He very much loved to preach about Christ; and I can say for myself that
the greatest commandment that I received from my preceptor is this:
"The purpose of a missionary is to make the whole world love Christ."
Six years ago, on November 19, in the church of the Holy Apostle Thomas, north of Moscow, Priest Daniel Sysoev was killed. Below are Seraphim Maamdi’s memories of Father Daniel.
Seraphim Maamdi with Priest Daniel Sysoev
My acquaintance with Fr. Daniel was God’s mercy toward me.
When I watched his disputes with the Muslims and heard his sermons,
there arose in me a great desire to get to know him. At that time I was
unaware that he had a missionary school. Then I became acquainted with a
student-missionary of his, who also spoke with Father about me. Fr.
Daniel gladly agreed to make my acquaintance.
When I met him I was impressed by his burning faith and the brave
spirit which he was able to share with those around him. I was also
amazed by his knowledge of the fundamentals of the faith and his
wondrous exgetical gift, by his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and the
interpretations of the Holy Fathers — all of this made an impression on
me and inspired me to go by the same path.
Of course, I was also impressed by his love for the Lord, his zeal
for His service. He very much loved to preach about Christ; and I can
say for myself that the greatest commandment that I received from my
preceptor is this: “The purpose of a missionary is to make the whole
world love Christ.”
I remember that Father said to me, “Seraphim! There is a large Kurdish
population in Saratov. Vladyka blessed us to go there. So — will you
go?” I hedge a little and aid that I still wasn’t ready, that I was a
bit intimidated. Of course, I was still not very knowledgeable about of
luminous faith. At that time I truly wasn’t ready yet, but after his
martyric end, my brother and I, with the blessing of Bishop Longin, made
the first missionary journey to Saratov.
He called me to bravery and said many things that I will remember for
my entire life, especially this: “If a man sets out on the path of
missionary, there is no way back. The Lord will demand of such people
the talent that they received and buried.” And this: “Prayer is the most
important thing in the missionary life: unceasing prayer is first, last
and central. It is an essential part of the life of the missionary. The
study of the Holy Scriptures is one of three chief activities of the
missionary. And, as you understand, all of this is in the liturgy.
Therefore, the more you go to services, the more success awaits you in
your mission.” And also: “We preach the Gospel for the sake of God,
before Him, and for the salvation of people.”
I told him that our people are simply fed up with religious lies,
that they are going to the torments of hell without murmuring. He
strove by all means to help us in missionary work among the Kurds. First
of all he gave us books of the New Testament in the Kurdish language.
(By the way, I learned to read in Kurdish from that very book which
Fr.Daniel gave me.) He told us to assemble the Kurds in order to read
passages to them. He also applied his abilities to the task of
translation. Such concern amazed and inspired me.
I remember once we were discussing the possibility of a missionary
journey to the Iraqi Kurds (who are in a center of Yazidism), so that
there also the preaching of Christ might conquer the local Kurdish
population. I said that I knew our laguage only poorly, and that
moreover there is a different dialect there (Sorani), and that I was
sure to receive a martyr’s crown there, since the radicalism of the
Iraqis is known to the whole world.
Fr. Daniel told me to fear nothing, that the Muslims had threatened
him personally fourteen times, saying that they would behead him — but
should we hold back out of fear? The important thing, he said, is to
firmly and bravely bear the Word of God, and to be witnesses of Christ,
lest we forget that this is a great honor. (I believe that, by Fr.
Daniel’s prayers, the time will come when the Word of God will be
preached there.)
He often said spoke of martrydom, as if he knew that the Lord would
glorify him in precisely this way. And behold, the Lord made him worthy
of a martyr’s crown. The ancient Christians rejoiced in this situation,
but we were saddened.
I remember that when I learned of his death I was very grieved and
thought, “If only he could have had a few more years.” But later I
acknowledged that the will of God is in all things. I humbled myself and
glorified God, for now we have an intercessor in heaven, the
hieromartyr Daniel, who prays for us and helps us in our missionary
endeavors. I would even say that he is continuing his missionary work.
Not long before his death there was a striking event. One one of the
Muslim forums, I found a photo of Fr. Daniel. The Muslisms, with the
help of photoshop, had given him the clothing of a medieval crusader,
and a sword, all against the background of a certain church. This made
me laugh quite a bit, and I decided to show Fr. Daniel. We were very
amused and Fr Daniel asked me to put it in a frame, so that I could
remember him by it.
After his martyric end, when I was burdened with deep sorrow,
remembering him, I looked at the photo from my personal archive. When I
saw the photo, I was simply stunned. I became apparent that the church
in front of which he was standing in the photograph was the same Church
of the Apostles Peter and Paul in Yasenevo, where his funeral was held!
After his death, many people became interested in his labors, and
gradually they came to Christ. I personally know many people who came to
the Church through his books.
I remember when his honorable body was in the Church, a great number
of people came to bid farewell to him, and many of them had a feeling as
if a great holy thing had been brought. Peope with their children
piously venerated the honorable relics of the saint. It was amazing, but
that was how God disposed the people. Before long, Orthodox people from
Serbia, Greece, the USA and other countries began to venerate Fr.
Daniel as a hieromartyr. As the Lord says: “I will glorify them that
glorify me.” (I Kings 2:30)
Everyone wondered at his love and fatherly concern. I remember our
first missionary journey to Moscow. Father served a moleben, gave
counsels and admonitions. We opened a map of Moscow and divided it up by
regions. We got a very good education, so that we would be able to
preach the Gospel and be ready to give answer about our hope with
meekness and piety. (I Pet. 3:15)
Our last meeting was deeply moving. On the day before his martyric
end, the lecture was led by Yuri Maksimov, who later became Deacon
George. After the lecture we discussed many things, particularly the
questions of Ouranopolitism and Nationalism. Father said that our
citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20), and that a Christian must not be
attached to anything earthly. We are on the earth as if in a guest
house, but our home is there, where Christ is at the right hand of the
Father. His last lecture was about God the Father. He gave this lecture
on the day before his death.
Just a few months before his death I asked Fr. Daniel’s blessing to
establish two networking groups. One was about himself (in order to
publish his lectures and articles), while the other was for doing
missionary work among muslims. Amazingly, after his death the groups
were filled with people, and many acknowledged that they started coming
to the Church by reading hearing his lectures and reading his books.
I received three blessings from Fr. Daniel: for missionary work, for
frequent Communion (every Sunday), and just a few days before his death I
asked his blessing to write a book.
Yazidism has a very distorted view of Christianity, and Father
counseled me to deal with this problem. I believe that he is praying for
me and helping me to write apologetic works. I feel his help. It
happens that a question arises, and you listen to his lectures and
immediately find the answers to your questions.
I am truly thankful to the Lord that he vouchsafed me to study with
the Hieromartyr Daniel. I finished his one-year missionary course.
If I were now to forsake missionary activity, this would be very base
and unjust toward him, since he gave his life for Christ, giving us an
example of how serious he was, that he loved not his own life, even unto
death (Rev. 12:11). As one of the great missionaries said, missionary
work is a truly holy work, equal to that of the apostles. Blessed is the
one whom the Lord choses and places in such service (St. Innocent of
Moscow).
When he preached to non-Christians and the heterodox, he manifest an
exalted love for them. What could be more important than the salvation
of a human soul? Because of this love he was made worthy of a martyr’s
crown. It is wondrous, but it happened just as the Lord said: “There
will come a time when everyone who kills you will think that he is
serving God.” (John 16:2)
As His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow and All Russia said in his
condolences on the death of Fr Daniel, “The Lord has called His
faithful servant to himself, having given him
the ability to become a confessor of the faith and a martyr of the Gospel.”
And Paul admonishes us: “Remember your preceptors, who preached the
word of God to you and, looking to their end, imitate their faith.”
(Hebrews 13:7)
He opened to the Holy Scriptures to me in the light of the Holy
Fathers, made me wise in the faith of Christ, and also taught me to bear
the Word of God. Now he is praying for us at the throne of God, so that
we might painstakingly bear the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Now is
the acceptable time. We must gather all the children of God into unity
of faith, for many have forgotten the chief commandment of the Gospel,
to preach the Gospel to all creatures. (Mk. 16:15) In the person of the
Apostles, the Lord commanded all Christians: “Go forth and teach all
nations.” (Matt. 28:19) We must convince all people to come to the
Truth, and we must bring them to Him. This is the will of God.
As St. John Chrysostom said: “It is a great virtue to boldly and
openly preach Christ and to prefer this to everything else. It is so
great and wondrous that the Only-Begotten Son of God confesses such a
man before His Father, although this reward is not proportionate. You
preach on the earth, and He preaches in the heavens; You before men, and
He before His father and all the angels.”
Translated from the Russian by Jeremy Boor
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