Second Sunday of Pentecost: The Election of a Bishop is Done By the Will of God

Second Sunday of Pentecost

The Election of a Bishop is Done By the Will of God

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

“I was left an orphan,” said Saint Jonah, Archbishop of Novgorod (John in the world), “at the age of three after the death of my mother and at the age of seven after the death of my father. God put it in the heart of the widow Natalia, the mother of Yakov Dmitrievich Medovartsev, to take me into her home, feed and clothe me, and send me to a deacon to learn to read and write. There were many students at the school where I entered; I was quiet because of poverty. One day the children were playing after vespers; and then I saw a blessed man walking down the street. The children rushed at him, began throwing pebbles at him, throwing dirt in his eyes, but I stood there without moving. The blessed one, leaving the children, ran up to me, grabbed me by the hair, lifted me higher than himself, and, not knowing me at all, called me by name. 'Vanyusha!'* he said, 'learn to read and write, you will be an archbishop in Novgorod.' Then he embraced me and ran away. It was Blessed Michael of Klopsk."

In his mature years, John retired to the wilderness, fifty versts from Novgorod: at that time, the wilderness was poor. Here, John took monastic vows with the name of Jonah. For his ascetic life and purity, the brethren, after the death of the founder of the wilderness, Chariton, chose Jonah as their abbot. In 1458, the zealous abbot Jonah became the Archbishop of Novgorod, and in February 1459, he was already consecrated as a primate in Moscow.

From this story, it is undoubtedly clear that the election of a bishop, predicted many years ago by the clairvoyant fool for Christ's sake, took place not by the will of man, but by the will of God.

Source: From the book The Simple Gospel Word: Stories and Reflections from the Gospel Readings on Sundays and Feasts, 1890. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Notes:

* "Vanyusha" is a Russian diminutive, or affectionate nickname, for the name Ivan or John. It is often used as a term of endearment, like calling someone "Johnny" or "Johnny boy" in English.