Visit to st. Theophan (Govorov) of Western Europe during his journey from Palestine to Russia in 1854–1855

Abstract

The article examines the history of St. Theophan the Recluse's journey through the cities of Western Europe as a member of the ecclesiastical mission in Jerusalem in the rank of hieromonk, in which he participated together with Archimandrite Porfiry (Uspensky) in 1854, after the forced termination of the mission, due to Russia's entry into the Crimean War. The author concludes that this journey was an important experience for the future saint in terms of both intellectual and spiritual. In it, he was inoculated against the temptation of fascination with the ideal of the Western model of church structure, rejected the false beginnings of Renaissance art, and also, perhaps, laid the foundation for the inner work that eventually led to the decision to retire. The polemical attitude characteristic of the saint in matters of relations with the Roman Catholic Church, his burning with the "spirit of zeal for Orthodoxy", according to the author, originates in that trip, the circumstances of which are described with possible thoroughness in this article.