The Shepherd, January 2009
The Life of Our Holy Father Among the Saints
PHILARET
Metropolitan of New York
& Eastern America
THE HOLY HIERARCH PHILARET (in the world George Nicolaevich Voznesensky) was born in the city of Kursk on 22nd March / 4th April, 1903, into a pious Orthodox family. His father, the Archpriest Nicolas Voznesensky, was from a family of priests, and he was a zealous pastor and great man of prayer. Subsequently he was tonsured a monk with the name Demetrius, and became a Bishop (later Archbishop of Hailar).
There were five children in the family of Lydia and Nicolas Voznesensky, two sons and three daughters. From his very infancy the young George grew up in an atmosphere of Christian love and church-centredness. When he was about six or seven, he already loved to play “at services.”
In 1909, the Voznesensky family moved to the Far East, to Blagoveshchensk on the Amur. There George completed the eight-year grammar school course. As soon as the government in Priamur fell into the hands of the atheistic and theomachistic powers, the family of the future hierarch re-settled in Harbin. At that time Harbin was a provincial Russian town, where the old patriarchal traditions and church life were being maintained. In the town there were 26 Orthodox churches, which, on the church festivals, overflowed with the faithful.
In Harbin, George continued his education at the Polytechnic Institute. At this time he became acquainted with the works of the holy hierarch Ignatii Brianchaninov. The teaching of the Saint concerning the Christian life and concerning the constant remembrance of death evinced in the soul of the young man a real spiritual conversion. From this time on, life in the world ceased to interest him. In 1930, George was ordained to the order of the diaconate, and in 1931 a priest. In the same year, Father George completed the pastoral-theological course, and he received the monastic tonsure with the name Philaret in honour of Saint Philaret the Merciful, which, as it were, fore-ordained the course of his earthly life as a Christian: the heart of Vladyka Philaret was a heart of mercifulness.
Gradually in the House of Kindheartedness, where Father Philaret had received the monastic tonsure, a monastic community was formed. Daily services, the reading of the Holy Fathers, instructing the children in the orphanage and in Harbin’s schools in their catechism - such was the daily round that occupied the brethren. The spiritual guide of Hieromonk Philaret in those years was the Most Blessed Metropolitan Antony (Khrapovitsky) who, although he did not know him personally, nonetheless had a particularly heartfelt bond with him. Singling him out from among the number of the brethren, the Staretz-Metropolitan had a specially warm love for him and corresponded with him to the very end of his life in 1936.
Father Philaret truly had a merciful heart. He was accessible to all, he comforted and guided each one who came to him. Everything he had, and sometimes even his clothes, he would give away to those in need. Possessed of a great love for the word of God, Fr Philaret knew the whole Gospels from memory. One of the places in the Sacred Scriptures that the future hierarch loved best were the words of the Lord which denounced the lukewarmness of Christians in their faith. He loved to repeat that love for God, for Christ, must come in the first place: “Deny yourself and all that is close to your heart, and follow after Christ! This is the main thing!” The reverence of his serving and the sermons of this true pastor filled the churches with worshippers. The name of Father Philaret was known far and wide to the very borders of the Harbin eparchy. In 1933 he was appointed Hegoumen, and in 1937 Archimandrite.
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