Date: 2026-08-15T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Asceticism & Spirituality; John of Kronstadt; Orthodox apologetics; defense of the Orthodox Church; eucharistic realism; against Protestantism and sectarianism; the priesthood and the Mysteries; Russian Orthodox sermons; Religion & Spirituality; Christianity / Orthodox; Christian Living / Spiritual Growth
Description: Sixteen discourses in which Saint John of Kronstadt answers the confessions and movements luring Russians away from Orthodoxy at the close of the imperial age. Weighing Rome, the Protestant West, and the newer sects against a single measure — the reality of the priesthood and the transubstantiated Body and Blood — he defends the Church less as an institution than as the one place on earth where Christ still saves.

Golden Words

John of Kronstadt

Royal Archives

2026

Copyright

The modern English translation and the cover design are © 2026 Royal Archives. All rights reserved.

The underlying source text is in the public domain.

Published by Royal Archives

First published 2026

Translated by Royal Archives

Source: Золотые слова (azbyka.ru; from the pre-revolutionary Russian edition of St John of Kronstadt’s discourses)

Cover: Sunset in the Steppe by the Sea (Закат в степи, 1900s) by Arkhip Kuindzhi (Russian, 1841/42–1910), Wikimedia Commons, which is in the public domain.

Edition identifier: urn:royalarchives:zolotye-slova:en:1

Introduction

The Author

The priest whom the wider world came to know simply as “of Kronstadt” was born Ivan Ilyich Sergiev on 19 October 1829 (31 October by the modern calendar), in Sura, a remote village of the Arkhangelsk region in the far north of Russia. His father was a poor church reader—a sexton in the humblest rank of the parish clergy—and the boy grew up in the material hardship that shadowed the lives of the rural clerical estate. He was, by the accounts of his own school years, a slow and struggling pupil; the turn came, as he later told it, through prayer, after which his studies opened before him. He passed through the parish school and the Arkhangelsk seminary and was sent on to the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1855.

As a student he had dreamed of the mission field, of carrying the Gospel to distant China. He came instead to a single altar and never left it. Ordained to the priesthood in 1855 and appointed to Saint Andrew’s Cathedral in the naval town of Kronstadt—the island fortress in the Gulf of Finland that guarded the sea approaches to the capital—he would serve that one church for the whole of a ministry that lasted fifty-three years. He married Elizaveta, the daughter of the cathedral’s archpriest; by an arrangement the couple came to keep, the marriage remained celibate, so that his life took on the shape of a monastic devotion lived out in the midst of a busy port parish.

Kronstadt in those years held a large underclass of laborers, transients, and the destitute, and it was to them that Father John gave himself. He distributed his own money until he had none, sometimes returning home without his boots. Convinced that piecemeal charity could not answer such need, he built institutions to meet it: the House of Industry, opened in 1882, gathered under one roof a church, a school, an orphanage, a hospital, workshops, and a shelter, and in its busiest years passed tens of thousands of people through its doors. What set him apart even more than his almsgiving was the intensity of his liturgical life. He celebrated the Divine Liturgy with an ardor that drew crowds from across the empire; he introduced a practice of general, aloud confession when the press of penitents grew too great for one confessor; and reports of healings in answer to his prayers spread until his name was known in every corner of Russia and among Russians abroad. His spiritual diary, published as My Life in Christ, carried his voice far beyond Kronstadt and appeared in English as early as 1897.

His fame reached the throne. In 1894 he was summoned to Livadia in the Crimea to the deathbed of the emperor Alexander III. In his last years he stood among the defenders of the old order against the revolutionary temper rising around him, and he was an honorary member of a right-wing monarchist movement of the day—an association that belongs to the record of his life, though contemporaries noted that he did not give himself to political faction. He died on 20 December 1908 (2 January 1909 by the modern reckoning) and was buried in the convent he had founded in Saint Petersburg. Veneration of him, which had begun in his lifetime, endured underground through the Soviet decades. He was glorified as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia in 1964 and by the Moscow Patriarchate in 1990, and is commemorated on 20 December. It is as Saint John of Kronstadt that the Church now receives him, and under that name these discourses come to the reader.

The Work: Occasion & Purpose

Golden Words is not a treatise but a gathering—an opening address that lends the collection its name, followed by fourteen numbered discourses drawn from the pulpit and the diary of Saint John’s later years. The pieces do not form a continuous argument planned from the start; they are occasional in the truest sense, each spoken or written into a particular moment, and their unity is the unity of a single mind returning, under changing circumstances, to the same abiding convictions.

The dated discourses fall between 1904 and 1907, the most convulsive years of the reign of the last tsar. The opening apologia is undated, but it can be placed with some confidence in the years around the turn of the century: it speaks of the glorification of Theodosius of Chernigov (1896) as recent and names Seraphim of Sarov as still awaiting his own open glorification, which came in the summer of 1903—so the piece belongs to the interval between those two events. The collection thus spans roughly the last dozen years of the author’s life and catches him at the height of his renown and at the edge of a national crisis.

Those years pressed hard on a pastor of his convictions. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 brought humiliating defeats—the fall of Port Arthur, disasters on sea and land—and the revolution of 1905 shook the empire from within. At the same time the confessional and cultural ground was shifting: some of the educated classes were drifting toward Rome or the Protestant West, others toward the newer religious movements that had spread among the Russian people—the Bible-centered Shtundism, the drawing-room evangelicalism associated with Pashkov, the moral and social radicalism of the followers of Leo Tolstoy. To Saint John these were not separate crises but one. A people forsaking the faith of its baptism and an empire tottering under war and sedition were, in his reading, the same event seen from two sides. He preached and wrote to name what he believed was at stake and to call his hearers back before the loss became irrevocable. That is the purpose that runs through the whole collection: not to reason at leisure about doctrine, but to warn, to steady, and to hold.

Within his very large body of work—the vast diary of My Life in Christ, the catechetical talks, the seasonal sermons on prayer, Lent, and repentance — Golden Words stands out as the most polemical and the most public-facing. Here the pastor of the altar turns outward to the confessions and movements competing for the soul of Russia, and here his tenderness toward Christ is joined to an unsparing alarm at the temper of his age.

Argument & Structure

The collection opens with the address that gives it its title, and this piece sets the measure for everything after it. Saint John asks a single question of those born and baptized in the Orthodox Church who are now leaving it: do they understand what they abandon and what they take on? His answer unfolds as a great litany of witnesses. The Church he defends is not, he insists, a mere name but a living edifice in which Christ dwells and acts; and he calls to the stand its whole cloud of witnesses—apostles and prophets, martyrs, the ecumenical teachers Basil, the two Gregories, and John Chrysostom, the desert fathers, John of Damascus, and then the specifically Russian company: Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves, Sergius of Radonezh, the holy princes Vladimir and Alexander Nevsky, the wonderworking hierarchs of Moscow, and Seraphim of Sarov. To leave the Church, he concludes, is to break communion with all of these, and finally with Christ their Head.

From this opening the first cluster of discourses draws the argument to a single point: the reality of the Mysteries. This is the load-bearing beam of the whole book. Saint John measures every rival confession not by history or morals but by the sacraments, and above all by the Eucharist. He holds that a body which has cast off the apostolic priesthood has thereby lost the very Body and Blood of Christ; the Lutheran and the Anglican who no longer confess the transubstantiation of the bread and wine keep the name of the Gospel, in his judgment, while forfeiting its substance. He presses the same charge against Rome for withholding the chalice from the laity. Around this center he arranges the other marks of the Church he believes the Protestant confessions have lost—the veneration of the saints and angels, prayer for the dead, the full sacramental economy of repentance, communion, ordination, marriage, and unction. Interleaved with these controversial discourses is a very different register: a personal thanksgiving in which the priest, overwhelmed by the grace he has known at the altar, cries out that the Name of Christ has drawn all Russia toward its Savior through the Mysteries. The polemic and the prayer come from the same source.

A second great strand ties the fate of the faith to the fate of the nation. In the discourses given on the imperial commemorations—the tsar’s birthday, the anniversaries of the coronation and accession—Saint John reads Russia’s calamities as divine chastisement. Kingdoms tremble and fall, he argues, when they abandon true faith; he retells the parable of Jotham and the story of Abimelech from the Book of Judges, pointing it directly at the Russia of the Romanovs, and he sets the reality of a God-given kingship against the “many-headed” rule of the crowd. The war with Japan he casts in apocalyptic colors, reading the woman and the dragon of Revelation onto Orthodox Russia and its pagan adversary, and he recalls the victories of Alexander Nevsky—the apparition of Boris and Gleb before the battle on the Neva—as a pattern of faith prevailing over numbers. To the soldiers in the field he sends a brotherly word, urging them to carry the sign of the Cross and the hymns of the Church into battle as their true weapons, and pointing them to the Theotokos as the “warlike Leader” who has saved Russia before. Threaded through all of this is his bitter grief at the “so-called intelligentsia,” whose unbelief he blames for the unraveling he sees around him.

The final discourses turn from the nation to the last things and to the soul. On the feasts of John the Theologian and of John of Rila, Saint John preaches on resurrection and immortality, on the war between flesh and spirit, and on the rebirth given in baptism that a Christian must guard and never defile. In one of the most searching passages he takes up the ancient question of why an almighty and good God permits the devil to tempt and destroy—and answers that the trial of temptation is what purifies and strengthens the faithful, as fire tempers iron, while it leaves the proud and the careless to the judgment they have chosen. The collection closes, fittingly, on New Year’s Day: a call to put off the old self and put on the new, to the daily renewal of repentance, and to the promise that stands over all the ruin he has catalogued — Behold, I make all things new.

Theological & Spiritual Significance

The theological heart of Golden Words is a doctrine of the Church as the place where salvation actually happens. For Saint John the Church is not first an institution or a system of belief but the one location on earth where Christ still does what he came to do—forgives, feeds, renews, deifies—and he locates that saving action with great precision in the priesthood and the Mysteries. His eucharistic realism is uncompromising: the transubstantiation of the bread and wine, the necessity of receiving both the Body and the Blood, the absolution given through a validly ordained priest. This is not a cold sacramentalism. It is the theology of a man who believed he had known the grace of the altar by fifty years of experience, and who could not conceive of the Christian life apart from its concrete, sacramental means. The connection he draws between the reality of the Eucharist and the reality of the priesthood that confects it is the single thread from which the whole apologetic hangs.

Around that center the discourses articulate a full vision of the communion of saints, the intercession of the Mother of God, and the deifying purpose of the Christian life—that a soul made in God’s image should be restored to his likeness and brought to share his holiness. On the perennial problem of evil, Saint John gives a compact and traditional answer of real spiritual weight: the world is a furnace in which faith is tried and proved, and God’s patience with the tempter is the space he leaves for the free growth of love. Read for this, the collection joins the long stream of Orthodox ascetical and pastoral teaching, and it is on this ground that it speaks most widely, beyond the boundaries of its original controversy.

But the reader should meet the book as what it is, and much of it is frankly polemical and bound to its moment. Its judgments on the Western confessions are sharp and are stated as settled truths; its identification of the Orthodox faith with the Russian nation and the imperial throne—the old triad of Orthodoxy, autocracy, and nationhood—belongs to a particular political world that would be swept away within a decade of its author’s death, and its casting of the war with Japan in apocalyptic terms carries the passions of a wartime pulpit. These are the convictions of a specific man in a specific crisis, and they form part of the historical record of a Church and a country under enormous strain. A reader from another Christian tradition will encounter here confessional claims argued against his own communion; the honest course is neither to soften them nor to be scandalized by them, but to hear them as the fervent voice of a pastor persuaded that the salvation of the souls in his care hung on what they believed. What gives the collection its lasting interest is precisely the union in it of controversy and warmth—the same priest who draws the hardest confessional lines is the one who weeps over his people and cries out his thanks at the altar. The polemic never quite loses the temperature of prayer.

Reception & Influence

Saint John was, in his own lifetime, one of the most widely venerated figures in the Russian Empire—a national pastor whose correspondence, alms, and reputation for prayer and healing reached from the peasant village to the imperial court. That living veneration outlasted him and outlasted the state that fell so soon after him. Through the Soviet decades, when his memory was actively suppressed, devotion to him persisted in private and in exile, and his glorification abroad in 1964 and within Russia in 1990 confirmed what the faithful had held for generations. His diary My Life in Christ has never gone out of circulation and remains among the most read works of modern Orthodox spirituality. Golden Words occupies a narrower and more pointed place in that legacy: it is the document of his public stand at the end of an age, and it is read today both for its uncompromising sacramental theology and as a historical witness to how one of Russia’s great pastors understood the crisis that was about to overtake his Church and his country.

The Text & This Edition

This is a fresh modern English translation of Golden Words (Золотые слова), made from the pre-revolutionary Russian edition of Saint John of Kronstadt’s discourses as preserved in the public-domain digital text at azbyka.ru. The underlying Russian is out of copyright; the English rendering here is new, prepared for study and for readers who will meet these discourses for the first time in their own language.

The edition follows the house conventions used throughout this library. The author is named as the Church receives him—Saint John of Kronstadt—and those who carried the text into English are credited as translators, never as authors. The aim throughout has been a clear, readable modern English that keeps faith with the plain, urgent, sometimes headlong cadence of the original preaching rather than smoothing it into a neutral register.

Two features of the translation deserve a word. First, the many scriptural quotations are rendered from Saint John’s own Russian and Church-Slavonic wording as he cites it, and are deliberately not conformed to any standard printed English Bible; where a familiar English version would have imported a phrasing he did not use—or, in two places, actually reversed his rhetorical sense—his own reading has been followed instead. Second, the discourses on the Eucharist and the priesthood have been handled with particular care. Their teaching on the transubstantiation of the bread and wine, on the Body and Blood, and on sacramental absolution is doctrinally pointed, and it has been collated closely against the Russian and preserved without softening, so that the reader receives Saint John’s sacramental realism exactly as he stated it. This edition is English throughout and is meant to be read as a self-standing modern translation.

Suggestions for Reading

A reader coming to Golden Words for the first time will find it easier if he keeps its occasional character in mind: these are addresses, not chapters, and they circle back to a handful of convictions rather than building toward a single conclusion. It helps to read the opening apologia first for the whole of the author’s case, and then to let each discourse stand on its own occasion—a feast day, a war anniversary, a moment of national fear. Those chiefly drawn to Saint John’s spiritual teaching will find the richest matter in the later discourses on flesh and spirit, on why God permits temptation, and on renewal; those interested in the history will find in the wartime and imperial sermons a vivid record of how the crisis of 1904–1907 looked from a Russian pulpit. Throughout, it is worth remembering that the man delivering these hard and anxious words is the same one who gave away his boots to the poor of Kronstadt and celebrated the Liturgy each morning as though it were the first—and that for him the two were never separate things.

Golden Words

Do those persons who have been born, baptized, and raised in the Orthodox Church, and are now departing from it, or have already departed to Catholicism, or to some other non-Orthodox confession, or to Shtundism, Pashkovism, or Tolstoyanism—do they understand all that they are abandoning and all that they are accepting, and to what deprivation and loss they are coming?

Let us establish a fixed perspective on the Orthodox Church and on other faiths and sects.

Is the Orthodox Church and faith merely a name without historical meaning and without the full force of truth and vitality? Or is it the solid and unshakeable edifice of the Heavenly, Eternal, All-wise and Almighty Architect-God, like a great and wondrous mountain, on and in which Christ Himself, the Lord and Head of the Church, constantly dwells and acts for the salvation of all believers?

Is the Orthodox Church merely a name, without true Orthodoxy and without that greatest, ineffable power, unconquerable by any forces of hell? Is not perpetual triumph over all the schemes of both visible and invisible enemies, and over human contrivances and absurd fables, proper to it?

Does the Orthodox Church really stand alone in the world, without glorious and resounding witnesses to her truth and Orthodoxy, her wondrous life-giving power and saving grace, even to our own day? Is not Christ Himself, the All-truthful and Almighty, the All-saving Head of the Church, always on our side, fulfilling the Church with glory and salvation and with His unconquerable power? Is not the Most Holy Theotokos, the Mother of God, always with us, streaming forth miracles of mercy without ceasing to the believing and devoutly praying? Are not all the Apostles and Prophets with their divinely-inspired writings, the pure sense of which we have not corrupted in the least, on our side and for us? Are not all the Martyrs who have kept the faith well and finished the struggle, crowned by the Champion Christ with crowns of glory and incorruption, with us and for us? Are not the great ecumenical teachers and hierarchs—Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Gregory the Wonderworker, Gregory of Nyssa and John the Golden-mouthed—on our side and for us? Are not with us and for us the adamantine pillars of Orthodoxy—the venerable fathers: Anthony the Great, Athanasius of Athos, Paul of Thebes, Isaac of Dalmatia, the golden stream of Orthodox writings and honey-flowing songs, John of Damascus, and our Russian venerable fathers: Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves, Sergius of Radonezh, Zosima and Savvatius of Solovki, Varlaam of Khutin and all our other wondrous venerable fathers? Do those persons who are renouncing Orthodoxy, and those of our so-called intelligentsia who think all faiths are indifferent, even the Mohammedan and Buddhist—do they know what were the pillars of Orthodoxy, all our blessed holy princes: the Equal-to-the-Apostles Vladimir, who chose Orthodoxy from all Christian faiths, and especially the blessed holy prince Alexander Nevsky, the exposer of Latin heresy, Daniel and Roman of Galicia, the holy Michael of Chernigov and the blessed prince Michael of Tver? Is not the recent glorification of the newly-revealed saint and wonderworker Theodosius of Chernigov a splendid spectacle? Are not glorious even now to God and men the incorruptible remains of the hierarchs of all Russia: Peter, Alexius, Jonah and Philip, Moscow wonderworkers, and all the multitude of the blessed and glorified Russian hierarchs and holy ones: Nicetas, John, Moses and Euthymius of Novgorod, Dimitrius of Rostov, Mitrophan and Tikhon of Voronezh and others? And Seraphim of Sarov, glorified by God even in his lifetime by manifestations of the Lord and the Mother of God, standing in line for open glorification—is he not a witness to the truth and saving grace of our faith and Church? Finally, I say: is not the entire history of the Church from the beginning until now on our side? What other faith can boast of so many witnesses to truth? But whoever renounces Orthodoxy renounces communion with all the saints, who are called saints precisely because they have kept the sacred dogmas of the faith and shown it forth in deed; whoever renounces the Orthodox faith thereby renounces communion with the Head of the Church Himself—Christ. I ask again all and each one who waver in the holy Orthodox faith: have we been abandoned by the wonder-working and saving power of God? Are we not being saved constantly in our holy faith and Church? And who among us Orthodox, rational and enlightened, having known by experience the saving power of his faith and its satisfaction to our whole being, will abandon his Orthodoxy and pass into another faith? Only one faith is true and all-saving in the world—the Orthodox faith: it is such by history, by its truth, by its very nature, full of light and life-giving power—what cannot be said of other confessions, for in them truth is mixed with false human wisdom, ordinances and rules contrary to Revelation and greatly hindering the salvation of souls. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” (Mt 24:35), says the Lord. Meanwhile, in the non-Orthodox confessions many words of the Lord have been distorted (concerning the Holy Spirit, concerning both kinds of Communion, concerning the headship of the Church).

Let us then hold firmly to the holy Church and our Orthodox faith. The Orthodox Church alone is the pillar and foundation of truth, for in it dwells eternally the Spirit of truth, bearing witness constantly and loudly to all the world of its truth.

First Discourse. Discourse of the Great Righteous One and Wonderworker Father John of Kronstadt, Concerning the Departure of Certain Persons From the Bosom of the Orthodox Church

“The devil and the entire fallen assembly of evil spirits strain with all their might, in unity and cunning, with malice and subtlety, to distort, pervert and destroy the wise, all-good and eternal purposes of God concerning the appointment, perfection and eternal blessedness of mankind; to distort and corrupt the soul and body of man, to defile, rot, chill and alienate people from God and from one another; they strive to give every thought, every feeling, every movement of the will a sinful, unclean, senseless, absurd and destructive direction; they strive unceasingly to blaspheme and belittle God and His saints, all that is holy and great. The devil even strives by all means to corrupt God’s Word through false human wisdom and thereby deprive people of the light, truth of God and salvation of the soul, as he has done and does through various heresies of the first centuries and subsequent ones—concerning the person of Jesus Christ and the union in Him of two natures—the divine and the human—and concerning the relationship of the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity; concerning the veneration of holy icons, relics and the like. Thus he corrupts and distorts God’s Word and human souls through the false wisdom of Catholics, Lutherans and Anglicans. Lutherans and Anglicans do not believe fully in the Gospel, although they call themselves evangelicals, not believing in the transubstantiation of bread and wine in the holy Eucharist.”

Second Discourse of Father John of Kronstadt on the Lutheran and Anglican Faith

“The Lutherans and Anglicans have no Church: for they do not venerate the saints and do not pray for the dead, who are also members of the Church. They have not the Head of the Church—Christ, for He is the Head of the whole body, not a mutilated one, such as that of the Lutherans and Anglicans. They have not the Helmsman of the ship—the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit cannot dwell where the body of the Church has been willfully and daringly dismembered and deprived of life. In Scripture, from Saint Paul, in the epistle to the Philippians, chapter 2, verses 10 and 11, it is said: To Him (the Son of God) every knee shall bow—of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Where then, among the Lutherans and Anglicans, is the knee of heaven and the underworld, and even that of earth? For even among the earthly knee—the Lutherans and Anglicans living on earth—there is no legitimate priesthood and no legitimate, sanctifying, confirming, deifying Mysteries—Repentance, Communion, Anointing, Priesthood, Marriage and Unction of the Sick. And where is the veneration of angels among the Lutherans and Anglicans? Yet they are members of the Church: for the one Church of Angels and men was constituted and headed by Christ God.”

Third Discourse of Father John of Kronstadt on the Lutheran and Anglican Faith

The priesthood of the Orthodox Church does according to the commandment of the Lord a work of infinite importance, of immeasurable goodness, a work of supernatural power, of God: it enlightens, purifies and renews people through the performance of the Mysteries and spiritual direction. Only God alone, or those among men to whom God Himself gives grace and power and His strength—can renew a man corrupted by sin, to renew and enlighten themselves and strengthen themselves in new life, and renew others, sanctify them, guide them with God’s authority, with spiritual authority. A fallen man, corrupted, cannot otherwise rise and renew himself except through deep repentance and the absolution of sins by spiritual authority and through partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ—necessarily and the Blood—under the special form of wine, as the Lord appointed, and not without the Blood—must receive the absolution of sins from an Orthodox priest having legitimate ordination and authority given by God—the Body and Blood from a legitimate Orthodox priest, not from a papist or Lutheran, who do not give the Blood of Christ! O, human folly! O, deceit, the woven trickery of lies! The papists have deprived the laity of the Blood of Christ, shed for the cleansing of sins. O, headless authority acting contrary to the true head—Christ God! O, Lutherans, who have lost the grace and truth of the Mysteries! How can you give grace to others when you have not the Spirit of Christ, the truth and righteousness of Christ? Protestants and Reformed, pastors and archpastors, tell us how you can renew the people and guide them to a holy life when you yourselves have not the grace and authority of power and strength from the Holy Spirit, which you cannot receive anywhere except in the holy Orthodox Church? Tell us how you can accomplish the work of renewing mankind, which only God can do and he to whom He has given His grace and authority through episcopal ordination? You have no priesthood; how have you dared to take upon yourselves such a work, which exceeds your power? You do not renew yourselves, and you do not renew, do not sanctify and do not purify the people.

Fourth Discourse of Father John of Kronstadt on Orthodox Priesthood

Everywhere Your Name has glorified me, O Lord: both at the throne of kings and among all the powerful and great ones of the world, among the rich and the poor, the educated and simple people: everywhere it has brought and continually brings comfort, peace, deliverance, salvation, healing, health, consolation, relief, and victory over the snares of the enemy. How wondrous is Your Name, O Lord! How wondrous, mighty, powerful, strong it draws all to me, a poor wretch, Your grace, living in me and abiding in me through frequent partaking of Your most pure and sacred Mysteries of the Body and Blood.

O Lord! I thank You for the miracles of the sacred Mysteries accomplished in me and in the Russian people daily; You draw me and them to Yourself with Your wondrous, almighty, unconquerable power; all Orthodox Russia is drawn to You! Draw, draw, draw, O Word of God, our Creator, our Deliverer, our Savior, draw all and everything to Yourself!

Fifth Discourse of Father John of Kronstadt on the Mystery of Holy Communion and Concerning Himself

May 6, 1907

Russia and the Church solemnly celebrate today the birth of the Tsar crowned by God to the kingdom of all Russia, and beseech the King of kings for the welfare of the realm, for victory—that is, for the long life, peace, health, and salvation of His Majesty, our earthly Tsar, and pray that the Lord would prosper and assist Him in all things, and would subdue all enemies and adversaries beneath His feet. I turn to all of you, as a member of the human family, with the question of what these two words mean: the word and commandment of the Creator to the first humans, and the false, deceptive word of the man-slayer—the devil.

Note the consequences for people of these two words. What are they by nature? One word is living, creative, life-giving; the other is flattering, fanciful, obscuring, and death-dealing. What has been and continually is the consequence of people’s obedience to the word of the enemy or of sinful man following all the suggestions of the disembodied enemies and all their passions? Is it not confusion of every kind in the world—unbelief, godlessness, anarchism, willfulness, envy, sedition, murder, theft, robbery, drunkenness, obscenity, all manner of violence, mutual enmity of nations, idolatry, countless disagreements in faiths and the most absurd delusions?

What are the consequences of a man’s obedience, who believes in God’s word, in God’s commandments, in the Gospel and in the holy Church established by Christ? Faith, all manner of righteousness, all manner of social order, meekness, obedience, temperance, wisdom, courage, goodness, mercy. Obedience to God’s word leads to peace, harmony, all manner of order in family, political and economic life; to obedience to spiritual and civil authorities.

To these two words—God’s word and the word of the disembodied enemy—we have all been obedient until now; we listen to one or the other. Having obeyed the man-slayer-enemy at the beginning and continuing to obey him until now, mankind has fallen into endless madness; it has exchanged life for death, light for darkness, beauty for ugliness, wisdom for folly, incorruptibility for corruption.

We live not in peaceful but in troubled and seditious times, times of anarchism and godlessness, times of shameless trampling of God’s laws and human laws; in a time of senseless wandering of minds, which have tasted a little of earthly wisdom and become conceited about themselves; for knowledge puffs up, according to God’s word, but love builds up (1Cor 8:1). It is evident to all that the Russian kingdom trembles, totters, and is close to falling.

Why then has so great a kingdom, which was once so firm, mighty, and glorious, now become so weakened, enfeebled, ruined, and shaken? Because it has departed from the firm and unshakeable foundation of true faith and in its majority the intelligentsia has fallen away from God, Who alone is the unshakeable eternal power of all times. By wondrous harmony heaven and earth have been sustained for so many centuries. That is why our kingdom trembles: and not alone the Russian kingdom, occupying one-sixth of the earth, trembles from godlessness and anarchy? No, all earthly kingdoms that have abandoned true faith tremble and shake; and some kingdoms and cities that existed before and after Christ have entirely departed from the stage of the world because of unbelief and lawlessness. And the longer the adulterous and sinful world exists and advances in lawlessness, the more it weakens, decays and totters, so that toward the end of the world it will become altogether a corpse and a smoking firebrand, which will completely waste away in the last terrible and universal fire: for the earth and all works in it will be burned, says the apostle, and we look for new heavens and a new earth, according to God’s promise, in which righteousness dwells (2Pet 3:10,13).

We, Russian Orthodox believers, as children of the Christian Church, having received the Mystery of Baptism, have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many angels, to the assembly and Church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling (the blood of Christ), which speaks better than that of Abel. See to it, says the Apostle in the epistle to the Hebrews, that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. If (the ancient Hebrews, who were with Moses) did not escape when they refused the One who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape if we reject the One who warns from heaven, Whose voice then shook the earth, and now He has promised: Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. These words, “yet once more,” indicate the removal of what is shaken, as of created things, so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us hold fast the grace by which we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and fear. For our God is a consuming fire (Hebr 12:22-29).

I have brought these words of Paul from the epistle to the Hebrews because they apply to us Russians too, who have fallen away from God and from the New Zion, the Church of Christ, founded on the immovable Rock—Christ, upon which whoever falls will be broken, and anyone on whom it falls will be crushed (Mt 21:44). It is certain that all who have fallen away from the faith and Church will be broken like clay pots (vessels of clay, Ps 2:9), if they do not turn and repent. But the Church will remain unshakeable even to the end of the ages, and the Monarch of Russia, if he remains faithful to the Orthodox Church, will be established upon the throne of Russia to the end of the ages.

Hold fast then, O Russia, to your faith and Church, and to your Orthodox Tsar, if you wish to be unshakeable by men of unbelief and anarchism and do not wish to lose your kingdom and Orthodox Tsar. But if you depart from your faith, as many of the intelligentsia have already done, then you will no longer be Russia or holy Rus, but a rabble of all manner of unbelievers, striving to destroy one another. Remember the words of Christ to the unbelieving Jews: “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation that brings forth its fruits” (Mt 21:43).

Amen.

Sixth Discourse. Earthly Kingdoms Tremble and Fall From Unbelief and Lawlessness

May 14, 1907

We recall and celebrate the day of the sacred anointing and coronation to the kingdom of our Most Pious Sovereign.

The past two or three years of his reign have been turbulent and full of inner sedition, and the royal crown with its purple mantle was nearly stained with blood recently. Lethal weapons were already prepared. Sleepless Providence preserved the life of the Tsar.

On this occasion I permit myself to transport my thoughts into ancient sacred history and relate an event suited and similar to our sorrowful condition, which occurred in the time of the judges of Israel.

Among the judges of the Hebrew people was one raised up by God for the governance and protection of the people against foreigners, famous for his faith, courage and love for his country—Gideon, who was engaged in farming. He saved the Hebrews by God’s help from the warlike Midianites, who sought to bring the Jews under their pagan godless yoke. When he died in deep old age, there remained after him seventy sons, for he had many wives; besides this he had a son by a maidservant, Abimelech. After the death of his father, Abimelech went to a city of his land and persuaded his relatives by his mother to endeavor to dispose the inhabitants of his city in his favor, pointing out to them that it would not be to their advantage to submit to seventy sons of Gideon, but that it would be better for them to acknowledge the authority of one, and besides one who was close to them by kinship. Now the inhabitants of that city (Shechem), Hebrew people, had already introduced among themselves the worship of a pagan deity, Baal, and had succeeded in building a temple to the Phoenician deity called Baal-berith, the protector of covenants and oaths. In these godless rebels, Abimelech found followers. They hailed him as their brother and gave him money from the treasury of their god. With a small sum he hired idle and homeless men, came to the house of his dead father and killed his brothers on one stone, excepting one younger brother, Jotham, who managed to hide. After that all the inhabitants of the city gathered in one place and there under the oak they made Abimelech king. At that very moment Jotham appeared unexpectedly on the neighboring mountain Gerizim and cried out in a loud voice: “Listen to me, inhabitants of Shechem, and may God listen to you.” When there was silence, he continued: “Once upon a time the trees resolved definitely to anoint a king over themselves. And they said to the olive tree: Be our king. The olive tree answered: Shall I give up my fatness, by which they honor God and men, and go to wave over the trees? The trees said to the fig tree: Come, you reign over us. The fig tree answered: Shall I give up my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to wave over the trees? The trees said to the vine: Come, you reign over us. And the vine answered: Shall I give up my wine, which gladdens God and men, and go to wave over the trees? Finally all the trees said to the bramble: Come, you reign over us. The bramble said: If you will truly anoint me king over you, then come, take refuge in my shadow (and what shade is there from a bramble?), but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon. Now think carefully, whether you have acted rightly in making Abimelech king, and whether you have rewarded Gideon and his house as you should (now we have the house of the Romanovs). For your sake my father risked his life for you and delivered you from your enemies, yet you have killed seventy sons of his, and have made Abimelech, the son of a maidservant, king over you? Let fire come out from Abimelech and burn you.” Having said this, Jotham fled and hid from his brother. Abimelech actually burned the inhabitants in the city tower who hid from his threat for disobedience, and Abimelech himself was killed by a woman who threw a piece of millstone at him. Thus the curse of Jotham overtook both the inhabitants of Shechem for their impiety and Abimelech for fratricide! (Judg 9)

O sons of Russia, celebrating the sacred anointing of the Tsar!

Will not the righteous judgment of God overtake our betrayers, who have attempted to slay the Tsar anointed by God to the kingdom, whose ancestors, anointed by God to the Russian kingdom of old, magnified it and raised it to the rank of a leading power in the world? And what would we, Russians, become without a Tsar? Our enemies would soon endeavor to destroy even the very name of Russia, for the Bearer and Guardian of Russia, after God, is the Sovereign of Russia, the Tsar Autocratic, and without him Russia is not Russia.

May God preserve Russia and the Tsar of Russia, if not for the sake of the Russians who have become unworthy through their great sins, then for the sake of the Orthodox Church, for the sake of all the saints, and for the sake of all the miracles revealed in Russia in times past, through the intercession and protection of the Mother of God and the holy wonderworking saints of Russia, of whom the Russian Church and Russian land are not lacking.

Amen.

Seventh Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration and Celebration of the Sacred Anointing and Coronation to the Kingdom of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich of All Russia

October 21, 1904

Russia and the Church now celebrate the triumph of the accession to the ancestral throne of all Russia of our Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich.

The holy Tsar and prophet David, beholding with his prophetic vision the infinite greatness of the beginningless God, the Father, Almighty, Creator and King of heaven and earth, of all visible and invisible, His eternal goodness, righteousness and wisdom, says in one of the psalms: Your kingdom, O God, is a kingdom of all ages, and Your dominion is in all generations (Ps 144:13). God is naturally, by His very Essence, a King, as the Creator, Lawgiver and Providence of the world created by Him, visible and invisible, and creatures fulfil His laws exactly: rational creatures—Angels and pious human beings—freely and willingly, and irrational and good-natured creatures, by the necessity of nature and the exact will of the Creator. Only God can authorize a chosen man to the kingdom and entrust him with autocratic power, clothing him with glory, magnificence and strength. The Most High rules over the kingdom of men, says the prophet, and gives it to whomever He wishes (Dan 4:29). By this right kings ascend to the throne, are crowned, anointed and reign on earth by divine right. So it was in the Old Testament, before the coming of Christ, the eternal King, so also in the New Testament, by His coming to earth, in His life and teaching on earth: and He Himself, the King of heaven and earth and all creation, submitted by His humanity to royal authority and commanded that it be given due respect and obedience. His answer to the scribes and Pharisees is well known: render therefore to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s (Mt 22:21). Multiheaded and multimembered popular rule has never been constant and universally recognized as government in the world. Submit to the king as supreme, and to governors, as to those sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good (1Pet 2:13-14), says the apostle. A king is the image of the heavenly King; God is One—and a king is one. Our reason, in its knowledge, unifies all the countless things and phenomena in the world and raises them to unity. The world, in all its infinite diversity of things, phenomena and actions, is one common harmonious whole, unified by the One Creator—and Providence and one common purpose—to serve the glory of the Creator and the good being and blessedness of creatures, both rational and irrational, to manifest His infinite wisdom, beauty and goodness, His omnipotent power, His eternal righteousness, His unity and trinity. God alone is the King of heaven and earth, as long as they stand and are not destroyed. For the time will come when they too will be destroyed (2Pet 3:10), according to God’s word. And thus One God clothes and girds the kings with His power, magnificence and beauty and places upon their heads a royal crown. And vainly do the enemies of autocracy wish and strive to undermine the royal throne. The Lord Himself establishes it by His power upon the throne. O Lord! exclaims the king, the prophet David, in Your strength the king will be glad, and in Your salvation how greatly he will rejoice! You have granted him the desire of his heart and have not withheld the request of his lips. For You meet him with the blessings of goodness; You set a crown of pure gold upon his head. He asked life from You, and You gave it to him—length of days forever and ever. His glory is great in Your salvation; honor and majesty You place upon him. You have gladdened him with the joy of Your countenance. For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved. Your hand will find all Your enemies; Your right hand will find those who hate You. You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of Your anger; the Lord will swallow them up in His wrath, and fire will devour them. You will destroy their descendants from the earth, and their offspring from among the sons of men. For they intended evil against You; they devised a plot which they are not able to perform. You will set them as a target; from Your bows You will loose arrows at their faces. Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength! We will sing and praise Your power. (Ps 20:2-14).

May autocracy remain forever in Russia, the pledge of her might and glory, may the King of kings establish in the hand of the Tsar the scepter and power, and may His glorious sword be turned to the defeat of the enemies of the kingdom and of Orthodoxy.

Amen.

Eighth Discourse. On the Day of Accession to the Ancestral Throne of All Russia His Majesty Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich

The Russian Church of our Fathers and especially the capital of Peter celebrate this day the glorious translation of the holy relics of the Blessed Great Prince Alexander Nevsky, who was the invincible knight of the Russian land, who in his time won a glorious victory on the banks of the Neva over the neighboring Swedes, and for this was called Nevsky. To better adorn the capital and also to glorify the labors and deeds of the holy Prince, who centuries before had so gloriously fought against the Swedes, Peter the Great desired to transfer the holy miracle-working relics from the city of Vladimir to his new capital, Saint Petersburg, commanding that a magnificent shrine be made for them at the expense of the royal treasury.

For our consolation in the sorrowful time we are experiencing, when on the Far East a bloody and destructive war rages with a wild and deceitful pagan people, the symbol of which is the dragon, I wish to compare two signs revealed to John the Theologian in the Apocalypse, and which have application to us, to our Orthodox Church and to the dragon-land—Japan. I mentioned these signs at the beginning of the discourse. They indicate to us the future victory of our Church over the dragon, the ancient serpent, and over pagan Japan. The first sign. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, illumined by the sun of righteousness—Christ, the earthly Church, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. The woman clothed with the sun—Christ—is the Mother of God and also the holy Church of Christ, clothed in Christ, Who is her head. Twelve stars are the twelve apostles who planted and established the Church on earth; it is now represented, among others, by our Orthodox, Eastern, Ecumenical Church. The woman had in her womb and cried out in labor and pain—this is Russia, having in herself her children, Orthodox Christians, being born and baptized now in the rivers of their own blood into eternal life. Another sign in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads (military leaders). The dragon stood before the woman—Orthodox Russia and the Church—in order to devour her child. And she gave birth to a male Child—Christ—here the righteous Christians are understood, in whom Christ was formed, who is destined to shepherd all nations with an iron rod, and her child was taken up to God (the ascension of Christ) and to His throne. Here are also understood all who struggled with the good struggle and departed to heaven. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where a place had been prepared for her by God, to be nourished there for a thousand two hundred and sixty days (three and a half years). This signifies the final difficult times for the Church.

And war broke out in heaven (for the Church). Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought against them. But they did not prevail, and there was no longer a place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was cast down, the ancient serpent, called the devil and Satan (now acting in the Japanese), who deceives the whole world, cast down to the earth, and his angels (demons) were cast down with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven: “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (Apok 12:10-11).

May the Lord deem us worthy, after the victorious end of this present war of Christ with the dragon, to hear the voice of victory: “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ have come.”

It is timely now to recall the following grave circumstance from the glorious martial life of the holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky. At the time when his father Yaroslav ruled in Vladimir, and he ruled in great Novgorod, the peoples who lived then (in the 13th century) around the Baltic Sea—the Varangians, now called Swedes, led by their king with many warships—came into our territories with the intention of seizing Izhorsk, Ladoga, Novgorod and taking all the Russian land captive. They came to the river Neva and stopped at its mouth where it flows into the Finnish Gulf; the proud king, confident in his force, sent his ambassadors to Novgorod to the Great Prince Alexander saying: If you wish, submit to me; if not, know that I am already in your land and will soon take it captive. Alexander, not having sufficient forces ready and not being able to inform his father, Prince Yaroslav of Vladimir, of his difficult situation because of the sudden attack of the enemies, himself alone, putting his trust in the One glorified in the Trinity—God—and praying for the help of the Most Holy Theotokos and calling upon the aid of his kinsmen, the holy passion-bearers Boris and Gleb, went out against the numerous forces of his opponents with only a small retinue. Coming to the river Neva, he pitched camp not far from the Swedes. And there was with him one of the voivodes of the Izhorsk region, a man fearing God, by name Philip, whom he entrusted with night watch in order to secretly reconnoiter the strength of the enemy. Seeing the numerous forces of the opponent and being in fear and doubt, he was returning to report to the Prince about what he had seen; and as he walked near the sea, at the rising of the sun, he saw a vessel at the shore and in the midst of it two beautiful youths in purple clothes, their hands upon each other’s shoulders; the rowers seemed to be covered in mist. He hears a voice! Brother Gleb! Let us go quickly—we shall help our kinsman, the great Prince Alexander, against the enemy. And the other replied: Good, brother Boris! The scout, having heard this, hurries with fear and joy to report it to the holy Prince Alexander, and he heard and glorified God, the Most Pure Mother of God and the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb. Engaging with the enemies, Alexander’s small retinue defeated the enemy forces, and the Prince himself struck the king in the face, who with the remnant of his force turned to flight.

Thus, by God’s help and the Mother of God and the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb, the holy Alexander won a glorious victory and freed his land from foreign servitude, and from this glorious victory at the Neva he was named Nevsky. And not once alone did he free Novgorod from these enemies. After this glorious victory the Swedes attacked Pskov, slaughtering many people and setting their governors over it. The holy Alexander with his brother Andrew and a hastily gathered force, surrounding all the roads to Pskov, defeated multitudes of enemies and returned the city of Pskov to his dominion. The name of Alexander Nevsky became fearful among the Swedes.

Behold how mighty faith and piety are in Christian warfare, especially in its leaders. May God grant that our present leaders be penetrated by faith and hope in divine assistance, and not rely only on their own wisdom and the strength and number of the troops. In the ancient Old Testament wars the Hebrews conquered enemies not by strength and number, but by the faith and piety of their leaders and forces.

We believe and hope that our glorious leaders and our Christ-loving forces will soon overcome our enemies not by strength alone, skill and courage, but especially by their faith in the almighty help of God.

Amen.

Ninth Discourse. On the Day of Translation of the Honest and Many-healing Relics From the City of Vladimir to Saint Petersburg of the Holy Blessed Great Prince Alexander Nevsky in the Year 1724

My dear brothers, Christ-loving warriors of every rank—from the highest to the lowest—standing face to face with a cunning and shrewd enemy!

To you is my brief and heartfelt word in the name of the Lord. Russia, our dear Fatherland, is living through heavy days, such as have never been in all the time of its existence. But for not a moment forget, beloved, that the disasters we are experiencing, from within and from without, are sent to us by righteous and all-good Providence because the Russians have forgotten their God, their Savior, as never before; we have boldly trampled all His commandments, and each one has begun to fulfill the evil will of his heart, turning his entire life inside out, especially our unfortunate, maddened so-called intelligentsia. The blows sent to us by the Lord God are heavy and extremely painful, but they are fatherly blows, temporal, for correction and chastisement.

After God and the Mother of God and all the saints, all of Russia turns its gaze to you, my dear brothers, places its hopes on you, expecting complete victory in the name of the Lord over the enemies, arrayed against us from all sides. Take courage, stand, and behold the salvation from the Lord (Ex 14:13), says the prophet on behalf of God. Again he says: When you go out to war against your enemy, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you. And when you come near to the battle, then the priest shall approach and speak to the people and say to them: “Hear, O Israel, you are coming near to battle with your enemies. Let not your hearts faint. Do not fear, do not be in dread, and do not be alarmed before them; for the Lord your God is He who goes with you to fight for you with your enemies, to save you.” (Deut 20:1-4). But remember, do not neglect to fulfill the commandments of your God; keep and fulfill them with all your heart and all your soul, and blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. (Deut 28)

Remember then, my dear brothers, valiantly fighting on the battlefield for faith, Tsar and Fatherland, that the Lord is with you and will Himself fight with you if you firmly place your hope upon Him; for the Lord does not save by many (Ps 32:16), not by deadly weapons, but by His almighty power. Remember the sun-like manifestation of the cross in the sky to the Tsar Constantine and his force with the inscription in stars around the cross: By this you will conquer—that is, by the cross! There is the strength of Christian warriors—in the cross, for Christ by the cross conquered and will conquer our enemies, both visible and invisible. Believe firmly that the Lord is with you: “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20), He says. Remember our warlike Leader, the Mother of God, who has saved Russia in battles with enemies beyond number. May God grant us, after the glorious victory, to sing with one heart and one voice: O Champion Leader, rejoice…

I advise you all as brothers, before every battle, to speak or sing the dogmatic hymn of the Church: “Let us hymn the Theotokos, the universal glory sprung from man and the Master’s mother, the heavenly door. Let us hymn Mary the Virgin, the praise of the disembodied powers and the confirmation of the faithful; for she became heaven and the temple of God’s divinity, she who destroyed the barrier of enmity and brought peace and opened the kingdom. For having her as the foundation of our faith, we have as our Champion the Lord born of her. Be bold then, be bold, O people of God: for He will conquer the enemies as the Almighty.” (Learn this hymn by heart).

Go forth to battle with this sacred hymn—and you will conquer.

Amen.

Tenth Discourse. A Brotherly Address to Our Valiant Troops on the Fields of Distant Manchuria

October 1, 1905

What a holy, divine and most joyful vision God once revealed to the enlightened by holiness hearts of two righteous ones—and by the mouth of two or three witnesses every matter is established—who saw in the vaults of the magnificent Vlacherna Church the Theotokos, Queen of heaven and earth, shining like the sun, with the angelic host and with the multitudes of all the saints, praying to God and stretching forth her radiant omophor over the multitude of worshiping people! What comfort, hope and joy did this vision inspire in the hearts of all who were in the church, when with the speed of lightning this joyful news flew about! What profound truth and actual help were revealed soon after the wondrous manifestation! For the city of Constantine the Great, besieged by the Saracens, was delivered from the enemy, not by sword and spear, but by divine power, and the enemies turned to flight, terrified by heavenly force, abandoning their entire camp to the besieged. Behold what a wondrous and saving protective covering of the Mother of God the Church now celebrates!

But it seems the people then were worthy of this heavenly protection and covering. I say worthy—because, according to the testimony of Church history, then there was universal, united and ardent prayer in the presence of the Tsar and Tsarina, the synod, the people and two great righteous ones—Andrew and his disciple.

We have been in circumstances no less difficult militarily, but we have not received heavenly all-powerful help because of our grave sins, surpassing all measure and description. And we everywhere suffered defeat or voluntarily surrendered ourselves with our ships, men and supplies on sea and on land (the fortress of Port Arthur), because we lacked faith, courage, loyalty to duty, but there was enough confidence in impunity and justification at trial! Some military commanders were guided by the conviction taken from a certain writer, Leo Tolstoy, of nonresistance to evil. These traitors betrayed both faith and Tsar and Fatherland, and if our fate had been in their hands alone, we would all have been surrendered with all our precious possessions.

Thank God, there remained loyal forces with their leaders, faithful to their duty. What heavenly help could be given when we had unbelief, unpreparedness, faint-heartedness, neglect of state property, and in some military men there was moral and disciplinary dissolution, proven in deed! We beat ourselves, and only the hot prayer of the Church gave us peace, not altogether shameful.

To earn heavenly help in difficult circumstances of the Fatherland, there is needed firm faith in divine assistance—and most importantly, repentance for the sins that have brought God’s wrath upon Russia—correction of morals, not an increase of vices during the very heat of war. Righteous heaven cannot be in communion with human wrongs. What communion can there be of light with darkness, of righteousness with lawlessness, of Christ with Satan? (2Cor 6:15). What evil still have not the Russians done, and those living in Russia? How have they not corrupted themselves with sins? They have done everything and will do everything that draws upon us the righteous wrath of God: both manifest unbelief and blasphemy, rejection of every true principle of faith, debauchery, drunkenness, all manner of amusements instead of clothing themselves in mourning for public repentance and sorrow for sins angering God, insubordination to authority. Incomprehensible autonomy, assuring everyone complete licentiousness and disobedience to authority; stubborn, harmful strikes for all, complete anarchy.

We have turned away from God: and God has turned away from us. We have rejected God’s will, we live according to our own will—and soon we will see where it leads or has already led. If you bite and devour one another, says God’s word, beware that you are not consumed by one another. (Gal 5:15).

What heavenly protection can we expect when we ourselves have turned away from God? If we do not repent and correct ourselves, we will be abandoned by God. See, your house is left to you empty (Mt 23:38), says the Lord. But may this not be. There are still righteous and chosen ones in Russia, as there once were in the reigning city the holy Andrew with Epiphanius and others.

Amen.

Eleventh Discourse. On the Day of the Glorious Pokrov of the Most Holy Theotokos

September 26, 1905

The holy repose of the beloved disciple of Christ—a lesson of resurrection and immortality.

Today the Church of Christ celebrates the glorious memory of the repose of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian from temporal life to eternal, from corruptible to incorruptible, from laborious and sorrowful to eternal rest and joy, from servile to royal; for to him, together with the other Apostles, Christ Himself, the Truth, promised a royal throne and judgment over the twelve tribes of Israel. The repose of the beloved disciple and intimate of Christ was supernatural: three days after his burial, his body was not found in the earth in which he was entombed; he was translated with his body to the heavenly mansions, to the throne of God, and at the same time received the lot—to remain also on earth according to his wish until the second terrible coming of Christ, in fulfillment of the words spoken by the Lord to the Apostle Peter: “if I wish that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” (Jn 21:23)

Thus was human nature in the person of the apostle John glorified, immortalized and deified! Such a loud-spoken, wise and divine Theologian and teacher of true faith has been given to mankind in the person of the beloved apostle John. His divine, wondrous Gospel, full of divine simplicity and majesty, has penetrated to all corners of the world; it has taught and teaches all peoples who have embraced the Christian faith the true, soul-nourishing and soul-saving theology.

Let us pay special attention to the words spoken by the Lord, the Author of our life, to the apostle Peter concerning his martyred death on the cross and concerning the remaining of John until the second coming of the Lord: “if I wish that he remain, until I come, what is that to you?”

What do these sovereign words of the Creator and Lord of all creatures mean? They mean that John will not die for several thousand years and will experience death for only a few days before His second, glorious coming to earth. Let us learn, then, my dear brothers and sisters, of the resurrection and immortality of our own from the wondrous repose of the apostle of Christ, John, and let us constantly prepare ourselves for translation into another, eternal world. The Apostle has reposed, but not died; he lives both in body, and from the earth does not depart, as the Church says, and awaits the second terrible coming of the Lord to judge all the world.

Our so-called intelligentsia do not believe in the resurrection of the dead and the immortality of the human soul, in righteous retribution for all, in eternal blessedness of the righteous and in eternal torment of unrepentant sinners—and therefore have completely lost the vital, rational, divine foundation and have become not intelligent but senseless, doing completely senseless deeds; they have been penetrated with hatred toward faith, toward Christian piety, toward truth and righteousness, toward all that is holy, honest and praiseworthy; they have proclaimed wild freedom to their senseless passions, have declared war on authority and all social order, have surrendered to disobedience, all manner of disorder, murder in broad daylight, all manner of lies and slander against those they hate; they have proclaimed so-called terror in word and deed and keep the very authorities in fear, meanwhile, as they themselves should fear authority: for it is said: “there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do good, and you will have praise from him. But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain” (Rom 13:1,4).

And what is remarkable: authority fears to use the sword against those who draw the sword or throw deadly weapons, meanwhile, the seditionists unpunished use deadly weapons against the authorities; authority does not wield the sword given to it by God. But faithful servants of the Fatherland, like sheaves, fall, and there is no one to protect them.

And when I speak thus, I think that these avowed enemies of all righteousness, enemies of the Church of Christ, draw their sword against me. But the Eternal and Waking One, dwelling in the heavens, may preserve those who struggle against unrighteousness. “Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” (Ps 120:4). We see things never seen before: youths and young men, just entering life and not understanding it or its purpose, want to rule over men of experience and learning, over men who have served the Fatherland with benefit, honor and glory, over men clothed with power, entrusted with the Tsar’s confidence. In truth, boys rule over elders, as the prophet Isaiah says. When will this end? When will authority wisely wield the sword? When will it take from God the power given to it and inspire fear in those who wish to dominate the authorities with fear? O, how have the Russian people, and especially the so-called liberals, become unworthy of their Christian calling, unworthy of the Gospel, for they oppose it in all things, unworthy of Christ, the Lamb of God, who redeemed us by His blood from the righteous wrath of God, from ancestral corruption of sin, from curse and death.

“O Apostle, beloved of Christ God, hasten to deliver the people who have no advocate; we receive you in supplication, you who received the Beloved upon your breast. Entreat Him, O Theologian, to drive away the impending gloom of the Russian intelligentsia, asking for us peace and great mercy” (Troparion of the feast).

Amen.

Twelfth Discourse. On the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian

October 19, 1904

For the glory of God, in honor and memory of the venerable John of Rila and for the benefit of our souls, let us speak of what should be understood by the flesh of which is mentioned in the verse just quoted, and what—by the immortal soul; how to despise the flesh, given us by God for service to the soul, and how to care for the immortal soul. From not understanding one and the other—that is, flesh and soul, and from neglect of the soul—in our life there arise many disorders and—many people perish temporally and eternally.

In the brief Church hymn just quoted, by flesh and soul are understood two opposite things or principles: an evil principle, and a good principle; by flesh is understood sin or all the passions, struggling against mankind and destroying the soul and body of man: extremely corrupted self-love, pride, craftiness, stubborn unbelief, doubt in revealed or known truths, free-thinking, heresy, sects, schisms; intemperance, luxury, sensuality, lust of the flesh, drunkenness, fornication, greed, envy, laziness toward piety and prayer, toward repentance, alienation from God, carnal, fleshy life, hardheartedness toward neighbors, and especially toward the poor and needy, willfulness, lack of church life, disobedience to parents and authorities, madness, blasphemy against God and all that is holy; in general, by flesh should be understood every sin, and by soul—the immortal beginning in man, our soul, created in the image and likeness of God, the distorted image of God in us by sin and the lost likeness of God, and the likeness of the enemy of God, the devil, the apostate from God, who introduced into his angelic nature craftiness, malice, pride, envy, disobedience to God, impenitence; all manner of madness, blindness of mind and all manner of corruption, infinite death and eternal torment, and has subjected to his service the entire human race working for him. The meaning is this: the venerable John, like every other belonging to the rank of the venerable, taught by his righteous life to despise and repel from himself every sin, all human passions, to struggle with them, not to follow or submit to them, to hold firmly to faith and virtue, God-pleasing simplicity, love toward God and neighbor, and thus constantly become like God, attain Christian perfection and eternal blessedness, as it is said: “Therefore be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Mt 5:48). This is the meaning of the Church hymn and what it teaches all Christians.

After the first humans, created in the image and likeness of God, failed to preserve their priceless treasure—holiness, righteousness, freedom from sin, harmony with the will of God and blessed equilibrium, harmony in soul and body—the flesh began in all things to resist the spirit and incline it to every sin; man became divided, became a slave to sin, was obscured by hellish darkness, fell into the most miserable ignorance of God, into senseless idolatry and in it deified himself, his senseless and ruinous passions—became a slave to evil demons, not a servant of God, and perished, having no power to do anything truly good without God, and after death descending into hell, the prison of darkness and death.

Only Christ God our Lord, taking upon Himself our flesh with soul, and having fulfilled for us all righteousness, taught us to despise the flesh and all its passions and to care for the immortal soul, for its salvation and freedom from sin, and gave us all the powers for life and piety (2Pet 1:3). He alone has restored to human nature the holiness and wholeness given to it in the beginning through the mysterious rebirth by water and the Spirit. He taught: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God, for that which is born of the flesh is flesh,” that is, a man, born of parents corrupted by sin, is also sinful, unclean and unworthy of God and His life, His kingdom, but “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” (Jn 3:5-6) that is, a man reborn, cleansed from the stain of sin in baptism, is holy, with the gift of regeneration (second birth). It is this rebirth or mysterious second birth which we received by God’s mercy in baptism that we must preserve with all diligence and not defile ourselves anymore with any passions, being dead to sin, but alive to God (Rom 6:11), resisting with all our might the assaults or temptations of any passions, preserving in ourselves the image of God and attaining the likeness of God. All the apostles in their epistles to Christians begged them to live worthily of their Christian calling and to be conformed to Christ. “I urge you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called” (Eph 4:1). In all their life and works, the venerable strove to imitate Christ in holy simplicity, in ceaseless prayer, gentleness, humility, meekness, temperance, detachment, patience, complete devotion to God, obedience to authorities, in unceasing labors, in service to neighbors. Their life on earth was an angelic, heavenly life. Living on earth in body, they lived with their hearts in heaven, contemplating ceaselessly with spiritual eyes the incomprehensible beauty of the Face of the Lord, His infinite goodness, boundless majesty, wisdom, eternality, omnipotence, blessedness. They preferred nothing on earth to God, they were not attached to anything with their hearts, having in their heart one priceless Treasure—God. “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever,” (Ps 72:25-26) they said with David. Living with God, they had paradise in their hearts, for God lived and walked in them according to Scripture: “I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God” (2Cor 6:16). “Whoever loves Me will keep My word, and We will come to him and make Our home with him,” says the Lord. (Jn 14:23). Thus, with their entire lives, with all their thoughts, all their feelings, all the powers of soul and body, the venerable pleased God, their Prototype, Lawgiver and Rewarder, lived in God and by God, and teach us, each in our state, to strive for a holy life and toward the appointed eternal blessedness in God.

But let us ascend further to the beginning of sin. Since the fall of the first humans, there has begun the love of this world, this enmity against God of rational, sentient creatures, that is, mankind; life according to the flesh, according to the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2), and not according to the spirit, and streams of lawlessness have flowed in an endless wave into the lower world. The fallen spirits established on earth their evil kingdom, full of all evil and treachery, demonic in order to unceasingly seduce men to all evil, by the permission of God for their testing, and entered into a desperate struggle with God and mankind, especially with the seed of the holy and chosen men, and in world life there appeared two clearly opposite currents: on one side—good and evil, flesh and spirit, the world lying in evil, and on the other—the Spirit of God, dwelling in the pious: the society of believers, chosen and righteous, and the world—adulterous and sinful, lying in evil (1Jn 5:19); war was revealed between evil and piety, sin and righteousness, unbelief and faith; the greater part of men forgot God and deified creatures and their passions: the image of God in man became distorted, obscured; instead of striving toward his Prototype, God, man turned toward the enemy, became like the evil beginning or the teacher of all evil—the devil; the original purpose for which man was created—eternal life—fell into oblivion, no one thought of it; men became as if soulless flesh, and the Lord said of them before the flood: “My Spirit shall not be disdained by these men forever, for they are flesh.” (Gen 6:3) that is, they are full of all lawlessness, all that is holy and all righteousness, all virtue is reduced to nothing; only a small community of the chosen: patriarchs, prophets and righteous men, such as Job, knew God and honored Him. Man—a speck of dust on earth—entered into struggle with the immeasurable greatness of God; limited, blinded by sin reason—with infinite mind and eternal wisdom; lies—with eternal, unshakeable truth, malice—with immeasurable goodness, bestial fury (persecution of believers)—with eternal, unchanging gentleness and goodness. And throughout the whole time of this visible world there continues this senseless struggle of creation with the Creator, what was in the ancient pagan world has been repeated now in the Christian world and in Russia. But the time will come when this struggle will end in the complete defeat of evil and the victory of good over evil: “For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1Cor 15:25-26).

In the present Japanese war the ancient enemy of God, the devil, rose up against God and against the Church of Christ and will be defeated by Christ. The war was caused by godlessness and immorality of all classes of the Russian world, and war gives it a bitter lesson. Our present intelligentsia have reduced to zero, to nothing, all the beneficent and wise Providence of God concerning the salvation of mankind; they have reduced to zero in their godless writings the holy Church, established immovably on earth by God; they have belittled the Cross of Christ the Redeemer; the sacred revelation or Word of God, the grace of priesthood, divine laws, in place of which they introduce their own carnal, corrupting laws; they have elevated to the level of cult the satisfaction of their carnal passions; they have set their reason in place of God’s reason, and they interpret God’s word perversely and thereby confuse people of faith and piety. May this harsh war awaken us, and may all who have gone astray—all the lost sons and daughters of Russia—turn to God and to His Church.

O Lord, correct our corrupted morals and teach us all to glorify You, our heavenly Father, by a righteous life. “Our Father, who are in heaven, may Your name be hallowed, may Your kingdom come, may Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Mt 6:9-13).

Amen.

Thirteenth Discourse. On the Day of Holy Memory of the Venerable Father John of Rila

Such an extraordinary calling of the Savior of two Hebrew fishermen, Peter and Andrew, to the lofty apostolic work, for which He Himself came down from heaven to earth!

“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mt 4:19). Like calls to like: from fishing for fish to fishing for men. And why does the Lord call the preaching of the Gospel of repentance and of the kingdom of heaven and of the Messiah—the Savior—fishing? In these allegorical words of the Lord, as in all His parables, lies divine wisdom, righteousness and goodness.

To the divine gaze of Christ was revealed clearly the sorrowful spectacle of the world, namely—how the disembodied fisher—the devil—with his countless host of evil spirits fishes for the human race throughout all the earth, or more correctly—has already caught it in his ruinous nets and covered it with the shadow of death; to His all-seeing eye was clear all humanity, plunged in the ruin of idolatry, all its corruption by countless vices; He saw His rational creatures, perishing from the mindful wolf, diving in the depths of destruction, and came to seek them out, to extract them from the snares of the enemy, as precious catch, to bring them to His heavenly Father—enlightened, cleansed, reborn by the baptism of baptism and repentance, sanctified and honored with the gift of deification and eternal life.

For this greatest work the Lord, the Knower of hearts, chose simple, unlearned fishermen, not sophistical, good-hearted and wholly devoted to Him, men whom He Himself taught to accomplish this great work of fishing. He Himself made them wise to accomplish this great work. He Himself was reborn, making them from old wineskins new wineskins and from old garments—new ones, as He Himself spoke in the parable: Mt 9:16; Mk 2:21; Lk 5:36-38. He gave them the gift of speech and reason and made them capable of carrying the Gospel of the kingdom of heaven to all corners of the world, so that such a great work—as the salvation of mankind—would not be attributed to human art or power, but, as it is in truth—to the power of God, and that no flesh should boast before God (1Cor 1:29). Now the words of heavenly wisdom become clear: Follow Me—and I will make you fishers of men, that is, be as I am, passionless toward the world, worldly-detached, leave, for My sake, house, family, earthly livelihood, as I left for the salvation of men—heaven and the throne of My heavenly Father and came to you on earth, full of the stench of sin, into this vale of tears, to the mankind estranged from Me by sin, for I came to My own, to My people, created and brought up by Me, and My own did not receive Me (the Jews) (Jn 1:11). Follow Me, be strangers and pilgrims on earth, as I became, for your sake, a Stranger, seek heaven, this ancient homeland lost by sin, and draw all to it, fish men out of the depths of destruction into the land of the eternally living.

To a Christian well-versed in Holy Scripture and Church history, it is well known with what wonderful success the Lord blessed apostolic preaching, drawing men—from idolatry to the knowledge of God—how they changed the morals of men and brought to Christ God a great catch of the saved, turning them from the domain of Satan to God.

On this occasion the following thought came to mind as a kind of perplexity. Why does the beginningless, almighty God, infinitely wise and righteous, who could in one instant condemn to eternal torment the proud, most cunning and most evil apostate Satan, deprive him of all power to harm men, and in this way save mankind from his ruinous nets, does He still permit him to tempt and seduce men, destroy them, and produce in the world countless ills with the universal death of mankind, and sometimes even disturb nature itself?

And what is most remarkable is that this beginningless and almighty Creator, instead of punishing the evildoer completely, was pleased for the salvation of man from the snares of the enemy to abase Himself extremely, to take the form of a slave and to be man, remaining God, to suffer and die the most shameful and torturous death according to human nature, so that by His sufferings for us He might ransom us from sin, from the devil, from curse and death! What incomparable price the ransom! And so why does the Lord permit the enemy to have freedom—to tempt and destroy men; why is he not bound completely and continues to do harm in mankind, and toward the end of the world will receive such power and strength that almost all the earth will serve Satan in the person of the antichrist, so that when Christ comes, will He find faith on earth? (Lk 18:8). In the permission of the enemy to act deceptively in the world until the second coming of Christ lies the wisdom, longsuffering—righteousness and mercy of God. Satan and his kingdom are not bound but act in the world to a certain extent in order that men, believers and faithful, struggling with sin and with enemies and being in the furnace of temptations and calamities, might through this be purified and strengthened in faith, patience, hope and love and in complete devotion to God and be worthy of His holiness and obtain thereby greater blessedness in the future life the more here they were tempted and suffered and strengthened in love of God; it is known that a man not tested in the furnace of calamities and misfortunes is weak in faith and love, not reliable and inconstant, but one who has passed through this furnace is as firm as an anvil. On the other hand, evil spirits are permitted to tempt unbelieving, proud, greedy, lustful, lazy men and to lead them into various vices, so that these men might receive righteous retribution for their craftiness, unbelief, for their pride, attachment to vanity, greed and laziness, and for neglect of their soul and for disregard of God’s concern for their salvation. “Let the unjust still do injustice, and let the filthy still be filthy. But let the righteous still do righteousness and let the holy still be holy. Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work.” (Apok 22:11-12), says the Lord.

To this must be added that our Lord Jesus Christ, through His incarnation, teaching, miracles, suffering and death for mankind, reconciling us with our heavenly Father, and removing the curse that weighed upon us, has obtained for us blessing and given human nature all gracious powers for life and piety, and has made it capable, through faith and zeal, of every virtue and Christian perfection and of complete victory over the devil and his shaming, and therefore expects from all of us corresponding fruits of virtue and perfection of life, that He might reward us with the greatest blessedness, and that we might know by experience how good it is to cling to God and live by His commandments. And therefore let Christians always know and remember that the devil is permitted to tempt us either for our good, that we might not sleep but keep awake and labor for our salvation, or for our punishment for laziness and neglect of our salvation and for our worldly attachments: while the devil himself all his wickedness will serve to an unspeakable increase of his eternal torments.

It is known that now Christian morals have become exceedingly weakened and corrupted, so that for many there is nothing holy. To such a state of morals our intelligentsia have been brought, and in part the common people, by an unbridled press, especially a clandestine one. Long it has sought complete freedom, and finally succeeded in obtaining it. Before it was often dissolute, but now more so, and how quickly it spreads and in what multitudes! It displaces God’s word and takes possession of minds and hearts, inciting the Russian people to all manner of dissolution. Where in us is the Spirit of Christ, the spirit of apostles, the spirit of obedience to authorities? Where are Christian virtues? Where is the striving toward the heavenly homeland? “The Lord looks down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. All have gone aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, not even one.” (Ps 13:2-3).

On the Far East the sharp sickle of God is reaping countless rational ears of grain, that is, our dear brother soldiers. Thus or thus this sickle will reap us too. And then where will this harvest go?—The righteous Judge has determined to deal with us according to truth and mercy before the foundation of the world. The fearful Judgment awaits mankind: “He shall judge the world in righteousness, and He shall administer judgment to the people in uprightness.” (Ps 97:9).

Amen.

Fourteenth Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration of the Holy, Glorious and Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called

By the mercy of God, we are beginning a new year, 1906. The year nineteen hundred and five, ill-starred, has passed, and God grant that none of the ills that occurred in the past year repeat themselves in the coming year, for they were marked by countless losses of every kind, by the death of many faithful sons of Russia, by immeasurable sorrows, groans and tears of our brothers and sisters. May the year that has begun be new, full of God’s mercy toward us—a time of repentance and correction, a year of moral renewal; let us strive to be worthy of it.

I turn to myself and to you the counsel and commandment of the Apostle—to put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God (according to the image of God) in righteousness and holiness of the truth. (Eph 4:22-24).

The new year is for us so far only by number, not by the substance of the matter, for we all remain old, with the old leaven of passions, inclinations, habits—and have not put on the new man.

The renewed, incorruptible holy humanity, which lived and labored before and has ended—remains in the new, incorruptible world, in heaven, where there is no more sin, and where eternally reigns righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Rom 14:17). We must imitate it. And so to speak of renewal of the human race at the new year is fitting. And when there is talk of renewal, it is presupposed that it has become extremely worn out, corrupted, stunk with every sin and is not worthy of communion with God: “for what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2Cor 6:14). The image of this sinful corruption of humanity before the coming into the world of the Son of God in the flesh, the prophet depicts thus: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; to a man they are worthless; there is none who does good, and there is not even one.” (Ps 13:1-3). “Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they practice deceit; the poison of asps is on their teeth;” (Ps 5:10,139:3); “their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness” (Ps 9:28); “their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.” (Prov 1:16). “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Ps 35:2; Rom 3:10-18). Behold the dark picture of human corruption before the coming into the world of Christ the Savior. There is no light spot on it on which the gaze of an impartial, pious observer might peacefully and with inner satisfaction rest—nothing but black paint. Present-day people in the majority are not better than the ancient world, despite the renewal-bringing principles laid in them by the Gospel and Church; mankind has become a decaying or already decayed corpse, of which the Lord said: “wherever the corpse is, there the eagles will be gathered together,” (Lk 17:37) indicating thereby His glorious dreadful second coming with all the holy Angels, witnesses of all human life. This means that before the second coming of the Lord upon judgment the nations will so become depraved and so corrupt in their morals that God’s longsuffering will come to an end; and the universal winnowing fan will begin its work—it will cleanse the universal threshing floor of the countless chaff of sin, and the Lord will gather the wheat into the heavenly granary, but the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire forever and ever.

Then the word of Christ God will be fulfilled in all its power, breadth and length: “Behold, I make all things new.” (Apok 21:5). All the filth of sin will be forever removed from the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of mere righteousness will come: “nothing unclean shall ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Apok 21:27). And so, with the new year!

A Christian has need of daily renewal through secret repentance, for sin corrupts all, deceiving us with countless mirages and charms: “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” (2Cor 5:17).

Amen.

Scripture Index

Every Scripture reference identified in this book, sorted in canonical Bible order. Tap a reference to jump to the verse where it appears.

Genesis

Genesis 6:314. Twelfth Discourse. On the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (14.6)

Exodus

Exodus 14:1311. Ninth Discourse. On the Day of Translation of the Honest and Many-healing Relics From the City of Vladimir to Saint Petersburg of the Holy Blessed Great Prince Alexander Nevsky in the Year 1724 (11.3)

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 20:1–411. Ninth Discourse. On the Day of Translation of the Honest and Many-healing Relics From the City of Vladimir to Saint Petersburg of the Holy Blessed Great Prince Alexander Nevsky in the Year 1724 (11.3)

Psalms

Psalms 2:97. Fifth Discourse of Father John of Kronstadt on the Mystery of Holy Communion and Concerning Himself (7.9)

Psalms 9:2816. Fourteenth Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration of the Holy, Glorious and Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (16.4)

Psalms 13:1–316. Fourteenth Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration of the Holy, Glorious and Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (16.4)

Psalms 13:2–315. Thirteenth Discourse. On the Day of Holy Memory of the Venerable Father John of Rila (15.9)

Psalms 20:2–149. Seventh Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration and Celebration of the Sacred Anointing and Coronation to the Kingdom of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich of All Russia (9.3)

Psalms 32:1611. Ninth Discourse. On the Day of Translation of the Honest and Many-healing Relics From the City of Vladimir to Saint Petersburg of the Holy Blessed Great Prince Alexander Nevsky in the Year 1724 (11.4)

Psalms 35:216. Fourteenth Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration of the Holy, Glorious and Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (16.4)

Psalms 72:25–2614. Twelfth Discourse. On the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (14.5)

Psalms 97:915. Thirteenth Discourse. On the Day of Holy Memory of the Venerable Father John of Rila (15.10)

Psalms 120:413. Eleventh Discourse. On the Day of the Glorious Pokrov of the Most Holy Theotokos (13.9)

Psalms 144:139. Seventh Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration and Celebration of the Sacred Anointing and Coronation to the Kingdom of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich of All Russia (9.3)

Proverbs

Proverbs 1:1616. Fourteenth Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration of the Holy, Glorious and Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (16.4)

Daniel

Daniel 4:299. Seventh Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration and Celebration of the Sacred Anointing and Coronation to the Kingdom of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich of All Russia (9.3)

Matthew

Matthew 4:1915. Thirteenth Discourse. On the Day of Holy Memory of the Venerable Father John of Rila (15.2)

Matthew 5:4814. Twelfth Discourse. On the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (14.3)

Matthew 6:9–1314. Twelfth Discourse. On the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (14.8)

Matthew 9:1615. Thirteenth Discourse. On the Day of Holy Memory of the Venerable Father John of Rila (15.4)

Matthew 21:437. Fifth Discourse of Father John of Kronstadt on the Mystery of Holy Communion and Concerning Himself (7.10)

Matthew 21:447. Fifth Discourse of Father John of Kronstadt on the Mystery of Holy Communion and Concerning Himself (7.9)

Matthew 22:219. Seventh Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration and Celebration of the Sacred Anointing and Coronation to the Kingdom of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich of All Russia (9.3)

Matthew 23:3812. Tenth Discourse. A Brotherly Address to Our Valiant Troops on the Fields of Distant Manchuria (12.8)

Matthew 24:352. Golden Words (2.5)

Matthew 28:2011. Ninth Discourse. On the Day of Translation of the Honest and Many-healing Relics From the City of Vladimir to Saint Petersburg of the Holy Blessed Great Prince Alexander Nevsky in the Year 1724 (11.4)

Mark

Mark 2:2115. Thirteenth Discourse. On the Day of Holy Memory of the Venerable Father John of Rila (15.4)

Luke

Luke 5:36–3815. Thirteenth Discourse. On the Day of Holy Memory of the Venerable Father John of Rila (15.4)

Luke 17:3716. Fourteenth Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration of the Holy, Glorious and Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (16.4)

Luke 18:815. Thirteenth Discourse. On the Day of Holy Memory of the Venerable Father John of Rila (15.7)

John

John 1:1115. Thirteenth Discourse. On the Day of Holy Memory of the Venerable Father John of Rila (15.4)

John 3:5–614. Twelfth Discourse. On the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (14.5)

John 14:2314. Twelfth Discourse. On the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (14.5)

John 21:2313. Eleventh Discourse. On the Day of the Glorious Pokrov of the Most Holy Theotokos (13.3)

Romans

Romans 3:10–1816. Fourteenth Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration of the Holy, Glorious and Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (16.4)

Romans 6:1114. Twelfth Discourse. On the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (14.5)

Romans 14:1716. Fourteenth Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration of the Holy, Glorious and Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (16.4)

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 1:2915. Thirteenth Discourse. On the Day of Holy Memory of the Venerable Father John of Rila (15.4)

1 Corinthians 8:17. Fifth Discourse of Father John of Kronstadt on the Mystery of Holy Communion and Concerning Himself (7.6)

1 Corinthians 15:25–2614. Twelfth Discourse. On the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (14.6)

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 5:1716. Fourteenth Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration of the Holy, Glorious and Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (16.6)

2 Corinthians 6:1416. Fourteenth Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration of the Holy, Glorious and Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (16.4)

2 Corinthians 6:1512. Tenth Discourse. A Brotherly Address to Our Valiant Troops on the Fields of Distant Manchuria (12.6)

2 Corinthians 6:1614. Twelfth Discourse. On the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (14.5)

Galatians

Galatians 5:1512. Tenth Discourse. A Brotherly Address to Our Valiant Troops on the Fields of Distant Manchuria (12.7)

Ephesians

Ephesians 2:214. Twelfth Discourse. On the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (14.6)

Ephesians 4:114. Twelfth Discourse. On the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (14.5)

Ephesians 4:22–2416. Fourteenth Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration of the Holy, Glorious and Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (16.2)

Hebrews

Hebrews 12:22–297. Fifth Discourse of Father John of Kronstadt on the Mystery of Holy Communion and Concerning Himself (7.8)

1 Peter

1 Peter 2:13–149. Seventh Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration and Celebration of the Sacred Anointing and Coronation to the Kingdom of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich of All Russia (9.3)

2 Peter

2 Peter 1:314. Twelfth Discourse. On the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (14.5)

2 Peter 3:109. Seventh Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration and Celebration of the Sacred Anointing and Coronation to the Kingdom of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich of All Russia (9.3)

1 John

1 John 5:1914. Twelfth Discourse. On the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (14.6)

Revelation

Revelation 12:10–1110. Eighth Discourse. On the Day of Accession to the Ancestral Throne of All Russia His Majesty Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich (10.3)

Revelation 21:516. Fourteenth Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration of the Holy, Glorious and Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (16.5)

Revelation 21:2716. Fourteenth Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration of the Holy, Glorious and Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (16.5)

Revelation 22:11–1215. Thirteenth Discourse. On the Day of Holy Memory of the Venerable Father John of Rila (15.7)

The Author: Saint John of Kronstadt

Saint John of Kronstadt (1829–1908) was a Russian Orthodox archpriest, pastor, and spiritual writer, and one of the most beloved and influential figures of the late Russian Church. A married parish priest rather than a monk or a bishop, he became renowned across the whole empire for his fervent celebration of the Divine Liturgy, his ministry of prayer and healing, and his tireless charity among the poor of Kronstadt.

He was born Ioann Ilyich Sergiev to a poor clerical family in the far north of Russia, in the village of Sura in the Arkhangelsk province. He was educated at the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, and in 1855 was ordained to serve at Saint Andrew’s Cathedral in Kronstadt, the naval town near the capital, where he would remain for more than half a century. He gave himself to the destitute of the town, founding the House of Diligence to give work and dignity to the poor, and thousands sought him out for confession, counsel, and prayer.

He is best remembered for his spiritual masterwork My Life in Christ, a collection of reflections drawn from his diaries on prayer, repentance, and the Eucharist, marked throughout by a vivid sense of the reality of God and of the Church’s Mysteries. His many sermons, catechetical talks, and later diaries—among them A Living Ear of Wheat and his Lenten preaching—extend the same ardent, experiential piety, and everywhere his eucharistic realism is stated without reserve.

He reposed in 1908 and was mourned throughout Russia. He was glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia in 1964 and by the Moscow Patriarchate in 1990, and is commemorated on 20 December and on 1 June, the day of his glorification. His writings remain a standard of modern Orthodox spiritual life.

Colophon

Golden Words
by John of Kronstadt.

This edition was produced by
Royal Archives.

The cover features
Sunset in the Steppe by the Sea (Закат в степи, 1900s)
by Arkhip Kuindzhi (Russian, 1841/42–1910), Wikimedia Commons, which is in the public domain.

The text is set in Palatino and Georgia.

The first edition of this ebook was released on
August 16, 2026.

Table of Contents

- Title Page
- Copyright
- Introduction
- Golden Words

- First Discourse. Discourse of the Great Righteous One and Wonderworker Father John of Kronstadt, Concerning the Departure of Certain Persons From the Bosom of the Orthodox Church

- Second Discourse of Father John of Kronstadt on the Lutheran and Anglican Faith

- Third Discourse of Father John of Kronstadt on the Lutheran and Anglican Faith

- Fourth Discourse of Father John of Kronstadt on Orthodox Priesthood

- Fifth Discourse of Father John of Kronstadt on the Mystery of Holy Communion and Concerning Himself

- Sixth Discourse. Earthly Kingdoms Tremble and Fall From Unbelief and Lawlessness

- Seventh Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration and Celebration of the Sacred Anointing and Coronation to the Kingdom of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich of All Russia

- Eighth Discourse. On the Day of Accession to the Ancestral Throne of All Russia His Majesty Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich

- Ninth Discourse. On the Day of Translation of the Honest and Many-healing Relics From the City of Vladimir to Saint Petersburg of the Holy Blessed Great Prince Alexander Nevsky in the Year 1724

- Tenth Discourse. A Brotherly Address to Our Valiant Troops on the Fields of Distant Manchuria

- Eleventh Discourse. On the Day of the Glorious Pokrov of the Most Holy Theotokos

- Twelfth Discourse. On the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian

- Thirteenth Discourse. On the Day of Holy Memory of the Venerable Father John of Rila

- Fourteenth Discourse. On the Day of Commemoration of the Holy, Glorious and Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called

- Scripture Index
- The Author: Saint John of Kronstadt
- Colophon