On women's education
[edit]- Is it not true that the first teachers of humans from birth have been essentially women? Were they not the first to teach us to think and speak? Were they not the first to sow the seeds of good and evil in the hearts of children in family activities? What has the Russian Church done for the Christian education of women among ordinary people? For the benefit of boys Russians were the last in the world to plan schools in villages: but you poor girls, you future mothers of generations, are you not human, are you not Russians? Have you not been atoned for and received jewels from the crown of Jesus Christ? Do you not need to know and love that One in whom you believe?
On the construction of church buildings in remote villages
[edit]- Their architecture...[should] be simple so that the parishoners themselves could build them: the belfry should have a large bell, a fancy cupola; also, a multitude of high windows and large decorated doors. All this should be done in accord with the humble station of the people; however, it should be a correct building....The holy vessels in their churches should all be tin, but correct and of pleasant design; the clergy's vestments proper for the church and for the village--clean, but not rich; the iconostasis not large, consisting of a few, but proper, even fine, holy icons...the Gospel on the altar should be covered in a modest silk cloth with icons of the evangelists and of the Resurrection of Christ.
On missionary work among the Altaians
[edit]- Their intellectual faculties were so poorly developed, that it seems as though they cannot feel the soul in themselves; and the range of their thoughts and desires, their hopes and fears, their joys and sorrows, is limited to bodily needs. What is the missionary to do with them? Is he to be satisfied with spreading the faith alone? But not many from among them are in agreement with it; and fewer still who can understand it. Should one begin to speak to them about heaven? They think only about bread, and after sermons they engage in conversation only about how they have nothing from which to make bread for themselves. How should one approach a sick man? Should one speak to him about the soul, about eternal torment, about paradise? In response to this he points to the wounds on his body and, looking at the preacher with a languishing gaze, asks "Em'-bar-ba?" Do you have no medicine? And so, what is one to do with him?
- The collection of Tatar words and sayings we have accumulated is like a beggar's sack in which there are all kinds of bread scraps, soft and hard, wheat and rye, fresh and stale--and when put together make a heavy load. These were our achievements through becoming acquainted with the different dialects used in the different native tribes. Here there was information from different sources we came across in our travel. Here there were Kumandin, Chern' Tatar, Teleut, and Altai words. It was so much of a mishmash heaped together that it was not easy to bring this chaotic mixture into any kind of harmonious order. I thought, what could one possibly get out of all this except remarkable nonsense? Among all these dialects--which were all related, but different from one another--it was necessary to adopt the most widely-used; to compile a dictionary of the dialect in the usual order; to note down, as far as possible, especially, the peculiarities of other districts; and, in such a manner, learn one and become acquainted little by little with another. We were already able to present to the natives the essential teachings of the faith and welcome them into the church of Christ in the Chern' Tatar and Altai dialects; but in transposing the Holy Scriptures to that or another dialact, it was not possible to take even a single step without an interpreter.
On the importance of consistent long-term policies in the mission field
[edit]- Work done without conservation is vanity and fuss.
On being offered some squirrels by natives as a present
[edit]- Altai people! Altai people! Your squirrels have their burrows, but Christ has no place to lay his head.
- A monk doesn't need any property. He doesn't need any safe deposit boxes or purses. The poor and wretched, they are our safe deposit boxes. Thieves will not steal what has been placed in them. They will be unlocked only in the next world.
- Let us be mistrustful of our own feelings...stand firm, let us not be hypocritical in our faith and in our devotion to Jesus Christ. Do not place hope in yourself but set all your hopes in God--that is the first lesson incumbent upon you to learn.
- The Lord tames the proud and gives his blessing to the humble. Learn from our Saviour to be humble until the end of life. Dig this well deep; the more living water there is, the more abundantly God's love will be poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
- I would like you to be more diligent in noble music; it is an art that elevates the soul.
- From a letter to Princess Trubetskaia. Quoted in Kharlampovich 2001, p. 194. Translated by James Lawton Haney.
- Prayer is a fruit of love.
- My God, be the essence of my feelings, my searchings, my meditations, and all my actions. Act in me, that all I begin to do, I would perform for the glory of Your name, that I would serve my fellow creatures filled with Your love. Send down your Holy Spirit into my heart. Let your Holy Spirit lead me from the beginning until the end and let Him be in me as will, deed, and achievement.
- Kharlampovich, Konstantin Vasil'evich (2001). Archimandrite Makarii Glukharev: Founder of the Altai Mission. Studies in Russian History. 6. Edwin Mellon Press. Translated by James Lawton Haney.
