Section 09: Glorification and Legacy

The close of St. Theophan’s life and the long reach of his influence: his death on the feast of the Theophany in 1894 — the feast whose name he had borne since his tonsure and to which his cell-chapel was dedicated — his glorification at the 1988 Millennium council, and the spread of his writings through the Kadloubovsky–Palmer anthologies and the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood editions, together with the standard comparison with his great contemporary St. Ignatius Brianchaninov.

Tradition: Russian Orthodox (canonized 1988)

Contents

File Topic
Repose and Canonization Death on the feast of Theophany, 6 January 1894; the providential symmetry of name, chapel, and feast; the relics and their secret recovery, translation, and return to Vysha (2002); the feast days; the glorification at the 1988 Local Council marking the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus
Influence and Translations The Kadloubovsky–Palmer Faber anthologies and the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood editions; how his Russian Dobrotolyubie was the principal English gateway to the Philokalia before 1979; the full comparison with St. Ignatius Brianchaninov in emphasis and reception

How to Use

  • Read Repose and Canonization for the end of the life and its liturgical commemoration — the death on Theophany, the relics’ Soviet-era odyssey, and the 1988 council that glorified him alongside Ignatius Brianchaninov, Ambrose of Optina, and Xenia of St. Petersburg.
  • Read Influence and Translations for the afterlife of the writings — the channels by which the recluse of Vysha became a teacher of the worldwide Orthodox Church, and the careful comparison with his austere counterpart.

Cross-References