I Gladly Share with you my personal reminiscences of then Bishop John of Shanghai, recalling the following words of Saint Nestor the Chronicler and praying his prayer:
"I entreat you, my beloved brothers, do not judge me for my ignorance if, being so filled with love for this saint, I decided to relate absolutely everything I know about him, for I feared lest the words of our Lord concerning the wicked and slothful servant apply to me… . But first of all I appeal to the Lord: O Almighty Lord, bestower of grace, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, help me, enlighten my heart that I may know Thy commandments, open my lips that I may tell of Thy wonders and the glory of Thy saint." (From the Preface to The Chronicle of the Veneration of Archbishop John by Bishop Savva of Edmonton)
I, too, am "filled with love for this saint," but I fear my own ignorance, my inability to convey "the glory of the God-pleaser." I don't know where to begin, how best to arrange the incredible number of the most profound, grace-filled impressions concerning this great Saint, which are engraved forever in my heart.
Not knowing where to begin, I copied out by hand several of Vladika's letters addressed to me between the years 1949 and 1962. I did this in order to relive that compunction evoked by the spirit-bearing instructions of that holy Hierarch, and note that Vladika began each letter with a deliberate eight-bar Cross of the Saviour, the Cross he so loved. He dated these letters according to the Orthodox calendar, ignoring altogether the civil calendar, and wrote exclusively in old orthography. Nameday greetings he wrote always on the very day of the commemoration, for which reason I only received them a few days later. This Saint did not permit even such a trivial "falsity" as sending congratulations before the actual Feast!
Vladika began his Episcopal service in Shanghai in 1934, the year I was born in this large, international, commercial port city of China. My family's home was just three blocks from the majestic cathedral dedicated to the Mother of God, "Surety of Sinners." On Sundays and feast days my parents would walk with us children to this cathedral. Next to the cathedral was a Catholic school, the "College de Sainte Jeanne d'Arc," which my brother and I attended from 1939 until 1949, when we left Shanghai for the island of Tubabao. 1 dimly remember the solemn consecration Vladika performed, of the enormous gold crosses, which were then raised onto the five cupolas of the newly-completed cathedral. Next to the cathedral a diocesan house of several storeys was built, surmounted in the center by a bell-tower. I remember behind this house the unfinished foundation for a second church, where Vladika always performed the blessing of the waters on the Feast of Theophany. During the summer, when school was closed, my brother and I frequently came there and played in the spacious church yard.
One hot summer day, when I was eight or nine years old, I walked into the vast, always cool cathedral to get some relief from the heat. It was a weekday, about seven in the evening, still quite light. The evening service was in progress, celebrated by one of the priests; the cathedra] was all but empty. At his place near one of the massive columns, between the altar and the right entrance, Bishop John stood behind an analogion spread with service books. Subsequently I learned that Vladika daily attended all nine of the services appointed by the Orthodox Church, and that he communed every day. After the service I approached him for a blessing. He asked my name and invited me to his quarters "for a talk." I'll never forget how, before leaving the cathedral, he made full prostration's in front of each icon — and there were many — as if he were temporarily parting with his close friends, the saints. I followed him, holding his staff. My childish soul was at once drawn to this extraordinary man, unconsciously sensing that deeply-Christian love which Vladika had for people, especially children.
For the first time I stepped into his large study on the second floor of the diocesan house. The entire right corner of the study, from the ceiling to the level of the analogion standing there, was filled with countless icons of all sizes. For some reason it seemed perfectly natural to me when Vladika, on entering his study, began unhurriedly making prostration's before the icons and again prayed at length. Finally he sat down at his desk, which was literally heaped with papers, and talked with me for a long time. As in later conversations, he spoke about the Church, about the life of her righteous ones and saints, about the martyrs, about church feasts. I didn't want to leave this extraordinary man. It was already dark when Vladika blessed me and told me to go home.
I began attending services in the cathedral every day, morning and evening, and serving in the altar. On weekdays Vladika himself often consumed the Holy Gifts, remaining in the altar, deep in prayer, long after the priest had gone. And always, before leaving the cathedral, he would venerate all the icons.
While talking with me in his study, Vladika would occasionally doze off for a few moments. I learned that he never slept in a bed, and only succumbed to brief periods of sleep in a chair or on his knees before his beloved icons, in which position his secretary, Mr. Kantov, would occasionally find him.
One evening, during one of our conversations in Vladika's study, the phone on his desk rang. Vladika answered it. I don't know who it was, but I'll never forget how at one point in the conversation Vladika dropped the receiver and dozed off. The receiver lay in his lap, but Vladika, dozing, continued for a long time to listen and respond to the person at the other end of the line. According to the physical laws of nature this was impossible — either for Vladika to hear the person who called him, or for that person to hear what Vladika replied. Nevertheless, from what was said — and it was a lengthy conversation — it was clear that this is just what miraculously transpired!
Once Vladika was brought dinner in his study. I remember: there was a plate of borscht and some pudding in a mug. He was alone; I was in an adjacent room where I was brought my dinner. Through the open door I watched as Vladika poured the sweet pudding into the plate with the borscht and proceeded to eat this unappetizing concoction. At that time, it seemed to me, a child, these were perfectly natural things for Vladika to do.
All of us boys, acolytes, loved Vladika, in spite of his strictness. (Once, for some mischief, Vladika had the watchman take a belt to the offenders.) For me, Vladika became a hero, and I decided to imitate him in everything. When Great Lent came, I stopped sleeping in my bed and lay on the floor; I stopped eating normally with my family and ate only bread and water, etc. My parents got worried and took me to Vladika. After listening to them, Vladika asked the watchman to go to the store for some sausage. To my tearful remonstrance, "but it's Great Lent," the wise archpastor ordered me to eat the sausage and always to remember that obedience to one's parents was more important than self-willed fasting. "What should I do now, Vladika?" I asked, still desiring some "special" ascetic practice. "Attend the church services as you already do, and at home do as your father and mother tell you." I remember how hurt I was that Vladika didn't prescribe any "special" podvigs.
I remember another extraordinary incident which I personally witnessed. It was a weekday and the Liturgy was celebrated by one of the cathedral priests. Vladika John stood in his usual place. As I recall, I was serving in the altar, although I can't remember for sure. I do remember how this priest, during his sermon, verbally abused Vladika, pointing at him and using such words as "snake," "scorpion," "toad," "hypocrite," and the like. Vladika continued standing in his place, and showed not the slightest reaction to his priest's outlandish attacks; he continued to read from some book there on his analogion. Papa later told me how he and many others, upset by the priesf s intolerable behavior towards his hierarch, asked Vladika to punish the offender, but Vladika took no measures, saying that it was his personal affair. What holy meekness! In general, no one ever heard Vladika utter even a single word of judgment — of anyone.
The late Archpriest Seraphim Slobodskoy told me how he once asked Vladika, "Who is responsible for the deplorable strife surrounding the San Francisco cathedral" (then under construction)? Vladika answered very simply: "The devil."
"Care of souls" — this best defines the principal motivation of the whole life and activity of this great man of prayer and holy life, great not only in our lukewarm age, but — I firmly believe — in the whole history of the universal Church of Christ. How otherwise can one explain all that to which I was a living witness? How, for example, his face would literally be transformed during Divine Liturgy on great feasts, emanating an unearthly light; and his eyes, always full of divine love, clearly reflected that ineffable joy — unattainable for us sinners — at the presence of the Holy Spirit. Or how on Pascha night he flew around the vast Shanghai cathedral, as if borne by angels, shouting from an excess of jubilation the victorious proclamation: "Christ is Risen!" "Christ is Risen!" It seemed that his genuine exultation knew no bounds; he was entirely suffused in the joy of Christ, Whom he loved with a consummate, genuine love.
But what was most amazing was his gift of being able to see into the human heart and draw it to Christ. Were it not for this righteous man, I would never have even thought of serving the Church in the priestly rank. It was incredible how precisely he foretold what would happen to us! In October 1949 he wrote to my brother and me — we were only thirteen and fifteen years old and had just arrived in Australia from the Philippines but already were going less frequently to church — warning us: "In departing from the paths of the Lord, we can get only temporary satisfaction from carnal pleasures; later we feel the bitterness of that evil which had seemed so sweet." Today, thirty-five years later, I still cannot read these prophetic words without burning tears of gratitude.
He knew that I would write to him, May 19/June 1,1960: "How I should like to talk with you personally, Vladika! So much has happened, so much has imprinted itself on my mind after our time in the Philippines that I do not even recognize myself. The spiritual aspirations of my youth have long ago drowned in a sinful, materialist environment." But the righteous one saw that my spiritual aspirations had not "drowned" altogether, and he continued to call me to serve the Church, advising me "to get a theological education and for this purpose to enroll in Holy Trinity Seminary. May the Lord help you and bless you on this path!" (Letter from January 18/31,1961)
Of course, I have no words to express my gratitude for the love of this unforgettable archpastor. During the earthly life of a hierarch we exclaim: "By the prayers of our holy Vladika, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us!" but inasmuch as God is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matt. 22:32), according to the incontrovertible words of the Saviour Himself, to this day I continue to call upon Vladika John for help with that same prayer.
I constantly thank God that He granted me to be a witness of His great Saint, by whose prayers I did not sink utterly into the vanity of this world. I am certain that the day will come when the Church on earth will glorify Vladika John as one of those "of whom the whole world is not worthy," and we shall render thanks to God, "wondrous in His saints."
Archpriest George Larin