Notes
of a Pilgrim on the Glorification of St. John of Shanghai and San
Francisco, 1994
Arriving in San Francisco,
I was anxious and excited over the forthcoming event. As a pilgrim
of the 20th century, I did not go on foot, but arrived by plane
from my native Ottawa. I had earlier participated in the glorification
of the Elders of Optina, the New Martyrs of Russia, Blessed Xenia
of St. Petersburg, but heading for California, I knew that this
time it would be different.
At earlier canonizations,
we had glorified those who had lived long before us and far away.
Now we were to glorify a saint who lived in North America. St. John
was appointed to the Western American Diocese in1962 and departed
to the Lord only 28 years ago, in 1966, in Seattle. I know people,
fairly young in fact, and older, who knew this righteous man personally
and told me of their contact with him. Many of us had already visited
the Cathedral of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow"
in San Francisco, and prayed in the crypt under the church where
he is laid to rest.
But this glorification
differed from the others in yet another way. In October 1993, in
connection with the preparations for the canonization, a special
committee appointed by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
descended into the crypt and opened the sarcophagus and coffin of
Vladyka John. The committee discovered that everything that should
have remained whole—the metal coffin, the brocaded vestments and
everything made by human hands—rusted and rotted away, but the body
of the bishop remained incorrupt. The clergymen of the committee,
who had known Vladyka John during his lifetime, saw his face, his
beard and hands, and said that it was still so familiar, that it
felt as though Vladyka returned to his flock. By the time of his
glorification, the relics of Vladyka John were washed, adorned in
new vestments and transferred to a beautiful new hand-carved wooden
sarcophagus. For the first time, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside
of Russia glorified her own saint and conducted the ceremonious
disclosing of the uncorrupted relics.
I flew out on Thursday,
June 30, 1994. When my plane descended into San Francisco, I felt
a certain lightness in my heart, and a Paschal joy accompanied me—I
had felt the same thing in Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville,
or at the Near and Far Caves of the Kievo-Pechersk Lavra. I had
often visited San Francisco, but I had this feeling for the first
time—that the relics of Vladyka John were no longer hidden away
but shone for all who came to him. I think that even common travelers
felt different in that airport that day. From all sides one could
see bishops in their rassas, priests, monksÉ His Grace Bishop Hilarion
arrived from New York at the same time as I, carrying the Kursk-Root
Icon of the Mother of God. Taking his blessing, I noticed his joyous
and shining face—this mood was ubiquitous among all the pilgrims.
I was told that during
liturgy on Thursday there were over a thousand worshipers—yet the
main services lay ahead! On Thursday evening, the enormous church
was overfilled with people. There were three holy icons to be welcomed:
the Kursk-Root Icon, the Iveron Myrrh-streaming Icon and the Vladimir
Icon (which renewed itself, a locally-venerated icon from a convent
in San Francisco), all of the Mother of God; following this was
a parastas [memorial service]. Two mens' choirs saing antiphonally
on the kliros (I was invited to direct the right-hand choir). After
the 6th song of the canon, the entire church sang the kondakion
"May his repose be with the saints." On Friday, the funerary
liturgy began at 8 am, and over 500 people partook of the Holy Mysteries,
administered from three chalices. The Cathedral Choir, probably
the best in North America, consisting of 100 singers, sang at all
the services, beginning with this liturgy. On Friday evening and
Saturday, the late liturgy was sung by the SS Kyrill and Methodius
High School Chorus, supplemented by visiting youth—some 100 people!
It is worth noting that
everything was wonderfully organized. Despite the multitude of worshipers
and the long services, everything was done calmly and spiritually.
On Friday, after liturgy, hundreds of volunteers helped prepare
everything for vigil and the liturgies. The glorification was preceded
by a three-day conference, which ended with a touching description
by witnesses of the uncovering, washing and vesting of the relics
of St. John. Photographers were preparing for the services, not
only for a movie, but for direct relay of the service to the church
hall, where many of the elderly and parents with children were found,
and to an enormous screen standing before the Cathedral, so that
all could see and hear the services. With the help of the police,
the boulevard was closed to traffic. A group of clergymen, including
two priests, who carved the wonderful iconostasis of the Cathedral
15 years earlier, were now finishing the canopy over the sarcophagus
with the relics of St. John—this canopy was now to become the earthly
abode of the saint. The entire time, more and more clergymen arrived
and took their places in the altar. Everything was ready.
The translation of the
relics from the crypt to the Cathedral was scheduled for Friday
at 3 pm. A group of pilgrims from Toronto arrived at the church
at 2:30 and it was already impossible to enter. My friend from Toronto,
a pilgrim named Anna, was very upset that she could not enter the
church, when suddenly she saw an acquaintance who gave her a pass
to ascend to the choir (Anna was a singer). I received my choir
pass a day before—these passes not only allowed us to sing at the
services, but gave us the chance to see everything happening in
the church below. The Cathedral, inside and out, was filled with
a great many people, but all were silent. The enormous church, despite
its size, effused warmth and comfort. Partly this was because of
the icons and frescoes, the work of the eminent icon-painter Archimandrite
Kyprian of Jordanville. The Cathedral in San Francisco would be
familiar to anyone who has seen his icons in Holy Trinity Monastery
in Jordanville.
Finally, the clergy
emerged from the altar, and, led by the choir, headed for the crypt.
The sarcophagus was raised onto shoulders and after 28 years of
cover, it was brought upstairs to the cathedral. The sarcophagus
with the relics was covered with a mantle and placed in the center
of the church. After the reading of the rules before Communion (the
three canons and the akathist), at exactly 4:30, the final pannikhida
for Vladyka John began. At my parish at home there was also a final
pannikhida served (at 7:30 our time), and though I was far from
home, I was in union with the prayers of my fellow parishioners.
Grandly and with trepidation (but not in the weak, contemporary
sense of the word), the words "Eternal memory" were sung
for the final time!
During the pannikhida,
the sarcophagus stood like a coffin during a funeral service, facing
the altar. By the time of the singing of "With the Souls of
the RighteousÉ" the coffin was turned 90 degrees, so that it
now stood like the plashchanitsa during Great Friday. For the prayers
for his repose had ended. St. John would soon be glorified by the
Church! In the Orthodox Church, glorification is an act of that
which is already apparent—that someone is holy through his life,
word and deed. And at this celebration, the Church and her children
were truly represented. Clergymen from around the world, some 200
of them, were headed by His Eminence Metropolitan Vitaly. Bishops
from the Old-Calendary Rumanian, Greek and Bulgarian Churches stood
in the altar and prayed. In the church itself was a great multitude
of monastics from Jordanville, Lesna Convent in France, from Jerusalem,
South America, Russia and Australia, and also bishops and clergymen
from various Orthodox jurisdictions. Some people noted that it seemed
as thought the entire Church Abroad was at the canonization. Others
compared the celebration to the holiday of the Dormition of the
Most-Holy Mother of God, when the apostles "from all corners"
gathered at the tomb of the Most-Pure. Indeed, people gathered for
the glorification of St. John from all points on the globe, on the
anniversary of his death, as though he himself collected all of
us, Orthodox Christians, Russians and those of other nationalities,
other peoples and races. We had one goal—to glorify the bishop.
Much has already been
written about the vigil that day. In will briefly note some moments
of the service itself, but I will draw the reader's attention to
what I had felt during those moments. Vigil began right after the
pannikhida. A third choir joined the first two, a male choir. At
first I heard the stichera and prayers to the new saint. The worshipers
were reminded of his ascetic life. He paid little attention to his
needs, a great deal of attention towards the needs of others. About
this, the troparion says: "Wholly sanctified by God through
the ministry of the all-pure Mysteries, and thyself strengthened
thereby, thou didst hasten unto suffering, O most gladsome healer."
During the litany, the clergymen emerged with the coffin, and in
a procession of the cross, circled the Cathedral." But no one,
I believe, will ever forget the polyeleos. In order to give everyone
who served the opportunity to emerge from the altar for the polyeleos,
the choirs antiphonally sang the 21 sticherion of the 134th and
135th psalms "Praise the name of the Lord." Priests surrounded
the bishops in 5 or 6 rows. After the singing of the psalms, the
Cathedral was absolutely silent. Everyone's attention was focused
on the sarcophagus. First His Eminence Metropolitan Vitaly removed
the cloth from the icon of the saint (the icon lay in the sarcophagus),
and two priests (one monastic, one from the lay clergy), raised
it for all to see. Then, the mantle was removed from the coffin,
and finally, a key opened the locks, the cover was opened, and the
very relics of St. John were visible through the glass. There are
no words to describe the feeling of humility and love which overcame
all who saw the incorrupt relics of the saint in his white Paschal
vestments. We awaited this moment for years, months, days, and as
it finally arrived, we were not prepared for the reaction this moment
incurred. Thousands of people in the cathedral, in the hall and
outside stood breathless. This was one of the most profound moments
of my life. Everyone fell to their knees before the relics and then
the clergymen, in an unequalled choir of 200 male voices, joyfully
sang "We magnify thee, Holy Father John!"
From that moment on,
the worshipers could not hold back their tears. I looked around
and everywhere, people were crying from joy. We, especially the
singers, tried to concentrate on the prayers we sang, but it was
impossible to hold back—Vladyka John truly returned to his flock.
The sight of his relics forced us to think about his life, his miracles,
his labors in Shanghai and in San Francisco, how he was able to
unify church forces and complete the construction of magnificent
cathedrals. Between singing prayers, we gazed upon his relics and
again broke out in tears. The entire vigil continued this way. Though
people approached his relics from two sides of the sarcophagus,
the veneration still lasted for some four hours. The people prostrated
themselves, wept, kissed his relics, applied paper icons and prayer
beads to the glass. Most of the people had arrived at the Cathedral
at 2 pm, and here, 9 hours later, they did not wish to leave.
The Cathedral has three
altars, and so it was possible to conduct three liturgies on Saturday,
July 2, at 2 am, and 5 am and the main liturgy at 7:30 am. I was
honored to direct the two choirs, along with Peter Alexeevich Fekula,
at the first liturgy. This was sung by all the worshipers in the
church in Slavonic and English. Peter Alexeevich and I had prepared
70 photocopies of the texts and notes, thinking that only 300 people
would be at the 2 am liturgy. People, after all, need to sleep.
We were mistaken. There were over 1000 people there, and some 700
of them partook of Communion. After the solemn vigil, now it seemed
everything was calmer. The whole church sang the Eucharistic canon
in unison, in the znamenny tone, and we felt a special peace in
our souls, unforgettable to this day. After 22 hours in church,
I headed home to get some rest.
Most of the clergy served
at late liturgy, but almost all the priests and worshipers who attended
early services returned to the end of the last service to participate
in the moleben and procession of the cross—I had not seen such a
procession in the Russian diaspora. Thousands emerged from the Cathedral
into the street. The clergy carried the sarcophagus with the relics
of St. John by means of a special armature. From the windows of
nearby houses, many watched, unwittingly bowing before the procession
with the relics. My heart softened to see how our priest from Uganda
carried one of the Miraculous Icons. When I reentered the Cathedral
with the choir, I was surprised to see that the church was already
filled with people.
After the services,
I had the opportunity to take part in a feast organized in an enormous
hall in the center of San Francisco. During the trapeze, in which
some 1500 people participated, we shared our experiences. I was
able to meet with our archpastors, pastors, monks and brethren and
sisters in Christ, many of whom I had not seen in 15 years. I was
able to spend some time talking to a few of them. Many had a similar
goal for their trip to San Francisco as I did—to gain spiritual
strengthening and direction in our difficult and complicated times.
We remembered many of those who because of their health could not
come to this event, for example, Fr. Archimandrite Kyprian. We did
not forget those who was no longer with us, but, thanks to whom
we remained close to the Church throughout our lives. It is likely
that without them we would not have participated in this celebration.
We began to think about how important the way we were reared from
childhood proved to be, how important it was that our parents took
us to Jordanville and taught us to understand our faith. We also
thought about how many children participated in the services of
glorification—in the choirs, serving in the altar and standing in
church with their parents. Some pilgrims were disappointed that
their children could not come with them. One local priest told me
that after early liturgy, he came home and was expecting to eat
eggs, kulichi and sausages, only to remember that this wasn't Pascha,
but the Fast of SS Peter and Paul.
That evening, at vigil,
the sarcophagus with the relics was moved from the middle of the
Cathedral and placed under the canopy on the right side of the church.
During the following days, pilgrims did not depart, but continued
to approach the relics and venerate them during services. The time
came to venerate them for the last time and to bid farewell to everyone.
On the way home, in the plane, I was able to think about the wondrous
week I spent in San Francisco, and I was saddened that everything
ended. Then I remembered a sermon spoken by Vladyka Metropolitan
Vitaly many years ago. He said that after Pascha we return to our
daily, gray lives, but that Pascha had given us the opportunity
to endure and survive them, this recollection of Pascha and theat
bright joy which it brings. Those of us who were able to go to San
Francisco during those days will always remember the glorification
of St. John. Hierarch and Miracle-worker John, pray to God for us.
Reader
George Skok
Toronto, Canada
Russky Pastyr, No. 20, 1994
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