The Heat of
the Moment, and Historical Perspective
Reports have been
circulating through the internet about a meeting held at
Now, I realize, not
having seen this document, that the reports may have exaggerated some parts of
it – however, that is one of the occupational hazards of conducting secret
meetings.
I would like to
encourage those who may have been part of this meeting to consider taking a
step back from the emotion of the moment, and to ponder how their statements
and actions may appear in 50 years.
Historical perspective has a way of changing how we view things – even
though when we are close to a situation, we may have very strong feelings, and
be absolutely convinced of how right we are.
As an example of how
this is true, I reference the following letter (English translation, followed
by a transcription of the original Russian text. A scanned copy of the original
document in pdf format can be seen by clicking
here):
**********************************************************************
To: His Eminence Metropolitan Anastassy (Document undated, but marked by metropolitan
Anastassy’s hand as received on 6/19 July 1948)
From : Russian emigrants:
D.V. Kochnev , M.P.Pastuhov, A.T.Nikulenkov, C.M.Lukianov,
B.M.Norlander , V.S.Lukianov, V.S.Usanov
Declaration
Your Eminence
Most Eminent Vladyko
We, former combatants of the Russian Imperial Army, having many times shed our blood for our Faith, our Czar and our Fatherland have the honor to bring to Your attention an extraordinary event in the history of the Orthodox Church.
The warden of the
We deem it our duty to humbly bring to Your attention a series of events of grievous significance for the Russian Church in China, pertaining to the role of the ruling Archbishop John of Shanghai, who has received Chinese citizenship, in the destruction of the Orthodox parish of the aforementioned church on the Wayside.
As Your Eminence will see from the copies of the reports to
Archbishop John of
Would Your Eminence not agree, that having received Chinese citizenship, and having transferred the leadership of the Shanghai Diocese from Russian to Chinese administration (even the official letterhead was changed as You can see from the attached original), Archbishop John of Shanghai betrayed our Russian emigrant interests, the interests of people who built and maintained the Orthodox churches in Shanghai.
We, humble laymen, are deeply shocked by this rejection of
Russian national honor and feel ourselves to be deprived of proper leadership,
since today Archbishop John of
Asking forgiveness and Your hierarchal prayers before the throne of the Almighty we remain:
Colonel D.V. Kochnev Captain M.P.Pastuhov
Lieutenant S.M.Lukianov Horunjiy(Cossack lieutenant) A.T.Nikulenkov
Jr.sergeant B.M. Norlander
Private B.S Usanov
V.S. Lukianov /student/
Его
Высокопреосвященству
Высокопреосвященнейшему
Митрополиту
Анастасию
(документ
без даты,
помечен
рукой митрополита
Анастасия,
дата
получения 6/19
июля 1948)
Русских
эмигрантов:
Д.В.Кочнева,
М.П.Пастухова,
А.Т.
Никуленкова,
С.М.Лукьянова,
Б.М.
Норландера,
В.С.Лукьянова,
В.С.
Усанова
Заявление
Ваше
Высокопреосвященство
Высокопреосвященнейший
Владыко
Мы
бывшие
военнослужащие
Российской
Императорской
Армии,
неоднократно
проливавшие
свою кровь за
Веру, Царя и
Отечество,
имеем честь
довести до Вашего
сведения
один из ряда
вон выходящих
случаев в
истории
Правосланой
Церкви.
Староста
Св.Воскресенскаго
Храма, что на
Вейсайде в г.
Шанхай в
Китае, завладел
квартирой,
доверенной
ему
прихожанами для
снятия у
домовладельческой
компании. Все
вышеизложенное
Вы Ваше
Высокопреосвященство
увидите из
нашего
доклада и
прилагаемых
документов.
Считаем
своим долгом
смиренно довести
до Вашего
сведения ряд
печальных для
Российской
Православной
Церкви в
Китае фактов
об отношении
Правящаго
Архиепископа
Иоанна
Шанхайскаго,
принявшаго
Китайское
подданство, к
разрушению
Православнаго
прихода
вышеупомянутаго
Храма на
Вейсайде.
Как
Вы Ваше
Высокопреосвященство
усмотрите из
копий
докладов Архиепископу
Иоанну
Шанхайскому в течение
девяти
месяцев, он
по ведомым
только ему
причинам, по
нашему
мнению
сознательно,
допускал
разрушение
Вейсайдского
прихода.
Не
кажется ли
Вам Ваше
Высокопреосвященство,
что перейдя в
китайское
гражданство
и переведя
управление
Шанхайской
Епархии из
Российскаго
возглавления
в китайское, при
чем даже был
изменен
бланк, как Вы
усмотрите из
прилагаемаго
оригинала,
Архиепископ
Иоанн
Шанхайский
предал наши
интересы
Российских
эмигрантов,
строивших и
поддерживавших
Православные
Храмы в
Шанхае.
Мы,
смиренные
миряне,
глубоко потрясены
этим отказом
от
Российской
Национальной
чести и
чувствуем
себя
лишенными правильнаго
руководства,
так как
отныне Архиепископ
Иоанн
Шанхайский
находится в
руках
китайских
иереев.
Мы
дерзаем
обратиться к
Вам
Высокопреосвященнейший
Владыко, с
почтительнейшей
просьбой
назначить к
нам
викарнаго
Епископа
твердаго в
Национальных
чувствах и
могущаго
укрепить
нашу
падающую
веру в священную
силу
Российской
Православной
Церкви.
Прося
прощения и
Ваших
святительских
молитв перед
Престолом
Всевышняго
остаемся:
Полковник
Д.В.Кочнев Капитан
М.П.Пастухов
Поручик С.М.
Лукьянов Хорунжий
А.Т.
Никуленков
Мл.
Унтер Оф. Б.М.
Норландер Рядовой
Б.С. Усанов
В.С.
Лукьянов
/студент/
**********************************************************************
I am sure that Fr. Valery Lukianov felt he was absolutely right in signing this letter, and I am equally sure that he and his father came to regret having done so. He recently wrote about some of the circumstances referenced above in the following article:
http://elmager.livejournal.com/42099.html
In that article, he
provides some of the reasons for
“Later, I advised Archbishop
John to apply for Chinese citizenship; finally he agreed. After processing all
of the necessary documents for the Archbishop, I personally delivered to
Archbishop John the government approval. Only after the Archbishop acquired
Chinese citizenship did the Soviets abandon their plans to capture Archbishop
John and take over the Sobor in
His love and respect
for
I think the wiser
course for us to follow, given that we can’t see now what we will be able to
clearly see in a decade or so, is to be obedient to conciliar voice of our
Church, and to our bishops. There will
be plenty of time to “wall yourself off” if the MP falls into heresy. Schism is never an option. Only bare-headed heresy justifies our not
being obedient to our bishops.
-Fr. John Whiteford
April 12, 2007
The surfacing of
the letter written in
I must unequivocally
confirm my total loyalty and reverence for the holy hierarch Vladyka John. How
could I do otherwise, in the face of countless blessings bestowed by him upon
me, --- succoring me from critical
sickness with his prayers, confession and Holy communion; guiding me with
letters of care and kindness; visiting our family; ordaining me to the
diaconate and even editing one of my accounts on the church services?! In
response, I have devoted my resources to serve Vladyka in gratitude and
reverence through teaching, preaching and writing about his ascetic life of
labor and prayer, steadfastness and love. During his lifetime and after his
demise he never left our family without care and response to our needs. We have
felt his grace and his blessings on innumerable occasions. He never failed us,
as in personal attentiveness, so in our church life. If I had, at the spur of a moment, erred
against Vladyka, I beg his forgiveness and I regret that through my weakness I
may have offended my brothers. But, in my heart, I know that
-Protopresbyter Valery Lukianov
Rejoinder to Fr. Valery’s Response
First, it
must be conceded that Fr. Valery is correct in pointing out that there was an
error in the original translation, which left out the word “vicar”. This was not an intentional distortion of the
text, however. It would be rather
foolish to leave the original Russian text as it was, and attempt to falsify
the English translation when the audience of this post was a largely Russian speaking
one. I am also sure that all that Fr.
Valery says about his love for
I would also point out that the spirit of Christian magnanimity is precisely what is called for now as our bishops call on us to reconcile with the Moscow Patriarchate. We all find ourselves in need of forgiveness, and our Savior tell us that we will be forgiven precisely to the same extent that we are willing to forgive, and that we will be shown mercy in the same measure that we show mercy ourselves. We also need to show spiritual obedience to our bishops now, when there are souls in the balance, and people who have either already gone into schism or are teetering on the brink.
-Fr. John Whiteford
May 12, 2007