October: Day 5: Teaching 2: Saints Peter, Alexy and Jonah, Metropolitans of Moscow and Wonderworkers of All Russia

October: Day 5: Teaching 2:
Saints Peter, Alexy and Jonah, Metropolitans of Moscow and Wonderworkers of All Russia
 
(Lessons From Their Lives: 
a. Every young person should receive his upbringing under the guidance of the Church; and 
b. Youth is the most precious period for the religious and moral upbringing of a Christian.)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Today is the commemoration of three great hierarchs of the Russian Church: Peter, Alexy, and Jonah, Metropolitans of Moscow, whose names inevitably bring to mind also the name of the great hierarch Philip. Let us consider their lives so that we may learn from them how to raise our children today.

a) Saint Peter was a native of Volhynia. Upon reaching the age of seven, he was sent to receive a literary education; but however hard the young pupil tried at first, his studies did not proceed successfully. This caused him and his parents great sorrow. Once, as though in a dream, Peter saw a man dressed in hierarchal vestments who, standing near him, said: “Child, open your mouth!” The puzzled boy obeyed. At that moment, the one who had appeared touched his tongue and, blessing him, seemed to pour a certain sweetness into his mouth. From that time onward, he began to progress in his studies more than all his peers.

At the age of twenty, Saint Peter withdrew to one of the monasteries not far from his birthplace, where he received the monastic tonsure and then, with all the ardor of a youthful heart, devoted himself to the ascetic struggles of his new calling. For this purpose, in winter and in summer alike, he carried water on his shoulders to the monastery, washed the brethren’s clothing, and so forth. At the sound of the church bell, he was the first to appear in church and, having reverently stood through the entire service, was the last to leave the church. Advancing in these ascetic struggles, Saint Peter passed through all the degrees of pastoral ministry and finally attained the rank of Metropolitan of Moscow.

b) Saint Alexy likewise dedicated himself to the service of the Lord from his youth. Eleutherius, which was the original name of Saint Alexy, was the son of a Moscow boyar, Theodore, and his wife Maria. His parents tried to give him the best possible upbringing in order to prepare him for the highest positions in civil service; but the Lord arranged matters otherwise than his parents had dreamed. Once the boy Eleutherius was engaged in an amusement much loved by children—catching birds with a net. Tired from waiting so long for his prey, the boy fell asleep. Suddenly he heard someone saying: “Alexy, why do you labor in vain? I will make you a fisher of men.” Eleutherius awoke and saw no one around him. Having loved the Lord Jesus from childhood, he soon understood whose voice had called him. At twenty years of age, he left his home and parents, all the attractions of family and public life, withdrew to the Monastery of the Epiphany, and was tonsured into the angelic rank with the name Alexy by Venerable Stephen, the brother of Venerable Sergius.

c) The third Moscow hierarch, Saint Jonah, likewise was chosen by God from his youth and prepared for great service to the Church and the homeland. Saint Jonah was born in the city of Soligalich to pious parents. At the age of twelve, he received the monastic habit in one of the monasteries of his homeland, and later moved to the Simonov Monastery near Moscow. Once, Metropolitan Photius came to this monastery. After offering prayers in the church and giving his blessing to the abbot and the brethren, the hierarch desired to see and bless the monks who were laboring in the various monastery services. In the bakery he saw a young monk who, exhausted from his work, was asleep, but whose right hand, upon which his head was resting, was folded as though for giving a blessing. The bishop forbade anyone to awaken the sleeping monk and, blessing him, said to those standing nearby: “This monk will be a great hierarch in these Russian lands and will guide many upon the path of salvation.” This monk was Saint Jonah, and the bishop’s prophecy was literally fulfilled in him.

d) And Saint Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow—did he not also “from his youth” love Christ and, for the sake of this love, leave his noble and wealthy parents (they were the renowned boyars of the Kolychev family) and resolve to withdraw into the wilderness? Taking advantage of a suitable opportunity, Theodore, as Philip was called in the world, exchanged his rich boyar’s clothing for a simple peasant caftan, put on bast shoes, and, unrecognized by anyone, left his parents’ home. For the last time, the young Theodore bowed before the holy icons and the relics of the hierarchs in the Kremlin and set out toward the north. For four months he traveled, making his way through swamps and dense forests, until utter exhaustion forced him to stop and rest on the shore of Lake Onega. Here, in the village of Khizha, he was warmly received by a kind peasant named Subbota, and the son of illustrious parents, who had been raised in luxury and comfort, undertook the task of tending the sheep. Soon he had to leave his hospitable host and went to the Solovetsky Monastery. The abbot there received him kindly, but before tonsuring him as a monk, he required Theodore to undertake a severe obedience. Theodore chopped wood, dug the earth, carried stones, and it often happened that he suffered humiliation and beatings from unreasonable people; but, imitating the Lord Christ, he endured everything with humility. Finally, seeing Theodore’s firm desire to renounce the world, the abbot tonsured him as a monk with the name Philip.

II. The hierarchs whom we glorify today give us the following two lessons:

a) The first lesson is that every young person should receive his principal upbringing in the Church and under her guidance. But is this what we actually see? In the present upbringing of young people, all attention is directed only toward what concerns the present earthly life, while Christian piety and Christian virtues seem hardly to be mentioned at all. “Many teach their children worldly proprieties,” wrote Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk in his time; “some teach them to speak foreign languages, while others strive to teach their children trade and other crafts. But scarcely anyone teaches children how to live as Christians. Yet without this, all learning is nothing, and every kind of wisdom is foolishness. What benefit is there for a Christian to speak a foreign language while living ungodly? What benefit is there to be a skilled merchant or craftsman while lacking the fear of God? Likewise, clever people can be worse than simple folk. A young heart inclined toward evil also strives toward every evil if it is not restrained by fear of punishment. Therefore, let your first concern, Christian, be to teach your children to live as Christians, which is possible only when we bring our children closer to the wise guidance of our mother, the Holy Church, and her faithful servants, the shepherds. All your learning without this is nothing. God will not call you to account for whether you taught your children various subjects, but He will certainly call you to account for whether you taught them to live as Christians... He is not the true father who merely gave birth, but the one who brought up well and taught well. Fathers who gave us birth gave birth to us for temporary life, while fathers who raised us well and taught us piety give birth to us for eternal life. ‘Blessed is he who does well and teaches well’ (Matthew 5:19).”

b) The second lesson taught to us by the lives of the hierarchs whom we commemorate today is that youth is the most precious period for the religious and moral upbringing of a Christian, and parents and educators must therefore value it greatly.

Youth is the happy season of life; it is the golden time, it is the days of Paradise. It is a time of the development of all our powers, both of soul and of body, a time for acquiring all kinds of knowledge, a time for forming habits and practices, whether good or bad. Therefore, if ever parents need to be careful in the upbringing of their children, it is especially during the period of youth, because whatever takes root in youth remains for life. A young person is like a young, pliable tree; if that tree is not tied to a stake, it will be bent by the winds; if the impetuous passions of a young person are not restrained in time, that young person will inevitably be lost. “We see,” says Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, “that a small tree is easily bent in every direction, and in whatever direction you bend it, that is the direction in which it grows. So it is also with a young child: whatever he learns in childhood, he will become accustomed to, and with that he will remain for his whole life. If he learns what is good, he will always be good; if he learns what is evil, he will remain evil; so that from a small child there may emerge either an angel or a devil.” Therefore, we see that many ascetics became great not only in old age, but that the beginnings and disposition toward a virtuous life were already present in them during their youth. In the example of the great Moscow hierarchs—Peter, Alexy, Jonah, and Philip, whose memory is celebrated today—we have seen that from their youth all of them acquired the desire and inclination toward an angelic life. (See Voskresnyi Den for 1894.)

III. Through the prayers of the great servants of God whom we commemorate today, may the Lord preserve us from the disastrous mistakes in the upbringing of our children, for whose souls we, as parents and educators, must give a strict account on the day of God’s Judgment.

(Compiled from the sources indicated.)

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.