Sermon of the Holy Confessor Arseny (Stadnitsky), Metropolitan of Novgorod and Starorussk, at the solemn session of the Holy Council dedicated to the memory of the martyred Metropolitan Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky) of Kiev, February 15, 1918

Your Holiness, Eminent Archpastors, Fathers, Brothers and Sisters!

Arseny (Stadnitsky), Metropolitan of Novgorod and Starorussk.

Not so long ago, His Eminence Vladyka Vladimir, before the election of His Holiness, presided over the Council and gave it a blessing in this cathedral chamber, which was built by his labors. Not long ago we accompanied him to Kiev, hoping to see him here again and to work together for the good of the Holy Church. And now we have gathered here to commemorate his martyrdom. It is my sad duty to honor with my feeble words the holy man who was killed by villains. I am prompted to do this by my personal relationship with the reposed Hierarch. As his spiritual son by the grace of the episcopacy, I was among those who did not fit closely in his loving heart (2 Corinthians 6:12). But I will not weave a wreath of praise for him, although for this purpose I could gather many beautiful and fragrant flowers. And what do these praises mean, when the Lord has already crowned him with an unfading crown, a crown of martyrdom? Let my brief speech be a handful of earth on his still-fresh grave.

The name of Metropolitan Vladimir became familiar to me in 1896, when I was rector of Novgorod Seminary. Before that, Vladyka had lived in Novgorod for 5 years (from 1886 to 1891), first as abbot of the Monastery of St Anthony the Roman, and then as vicar of the St Petersburg Metropolia. Five years have passed since the Vladyka left Novgorod. This is a short period, yet sufficient for the memory of him not to fade. The memory of Vladyka Vladimir is still too fresh. The Novgorodians remembered him as an outstanding preacher, a meek archpastor, accessible to all. And then, five years after Vladyka's sojourn in Novgorod, and now, almost 30 years after his departure from the city, the Novgorodians of his time, now already with gray hair, preserve the reverent memory of His Grace Vladimir with spiritual gratitude and love.

Their love was at the time expressed with special zeal as he bid farewell to Novgorod, before his departure to the Samara cathedra. The people’s spokesman was a 70-year-old elder, cathedral Archpriest VS Orantsky, a contemporary of Archimandrite Photius and Countess AA Orlova. In his speech, he said, among other things: "Without any admixture of flattery, but on the contrary, at the direct request of a clear conscience, I dare to say before Your Grace that everything that you have revealed, whether in the reverent performance of the divine service, or in the preaching of the word of God during private, especially important occasions in church and outside it, when each time the power and beauty of the word captivated the hearts of all the listeners, whether in the performance of administrative deeds, whether at home, in public address and private conversation, — all this bears the character of the greatness of the hierarch, from the depths of his mind, impressionable, and the goodness of the Gospel, revealed and commanded by the Lord Himself.

“With charm you delight us while preserving your lofty dignity leading to reverence and trepidation of you." According to the chronicler of that time, all the people who then overflowed St Sofia Cathedral audibly wept, so strong and intense was the love of the Russian Orthodox people for their meek, kind, and enlightened archpastor. Vladyka himself was deeply touched by such expressions of love for him, attributing it to our common Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Considering the time of his stay in Novgorod to be the best period of his life, he promised never to forget the Novgorodians in his prayers: “If I forget thee, O God-preserved Novgorod, let my right hand be forgotten; Cleave my tongue to my throat, if I do not remember you...”

And he really cherished the finest memories of Novgorod. I had the pleasure of receiving him twice in Novgorod, and the Novgorodians met and saw off their former archpastor with the same love as 30 years earlier. This is true love, unconstrained by time or space. At the beginning of 1898, Vladyka Vladimir was appointed from the Exarch of Georgia to the Moscow Metropolia. At that time I was already the rector of the Moscow Academy and thus became his colleague. I testify before everyone that his attitude towards the Academy was quite benevolent.

This was expressed in his frequent visits to the Academy, on ordinary days and on certain academic holidays, and especially in the fact that he was interested in the inner life of the Academy, knew almost all the professors by name and patronymic, and helped the students financially and supported the periodical of the Moscow Theological Academy, the Bogoslovsky Vestnik. For six years I stayed as a co-worker of Vladyka, after which the Lord sent me to other obediences – in Pskov and Novgorod; but my connection with Vladyka did not only remain unbroken, but became stronger. From that time on, for 14 years, until very recently, I had the joy of often being in communion with him in Petrograd, where I was a member of the State Council, and Vladyka was a member of the Holy Synod.

I was always met with tenderness and love, and I was, perhaps, one of the few witnesses to the experiences that Vladyka experienced both from the external circumstances associated with the changes of cathedras, and from the internal upheavals that often befall so many bishops. These experiences are not visible to many who judge bishops by the general external, i.e., ceremonial setting; and if they knew what bishops often experience in the silence of their resident cells or, perhaps, even luxurious chambers, they would not be so frivolous in judging them…

Twenty years of contact with the Holy Hierarch imprinted in my soul his spiritual image, and I would like, albeit in brief outlines, to outline the features of this image, which were inaccessible to many because of the qualities of Vladyka's character:

The main element of his spiritual life was the humility of the Gospel, the meekness of the publican, not a Pharisee, that same true humility which consists in the awareness of one's own infirmities. And the words of the Savior were fulfilled in him: “humble thyself, and ye shall be exalted.” He was raised to such a height as is possible as a hierarch. And this loftiness often contradicted the humble realization that perhaps he was not worthy of such an elevation. This humility was reflected in the constant modesty of his domestic and domestic life.

I am sure that if those who, in their frivolity or malice, are engaged in calculating the bishop's income and wealth, saw the modest surroundings of the first hierarch, they would be put to shame. They would be convinced of what a wrong conception of bishops is formed by people who do not know their hidden life... Then this humility was expressed in shyness in relations with people. This shyness, one might say, was a natural characteristic of Vladyka. In the book devoted to the description of the life of Metropolitan Anthony, there is such an episode from the childhood life of both late metropolitans. Once a priest from a neighboring village came to the father of Metropolitan Anthony with an 8-year-old son.

The boy, seeing the seminarians from the large Vadkovsky family, got scared and huddled under a cart in the barn. Sasha Vadkovsky (later Metropolitan Anthony of St. Petersburg), who was then ten years old, took a lively interest in the boy, took pity on him, bought ice cream for one kopeck and treated the boy, who as a result lost his fear. This boy was Vasya Bogoyavlensky, the present Metropolitan of Petrograd Vladimir. (Anthony, Metropolitan of St Petersburg and Ladoga. 12. M. B. 1915). I have cited this little episode in order to show that shyness was a natural characteristic of Metropolitan Vladimir. It was expressed in caution.

He seemed dry, hard, indifferent, and people who knew little about him had a wrong idea about him. This shyness was one of the reasons for his disappointment from his transfer from Moscow to Petrograd. At this time he visited Novgorod in order to pray before its shrines and ask for a blessing for a new place of obedience. To my perplexed question about the reasons for Vladyka's sorrow over this appointment to the then-capital city, Vladyka replied with his characteristic humility: "I am accustomed to being there as a guest, but I am not a formal person, I cannot come there ‘to the court’; there are different social currents, and I will not be able to follow them, I do not have the character of adaptability." And, indeed, we know that he would not come to the royal court.

The consequence of this, as well as other circumstances, which I do not consider opportune to speak of now, was his transfer to Kiev. This shyness was also the reason why he was greeted at new places of service and treated with great restraint at first. So did Moscow react to him at first. But I was a witness to how the same Moscow saw off its already dearly-beloved archpastor to Petrograd 14 years later. And what can we say about this, when all of you were witnesses to this unforgettable parting of Vladyka from Moscow. And the present crowded assembly, does not testify to the close connection that existed between him and his flock? Moscow understood Vladyka's loving heart, and he opened his heart, and it was hard for him to part with the great city.

But this humility, this modesty, this shyness were combined in him with spiritual fervor. It fulfilled the words of the Holy Spirit. According to the Apostle Paul: "Work ye for the Lord, burning with the Spirit" (Romans 2:11). He really burned in spirit, burned with zeal for the House of God, which devoured him. This zeal was expressed first of all in the tireless preaching of the word of God. The very manner of his preaching testified to this burning of the spirit. Weak, sickly in body, with a quiet voice, during the pronunciation of sermons, he was transformed, inspired, his voice became strong, and with the power of a fervent word he captivated the minds and hearts of his listeners. Being himself an enthusiastic servant of the Word of God and a preacher, he also encouraged the pastors of the church to preach.

The main direction of his sermons was that we are living through a period not only of political struggle, but also of a religious one. He predicted the future danger for the Church from socialism. He pointed out that the Church of Christ was being undermined by its numerous enemies, that the sufferings of Christ were repeated in the sufferings of the Church of Christ, which is His body. Like Christ, before His sufferings, He called His disciples to vigilance and prayer, so as not to fall into temptation, He also called upon all the faithful, and especially the pastors, that they should not sleep and rest, but enter into a spiritual struggle with the dark forces of this world. The burning of the spirit was also manifested in the fact that he wanted all Christians to assimilate the commandments of Christ, so that they would be Christians not only in name, but in reality.

This explains his special concern for sobriety. He was a zealous champion of the implementation of absolute sobriety among the people; he saw the misfortunes of people in the fact that they stupefy themselves with poisonous potions and lose the image of God...

Finally, the image of the deceased saint appears to me as the image of a man of duty. He looked upon his service as an obedience that he was obliged to fulfill to the end, firmly and unshakably, like a true warrior, standing at his post even to death. And no one who knows him will accuse him of bending to the current. He walked the straight path, and on his bright brow there was no stain of compromise or what is called opportunism.

More than once, under the influence of difficult circumstances of external and internal life, the thought of retiring occurred to him. For the first time, as far as I know, it came to him in the difficult years of 1905, when he was subjected to cruel persecution for his courageous word, not being supported even in the highest church bureaucratic circles. From 1912, from the time of his transfer to St Petersburg, the unhealthy court machinations associated with the “evil genius of Russia,” whose name I do not consider it proper to mention here, and other difficult circumstances, and, finally, an unexpected and insulting transfer to Kiev, directed his thoughts more and more to retirement.

In November 1915, he was unexpectedly transferred to Kiev, of which Vladyka himself told me first, on November 24, inviting me to his house at 8 o'clock in the morning. I will not forget his words, spoken as if in passing in response to my invitation, as Chairman of the All-Russian Brotherhood of Sobriety, to serve in the Church of the Resurrection in Warsaw. "Why, I am no longer the Metropolitan of Petrograd, but the Metropolitan of Kiev. A message about this has just been received. In this way, I am truly the Metropolitan of All Russia, as having occupied all the various metropolitan thrones." For all the ostentatious calmness, he was apparently very dejected. I was no less amazed at this news.

We were silent for a few minutes. I broke this silence with the words: "Vladyka. Wouldn't it be better to retire now?" Vladyka seemed to expect such advice from me, but immediately he replied quite calmly: "Yes, judging by human considerations, I agree with you. It is time. But by God, how? Is it convenient to test and anticipate the will of God? And what about the duty that we swore to fulfill? They will say that Vladyka left because of wounded pride. No, apparently this is the will of God. And it is all the same wherever you are.”

For a short time he served as a bishop in Kiev. Being present now at the Synod, now at the Council, he could not manifest in Kiev those qualities of the soul which, as I have said, due to his natural shyness, could be recognized after a certain period of time. He was only a guest in Kiev, and he was not recognized. At the end of November last year, when certain political and ecclesiastical events took place in Ukraine, and when the Right Reverend Vicar came from there with a request to go save the Church from division, he, faithful to his duty, though after some hesitation, decided to go there in order to pacify his flock, and not to allow the separation of the Ukrainian Church from the Russian Church. Perhaps he had already foreseen his Golgotha.

I vividly recall the last minutes of farewell to him before his departure for Kiev. Sorrowful thoughts darkened his face. Anxiety was noticeable in speech and in actions. To our happiness, we would soon meet, he replied that everything was in the will of God. And God's will for him was done.
The coming period of persecution against the Church of God had already been marked by the martyrdom of the clergy, and now by the same death of this archpastor. But history shows that the power of persecution is always weaker than the spirit of confession and martyrdom. The host of martyrs illuminates the path for us and shows us the power before which no persecution can stand.

The murdered saint now stands before the throne of God, crowned with the crown of martyrdom. He sprinkled the service of the Russian Church with blood and did not concede anything of his duty. And in it are fulfilled the words of the Prophet: be faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.
May the Lord God remember his episcopate in His kingdom!

[All those present then sang: "Abide with the saints."]