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The other part of the contents was the reading of the Lives of the Saints. “Having read the Bible, the Gospel, and many of the writings of St. John of Chrysostom (Zlto-Oust) and other Ancient Fathers, and also the Russian Zlato-Oust, Philaret of Moscow, and other Church writings, I felt a special attraction towards the calling of a priest, and began to ask God that He might make me worthy of the grace of priesthood, and worthy of being a pastor of his sheep” … (A talk on the 25 th anniversary of his priesthood). Father John rarely mentions the Fathers of the Church in his diary and one must at least be somewhat well acquainted with their writings, in order to feel the power of their influence on the formation of Fr. John’s thoughts, and on the very style of expression in the diary; in particular the influence of St. John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and the writings of the great Ascetics. In the often used conversational form of writing by him, one feels the spirit of St. John Chrysostom, in his discourse on the Holy Trinity St Gregory the Theologian, in the completeness of thought, as expressed by rich synonyms and epithets St. Basil.

We know how highly Fr. John valued all the Church service books. He himself said: I always read the canons at Matins Service myself. What riches are found here; what depth of contents, what wonderful examples of fervent faith in God, patience in sorrow, self-denying fidelity to conscience under conditions of merciless torture, the Church daily presents to us! By reading the canons, the soul gradually becomes filled with the inspired feelings and mental attitudes of those Saints, which the Church praises; it lives within a memorial church environment, and thereby it becomes accustomed to church life. “And I was trained, it may be said, in the church life by this reading, and for this reason I advise all, who sincerely desire to acquire spiritual riches, to pay serious attention to the reading of the canons, according to the church service books Ockoekos, Menaeon, and Triods”.

All these influences so affected the person of Fr. John, that God, Faith and Church became the foundation of his entire life, and these contents united with his pure, healthy, harmonious development, and full lively energy of his physical and spiritual being. Exhalted contents filled a worthy vessel. One of the consequences of this was that for Fr. John the truths of faith were presented not as abstract prepositions, but as live forces, expressed in practical living. Fr. John thinks in terms of images, and he teaches us this manner of thought. He writes: “They say that we soon get tired of praying. Why? It is because, you do not picture before yourself the Living God, as being nearby, on your right side. Look upon Him always with the eyes of your heart, and then you will be able to stand all night in prayer, and you will not become tired. What am I saying night! You will stand three days and three nights and not become tired. Recall those who stood in prayer on poles for long periods of time” (1, 180). “In praying, he writes at another time, it is necessary to imagine all creation as nothing before God, and the One God as All, upholding all, Omniscient, active, giving life to all” (1, 187). For this reason his thoughts are so rich in comparisons, likenesses and symbols dealing with the most exalted objects of faith.

As a lens can burn Wood when it has converged the rays of the sun at its focus, in like manner during prayer, the heart is set afire when “the Sun of the mind God, images of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Saints, the Angels with fullness and power, are converged at the center of our soul, at the heart” (1, 115).

The spontaneous incarnation of faith in corresponding Christian activity, the moral application of each point of faith to life; these comprise the characteristic feature of Fr. John’s understanding of the world and of life. In him one meets theology in thought and in practise.

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