Selected Letters
©1989 ISBN 912927 31-3
includes a comprehensive Life by Archbishop Averky
I have a scan of this book. I've been waiting for it to go out of print before I upload the scan. This is a book you want in your home library. Buy extras for gifts, because already it makes a special gift.
https://orthodoxbooks.com/products/letters-of-abp-theophan-of-poltava
I do not know how many copies neo-SJKP has left from Fr. Gregory's SJKP. But however many it is, we can be safely certain this booklet will not be reprinted when stock runs out, or maybe even earlier it will no longer be offered. I don't see where this book is available anywhere else online, new or used. Google books does not have an eBook available. It's not in the Archive website. St. Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina often recommended both Archbishop Averky and Archbishop Theophan as guides for us.
When you order this book from SJKP, please put in the "Special Instructions" box, a request that back issues of Living Orthodoxy magazine be made available for purchase. I saw with my own eyes the magazines there in the Press building in 2018. My understanding now is the magazines are boxed up in the attic. If enough people request it, maybe they will bring down the boxes...
an excerpt from a letter
about the future fate of Russia:
The coming of the antichrist is approaching and is very near. The time separating it from the present can be counted in years, being at most several decades. But before the coming of antichrist, Russia shall of course be restored for a short time. And in Russia there shall be a tsar prechosen by the Lord Himself. He will be a man of flaming faith, of intellectual genius, and of iron will. The is what has been revealed about him.
We will wait for the revelation to be fulfilled. Judging from the many signs, this time is coming, provided only that because of our sins our Lord God does not revoke and alter what has been promised. According to the Word of God, this can indeed happen." p. 24
Our Synod proposed this Resolution, as recorded in a General Meeting 30Jun/13Jul 2008
“for the restoration of the throne of the Orthodox czars.”
source of proposal found on this page:
https://revniteli.livejournal.com/?skip=20
scroll down more than half way
I don't know if this proposal ever went through. I know there was controversy over this idea, speaking about what kind of government needs to be in place in Russia before ROCOR can return... For making this stipulation we were greatly criticized by the pushers of the Metropolia autocephaly back in the 70s. This is one of the top accusations Fr. Leonid Kishkovsky used against us.* There was hesitation within our own synod about this, some of our own bishops were very uncomfortable with it. But in the long run, it was right then and it is still right today — it aligns with the Church prophets, as Abp. Theophan says above.
What does not line up is that Antichrist should be here by now. I think it was around 1960 when St. John S&SF said that Antichrist was already just born. Antichrist should have made his appearance on the world scene 33 years after his birth, to mimic Christ. That would be in about 1993. The only thing that makes sense is that we know that we don't know when. Nobody knows when. Apparently even our clairvoyant bishops and elders did not know. On the other hand, though....
One important thing stands out to me in this prophesy: we can be confident that what is happening in Russia now (2025) is NOT what Abp. Theophan was talking about. No way is Putin anything like the Tzar described in the prophesy. There are other things missing also, like about how ROCOR will be honored for preserving the "pearl" — not belly-crawling back to "Mother" with it's tail between its legs, apologizing for having even existed... I don't know where to find more of this prophesy about the return of ROCOR, but I remember reading it somewhere from a source I could trust. The important thing to note is that this promise from God about a Tzar is not written in stone. St. Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina emphasized that. We need to pray for to be worthy of this promise. And repent. Like with Adam's sin, we all are called to repent. For our personal sins and for the sins of our nation.
* Kishkovsky's accusation is on record in a report he made that was published by the OCA in San Francisco during the years of the "Sorrowful Epistles" for the purpose of turning people against the ROCOR synod saying that ROCOR is invalid and confirming that it is right for Orthodox people in America to leave ROCOR and seek autocephaly from MP. I don't have the report scanned... It would be something good to attach to the "Truth About OCA" History publication done by Holy Transfiguration in Monastery in 1972. ISBN: 0-913026-04-2. That our enemies go to such great lengths to discredit the idea shows me that we are on the right track by supporting the idea.

Will you make the pdf available?
ReplyDeleteAs of Nov. 26, 2025 this book is still available for sale at a reasonable price from
ReplyDeletehttps://orthodoxbooks.com/products/letters-of-abp-theophan-of-poltava
More information about this book is in a review I posted in the RRb 2019 September. The RRb has been deleted (by Blogger, but most of the blog was saved. Look in Joanna's Shared Library for the file "RRb Archives" and go to 2019, month of September. Scrolling down it is the 9th of 13 posts for that month. The title of the post is "Book: Archbishop Theophan of Poltava."
Since 2008 it has become pretty clear that we have lost that opportunity for a "flowering" in Russia. We were warned that prophesy was conditional on MP's repentance. The reason the clarification is necessary is because MP was saying that they should have ROCOR because Communism fell. But the MP just switched to a different form of government — the MP still owns the Church. ROCOR has always said that we can return to Russia when Russia is returned to the governing of an Orthodox Tsar, like the one they murdered on July 17, 1918 so that they could instate their own form of government which they chose at that time to be Communism. Now, since Communism fell, they choose to instate what AI defines as:
ReplyDelete"Russia has a federal, semi-presidential republic form of government on paper, but in practice, it is considered a highly centralized, authoritarian regime with power concentrated in the presidency. Formally, it is a democratic, federative, law-based state with a republican form of government, as stated in its constitution. However, many analysts and organizations describe the current government as authoritarian or autocratic due to the dominance of the executive branch under President Vladimir Putin and the weakening of democratic institutions."