EVERYDAY SAINTS
by Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov
A review and excerpts from an amazing
book that eloquently speaks about the soul of Russia that is so misunderstood
in the world today.
I discovered this book while surfacing
the internet at the beginning of December and I ordered it from Amazon. I finished reading it last night and I was
simply blown away by the profound spirituality that it offers to a suffering
world. The book was first published in
Russian in 2011. It was translated into
English in 2012. More than a million
copies and several million electronic versions of this book were published in
less than a year after its release.
Every Day Saints is the English translation of the work that has soared to
the top of the bestseller lists in Russia since its publication in late
2011. Winner of several national awards
including “Book of the Year,” its readership spans philosophical
boundaries. Surpassing all competition
many times over, it was voted the most popular book in Russia for 2012.
Open the book and you will discover a
wondrous, enigmatic, remarkably beautiful yet absolutely real world. Peer into
the mysterious Russian soul, where happiness reigns no matter what life may
bring. Page upon page of thanks, praise,
and testimonies to the life-changing effect of these bright, good hearted, and
poignant tales have flooded the Russian media.
As a retired Greek Orthodox priest in
America, I would recommend especially that every priest or young man who plans
to become a priest in the Orthodox Christian Church should read this book. Every
lay person in the Orthodox Church in America should read this book to grasp the
triumphant spirituality that pervades our Holy Orthodox Church. It reveals to us how the Russian Orthodox
Church survived seventy years of brutal atheistic communist brutality. This is especially important for Orthodox
Christians in America who, facing rampant materialistic liberalism, need a firm
spiritual foundation to defend themselves from this scourge of contemporary
life. This scourge is just as
destructive as communist atheism.
Compiled
by:
+Fr.
Costas J. Simones, Waterford, CT, USA, December 30
EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK
The
translator of this book writes the following in the introduction of the
book. “It may surprise some of us who
grew up during the Cold War, but Russia, feared for so many years as the land
of godless Communists, is in fact one of the most intensely spiritual and
devout nations in the world. The
profound faith of its people, Orthodox Christianity, rooted in a mystical
understanding of life as a covenant and
of worship as a sacrament, has always been the secret underpinning of the
mysterious Russian soul, whose elusive immanence makes Russian literature, art,
and music so special. In the twentieth
century, under brutal totalitarianism of the Soviet system, Russia endured some
of the very darkest days in human history.
Yet where there is darkness, as this book shows, light shines forth ever
brighter to meet it. Ultimately, though
it may take a while, love and light and compassion conquer hatred and darkness
and indifference.
Whether we are religious or skeptical,
whether you care about Russia or not, you can still let this book transport you
to a world and a way of looking at things of which most of us have no
inkling. A world of ritual and sacred
ceremonies; of ringing Church bells and angelic choirs; of poverty and husbandry; of devotion to the land and
also to spiritual objects of unearthly yet practical beauty, such as icons; a
world of onion domes and candles; of incense, of prayers, of souls and
spirits.
Welcome to a world where everything
means something and everything has a reason.
A world of tradition and honor, yet of humor; of rigor, yet of profound
compassion; of hard work performed with devout reverence, yet of ease and
profound inner contentment. A world of
modesty that is also majestic. It is a
world of monasteries and cathedrals and convents, of bishops, of monks and
nuns, of prayer, and of contemplation.
This is a world where the Divine is present in everyday life; where
every action, every thought, and every feeling has consequences; where uncanny
coincidences are commonplace. A place
where we are not alone, bereft of plan or purpose, in an empty and meaningless
universe.”
THE MEANING OF DEATH
Visiting the dying Sergei Fydorovich
I said that I have come in order to
remind him of the precious teaching that is kept and passed on by the Church
from generation to generation. The
Christian Church does not only believe, but absolutely knows that physical death
is not by any means the end of our existence, but is instead the beginning of a
new life for which the person is predestined.
This new life is endless and is open to
those who have filled themselves with God our Lord, Jesus Christ. I told Bondarchuk about the beautiful and
remarkable world after death that is endlessly good and full of light to which
our Savior will lead anyone who trusts himself unto Him with all of his heart. And I told him that one needs to prepare for
this great event of dying and transition into a new life.
As for the horrible visions that had so
cruelly been torturing the patient, I tried here to set forth the basic
teachings and experience of the Church about the reality of the influence upon
us of the evil spirits. Modern man has
difficulty accepting this theme.
However, Sergei Fyodorovich had clearly felt the reality of the presence
in our world of these pitiless spiritual entities for himself, and so he
listened to me with great attention. At
the threshold of death, once someone approaches the boundaries between this
world and the next world, the previously impermeable barrier between the two
worlds can dissolve. Unexpectedly one
can begin to see a new reality. One of
the greatest shocks is often the fact that this revealed new reality can be
aggressive and truly awful.
People who are separated from the Church
do not understand that because of their sins and passions for which they have
not yet repented, they can be prey to these evil spiritual entities, which the
Orthodox Church calls demons. These
demons were in fact torturing the dying man, partly by taking on the visages of
persons who he had once known. The goal
of these demons is to frighten us, to make us feel terror, powerlessness, and
utter despair. Their goal is to make
sure that the soul passes into the other world in an agonized state of
hopelessness, despair, and the absence of belief in God or any hope of
salvation. When I finished, Sergei
Fyodorovich, the dying man, said that he wished to confess his sins with a full
heart and receive the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
I went back to Sergei Fyodorovich and
told him that now we would get ready for confession and Holy Communion. “But I have no idea how that is done.” “I’ll help you. But just one thing: do you
believe in the Lord God and in our Savior Jesus Christ?” “Yes! Yes! I do believe in Him!” “But I, I’ve always been asking Tolstoy for
help.”(being an atheist as a communist
during his adult life and Tolstoy became like a god to him) “Tolstoy was a wonderful and great writer!
But he will never be able to defend you from those horrible visions that you
have been having. Only the Lord can do
that.”
It was now time to prepare for the Sacraments
of confession and Holy Communion.
However, as before, the portrait of his beloved genius was on the wall
opposite him like an icon. There was no
way that I could place the Holy Gifts of Holy Communion on the commode beneath
the portrait of Tolstoy. It was
unthinkable! In life, Tolstoy had not
only refused to believe in the Sacraments of the Church, but he had openly and
cruelly mocked them. Indeed, he had with
particular refinements satirized even the very Sacrament of Holy Communion.
Bondarchuk confessed before God all the
sins of his life profoundly, courageously, and sincerely. After this the whole family walked into the
room, and Sergei Fyodorovich, for the first time since his distant childhood,
partook of Holy Communion. Everyone was
amazed with what feeling he did this.
Even the expression of pain and suffering that had never gone from his
face had suddenly vanished.
Before I left the house I had another
moment alone with Sergei Fyodorovich. I
wrote the simple Jesus Prayer on a little piece of paper and left it in front
of him: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Sergei
Fyodorovich did not know any prayers.
And of course in his condition he could not learn anything more
complicated. I then removed my monastic
prayer rope from my own arm and taught Sergei Fyodorovich how to use it. He was no loner being tormented by dreadful
visions. He had calmed down and was
somehow visibly resigned to the suffering of this world. His daughter told me that he often saw her
father staring for hours at the icon of Jesus, (which had replaced the large portrait of Tolstoy) or, having
closed his eyes, whispering a prayer at each knot of his prayer rope. Sometimes he would press the little cross at
the end of the prayer rope to his lips. (After
the death of Sergei, a number of his atheistic communist friends were baptized
members of the Orthodox Church.)
