An Edifying Account of Endurance
“He that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matt. 10: 22)
An edifying account by Vladyka Nektary (Kontsevich, + 1983), Bishop of Seattle (ROCOR):
Vladyka Nektary assisted Archbishop John in San Francisco, where he also resided. But three or four times a year — on the Great Feasts — he would travel to Seattle to visit his flock and stay there for several weeks. Vladyka Nektary would usually make the journey by car with a driver.
Once, while traveling through the countryside of Oregon, they stopped to buy gasoline in a small town. Vladyka Nektary was quite tall and imposing, so, of course, the townsfolk couldn’t help but notice the oddly dressed visitor. Some of them approached Vladyka and inquired whether or not he might be Russian. When Vladyka answered in the affirmative, the townsfolk informed him that they had an old blind Russian man living there in town, and they proposed that Vladyka visit him. The man had come to their town many years ago with his brothers; the brothers had since all died, and now he was all alone. Vladyka readily consented to visit the old man, and the party set out for his quarters.
When Vladyka Nektary introduced himself in Russian to the blind man, he asked Vladyka to come closer. As Vladyka Nektary drew nearer to him, the blind man reached out to find and touch first Vladyka’s klobuk, then his long hair, then his beard, and finally his Panagia and rassa sleeves. Only after the old man had verified that before him stood a genuine, traditional Orthodox bishop did he cup his hands and say: “Blagoslovite”!
They spoke for a while, and then Vladyka Nektary informed the blind man that he had on his person the reserved Holy Gifts, and Vladyka asked him whether or not he would like to go to Confession and receive Holy Communion. What an awesome proposal for an isolated Orthodox Christian to hear! Of course the blind man joyously agreed, confessed his sins and received Holy Communion from Vladyka’s hands. Then, after saying their good-byes, Vladyka Nektary and his driver continued on their way to Seattle.
On the return trip from Seattle to San Francisco, Vladyka Nektary and his driver stopped by the small town to call upon the blind Russian man again. But the townsfolk informed Vladyka that soon after their first visit, the old man had died and had been buried by them. All those years the blind man had kept the Faith; then God sent him Holy Communion and took him to Himself.
Vladyka Nektary used to say that this incident has several lessons to teach us:
1) That we must never despair; but always keep the Faith and do our part, and God will provide for our salvation in ways known unto Him.
2) That the externals of our Faith do matter, and they are expressions of that Faith, despite what the modernists may try to tell us.
3) And Vladyka would counsel clergymen to carry the reserved Gifts with them when traveling, in order to be prepared for any sort of unforeseen circumstances: wars, revolutions, providential encounters, etc. Vladyka Nektary was enlightened to do this by the well-known episode when his own mother was arrested by the Bolsheviks while visiting Optina and was given Holy Communion by clergymen, her fellow prisoners, who happened to have the reserved Gifts with them.