Bishop Vissarion (Nechaev) and His Interpretive Works

Bishop Vissarion (in the world - Vasily Petrovich Nechaev) was born on March 13, 1822 in the village of Kaledine, Krapivinsky district, Tula province in the family of a deacon. His origin from the clergy disposed him to gradually comprehend the classical three-stage system of education: theological school, seminary, and academy, which he brilliantly accomplished. In 1844, Vasily Nechaev graduated from the Tula Theological Seminary, then was admitted to the Moscow Theological Academy, where he completed his studies as a master of the XVI year (graduation of 1848) among the best students. The term paper of the MThA student Vasily Nechaev was dedicated to the outstanding Russian hierarch, theologian and historian, St. Dimitry of Rostov.

Seeing the talents of the young graduate of the academy, the school council sought to send him to teach in Moscow theological schools, but in the absence of a vacancy, Master Nechaev in 1848 was appointed a teacher of logic, psychology, patristics and Latin at the Tula Theological Seminary.

In the theological and educational field, Vasily Nechaev had to become an innovator – the courses he taught had neither a clear teaching program nor textbooks – all this had to be developed and tested by the teacher himself. But here he was given complete freedom of pedagogical creativity, the seminary authorities in no way sought to impose on the novice teacher any templates or instructions for improving the teaching of the academic disciplines entrusted to him. Moreover, V. Nechaev continued to work in Tula on the preparation of his master's work for publication, using for this purpose the manuscripts of St. Demetrius of Rostov, kept in the private collection of M. P. Pogodin. The book was published the following year ("St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov", Moscow, 1849) and was highly appreciated by contemporaries.

The growing fame of the author of the work on St. Dimitri prompted him to be transferred to Moscow, and since 1849 Vasily Nechaev taught church and biblical history, church archaeology and church law at the Bethany Seminary (near the Trinity-Sergius Lavra); in 1850 he was confirmed in the degree of master and the title of professor, and at the end of 1852 Vasily Nechaev received a professorship at the Moscow Theological Seminary, where he taught the Holy Scriptures and the Greek language.

As noted by the bosses and colleagues who knew the young professor closely, Vasily Nechaev was completely alien to secularism and strove to be ordained to the priesthood. His wish came true: in December 1853, he was ordained a priest, continuing to teach at the Moscow Theological Seminary, at the same time being a teacher of religion at the 1st Moscow Cadet Corps. But in 1855, Priest Vasily Nechaev left teaching and devoted himself entirely to pastoral service – St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, appointed him priest of the Moscow Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi, where Fr. Vasily served for over thirty years.

The name of Priest Vasily Nechaev (later Bishop Vissarion) would have remained hidden under the thickness of almost a century and a half that passed during his service in the Tolmachevo parish, if in 1859 he had not joined the publishers of the journal "Soul-Useful Reading", which was then edited by two Moscow priests - V. I. Lebedev and A. M. Klyucharev (the future Archbishop of Kharkov Ambrose;  1901). But the first publisher soon died, the second accepted monasticism and episcopacy, and thus all the works of the publication of "Soul-Useful Reading" fell entirely on the shoulders of the priest Vasily Nechaev, who set the main task of the journal "to serve the spiritual and moral instruction of Christians, to satisfy the needs of general edifying and nationwide spiritual reading." Both in the pastoral field and in the good cause of spiritual enlightenment, he asceticized for almost thirty years, which in no way prevented him from taking care of his parishioners in a fatherly way and zealously treating the duties of a parish priest (later archpriest and rector of St. Nicholas Church).

In 1877, Fr. Basil's wife, Varvara Nikiforovna, died, and from that moment the widowed archpriest devoted himself entirely to serving God — he was tonsured a monk with the name Vissarion, elevated to the rank of archimandrite, and on July 30, 1889, at the age of 67, he was ordained Bishop of Dmitrov, vicar of the Moscow Metropolia.

In 1891, Bishop Vissarion (Nechaev) was appointed ruling bishop of the Kostroma diocese, and in 1894 the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church confirmed him to the degree of Doctor of Theology.

Archpastoral service did not break Bishop Bessarion's ties with his brainchild, "Spiritually Beneficial Reading." Being already elderly and sick, he did not stop writing. A few days before Kostroma's death, Vladyka sent his last article to the editors of Chteniya, with a sad afterword: "I am sending an article for the July book, and it seems to be the last. I'm very sick. I'm going to be unctioned. Farewell, brothers, friends, relatives and knowers. Be the will of the Lord. Peace to all". And it is not only from these lines of the ever-memorable Bishop Vissarion that we learn how dear the work of spiritual enlightenment and education was for him until his very death: on May 15, 1905, the saint celebrated divine services at the Kostroma Ipatiev Monastery and laid the foundation stone for the building of the diocesan women's school, his last undertaking, and on May 30, 1905, Bishop Vissarion peacefully reposed in the Lord.

Bishop Vissarion (Nechaev) was buried in the side-chapel of St. Sergius of the Epiphany Cathedral in the city of Kostroma, next to the grave of Archbishop Platon (Thebes) of Kostroma.

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Bishop Vissarion (Nechaev's) book "Commentary on the Paremia from the Book of Genesis" (Moscow, 1871), which we are now offering for careful reading, is the first of a series of his works devoted to the explanation of the Holy Scriptures. It should be especially noted here that the outstanding hierarch and pedagogue did not set himself the task of interpreting all the biblical books, the purpose of his writings was ecclesiastical and didactic. In other words, Bishop Bessarion makes a detailed analysis of only those passages from the Bible that are offered by the Church during the liturgical readings, that is, the Old and New Testament paremias.

Other, no less outstanding contemporaries of Bishop Bessarion, Bishop Michael (Luzin) and St. Theophan the Recluse, glorified by the Church, were also engaged in the interpretation of Holy Scripture, and in the scope of their work they may have surpassed their fellow hierarch. But it should be borne in mind that Bishop Michael (Luzin) and even more so St. Theophan were never parish priests, so their exegetical works are of a lengthy, abstract nature and can be useful for students of the Bible in a scientific and educational sense. Bishop Vissarion (Nechaev), who served as a priest for more than thirty years, understood like no one else the exceptional significance for salvation in Christ of those passages from the word of God that are heard for the edification of parishioners during the All-Night Vigil or Vespers. Therefore, in compiling their "Commentaries," the priest and then the hierarch "strive to facilitate the understanding of the paremias for those who, hearing them read during divine services, seek spiritual edification in them" (Faith and the Church, 1901, book 2, p. 320).