Kingdom of Trees

Lives of the Wild Saints #13

St Tikhon of Kaluga
Russia. Fifteenth century

At the heart of all things lies a tree. At the beginning there is a tree, and at the end. A tree caused the downfall of Man, and another tree was the cause of Man’s salvation. I have been here a long time now, listening to the river sing and the trunk groan and mutter in the wind. Long enough to have drawn one conclusion, from both nature and scripture: God loves trees. Perhaps almost as much as He loves his endlessly wayward children.

I have not counted the years since I came here, but what is that to you, or anyone? As the apostle Peter reminds us, a thousand years is a day to God, and a day a thousand years. Numbers, numbers - this is something that no tree worries about. Numbers, years, seasons. They come and go like hares in winter. All flesh is grass. All leaves fall to earth with the coming of autumn.

I followed the River Vepreika when I was a young man, searching for a place to do battle, searching for a fortress whose walls would hold me against the Evil One and all of his doings. I wanted a martyrdom, like all young hotheads. I found my place, but I did not expect still to be here with my beard turning grey. But the Lord knows what we need, and it is so seldom what we want. I wanted a martyr’s death, and so the Lord delivered me endless silence, the song of the river - and my tree.