St Theophan the Recluse was born on January 10, 1815, in the heart of Russia. His father was a Priest and thus, from the first impressions of his youth, he lived with the Church. The difficult and even severe conditions of the Orel Seminary, where he studied, developed in him a strong mental temper. He continued his education in the Kiev Theological Academy. One may surmise that during this time the young student often went to the justly renowned Kiev Caves Monastery, where there could have been formed in him the resolution to leave the world. Even be fore finishing the seminary course, he was tonsured a monk. On this occasion, he went to the monastery to the well-known Elder, Hieromonk Partheny, who told him, “Remember that one thing is most necessary of all, to pray and to pray unceasingly in your mind and heart to God”. This counsel made a lasting impression on the newly tonsured monk and he spent the rest of his life striving to attain this “one thing needful”. Having finished the course with a Master’s Degree, Hieromonk Theophan was assigned as temporary rector of the Kiev-Sofia Theological School. In the years that followed, he held various administrative and teaching positions in different seminaries and academies, but such scholarly work did not satisfy him and he petitioned to be discharged from academic service. In 1859, he was consecrated Bishop for Tambov, where he established a Diocesan school for girls. During his stay in the Tambov, St Theophan came to love the isolated Vysha Hermitage. In the summer of 1863, he was transferred to Vladimir, where he served for three years. Here too, he opened a Diocesan school for girls. He often served in church, travelled much throughout the Diocese, preached constantly, restored churches, and wholeheartedly lived with his flock, sharing with them both joy and sorrow. In 1866, Bishop Theophan petitioned to be relieved as Bishop of Vladimir and was appointed head of the Vysha Hermitage, and soon, at a new petition of his, he was freed even from this duty. It was difficult for Bishop Theophan in the midst of the world and those demands to which one must yield because of human corruption. This was one reason that induced him to leave his Diocese and retire into solitude. In addition, his unlimited goodness of heart, meekness as a dove’s, his trust of people and indulgence of them-all this indicated that it was not for him to live amidst the irreconcilable quarrels of vain worldly life. It was very difficult for him to be a leader, especially in such an important position as that of Bishop. His trust could be abused; he could never give necessary reprimands. Besides this, he felt the call to devote all his energies to spiritual writing. As for himself personally, he wished to give up all his thoughts to God alone, Whom he loved absolutely. He desired that nothing might disturb the complete communion with God that was so dear to him, and so he left the world to be alone with God. In reclusion, invisible to people, he became a public figure of enormous magnitude. He sought only the Kingdom of God, and his great significance for the world was added to him. The first six years the Bishop went to all services and to the early Liturgy. In church, he stood without moving, without leaning, with eyes closed to stop being distracted, and on feast days, he usually officiated. Beginning in 1872 AD, however, he discontinued all intercourse with people except for the chief priest and his confessor. He went no longer to the monastery church, but built with his own hands in his chambers a small church dedicated to the Baptism of the Lord. For the first ten years, he served the Liturgy in this church every Sunday and feast day, and for the next eleven years everyday. He served completely alone, sometimes in silence, but sometimes singing. He seemed to be no longer a man, but an angel with a childlike meekness and gentle ness. When people came to him on business, he said what was necessary and returned to prayer. He ate only enough so as not to ruin his health. Everything that he received he sent by mail to the poor, leaving himself only enough to buy necessary books. From his publications, which were quickly distributed, he received nothing, hoping only that they might be sold as cheaply as possible In the rare moments when he was free from prayer, reading, or writing, he occupied himself with manual labour. He painted excellent icons and was skilled in woodcarving and the locksmith’s trade. Every day Bishop Theophan received between 20 and 40 letters, and he answered them all. With extraordinary sensitivity he penetrated to the spiritual situation of the writer and warmly, clearly, and in detail replied to this confession of a distressed soul. In addition to this enormous flow of correspondence, the years of reclusion also produced a wealth of books. These include works on moral theology, such as “The Path to Salvation”, “What the Spiritual Life is and How to Attune Oneself to it”, commentaries on Holy Scripture, and translations, among which is to be found the spiritual classic “Unseen Warfare”. The life of Bishop Theophan passed unseen by the world, and death too came to him in solitude. Beginning January 1, 1891, there were several irregularities in his schedule. On the afternoon of January 6, his cell-attendant noticed that the Bishop was weak and looking into his room, he found the Bishop lying on the bed lifeless. His left arm rested on his breast and his right arm was folded as if for a Bishop’s blessing. He had died on the very day of his most beloved Feast, to which his chapel was dedicated. The Saint’s body remained in the small church in his cell for three days, and for three days it was in the Cathedral-and there was no corruption.

“What pleasure in this life remains unmixed with sorrow? What glory stands unchanged on earth? All are more feeble than a shadow, all more deceptive than dreams. But a moment and death supplants them all.” Saint John of Damascus (Funeral Idiomela – Tone 1) Sometimes referred to as “streaming with gold,” Saint John of Damascus (or John Damascene, St. Damaskinos) achieved such heights of honor, respect and love in the Church not only through his writings but chiefly by the seeds of virtue which he cultivated in prayer. It was his father who implanted those seeds; under the yoke of Islam in Damascus, he sought to educate his son in Christian virtue rather than “worldly learning,” and piously prayed that God would bless John with a sagacious teacher in Godly virtues. By God’s Grace, John’s father came upon a captive monk set to be killed, Elder Cosmas, whose humility and virtue oozed like honey. Being the chief counselor of the caliph, he implored for the release of the holy monk, which he obliged, and elder Cosmas was freed to instruct John and his brother Cosmas in virtue and knowledge. Elder Cosmas being a man of humility and discernment, reared the brothers in such a way that they became erudite but not prideful. John, especially, found great fruit in his studies with elder Cosmas and in addition to his studies of the Created (arithmetic, philosophy, grammar), he excelled in his study of the Divine!  Following the repose of his father, John was called upon by force to become the successor to his father as chief counselor to the caliph. Contemporaneously, the Isaurian Dynasty reigned in Byzantium bringing with it Emperor Leo’s reformist zeal and nearly a century of imposed Iconoclasm. Learning what was occurring in eastern Christendom, John surged with zeal and began writing and disseminating epistles against the iconoclastic heresy, defending the holy images and icons citing the Tradition of the Holy Fathers. Hearing of this, Leo forged a letter from John which implored Leo to send his army to liberate Damascus from the Muslims and forwarded it to the caliph. Receiving the forgery, the caliph demanded John’s right hand be amputated and hung in the market as retribution for this alleged betrayal. Divinely-inspired, John pleads the caliph to return his right hand, which he agrees to. That night, he prayed fervently before his icon of the most-holy Theotokos asking her to hasten and heal his hand. Our most-holy Mother does not abandon those who contritely implore her aid and when John awoke he found his hand miraculously reattached! Seeing this, the caliph begged John’s forgiveness and asked him to return to his position within the caliphate, however, John successfully beseeches the caliph to release him from duty so that he may embrace the hesychastic life. In his monastic struggle at Saint Sava’s Monastery near Jerusalem, he continued to excel in virtue, cultivating obedience and patience. Having strived zealously in the Faith and proving himself as an obedient monastic, the Mother of God once again interceded for our Holy Father, John, appearing in a vision to his elder, saying: “Do not hinder the flow of this spring that will water the whole world, drowning heresies and their bitterness! Let the thirsty hasten to this water, and let those who do not possess the pure silver of an unsullied life sell their passions and gain it by emulating John, a man radiant with purity and good deeds, and most learned in the dogmas of the Church.” Recognizing his holy obedience, the Mother of God intercedes for her son and blesses him to freely write while wholly in obedience! Saint John began composing many of the beautiful hymns we enjoy today and wrote zealously in defense of the True Faith. His Mode of Writing Before diving into the theological elements of his writings, it may be worthwhile to understand the context in which Saint John’s mode of writing was established. Philosophical thought was not foreign to the Holy Fathers of True Orthodoxy, for example, Saint Athanasius, while initially reluctant about using the philosophical terminology “homoousios,” accepts it, understanding the importance of making connections with Greek philosophy. It was this theological and philosophical foundation upon which Saint John forms his writing. Prefacing his great treatise “The Fount of Knowledge: An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith,” Saint John shows great humility and faith in the Patristic Tradition, saying, “I shall add nothing of my own, but shall gather together into one those things which have been worked out by the most eminent of teachers.” Not only did John utilize the Tradition of the Fathers, he effortlessly articulated the theological positions of the Church with a brevity which escaped those early theologians. The context of iconoclasm allowed John to deliver similar or identical arguments to the Fathers regarding Tradition, however, with a means for the reader to understand the practical implications. It was the virtue of discernment, which Saint John cultivated in Grace and prayer, that allows him to demonstrate not only a reading, but a firm understanding of the Theology expressed patristically. Utilizing this great discerning spirit, Saint John of Damascus offers the Church a repository of grace-filled systematic theological writings by which She will combat heresy for the next millennium and beyond.  Against Dualism While neoplatonic thought was not alien to the theological expression of the Fathers, it was often the source and defense of many heretical ideas. Iconoclasm was no stranger to this, according to Charles Lock, many of the iconoclasts utilizing a dualistic interpretation of Christology in their arguments against the holy images. The Incarnation event is of paramount importance to Saint John as this is where he will combat the dualism, Lock explains:  “[the incarnation] answers those iconoclasts who would attribute to Christ the wishes of Plotinus, that, being only accidentally and contingently in the flesh, the true person cannot be represented by an image of the flesh. Such an argument leads straight to docetism, the gnostic heresy that

The angels are the most perfect spirits, currently superior to man in their mental and spiritual powers, the angels worship God before the Holy Altar and through their ministry to God’s highest creation— mankind.   Elder Iakovos of Evia recalled one Liturgy saying, “I suddenly felt someone pushing me by my shoulder and guiding me. I thought it was the chanter. I turned around and saw a huge wing that the archangel had laid on my shoulder, and that he was guiding me to make the Great Entrance. What amazing things take place in the altar during the Divine Liturgy! Sometimes I can’t handle it, and so I pass-out in a chair, and so some conclude that I’ve got something wrong with my health, but they don’t realize what I see and hear.” If we open the eyes of our soul, we will see that truly the entirety of the angelic orders is present among us at the Divine Liturgy. The Divine Liturgy remembers the whole mystery of the incarnation of Christ, from His divine birth to His ascension to the throne at the right hand of the Father. All these things are represented in material and visible signs through the Divine Liturgy.  For example, the Holy Bread represents the Virgin Mary who, like the bread, was brought to the temple of the Lord by her parents. Imitating Zachariah, the priest takes it and places it in the “Holy of Holies,” representing the years which the Virgin spent in the temple. All throughout our divine services, the mystical/scriptural foundation of our Church is exposed, the fullness of our Theology is preached!  Ultimately, during the Divine Liturgy, we are being held by God in an all-embracing hug of true Love. Mystically, the Love of the Holy Trinity, the same Love that was poured out for man as blood on the Holy Cross, is expressed to all of creation. Saint Basil the Great says, “through marvelous deeds and prophetical words God prepared man to participate once again in His Love and True Life.”  This true love of God to mankind is expressed in every Holy Sacrament in the Orthodox Church. Through the Holy Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist, Christ offers to mankind His precious Body and Blood so that man can become not only of one mind, but also one body with his Savior. No longer are there any obstacles between Christ and man. St. Symeon the New Theologian teaches us that we become parts of the Body of Christ and Christ becomes part of our bodies. When the Holy Spirit descends upon the Holy Gifts, the Holy Spirit sanctifies and renews all Creation and all mankind, and so man becomes son of God by adoption. In the celebration of the Holy Eucharist we relive the Resurrec­tion of our Lord. The world once again receives God’s blessing as a new Eden, a new paradise.