St. John of Kronstadt (October 19 / November 1 ns) was
a great intercessor for the Russian land. He was renowned for his pious and
holy life, for his multidinous miracles, for his extensive aid to the needy.
While engaging in constant prayer, he placed the Divine Liturgy above all else,
regarding it as an eternal great miracle, and gave himself up to it entirely.
In his “Reflections on the Orthodox Church Services” St. John wrote: “There are
people for whom the Liturgy is everything on earth.” And undoubtedly, when he
wrote this, he obviously had himself foremost in mind. It was well-known that
from his very first days of priesthood he strived to serve the Divine liturgy
as frequently as possible, while in the last 35 years of his life he served it
daily, except for those days when he was very sick. He apparently vividly felt
and clearly realized through his personal life’s experience the supreme
significance of this great sacrament in his life and work. And in fact, he
always said and wrote that all his vigor, his indefatigable energy, his
activity, which was beyond the strength of a common mortal and which left him
not more than 4 hours out of 24 for sleep and rest, could only be explained by
the fact that by the grace of God he daily served the great sacrament and
partook of the Holy Mysteries. In his diaries he often turns in thought and
pious feeling to the Divine liturgy and does not even find sufficient words to
express its majesty and its fruits for the faithful. “What is more majestic,
moving, life-giving on earth than the commemoration of the liturgy? In it is
expressed and realized the greatest sacrament of God’s love for mankind – the
union of God and man.” “Without the sacrament of the Body and Blood, without
the liturgy, the greatest deed of our Saviour’s love, wisdom, and omnipotence
could have been forgotten, the fruits of His suffering could have been lost;
for this reason He has commanded us to commemorate the sacrament of His Body
and Blood not only in remembrance of Him, but for the sake of close communion
with Him. This sacrament is commemorated all over the world.” We all love life,
but there is no true life within us without the source of life – Jesus Christ.
The liturgy is a treasure chest, a source of true life, because within it the
Lord Himself, the Master of life, offers Himself as food and drink to those who
believe in Him, and in His own words gives life in abundance to His
communicants: “Whosoever eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath eternal
life” (John 6:54). If the world did not have the Most-holy Body and Blood of
the Lord, it would not have its greatest benefit – the benefit of true life.”
“The Divine liturgy is an unceasing and supreme miracle in the grace-filled
kingdom of God; it is, so-to-speak, a perpetual sacrifice of the Lamb of God;
it is the remembrance of His redemptive suffering, death, resurrection,
ascension, and His second coming; it is a perpetually continuing sacrifice on
the part of the Son of God to God the Father for us, sinners, that will
continue until the end of the world. ‘Thine own of Thine own we offer to Thee,
in behalf of all, and for all’: for the Lord suffered for all of us, and died,
and arose, and thus reminds and will remind all generations of mankind of His
sacrifice, and will offer it to all sincere faithful and all seeking salvation
as food and drink for sanctification and regeneration until the end of time, in
order for all the faithful to be saved.” “The idea of the liturgy is for all to
be one in Christ. During the proskomedia and the liturgy all the saints, beginning
with the Mother of God, are summoned to participate in the service together
with the priest. Just think of the closeness to each other of all the celestial
denizens, and earth dwellers, and the Mother of God, and all the saints, and
all of us, Orthodox Christians, during the commemoration of the Divine,
universal, all-encompassing liturgy!” St. John’s words and attitudes never
differed from his deeds and his life. As he understood the liturgy, so did he
teach it, so did he serve it, serving it extraordinarily, living each word of
the prayers, giving himself up completely to the remembrance of our Lord Jesus
Christ, Who is “both the One Who offers and the One Who is offered, both the
sacrifice and the high priest” in the liturgy. Watching him serve the liturgy
both in Kronstadt and in the various churches of St. Petersburg, one could not
but see that he served each liturgy as though it were the very first liturgy in
his life. He lived spiritually from liturgy to liturgy. Everything else was
secondary for him and did not engage and fill his soul as did the liturgy.
Being incredibly kind and sociable, he never refused to share a meal after the
liturgy with his co-servers and parishioners. There he is, after having spoken
separately with various individuals especially needing his comfort and help,
quickly entering the room where the meal is being served, affectionately
greeting all those present, and then invariably beginning to talk about the
Church, about the temple, about the service. The idea of the union of all
faithful in Christ continues to rule his actions, and he shares food and drink
with those sitting near him. But St. John never stays until the end of the
meal, since here he has already provided comfort, warmth, and illumination with
his inner light, and now he must hasten to others, especially to the sick, the
elderly, and the frail, who cannot come to him themselves, but who hunger for
his presence. It is extremely hard to describe how St. John served the Divine
liturgy. He was an ardent flame before God; he represented the complete union
of a pure image of God with its Original. During the liturgy the entire
Heavenly Church – prophets, apostles, martyrs, hierarchs, venerables, and all
celestial denizens were like close living friends to St. John. His praying was
also unusual. He would suddenly completely forego making the sign of the cross
and only bowed deeply or raised his eyes to heaven, or he would stand on his
knees for a long time without moving. He
read the prayers as though he saw the Saviour, or the Mother of God, or the
saints right in front of him, and he either prostrated himself in great
humility before them, or spoke boldly, as if demanding the fulfillment of his
entreaties. Sometimes St. John used special movements that accorded with his
inner emotions. Thus, during the hymn about the Son of God’s incarnation, he
would pick up the holy cross from the altar table and kiss it several times
with tenderness and sometimes with tears. After the transubstantiation of the
Holy Gifts he sometimes bowed deeply over the diskos with the Holy Body or the
sacred chalice with the Blood of the Saviour, kissed the edge of the sacred
vessels, and tears of tenderness streamed abundantly down his face. It was
impossible not to notice that immediately after partaking of the Holy
Mysteries, St. John’s face became illuminated, shone with joy, his usual
fatigue and tiredness disappeared, and he became “young” and energetic.
It
should be said that the priests and the faithful greatly valued prayerful
contact with St. John during the liturgy. He was constantly invited to serve at
feasts and church celebrations. While he was still alive, a church feast felt
incomplete without him, and thus he not only served in all the churches of
Kronstadt and almost all of St. Petersburg, but also in many churches of Moscow
and practically all the major cities of Russia. Wherever he served, many
priests and deacons would always gather there; wherever he went, there were
always myriads of believers, those people upon whom faith rests in this sinful
world, and even the world itself stands only because of such people. Wherever
he went, there was always a triumph of love and brotherhood, there was always a
feast of faith. The importance of St. John in this regard is immense. Being continuously
surrounded by a host of clergymen while serving the liturgy, he was always a
teacher to them in this most important aspect of their service. In this case he
was truly a pastor of pastors!
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