PAGES FROM AN ALTAR BOY’S PAST
Seraphim Larin
Throughout my existence on earth, the cycle of life has never ceased to amaze me. I have observed that in the formative years, an individual is molded into an identity through the influencing directives of family, Church and society. At the same time, the psyche and soul of a person is indelibly etched with moments of profound impressions, which at the time may not be fully appreciated or understood due to lack of maturity, either in mind or spirit. Yet with the advent of age, wisdom and experience, these past events develop in depth, clarity and impact on a person, demanding attention and spiritual definition.
I, for one, am no exception. Having nearly climbed life’s mountain with its deep crevasses, jutting outcrops and grassy knolls, I reflect on these landmarks of my yesteryears with deep humility and sadness – humility, because God’s inexplicable mercy had allowed me to witness these saving graces, and sadness, because I will never recapture them again in this life. Among the greatest of these occasions was the time I spent as an altar boy to Saint Archbishop John of Shanghai.
To have known him was to have been blessed by God……not that I realised this when I was his altar boy from 7 years of age through to 13. During these years – to me – this great Saint was a kindly and benign figure that loved children and enjoyed absolute love from his clergy and congregation.
However, during church services he was totally inflexible in maintaining discipline, reverence and spiritual meaning of the church rites. Everything had to be carried out with solemnity, punctuality and with a minimum of activity. Any violation – such as a whispered word or hand gesture – brought an immediate admonition from the Saint in the form of the well-known, subdued yet audible “tch, tch tch”.
After the service, the offending altar boy would be required to explain his unauthorized action to Saint John himself. If the reason given was unacceptable, the altar boy would receive either an informative rebuke or a directive to perform a number of prostrations outside the closed Royal Gates – in front of any of the faithful that may have remained after the Service.
I remember once when my brother and I arrived late (only by a few minutes…but the reading of the Hours had commenced) we were obliged to execute 30 prostrations in front of all the present parishioners for our slackness. This taught me the importance of punctuality as well as one way of avoiding in sharing embarrassing moments with parishioners!
Everybody had a predetermined task to do during the Service as this was allocated by the senior archdeacon – in most of my experiences it was Archdeacon Fr. Elisha – a native of China. Here was a truly wonderful cleric whose apt name reflected his spiritual attributes! He was well over six feet in height, of solid build and possessed the best bass/baritone that I have ever heard. He was distantly related to the Manchu emperors (for which he used to receive an annual generous grant of rice, various types of fowl and other products from the government) and lived with his family in the church grounds. His love and attachment to “Vladika” was renowned and his implacable Orthodox commitment earned him and his family, martyrs’ earthly ending at the hands of the communist butchers – he refused to leave China.
This great soldier of Christ would explain our responsibilities, directing us where we were to stand and warning us not to misbehave or violate the decorum of the Church Service…or else!
If during a Service, for one reason or another you had to go outside the confines of the church e.g. toilet, you had to receive a blessing from Vladika or one of the priests before removing your sticharion. Walking around church grounds in a sticharion was strictly forbidden – unless it was part of a church Service e.g. blessing of water, Baptism, church procession etc.
The wrapping of “prosphoras”, looking after the incense-burner and the preparation of the after-Sacrament drink of wine and water were not permitted to be done in the confines of the actual Altar. All these necessary tasks had to be undertaken in the annexes that adjoined the Altar on both sides, thereby not compromising the sanctity or integrity of the Church Service.
Should there be any after-Sacrament drink left, which invariably there was (the altar boy attending to this responsibility made sure of that), it was divided evenly between the altar boys, who reverently consumed their portion in three mouthfuls i.e. in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Any flippant behaviour or casual approach to this, received remedial punishment – a savage twist of the top of your ear – from the archdeacon. The altar boys named it the “ear treatment” and was Fr. Elisha’s’ favourite form of punishment. Despite this, he was a very kind and generous person, regarded as Vladyka’s “right arm” and was adored by all of us.
During Liturgy, all the altar boys had to assemble in the middle of the church to participate in the singing of “The Creed” and later on “Our Father”. During the singing, he would walk around us listening to ensure that all the boys were contributing with their voices. If he found someone silent or reticent in his rendition, a quick “ear treatment” soon had the matter rectified.
After the Service, I would accompany Vladyka (I had to carry the trail of his Bishop’s mantle and his staff) as he walked around the church, saying brief prayers before selected icons. I remember that he always prayed before an icon depicting the Virgin Mary and an assemblage of Prophets, Apostles and numerous Martyrs and Saints, as well as praying before a life-sized icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov. This silent pilgrimage used to take approximately 15 to 20 minutes, after which we would arrive at the dining room, already filled with hungry altar boys, waiting for the pre-luncheon prayer to be enunciated by Vladyka.
Should Saint John come upon you in the street, he would greet you with a friendly (though quite determined) tap on the head with his staff (much to the recipient’s unexpected astonishment) saying that he was driving the evil out of you – which indeed he did.
After every church Service, he would invite all the altar boys to his dining room, where a large table would be set with an impressive array of food. At one stage, being Vladyka’s crosier (pastoral staff) attendant, I invariably sat next to him at the head of the table (clergy did not attend) and witnessed what he ate. He would purposely mix incompatible dishes together e.g. sweet fruit jelly with fried potato chips making them totally uninviting and unpalatable, and then cheerfully consume a small portion, all the while inviting us to eat of the many tasty dishes set before us.
When I or anybody else would make involuntary comments on the ghastly mixtures that Vladyka was eating, he would ignore them and continue talking as though he had not heard us. What in fact he was doing was actually suppressing his taste buds by forcing them to accept this distasteful amalgam!
There are many more instances of St. John’s practices of self-denial e.g. never sleeping in a bed, walking in sandals without socks in the middle of winter in sleet and snow! Suffice to say, he was not of this world and he didn’t even want his body to be part of its physical cravings and sentient tastes.
On the subject of not wearing shoes, there is a very amusing history of Vladyka’s practice in walking bare-footed. At one stage, one of the parishioners noticed that he was walking without shoes – even in winter – and tried to get him to wear socks and shoes – which Vladyka declined. The parishioner then wrote to Vladika’s superior requesting that he intercedes and ask Vladyka to start wearing shoes. His superior issued an order to Vladyka to do so. A few days later, the parishioner noticed that Vladyka was still walking bare-footed, but with a pair of shoes under his armpit! He was following his superior’s instructions and was “wearing” shoes – only not on his feet! A further order by his superior for Vladyka to wear the shoes on his feet, forced him to do so!… but he didn’t wear socks as that wasn’t part of the directive! His superior didn’t press the issue further!
Indeed, in writing these short recollections, I cannot help but feel a huge sadness – because of my tender age at the time, I did not consciously value those precious moments. I still corresponded with Vladyka until his death and still have 15 of his letters to me, which I value above everything that I own, except perhaps the New Testament that he gave me with his inscription.
In fact, a few years ago, there were raging bushfires in our area – we live in the mountains on a 6-acre property – that were destroying properties in our area. When it became obvious that the fires were advancing on our property, we prepared to evacuate… and the first items I grabbed with me was Vladyka’s letters and the New Testament that he gave me. He must have heard my prayers as we were ready to leave because the fire was extinguished in our “back-yard” by an unexpected large contingent of fire-fighters, supported by the helicopter “Elvis”.
There were many instances that revealed his holiness, instances that I witnessed that can really be called miraculous (but not comprehended as such due to my formative years) because he was indeed a living Saint!
It is an obvious fact that the ROCOR (MP) adherents are forever using Vladyka’s name (as well as other holy objects, icons etc..) in their attempts to “homogenize” the Moscow Patriarchate, and justify their frightening betrayal by implying that this great Saint didn’t condemn metr. Sergius and his Soviet apparatus.
As history has it, after the end of WWII, in their rabid attempts to entice the overseas Russian émigré under the guise that the “Motherland awaits them with open arms”, there was an outpouring of propagandist “nationalistic” fervour from the MP. Tens of thousands succumbed to the KGB inspired initiative (including the head of the Russian Orthodox Mission in China – Archbp.Victor, who was later elevated to a Metropolitan by the MP) and headed “home” to a grim future.
Saint Vladyka John rejected the overtures, warning his flock of the dire consequences. In their attempts to change Vladyka’s attitude, they sent a delegation of two “archbishops” to talk to him. While waiting in Vladyka’s office, one of the “archbishops” reached into his trouser pocket to retrieve a large envelope. This required him to lift up his cassock, as apparently the bulky object wouldn’t pass through the opening in it. As he did this, a number of other people present that were waiting to see Vladyka, saw a Makarov pistol strapped to his waist!!! This became the talk of the town for days to come!
Needless to say, Vladyka sent his secretary to usher these two “servants of God” off the premises because he had no intention of even seeing them!
So much for Vladyka’s passive acceptance of the vile MP and their “apparatchiks”.
I like to think that Vladyka has me in his prayers because in the past ten years, I was diagnosed with two very serious life-threatening ailments, and in both instances – on the eve of their announcements to me by the specialists – he appeared to me in my dreams and gave me comforting consolation and blessing – even before I was advised of the following grueling processes to combat the afflictions.
God’s mercy is ever present in the realization that this great Saint is perpetually interceding on our behalf before Christ, and that his prayers for our salvation will continue as long as we carry his name in our hearts.
O great Saint Archbishop John – pray for us sinners, especially your truly lowly and unworthy altar-boy Seraphim.
