Archbishop Job of Shumsk on the Light of Faith Amid the Storm of Trials
An interview with Archbishop Job of Shumsk on spiritual education, the power of the Pochaev Cross Procession, and faithfulness to Christ's Church in times of persecution.
– Your Eminence, a new academic year has begun in all the theological schools of the UOC. What is particularly characteristic of the Pochaev Seminary this year? How does the pressure from state structures affect the educational process, as is happening with the Pochaev Lavra? And what is the right attitude toward this?
– A distinctive feature of the new academic year at our seminary is the sufficient number of young men who have enrolled — motivated, understanding why and for what purpose they have chosen our theological and pastoral institution.
First, due to pressure from the authorities even during the document submission period, a natural selection of applicants takes place: those who enter the seminary are courageous, genuinely believing school graduates. They are ready not just for one week, but for their entire lives to walk the path of the Cross following our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They fear no one, firmly holding to the Orthodox faith and the commandments of Christ.
Second, trials and persecutions teach both professors and seminarians fervent prayer, proper time management, a serious attitude toward studies and obediences from the very first day, and they teach them to love the Mother Church and to sincerely serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Transformation of Cross Procession Participants
– Not long ago, a Cross Procession of many thousands was made to the Pochaev Lavra, as in previous years. How important are Cross Processions in these difficult times, and what do they bear witness to?
– The Cross Procession to the Pochaev Lavra for the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God can be compared to the miraculous arrival of the Apostles in Jerusalem for Her burial, to the apostolic funeral procession accompanied by Angels from Zion to Gethsemane. This is a spiritual parade of the Great Victory of Life over death! This is a solemn procession into the spiritual paradise where God's Peace reigns!
The Cross Procession transforms its participants, tempering them spiritually and physically. Some are even healed, while for others difficult problems resolve themselves. This is the secret behind the fact that this year the number of participants was twice as large as last year. They are mostly women and children, even infants in strollers, elderly people and youth. And how graceful and beautiful all our Christian women become by the end of the Cross Procession — lovely, most tender and angel-like, worthy of first place in a "heavenly beauty contest." The grace of God rests upon them all.
The Cross Procession is the transformation of the people in repentance before the Lord God. After each Cross Procession, our land becomes holier, purer, more beautiful...
The Cross Procession is six days of unceasing prayer, a public supplication for the strengthening of Christ's Church, for peace and tranquility, for victory over the chief enemy and adversary of the human race and all his cunning servants.
During the Cross Procession, the seminarians work like angels, preparing the Lavra to receive such a multitude of pilgrims. They assist at the rest stops where pilgrims can refresh and restore their strength.
A Feast of Spiritual Victory
– Two great feasts of the Mother of God — the Dormition and the Nativity — are separated by a short interval of about a month. Can this period be considered special?
– The church year ends with the Dormition of the Mother of God, and begins with the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. The Dormition is Her birth into Eternity. The Dormition is the Paschal feast of the Theotokos. It is deeply symbolic that the Cross Procession in Pochaev concludes with the singing of Paschal hymns, with a solemn exclamation and tears of joy: "Christ is Risen! — Truly He is Risen!" The Mother of God is eternally alive, and we, Her children, shall also live eternally in Heavenly blessedness.
On the icon above Her Most Pure Body, Christ is depicted appearing in glory. In His arms He holds the soul of His Mother in the form of an Infant. This symbolizes Her birth into the Kingdom of God. It is no coincidence that Western Christians also call this event the Assumption of the Mother of God into Heavenly glory, Her coronation as Queen of the Christian people in the Heavenly Kingdom. It is then that She speaks those very important and joyful words for us: "I am with you every day until the end of the age!" Her constant protection over our Church and people confirms these words of promise. All Her miracles resound as a thunderous "Amen!"
And the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is the Feast of hope for salvation, for victory over the devil, sin, and death.
The Tempered Iron of the Pochaev Hegumen
– Every Tuesday in the Lavra, with your participation, an akathist is served at the relics of Venerable Job, your heavenly patron. How does the intercession of the Venerable One manifest itself in our troubled days of trials?
– Prayer at local shrines and veneration of one's Heavenly patrons is a tradition of all theological schools. From them we all draw Divine inspiration for our labors and studies. They teach us the most important thing — the transformation of souls in the image of God — and show us a personal example.
Venerable Job is an example of a diligent student and a highly skilled teacher and mentor. In his youth he came to the monastery to study the chief science of salvation and deification. He studied the Psalter and the divine services, and fulfilled the obediences of sexton, reader, and chanter. He loved to read Holy Scripture and the works of the Holy Fathers, and made excerpts for sermons. He was tempered spiritually and physically. In accordance with his secular surname Zhelizo (Iron), he became truly tempered iron.
And as hegumen, he constantly preached, instructing the brethren and pilgrims by the example of his deeds and by the living word. Not without his counsel, in Pochaev in 1618 the first textbook of Dogmatic Theology in our Church was printed — the "Mirror of Theology." He defended his monastery by his personal presence at civil courts, participated in Church Councils through unceasing prayers, the height of his spiritual life, and even construction work.
Thanks to his labors and those of his successors, the Lavra became a worldwide shrine, which — like the senseless plans of atheist communists — they are trying to turn into a dead museum. His example and the feat of Venerable Amphilochius of Pochaev, who defended the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Lavra, are very precious to us. In Christ and in our Heavenly patrons lies all our hope and trust in this difficult time of trials.
A Reminder for the Orthodox Believer
– What should an Orthodox Christian focus on first and foremost in times of trial?
– On being with Christ always and everywhere — on Golgotha and in the subsequent glorious Resurrection. To firmly believe that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church of Christ, as promised in the Gospel.
To learn to discern the will of God and to distinguish Christ — on Whose Risen Body the wounds of Golgotha always remain, touched by the Apostle Thomas — from the antichrist. The antichrist, despite his outward resemblance to the Lord, will not bear the wounds of sacrifice — the wounds of love for the human race. His pseudo-miracles will be devoid of love.
May God help us to be together with Christ in His True Church, not to be deceived, not to fall away from the Truth, not to betray Him, and not to destroy ourselves! And for this we must learn from Christ the Teacher, from the Holy Church, and from those whom the Church has called Her fathers.
