Saint Bogolep

from The Orthodox Word
Vol. 10, No. 1 (54) January-February, 1974

Saint Bogolep
THE RIGHTEOUS CHILD SCHEMA-MONK OF CHERNY YAR

COMMEMORATED ON JULY 29/AUGUST 11

    The editors of RUSSIAN PILGRIM* have obtained a copy from an ancient manuscript of the Life of the divinely-wise child, Schema-monk Bogolep, Wonderworker of Cherny Yar (Astrakhan). In the printed catalogues of Saints there is only very brief information about him. Thus, in the work of N. Barsukov, SOURCES OF RUSSIAN HAGIOGRAPHY, it is said only that the holy child Bogolep died in the year 1632. In the Manual of Icon painting, under July 29, it is said that the child Bogolep "in appearance is young, on his head a cowl, garments of a monk" (Filimonov). In the book of Archimandrite Sergius there is a brief account of the Blessed Child in Volume 3, Appendix 3, page 60; and in Archimandrite Leonid's book, HOLY RUSSIA, it is said that Bogolep, Wonderworker of Cherny Yar, was buried in the city of Cherny Yar in the province of Astrakhan.

    In the manuscript which we have obtained, the Life begins with a text from the book of Tobit: "It is good to keep the secret of a king, but it is glorious to preach the works of God" (Tobit 12:11); and further it says, "Therefore, remembering the miracles of this righteous and divinely-wise child, one must not think that God, Who is wondrous in His Saints, will fail to glorify this righteous one also, for the sake of the miraculous glorification of His Most Holy Name."

IN THE REIGN of Tsar Alexei Michaelovich there lived in Moscow a certain pious nobleman by the name of Jacob Lukin Ushakov, who had a wife, just as pious, whose name was Catherine. The Lord God blessed their virtuous married life with the birth of a son, who was called in Baptism Boris, in honor of the Passion-bearer, the Russian Prince Boris, who is commemorated on May 2/15.

    Soon after the birth of Boris, Ushakov was sent from Moscow to the outpost of Astrakhan for government service by order of the Tsar. The place of Ushakov's residence was to be the city of Cherny Yar, which was on the river Volga, 256 kilometers from Astrakhan.

    Having entered upon the governance of the post assigned to him, Ushakov, faithful to his character, exercised the authority given him by God and the Sovereign wisely and virtuously. His wife was completely occupied with rearing the child. Boris, while still in his swaddling clothes, revealed in himself an extraordinary inclination for ascetic labors, which were completely un-childlike, and evidently he was foreordained by God's Providence to be a chosen vessel of the Holy Spirit, for the glorification of the Almighty Lord.

    The first extraordinary manifestation of the glorification of the Name of God in the child was the fact that on the days established by the Holy Church for fasting, Wednesday and Friday, in remembrance of the sufferings and death of the Saviour, Boris would not drink milk from his mother's breast and spent these days without food. The second extraordinary manifestation of piety in the child was expressed in his striving to hear the Divine service, so that no sooner would the bell begin to ring in the local belfry for the Divine service than Boris would begin to cry very loudly, and his childish cry would cease only when he was brought to church; and so his mother and their servants soon became accustomed to brining him to church immediately after the bell would ring. In the church a joyful feeling would be expressed in the child's face, and only at the end of the Liturgy would he accept food. Then, with every day, Boris was strengthened more and more by the grace of the Holy Spirit, to the joy of his parents and the astonishment of all who knew him and heard about him.

    In one of the sorrowful years when the plague had seized with its death-dealing poison the whole extent of the Russian land, from the royal city of Moscow to the boundaries of Astrakhan, the son of the Commander Ushakov, the pious child Boris, also became ill. His right leg was covered with deep sores, and the intolerable pain gave him no rest either day or night, but, faithful to his calling, the child Boris, limping, did not cease to go to the temple of God to offer his holy child's prayers, acting according to the Psalmist: I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners (Psalm 83:11). By the zealous concern and car of his parents and physicians, the disease of the legs finally passed. But following upon this disease it was pleasing to God to send the young righteous one a different temptation: on his face there appeared a form of leprosy. But behold, during the time of this illness a certain monk came to the house of Jacob. Being hospitably received by the Commander, the Elder blessed all who dwelt in the house and visited the Commander's sick son. Seeing the monk, Boris became yet more inflamed with love for God. Seeing in him one sent from God, he began to entreat his parents that he be allowed immediately to be clothed in the Angelic habit. The desire of their beloved son was strange, but feeling beforehand that their dear child was not fitted for life in this present world, and knowing from the Lives of the Saints examples of children receiving the Angelic habit, they decided to give their seven-year-old son this great joy. In the cathedral church of the Resurrection of Christ, Boris was tonsured in the monastic habit and called Bogolep. Then, soon after receiving the monastic habit, the righteous child was clothed also in the Schema (great habit).

    The newly-made Schema-monk was not long to rejoice his parents and astonish everyone by his labors and his example of divinely wise life. Two days after receiving the Schema, the righteous boy grew ill, and on the third day he was already called into the heavenly kingdom for the eternal glorification of the Lord, together with the Angels and all the Saints who have pleased God. The parents of the newly-reposed one experienced a double feeling: great sorrow, expressed in lamentation and weeping over their beloved son, and also an inexpressible joy at the thought that the Almighty Lord had chosen the boy from their family for the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom.

    With great honor the blessed child was buried in the same city of Cherny Yar near the very church of the Resurrection of Christ where he had received the Schema, at the left side of the Altar, so that form their mansion his parents might daily see the place of their son's repose and might pray to the Lord Who glorifies His Saints, that He, being All-merciful, might not fail to glorify also this God-pleasing child, the Schema-monk. For did not the Lord Himself say, Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven? (Matthew 19:14).

    The Lord Who is wondrous in His Saints soon glorified His new chosen one. In the reign of the same Sovereign, the Tsar and Great Prince Alexei Michaelovich, the rebellion of Stenka Razin infected the whole of Russia with a great turmoil. Having laid waste a multitude of cities and villages, Razin came also as far as Cherny Yar, where he destroyed many houses and took many inhabitants captive for his own evil purposes. On leaving Cherny Yar, however, he remembered that he had not yet destroyed the city completely and that the soldiers from Moscow might find a point of support for their pursuit of him. Therefore, he sent a regiment of Tatars who had surrendered to him, so that they might destroy utterly the unfortunate city. But what were the astonishment and confusion of the Tatar regiments when, approaching the city, they saw, walking on the walls, a boy Schema-monk! Those who succeeded in going closer to the wall heard the voice of the holy Monks saying, "Depart from here, wretched ones! You cannot do anything to this city, because God has placed me to guard this city." Nevertheless, there were stubborn ones found among them who, despite everything, wished to enter the city, but an invisible power held them; finally, being struck by blindness, against their will they were forced to depart, and only a mile away from the city walls did they receive their sight back, by God's power, after having done nothing to the city because of the prayers of the righteous child Bogolep, being pursued by holy guards of Angels. They returned in disgrace to their Ataman, Razin, in the city of Astrakhan. But the outlaw did not believe the tale of the disgraced regiment and became extremely angry at them, sending another regiment to lay waste the city. This regiment met the same fat, and so the Moscow troops under the leadership of Ivan Bogdanovich Milaslavsky could enter the city and firmly establish themselves in it.

    During the reign of the next Tsars, John and Peter Alexeivich, by the help and intercession of the child Bogolep, Cherny Yar was saved from the Kuban Tatars. When they came up to the city to lay it waste, there suddenly appeared before them a Child-monk on a white horse who strictly commanded them to go away. The Tatars were seized with an indescribably fear and returned without doing any harm to the city.

    In 1695 a priest at the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the city of Astrakhan, whose name was John, was struck by an affliction of the eye. Praying to the Lord to grant him healing, he had the joy after prayer one night to see the child, Schema-monk Bogolep, who commanded him to pain his image and sent it to his tomb in the city of Cherny Yar, adding, "When you will have fulfilled this command, you will be healed of your affliction." Rising from sleep, the priest, who was also an icon painter, was perplexed as to how, being almost blind, he was to paint an icon of the child Schema-monk whom he had seen. However, using all his strength so as to depict the righteous one, he took a board and made a sketch on it. What was his astonishment when, after undertaking the work, he began to feel that with every minute he was getting better, and at the end of the work he was almost completely healed! Having received help for his affliction, the priest began, day by day, to put off the finishing of the work, and he did not send the icon to the designated place; and finally he forgot about it altogether. Thus a year passed. The priest again became afflicted, even more severely than before, with a disease of the eyes. A second time the child Bogolep appeared to him, reproaching him for his negligence, and a second time commanding him to finish painting the icon which he had begun and not completed, and to send it to his tomb in Cherny Yar. Then the priest promised with an oath to fulfill the commandment of the blessed child if only he would receive healing. Immediately after this he undertook the completion of the work and, having finished it, with the blessing of Archbishop Sabbatius he set out with the icon for Cherny Yar, where, with a procession and the ringing of bells, the icon was triumphantly greeted and placed on the tomb of the child Bogolep.

    In the manuscript which we have there are set forth several miracles received from the holy child. Without giving them all, we cannot fail to make a remark about eh following extraordinary manifestation of the miraculous power of God through His chosen one.

    In Cherny Yar there was a city guard whose name was Gerasimus, who was deaf and dumb from birth. Once at night, when as usual he was on guard at the tower which is called Zaklikusha, he saw before him the child Bogolep surrounded by an extraordinary light. Gerasimus was frightened and signed himself with the sign of the Cross and, not moving, with piety and reverence he looked at the light-bearing righteous one who said to him, "Do not fear, Gerasimus, but bow your head"; and when he had bowed his head, the holy child touched him with his hands and became invisible. From this hour Gerasimus was completely healed and was not deaf and dumb any more, and he began loudly to glorify the Lord and His servant, the child Schema-monk Bogolep.

    The illustration of the righteous child which is here presented is taken from a rare copy of the above-mentioned icon which was painted by the Priest John.

SAINT BOGOLEP
Troparion, Tone 3

REJOICE, O BOGOLEP, divinely wise child,* thou didst appear
on a white horse, showing youth an example of purity,* and all
who revere thee, God's Schema-monk,* thou dost protect from
foreign invaders and unbelievers.* Pray for us now that we may
prosper in true faith and piety* and obtain from the Lord great mercy.

* This whole article is translated from RUSSIAN PILGRIM (Russky Palomnik), 1893, no. 10. Bogolep is the Russian translation of the name Theoleptos.

original link no longer works:

http://users.sisqtel.net/williams/stbogoleplife.html

put through web archive:

https://archive.org

find page here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20101130044555/http://users.sisqtel.net/williams/stbogoleplife.html

Door to Paradise

online book

classic introduction to Orthodoxy

original Door to Paradise (by former monk John Marler)

(Platina changed the last page sometime after monk John left the monastery)

https://web.archive.org/web/20100529010337/http://users.sisqtel.net/williams/doortoparadise/doortoparadise.html

Despite what he was up against, monk John produced good works while he was striving for the Church.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Marler

also archived here:
http://rocorrefugeesreadmore.blogspot.com/2014/08/door-to-paradise.html

Last page of the booklet, Door to Paradise:

Two versions: original and rewrite

original (circa 1996) by monk Marler

TO ENTER THE DOOR TO PARADISE:

BECAUSE Orthodoxy is the fullness of ancient, apostolic Christianity, becoming a true Orthodox Christian requires being a Christian in the fullest sense of the word, and that is not easy. It takes a lifetime of constant unseen warfare, ascetic discipline, self-denial, self-crucifixion, and active, selfless love.  To be truly Orthodoxy, you will have to die to yourself and "hate your life" (Luke 14:26)—that is, the life of your own ego. You must die to self-love and sensual pleasure, which as the Holy Fathers teach are the primary results of the Fall and the root of all sin. You must look into yourself and face your sin, not just as separate acts but as your condition. Then you must go about rooting out all of the most subtle passions which separate you from God. You must overcome resentment by forgiveness, which can only happen through the grace of Christ. You must cut off all desire for popularity, acceptance, recognition, approval and "love," even from other members of the Orthodox Church.

    Christ said: Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? (Luke 14:27-28). Many people do not take up the Cross of Christ because they see that it will require too much of them. Others take it up, but then, not having counted the cost, put it down when it gets too heavy. Still others, on becoming Orthodox, do so with worldly motives: the desire to be more "correct" and historically authentic than Protestants and Roman Catholics; the desire to experience the beautiful aesthetics of Orthodox liturgics, etc. In so doing, however, they never enter into the essence of Orthodox Christianity. Not having really taken up the Cross of Christ, they never really taste the unearthly joy of His Resurrection.

    "He who wishes to serve God," says St. Basil the Great (4th century), "must prepare his heart for tribulations." The Orthodox Christian faith is a suffering faith (II Timothy 3:12), because through suffering we can at last wake up to our true condition, repent, be purified by Christ, and in that purification become a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. The great fourth-century theologian, St. Gregory Nazianzen, described true Christianity as "suffering Orthodoxy." To take it up is to take up the most radical, demanding, all-or-nothing life possible. All false motives must fall away, burned up in the fire of suffering for Jesus Christ. You must taste, to the degree of which you are capable, the suffering, persecution, and crucifixion that the Orthodox saints have experienced throughout the ages. To enter into their heavenly company, you must pay the price. Christ said: Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it (Matthew 7:14). That narrow way is found through pain of heart and years of repentance. According to your yearning and your striving, you will enter; you will taste the fruits of Paradise even in this life, and Christ will fill your sufferings with His presence. Then you will know the joy of the Resurrection, for you will have experienced a resurrection in you own soul. You will be a new being on the inside, and you will find the Kingdom of Heaven within you (Luke 17:21).

    Though the Sacraments, the Scripture, the spiritual discipline and the ascetic teachings of the Orthodox Church, you will find the Door to Paradise. And then, in your own heart, your own inward being, you will find Paradise itself. You will find what true prayer is, and you will find Him who has been calling you all your life: Christ, the Bridegroom of your soul.

rewrite (circa 2004) by Platina

TO ENTER THE DOOR TO PARADISE

In approaching the Door to Paradise – in coming to Jesus Christ in His Holy Orthodox Church – one must come in repentance, acknowledging one's sins and seeking reconciliation with one's neighbor.  One begins to take part in the common worship of Christs Body, the Church, 

“One Person of the Holy Trinity, namely the Son and Word of God, having become incarnate, offered Himself in the flesh as a sacrifice to the Divinity of the Father, and of the Son Himself, and of the Holy Spirit, in order that the first transgression of Adam might be benevolently forgiven for the sake of this great and fearful work, that is, for the sake of this sacrifice of Christ, and in order that by its power there might be performed another new birth and re-creation of man in Holy Baptism, in which we also are cleansed by water mingled with the Holy Spirit. From that time people are baptized in water, are immersed in it and taken out from it three times, in the image of the three-day burial of the Lord, and after they die in it to this whole evil world, in the third bringing out from it they are already alive, as if resurrected from the dead, that is, their souls are brought to life and again receive the Grace of the Holy Spirit as Adam had it before the transgression. Then they are anointed with Holy Myrrh, and by means of it are anointed with Jesus Christ, and are fragrant in a way above nature. Having become in this way worthy of being associates of God, they taste His Flesh and drink His Blood, and by means of the sanctified bread and wine become of one Body and Blood with God Who was incarnate and offered Himself as a sacrifice."

Because Orthodoxy is the fullness of ancient, apostolic Christianity, becoming a true Orthodox Christian requires being a Christian in the fullest sense of the word, and that is not easy. It means loving Jesus Christ above everything and everyone in the world, – and as an outpouring of that love – giving over one's life totally to Him.  This, in turn, means a lifetime of service to God and to one's neighbor.  Through the grace of Christ, one is to conduct constant unseen warfare, to remain vigilant in prayer, and to live a life of ascetic discipline, self-denial, and active, selfless love.

Through the worship, the Sacraments, the Holy Scripture, the doctrines, the ascetic teachings. the discipline, and the spiritual direction of the Orthodox Church, one finds the fulfillment of the soul's deepest longings.  One finds true, interior prayer within one's heart, which has been filled with grace through the sacramental life of the Church.  And there, n the heart, one finds Him Who has been calling, "Come to me, all ye who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28).  One finds Christ, the Bridegroom of the soul, Who alone opens to man the Heavenly Kingdom – Who is and shall ever be the only Door to Paradise.

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So what is wrong with the new version? 

Reading the original version, I was inspired each time I read it.  It gives such a clear down-to-earth picture of the Orthodox struggle.   Why is the new version so flat? 

1."All-or-nothing".  The new version minimizes the "all-or-nothing" to almost go entirely unnoticed.  Fr. Seraphim Rose taught that all-or-nothing lesson.  Speaking of what I. M Andreev said about Christianity being an "all-embracing new principle of life," Fr. Seraphim wrote: this becomes yet more forceful when you know that this statement comes out of the horror of Soviet reality, and was born in prisons and catacombs and the awareness that was forced upon him there, that now one can't be a half-hearted Christian, but only entirely or not at all; Christianity is either everything for one, or it simply will not stand the test of Soviet reality.

2. Instead of the concrete examples of the labors to expect, such as dying to sensual pleasures and renouncing desire for popularity mentioned in the old version, the new version focus is on the lofty theologizing of St. Symeon. 

3. Instead of the old version which says we can find "true prayer", the new version promises "interior prayer within one's heart."   This alludes to the Jesus Prayer.   This is so out-of-place here.  The potential catechumen who is reading Door to Paradise has not even had a chance to experience the change in prayer life that is given with Baptism.  What good does it do to introduce the idea of the Jesus Prayer at this time, which Fr. Seraphim says needs to be presented carefully in any case to avoid certain pitfalls?  He was distressed that certain books (The Pilgrim) were available to the unbaptized for this reason.
   Today there are no suitable guides for undertaking the Jesus Prayer.  If Platina thinks it is a suitable guide, it is in delusion.  If Fr. Seraphim knew he was not competent, should then Platina see that they are even less competent than Fr. Seraphim. 

   This is connected to the lofty theologizing.  These unsobor things are characteristic of world-orthodoxy, which, having lost its connection to the source of grace, has somehow replaced it with "spiritual experiences".  (see http://orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/fsr_88.aspx or alternately, Not of This World chapter 89)

4. Twice in the new version is mentioned the "neighbor".   In the 1st paragraph, "... one must come in repentance and seeking reconciliation with one's neighbor."  In the 3rd paragraph, "...a lifetime of service to God and one's neighbor."  

    In the 1st paragraph, it is true that coming to the Church in repentance may or may not include, somewhere down the line, a relationship adjustment with a neighbor.  Reconcile is a strong word.  What if the neighbor is a pagan, how do you reconcile with that?   What if your pagan neighbor is mad you because you stopped coming to the Saturday night poker games? 

   In the 3rd paragraph, "service of one's neighbor" sends a distorted message to a newcomer who might already be suffering from the Protestant missionary mentality – missionary work is not where Orthodoxy starts for a potential catechumen, or even a newly baptized.   Traditionally the ascetic is not called out of his cave to serve his neighbor until after a number of years.

   Both of these mentions of neighbor are distortions and out of place.  What would the purpose be for this, or what permitted this?  Could it have something to do with Fr. Seraphim's observation:  "The outward Gospel of social idealism is a symptom of loss of faith."

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Fr. Seraphim Rose:  “convert pitfalls,” or “obstacles in the Orthodox mission today':

A. Trusting oneself, samost.
Remedy: sober distrust of oneself, taking counsel of others wiser, guidance from Holy Fathers.

B. Academic approach—overly intellectual, uninvolved, uncommitted, abstract, unreal. Bound up with A. also.

C. Not keeping the secret of the Kingdom, gossip, publicity. Overemphasis on outward side of mission, success. Danger of creating empty shell, form of mission without substance.
Remedy: concentrate on spiritual life, keep out of limelight, stay uninvolved from passionate disputes.

D. “Spiritual Experiences.”
Symptoms: feverish excitement, always something “tremendous” happening—the blood is boiling.  Inflated vocabulary, indicates puffed up instead of humble. Sources in Protestantism, and in one’s own opinions “picked up” in the air.
Remedy: sober distrust of oneself, constant grounding in Holy Fathers and Lives of Saints, counsel.

E. Discouragement, giving up—“Quenched” syndrome.
Cause: overemphasis on outward side, public opinion, etc.
Remedy: emphasis on inward, spiritual struggle, lack of concern for outward success, mindfulness of Whom we are followers of (Christ crucified but triumphant).

F. A double axe: broadness on one hand, narrowness on the other.

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Fr. Seraphim was also distressed that many of the more exalted texts already in translation were being read by those outside the Faith.  This was very dangerous, he said, for they were reading without being illumined by grace.  Even more basic texts, such as The Pilgrim, he said, should be read by Orthodox Christians under the supervision of a spiritual father, in order to avoid the temptation that we, too, can be just like the pilgrim in his practice of the Jesus Prayer.    (Letters p. 40)