Schema-Igumen John (russian: Схиигумен Иоанн, fi, Skeemaigumeeni Johannes, born Ivan Alekseyevich Alekseyev, russian: link=no, Иван Алексеевич Алексеев; 26 February 1873, village Gubka,
Novotorzhsky Uyezd
Novotorzhsky Uyezd was an administrative-territorial unit (uyezd) of the Tver Governorate as part of the Russian Empire and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The uyezd town was Torzhok.
Geography
The county was located in the centr ...
,
Tver Governorate
Tver Governorate (russian: Тверская губерния, ''Tverskaya guberniya'') was an administrative division (a ''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, Russian SFSR, which existed from 1796 ...
,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
– 5 June 1958,
New Valamo
New Valamo or New Valaam ( fi, Valamon luostari, or more informally, especially in the postal address: ''Uusi-Valamo'', sv, Valamo nya kloster, russian: Ново-Валаамский) is an Orthodox monastery in Heinävesi, Finland. The monas ...
,
Heinävesi
Heinävesi () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Savonlinna, Varka ...
,
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
), canonized as St. John of Valamo ( fi, link=no, Johannes Valamolainen, russian: link=no, Иоанн Валаамский), was a
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
in both
Old Valamo and New Valamo and the head of the
Petsamo Monastery. Some of his letters, containing many pieces of spiritual advice have been published in English in a book called '' Christ in Our Midst. Letters from a Russian Monk''.
Origins and early monastic life
Early life
Fr. John was born to a
peasant
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...
family in Russia in the Tver Guberniya on 26 February 1873, and his
lay name
A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of registration of the birth and which then ap ...
was Ivan Alekseevich Alekseev.
[Johannes: ''Valamon vanhuksen kirjeitä'', p. 11.] The family consisted of the parents and a sister and two brothers, in addition to Ivan.
[Johannes: ''Valamon vanhuksen kirjeitä'', p. 17.]
Young Ivan learned to
read
Read
Read may refer to:
* Reading, human cognitive process of decoding symbols in order to construct or derive meaning
* Read (automobile), an American car manufactured from 1913 to 1915
* Read (biology), an inferred sequence of base pairs of ...
, taught by a tailor who visited his house and worked on furs there. In his own memoirs, he said he was not a very good student and that his sister learned the
Russian letters before him, but in the end he, too, learned to read. Ivan soon developed a liking to reading and acquired Lives of the Saints, published as small booklets.
Together with his parents, he often visited e.g. the famous
Volokolamsk Monastery. There he idea took root in his mind that he, too, would come to live in a monastery.
A hard school for future life
At the age of thirteen, Ivan Alekseev left home and went to
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
and began to work in a bar owned by his elder brother; there he would see the dark side of the human nature in all its wretchedness. He said much later, that for a future spiritual guide, there would not have been a better place to get acquainted with the joys and sorrows of human life, especially with its agony and anxiety.
In St. Petersburg he bought many new books.
The call of the monastic life prevails
From St. Petersburg, life took young Ivan through the
Konevets Monastery
Konevsky Monastery (russian: Рождество-Богородичный Коневский монастырь (as it is written on the seal of the monastery), fi, Konevitsan Jumalansynnyttäjän syntymän luostari) is a Russian Orthodox monastery ...
to the
Valamo Monastery
The Valaam Monastery (russian: Валаамский монастырь; Finnish version: ''Valamo Monastery'') is a stauropegic Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox monastery in Russian Republic of Karelia, Karelia, located on Valaam, the largest isl ...
, where in 1889 at the age of 16, he became a
novice
A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession
A profession is a field of work that has ...
. He stayed there for four years, but then he was conscripted to the
Russian Army
The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска В Sukhoputnyye voyska V, also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces.
The primary responsibilities of the Russian Gro ...
, where he spent four years serving in a
sharpshooter
A sharpshooter is one who is highly proficient at firing firearms or other projectile weapons accurately. Military units composed of sharpshooters were important factors in 19th-century combat. Along with "marksman" and "expert", "sharpshooter" i ...
battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...
. After that he lived with his father for two years and then returned to Valamo in 1900.
In 1907 he became a member of the brotherhood, and in 1910 he was
tonsure
Tonsure () is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion or humility. The term originates from the Latin word ' (meaning "clipping" or "shearing") and referred to a specific practice in ...
d a monk and given a new name, Brother Iakinf, after the Greek martyr Yakinthos (Hyacinth, d. 98 A.D.).
Brother Iakinf served the monastery eagerly, but a two-year assignment to the monastery's
podvor’e in St. Petersburg was difficult for him, but he took it with obedience, and when he returned to Valamo, he was given a reward: he was assigned to the
St. John the Baptist Skete, of which he had dreamed, a place known for its strenuous life of
fasting
Fasting is the abstention from eating and sometimes drinking. From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (see " Breakfast"), or to the metabolic state achieved after ...
and profound prayer. There he spent six years, working hard and praying, as an assistant to the hermit monks and as their fellow prayer.
[Panteleimon: ''Valamon paterikon'', p. 268.]
Iakinf was happy at the skete, as he loved its peace and quiet. He also appreciated the guidance in spiritual life written by holy fathers who had contended through the centuries. This literature was his favourite reading, most of all ''
Philokalia
The ''Philokalia'' ( grc, φιλοκαλία, lit=love of the beautiful, from ''philia'' "love" and ''kallos'' "beauty") is "a collection of texts written between the 4th and 15th centuries by spiritual masters" of the mystical hesychast trad ...
''. The peace of the skete provided a good setting for immersing oneself in these writings.
The
Independence of Finland
Finland declared its independence on 6 December 1917. The formal Declaration of Independence was only part of the long process leading to the independence of Finland.
History Proclamation of Empress Elizabeth (1742)
The subject of an independ ...
and the
did not affect this place of calm and prayer.
A hard and difficult assignment in the far north
On 19 October 1921 Brother Iakinf was assigned to the
Pechenga Monastery
The Pechenga Monastery (russian: Печенгский монастырь; fi, Petsamon luostari) was for many centuries the northernmost monastery in the world. It was founded in 1533 at the influx of the Pechenga River into the Barents Sea, 135& ...
, as its
igumen
Hegumen, hegumenos, or igumen ( el, ἡγούμενος, trans. ), is the title for the head of a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, similar to the title of abbot. The head of a convent of nuns is called a hegumenia ...
. The choice of Brother Iakinf was surprising, as he was an ordinary monk. In the space of a short time, he was consecrated as a
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
and then a priest. He was given two weeks to prepare for the new assignment and to learn how to conduct the divine services.
This task was a hard and a difficult one, but Igumen Iakinf stayed there for ten years, without a murmur. Compared to Valamo, the monks in Petsamo were quite uneducated, and spiritual guidance and teaching literacy were the most challenging tasks of the new igumen. However, Iakinf would find that the brethren were hard working and diligent, but spiritual life had remained somewhat alien to them, which could be seen in their missing services and in their lack of knowledge of spiritual literature. Iakinf pointed these things out to the brethren and was able to achieve a change in these things.
However, in 1924 he experienced problems, due to which he considered leaving the monastery. He reprimanded the brethren, when the monk Aleksei had told him he should not have a
Lapp man live at the monastery. He also called to their attention that monk Anatoli had sworn during haymaking and that the latter had told his father confessor to shut up when he had reprimanded him. In addition to this, he had to call to the attention of the brethren that they missed services regularly and that various sales and building projects had been initiated without his blessing. He thus considered that his position as the head of the monastery had been undermined and that he was unworthy to lead it, and he therefore announced that he would return to Valamo. However, all of the brethren begged him to stay, which he ended up doing.
Living in the far north he was still very far from the controversy concerning chronology, which did not really concern the Petsamo Monastery at all, since the monastery had already earlier decided to use the
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
.
Returning home
In October 1931, Fr. John asked to be relieved of his position in Petsamo, and he was now able to return to Valamo, where he was tonsured to the
Great Schema
The degrees of Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic monasticism are the stages an Eastern Orthodox monk or nun passes through in their religious vocation.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the process of becoming a monk or nun is intentionally slo ...
and given a new name: he was now known as Schema-Igumen John.
The new Schema-Igumen was allowed to return to his beloved St. John the Baptist Skete to continue his monastic life. Even there he was not totally alienated from the world: one summer he had an assistant there,
a young novice by the name of Georgi, who later became a hieromonk and in 1955 vicar bishop, and finally in 1960,
Archbishop
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...
of
Karelia and All Finland. The old hermit and the young novice became fast friends.
Father John was able to rejoice and see his young friend become a vicar bishop, but not rise to the office of archbishop, although he could anticipate it – every Orthodox Christian in the country could see that the old and frail Archbishop
Herman
Herman may refer to:
People
* Herman (name), list of people with this name
* Saint Herman (disambiguation)
* Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman
Places in the United States
* Herman, Arkansas
* Herman, Michigan
* Herman, Min ...
was preparing his young protégé to become his successor, only this was not being talked about.
The number of the monastics was dwindling in Valamo, as it was cut off from Russia and no new members of brethren could come from there. He now had to move to the main monastery for the winters, acting there as an assistant to the father confessor from 1937 on.
In this position he made some friends for life. The most memorable of these confession children was Jelena Armfelt from
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
, with whom he then had an extensive
correspondence.
In exile
Taking new root
![Valamon_luostarin_27_veljesta](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Valamon_luostarin_27_veljesta.jpg)
The difficult days of the
Winter War
The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...
arrived in Valamo, including the people of the St. John the Baptist Skete. They all had to be evacuated from Valamo. When the monastery was being bombed during the war, Fr. John had sat calmly in his cell and read the Gospel, not minding the windows being broken and the doors swinging open due to the blasts from exploding bombs. During the hasty evacuation, he took along mainly spiritual literature, and later he lamented not having been able to take with him the two
icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...
s on his wall, one of which he had received from his parents.
The elderly hermit showed an example to his younger monastic brethren, and he helped to make the difficult time easier for them. Later father confessor, Hieromonk Savva (Stepan Savinski), who had been appointed responsible for the evacuation, said in the 1970s that Fr. John's quiet dignity made it easy to lead the evacuation. The Vuoskoski school at
Kannonkoski
Kannonkoski is a municipality of Finland.
It is located in the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Karstula, Kivij ...
was the first destination for the evacuated monks; while living there six of the old monks died. A monument was erected for them at the Kannonkoski cemetery.
A new and permanent home for the elderly monks was found in Papinniemi,
Heinävesi
Heinävesi () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Savonlinna, Varka ...
. This was a deserted mansion that belonged to a company called
Saastamoinen, which was purchased for the monastery.
Fr. John became very fond of the new home in exile, and he condemned any longing for
Lake Ladoga
Lake Ladoga (; rus, Ла́дожское о́зеро, r=Ladozhskoye ozero, p=ˈladəʂskəjə ˈozʲɪrə or rus, Ла́дога, r=Ladoga, p=ˈladəɡə, fi, Laatokka arlier in Finnish ''Nevajärvi'' ; vep, Ladog, Ladoganjärv) is a fresh ...
as "temptation to sin". In a letter to one of his confession children he said that he no longer even thinks of
ldValamo.
In New Valamo in Heinävesi he was made an elder, to whom were sent the rare new novices and others who needed guidance and spiritual help. He was given his own room in a large barrack like building, in its eastern end, upstairs, and there he lived almost to the end of his life.
After his death, the same room became the permanent residence of the father confessor, until the new house for the monks was completed. During three decades, many hundreds of people coming to confessions knocked on its door and said the
Jesus prayer
The Jesus Prayer,; syr, ܨܠܘܬܐ ܕܝܫܘܥ, translit=slotho d-yeshu'; syr, label=Amharic, Geez and Tigrinya, እግዚኦ መሐረነ ክርስቶስ, translit=igizi'o meḥarene kirisitosi. "Note: We are still searching the Fathers for t ...
and thus asked for permission to enter, which they were granted when they heard the word "Amen" from the room.
Difficult moments
In the summer of 1947, the head of the monastery who had led it during the evacuation, Igumen Hariton (Dunaev) was tonsured to the Great Schema, but his time in this capacity was short, as he was ill with an advanced form of cancer, which claimed him in October the same year.
Fr. John was appointed the new head of the monastery, but the church administration did not confirm the appointment, as a person tonsured into the Great Schema could not be elected a head of a monastery. This position was given to Hieromonk Ieronim, who died five years later. His successor was Hieromonk Nestor, before this the treasurer of the monastery, who held this position for 15 years.
Spiritual counsel
In 1948, the last father confessor of Old Valamo, Schema Igumen Yefrem, who had lived in the
Smolensk Skete, died, and now Fr. John was given this position, in which he stayed until his death in 1958.
Fr. John had a lively correspondence with this confession children, and for many of them his letters were a source of great comfort in the midst of grief, trials and tribulations. During the days of need after the war, these people sent him food, for which he was deeply grateful.
One of these confession children was
Tito Colliander, who describes his confessor in the book ''Ateria'' (‘The Dinner’), which appeared in 1975. In the book one can find a grim picture of what it meant to be an Orthodox monk in the post-war Finland.
The hermit becomes a published writer
While Fr. John was still alive, a book of his letters to his confession children was published.
Hieromonk Paul, who was the editor-in-chief of the magazine ''
Aamun Koitto'' in the early 1950s, translated some of these letters into
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
and published them in the magazine. These beautiful letters were so well received that in 1953, the idea then came up of publishing them in a book form. After many difficulties, the book was published in Russian in 1956 as duplicates from typed pages with the title "Letters from a Valamo elder". When the idea of having a cover done by
Ina Colliander did not work out, Fr. John drew a picture for the cover himself. The readers received the book favourably, but in Valamo, the reception was sour and even hostile. Fr. John commented on this himself:
The book was published in
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
in 1976, and as before, the texts were translated and edited by
Archbishop Paul
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...
. However, a new cover was devised: a stylized image of the main monastery in Lake Ladoga, and above it, a black and white photograph of Fr. John. The Valamo Monastery has issued the book again at least three times, in 1992, 2008 and 2012.
The book has also been published in English with the title ''Christ in Our Midst. Letters from a Russian Monk'', in England in 1979 and in the United States in 1980, translated from the Russian texts that had appeared in Paris in a journal called ''L’Eternel'' (Vechnoe).
New editions in Russian have been published in Russia at least in 1997, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016.
It has reportedly also been published in
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
. His biography has been published originally in Finnish in 1985 and then in Russian in 2006 and 2009.
Death
On 5 June 1958, novice Andrei Peschkoff was going to a local grocery store and went to Fr. John to ask him if he needed anything from the store. The elder sat quietly in his bed and did not answer. Peschkoff was frightened and went to fetch Hieromonk Gabriel, who could see that Fr. John was dead.
Many of the confession children were present at Fr. John's funeral, most notably Tito Colliander, together with his family, and Klaudia Korelin ja Jelena Armfelt. The funeral was conducted by Archbishop
Herman
Herman may refer to:
People
* Herman (name), list of people with this name
* Saint Herman (disambiguation)
* Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman
Places in the United States
* Herman, Arkansas
* Herman, Michigan
* Herman, Min ...
, the last of such tasks he would perform.
Memory of the beloved spiritual guide
Jelena Armfelt kept all the letters of guidance she had received from Fr. John, and turned them over to the head of the Valamo Monastery, Igumen
Panteleimon. He read the letters through carefully and decided that based on them and the archives of the monastery one could write a decent biography of the Valamo elder, whose letters and teaching were loved, but who had remained a distant figure. The book was published in 1985 by the monastery.
On 5 June 2008, a memorial service was conducted at his grave, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death.
Canonization
Fr. John's name came up when the
Synod of Bishops of the
Finnish Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church of Finland ( fi, Suomen ortodoksinen kirkko, lit=Finnish Orthodox Church; sv, Ortodoxa kyrkan i Finland, lit=Orthodox Church in Finland; ) is an autonomous Eastern Orthodox archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Consta ...
considered Finns for a possible
canonization
Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of ...
. In March 2016, the synod of bishops of the
Finnish Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church of Finland ( fi, Suomen ortodoksinen kirkko, lit=Finnish Orthodox Church; sv, Ortodoxa kyrkan i Finland, lit=Orthodox Church in Finland; ) is an autonomous Eastern Orthodox archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Consta ...
made a proposal on the canonization of Fr. John and
Johannes Karhapää
Johannes Vasilinpoika Karhapää (or Ivan Vasilievich Karhapää, (13 July 1884, Sonkajanranta, Ilomantsi, Grand Duchy of Finland – 7 or 8 March 1918, Joensuu, Finland) was a Finnish Karelian teacher and an Eastern Orthodox missionary who was k ...
. On 29 November 2018, the Holy Synod of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...
"recorded in the Hagiologion of the Orthodox Church" the two proposed names. His feast of canonization was held at
New Valamo Monastery
New Valamo or New Valaam ( fi, Valamon luostari, or more informally, especially in the postal address: ''Uusi-Valamo'', sv, Valamo nya kloster, russian: Ново-Валаамский) is an Orthodox monastery in Heinävesi, Finland. The monaste ...
,
Heinävesi
Heinävesi () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Savonlinna, Varka ...
,
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
31 May and 1 June 2019.
Books
Book in English
*''Christ is in Our Midst. Letters from a Russian Monk.'' Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd., London, England, 1979, and St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, Crestwood, NY, 1980 (second printing in Crestwood, 1996). Originally published in Russian in ''Vechnoe'' (‘L’Eternel’), Paris, 1961.
*Archimandrite Panteleimon. ''A Star in the Heavens. The Life of Father John of Valamo.'' Valamo Monastery, Heinävesi, Finland, 1991.
Books in Finnish
*
*
*
*
Book in Russian
*''Письма валаамского старца.'' Friends of Valamo (Finland), 1984.
Sources
*Igumeni Panteleimon: ''Isä Johannes – Valamon Vanhuksen skeemaigumeni Johanneksen (1874–1958) elämäkerta.'' (‘Fr. John — biography of Schema-Igumen John(1874–1958)’.) Valamo Monastery, 1985.
*Johannes, skeemaigumeeni: ''Valamon vanhuksen kirjeitä'', translated into Finnish by Archbishop Paul. Heinävesi, Valamon luostari, 1992.
References
External links
A film on Fr. John by Nikolai Yakimchuk (in Russian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:John Of Valamo
1873 births
1958 deaths
People from Tver Governorate
Eastern Orthodox monks
Russian Eastern Orthodox priests
20th-century Russian writers
Russian spiritual writers
20th-century Finnish writers
20th-century Christian saints