
number of clergymen and laypersons gathering, and on the day itself,
a funerary liturgy and pannikhida over the doctor’s grave, who had
died at an early age from diphtheria he had contracted from a girl.
The anniversary of the hospital’s opening, November 1, was marked
every year by a solemn service by the Ruling Bishop of the Harbin
Diocese along with a host of bishops and city clergy. Metropolitan
Meletii of Harbin and Manchuria usually gave an edifying sermon
and visited all the sick, blessing and greeting them.
The Kazan monastery
was renowned with its Spirit-bearing podvizhniki [laborers-in-God],
among whom the more famous ones were Schema-Hegumens Ignatii and
Seraphim and Schema-monk Mikhail, having received the gifts of prayer
and sagacity.
At the end
of 1929, by the intercession of Blessed Metropolitan Anthony, Archimandrite
Yuvenaly was awarded the rights of a Superior of a first-class monastery
by the Synod Abroad (whereby one is greeted with the staff and cross
on a plate). In 1934, in Sremskije Karlovtsy, by the intercession
of the Head of the Peking Mission, Bishop Viktor, Council of Bishops
of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia decreed to consecrate
Archimandrite Yuvenaly as Bishop of Sin’zyan (in Eastern Turkestan),
the second vicar of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, with a residence
in the city of Urumchi, where Russian refugees kept the Tabyn icon
of the Mother of God and built several churches. In connection with
this, the Russian residents of Urumchi suffered much from the Bolsheviks,
and so the council appointed an archpastor for them to support them
and to solidify their diocesan and church life.
Having received
this decision by the Council, Archimandrite Yuvenaly, preparing
for his consecration, performed divine liturgy every day in the
monastery Cathedral, where, at the request of the monastics, the
election was held on February 1935. The celebrations were headed
by Archbishop Meletii of Harbin and Manchuria along with Archbishop
Nestor of Kamchatka and Petropavlovsk, Bishop Dimitry of Hailar
and Bishop John (Maximovich) of Shanghai, the first vicar of the
Peking Mission. On February 10, the bishops participating in the
election performed the consecration itself of Fr. Yuvenaly in St
Nicholas Cathedral in Harbin. At the end of liturgy there was luncheon,
during which Vladyka Meletii said: ÒFilial duty requires us to wish
good health to our spiritual Helmsmen: the imprisoned Metropolitan
Peter of Krutitsa and Metropolitan Anthony of Kiev.Ó
At the conclusion
of his address, Vladyka Yuvenaly said: ÒMy mind’s eyes are now turned
with acknowledgment to the First Bishops of our Russian Orthodox
Church, that is: to the Locum Tenens of the Patriarachal Throne
of All Russia, His Eminence Metropolitan Peter, our great father,
the President of the Synod Abroad, His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony
with his entire Sacred Council of Bishops, who had the kindness
to call my unworthiness to the responsible rank of bishop.
ÒAlong with
them, my heartfelt gratitude for the election, fatherly love and
trust to my unworthiness pours out to my ruling archpastor, the
Head of the Chinese Mission, His Grace Bishop Victor, the most worthy
successor of the blessed bishops Metropolitan Innokentii and Archbishop
Simon [Bishop Victor of Peking, on the day of the consecration,
gave Archimandrite Yuvenaly as a memento of the Heads of the Mission,
prayer beads and the staff of the first one and the panagia [chest-icon]
of the last one—Priest S.G.].
ÒAnd you, Your
Grace Vladyka John, as a holy obedience, moved by love for Christ,
deemed necessary to travel from faraway Shanghai to share with us
this spiritual joy.Ó
Unfortunately,
for the newly-consecrated Yuvenaly, the situation did not develop
well, for due to significant problems in traveling, he was not able
to go to the flock assigned to him in Sin’zyan. Over the course
of a year, Vladyka continued to be the superior of the monastery,
and in 1936, he replaced the Head of the Mission, His Grace Bishop
Viktor, who was in Belgrade. From 1937-1938, Vladyka stood in for
the Mission’s vicar, Bishop John the Miracle-worker, who was participating
in the work of the Council of Bishops in Sremskije Karlovtsy. After
his return, Vladyka Yuvenaly was appointed superior of St. Nicholas
Memorial Church in Shanghai, where he helped Bishop John in the
work of the Mission, and then, in 1940, by the intercession of the
Vladyka himself and by decree of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian
Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, he was once again appointed superior
of the Kazan Mother of God Monastery, with the subjection to him
also of the monastic community in Trekhrechiye and the granting
to him of the title ÒBishop of Tsitsikarsk, Second Vicor of the
Diocese of Harbin and Manchuria.Ó Here Vladyka continued to lead
a strictly-ascetic life, attracting many worshipers by his astute
teachings and love for the proper rule of services. ÒVladyka Yuvenaly,Ó
recounts L.V. Shabardina, Òwas for me like my own father. My childhood
was spent near the monastery. I knew all the monks and residents
of the monastery. My father had died when I was four and a half.
Vladyka visited us often, and would say to me: ‘I am your papa,’
or ‘I am your godfather.’ When he returned from Shanghai in 1940,
he taught me to read the psalms. Vladyka was like a relative in
our home, since we lived across the street from the monastery, and
Mama was from Perm. He often recalled Perm and its elders. Vladyka
loved our church services. During vigil at the monastery, he would
emerge to the middle of the church during the 9th song and he would
say ‘Everyone sing!’ The whole church then sang, and this seemed
to refresh the worshipers. When Vladyka served, he immersed himself
entirely in the service and fervently prayed, drawing others into
a prayerful mood with his pious service. For this reason, we who
prayed didn’t tire. During Great Lent, Vladyka always performed
the unction, and conducted a general confession. The church was
always filled with worshipers, and the Eucharist was administered
from three chalicesÉÓ
In 1947, Vladyka
Yuvenaly was forced to go to the USSR, where he was appointed Bishop
of Chelyabinsk. Arriving in Moscow, he heard of the death of Archbishop
Dimitry (Voznesensky), the father of the future Metropolitan Philaret,
First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia,
and immediately left for Leningrad to attend his funeral and burial.
In 1948, Vladyka Yuvenaly was elevated to the rank of archbishop
and appointed to Irkutsk, and a year later, to the Omsk cathedra,
where he was the first bishop of that diocese after its reestablishment.
As Archbishop of Omsk, Vladyka performed the transfer of the holy
relics of Metropolitan Ioann of Tobolsk to its new crypt. The clergy
of the Omsk Diocese still remembers Vladyka as a Spirit-bearing
elder. In 1952, Vladyka was transferred to the Izhevsk and Udmurtsk
cathedra. In 1944 he was awarded the right to wear a cross on his
klobuk.
Recently, the
author of this article received a transcript of Vladyka with the
Soviet Commissioner on the ROC of the Omsk oblast of July 8, 1949,
in which we read the following: ÒYuvenaly often repeated that he
is busy with the creation of a ‘scholarly’ work on the topic ‘History
of Christian Sermons,’ towards his goal of a ‘scholarly’ degree
of Candidate of TheologyÉ It was determined that Yuvenaly brought
with him anti-Soviet church literature, but no instances of his
disseminating it have been discovered. Within the small circle of
church people, Yuvenaly speaks negatively about kolkhozy [collective
farms]. He often turns off the radio, saying that on the radio,
he can only listen to church services, which he did when he was
abroad.Ó
The final cathedra
of Vladyka, as noted, was that of Izhevsk and Udmurtsk. As the former
cell-attendant of Vladyka Yuvenaly, Protopriest Nikolai Soloviev,
said, before his death, Vladyka asked to be allowed to retire due
to failing strength. The Patriarch asked him to remain on the cathedra,
even offered him a metropoliate, but Archbishop Yuvenaly said that
he does not serve to gain rank and that monasticism is more important
for him. Foreseeing his death, Vladyka asked Archimandrite Peter
(Semyonovykh) from Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, whom he knew
from Harbin, to tonsure him into the great schema, which he did,
giving him the name of Ioann, in honor of St. John the Theologian.
Vladyka showed the Soviet Commissioner on the ROC of the Izhevsk
Diocese and others the place where he wished to be buried. This
was inside the cathedral, on the left side, and he asked that after
his burial that build an annex with an altar dedicated to Apostle
John the Theologian. It must be said that the Commissioner, Arkadii
Arkadievich, despite his duties, was a believer, and that icons
hung in his house, with lampadki [oil lamps] burning in front of
them, and he very much loved and supported Vladyka, who was the
one who had converted him to the faith.
ÒIn his life,
Vladyka was humble,Ó remembers Fr. Nikolai, Òhe loved to joke, but
was strict. He tried to hide his sagacity; a light often burned
in his cell late at night, and during holidays he gave his cell-attendants
25-50 rubles to distribute among the poor (in those times, that
was a significant amount). Vladyka was friends with Priest Kuksha,
and they had an agreement that if one of them dies, the other would
pray for him.Ó
Fr. Nikolai
himself recounted the following event which evidenced the sagacity
of Vladyka. In his youth, Fr. Nikolai wished to join the seminary.
Together with other lads he traveled to Moscow. Vladyka gave everyone
money for a one-way ticket, but gave Nikolai enough to get there
and back. Before this, he implored him to stay behind and bury him
first, but Nikolai was stubborn. Finally, all the young men joined
the seminary, but he failed his exams and returned to Izhevsk. While
going to Vladyka’s house, the latter three times instructed the
house manager, Anastasia Aleksandrovna, to go meet Nikolai, but
she said that he would only return during winter recess. The third
time, she finally went, and turning the corner, she saw him coming.
So he was able to participate in the funeral of Vladyka.
At the end
of 1958, Vladyka fell ill, and on December 12/25, the Sacrament
of Unction was performed over him. Before his death, Vladyka lay
in his schema robes, which he donned on December 14/27, 1958. The
following day, accepting the Holy Eucharist, Vladyka turned to his
friends and asked them to sing the prokimenon ÒSing to our God,
sing, sing to our King, sing.Ó The third time this was sung, he
said ÒHere is our new land, here is our new world,Ó and died.
The late archpastor
is widely respected among the old Harbinites of the Russian Church
Abroad and the clergy and faithful in Russia. Many stream to his
crypt in the Izhevsk Cathedral and appeal to him for prayerful intercession,
sensing his grace-filled help. A few years ago, Archbishop Nikolai
of Izhevsk and Udmurtsk (ROC/MP) performed the translation of his
righteous relics, during which it was discovered that his body was
uncorrupt. The Diocese of Izhevsk is preparing for the glorification
of Vladyka Yuvenaly as a local saint.
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