The Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian is the first link in the unbroken chain of grace-filled succession from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in the first century of Christianity, and the last link is the Holy Martyr Tikhon, who was twenty centuries removed from the days of Christ the Savior's sojourn on earth.

And will we not wonder why the Lord so united His two chosen ones here on earth? Did they not live with one heart, with one mind, although at different times and in different conditions, did they not accomplish the same deed, living on earth, in order to unite both in eternity and on earth in the memory of people? Let us look more closely at their life and draw from the source of ever-flowing living water, which gives immortality to the soul.

The Apostle John, with the purity of his virgin soul, loved the Lord so much that no earthly attachments weighed him down in life. He gave God his heart, full of aromas of pure and holy love only for Him. At a very young age he left the house of his father, the fisherman Zebedee, and responded to the preaching of the Forerunner of Christ, calling upon the people of God to prepare the way for the Lord: "... make His paths straight..." (Luke 3:4). Young John himself embarked on this path in anticipation of Him Who is coming after the Baptist, Who "... will baptize you [people] with the Holy Spirit and with fire..." (Matt. 3:11).

And so St. John the Baptist pointed out to his disciples a certain One and said to them: "... behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world..." (John 1:29). And, obedient to the word of the virgin teacher, the virgin disciple leaves John the Baptist to follow the Greatest Virgin and Teacher and Savior.

John followed Christ, leaving everything for Him: his home, his father, his mother, and the quiet, calm life of a fisherman — he walked along the stormy sea of life along a hitherto unknown path to the unknown promised land — to the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus, in the first century, in the presence of Christ, John's heart was kindled.

But did not the heart of the young Vasily Belavin burn in the same way in a country far from Israel, cold Russia, nineteen centuries after the time of the podvig of the Savior and the works of John the Theologian? At the age of thirteen, Vasily left his father's house to study at a theological seminary, for already in his parents' house his young heart was wounded by love for Christ, for His commandments, for His Church. And the jokingly respectful nickname "Bishop", given to him by the seminarians, prophetically sees the life path of the righteous man at its very beginning. And just as John gave God the unplundered treasure – his virgin heart, so Basil brought the same gift to God. And with love, as a holy gift, Christ accepted the devotion of young hearts. From the fullness of His love, the Lord poured into their hearts an inexhaustible source of living, active love. And they, having attained perfection in love, were able to illuminate and warm both those far and those near with it. The love of John the Theologian has passed through the centuries, and the love of St. Tikhon has shone forth to us from the grave. In his time, John loved Christ with all his soul, clung to Him completely, and did not depart from Him until the end of Christ's sojourn on earth. These were the three years of his "academy", where the Divine Teacher Himself became the teacher, where the living word of the New Testament appeared in a visible image.

John the Evangelist, one of the three, witnessed Jesus' resurrection of Jairus' daughter. John, one of the three great ones, saw the glory of the transfigured Christ. John lies on the Savior's feet at the last supper in the Upper Room, where the Paschal lamb of the Old Testament is eaten, establishing the New Covenant with people in His Blood by Christ – the Lamb of God forever.