On Porphyry Ivanov.
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These people trusted Jesus as God, But He came to us as the God of the Earth. He shall banish death for all times, When people on the high place commence A work given by God, they will say with one voice, “It is our Paradise place. Porphyry Ivanov. A Hymn to God. |
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
One day I learned about a man who conquered Nature with his love of her, wrought wonders, and healed people. He prophesied that in the near future there will come another one from the East ¹), and said that people must worship Allah, glorious and exalted is He, love each other and love their Mother Nature. And there was no peace in my heart until I realized that Porphyry Korneyevich Ivanov ²), peace be upon him, is the God of the Earth, who was spoken through the prophet Isaiah ³) and the apostle John ⁴), peace be upon them, and promised by the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, saying, “The religion began strange, and it will become strange again just like it was at the beginning, so blessed are the strangers who restore what the people corrupt of my Sunnah.” ⁵)
Like to what took place two thousand years ago, Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, washed those who wished with natural water, and appealed to people to make ready the way of the messenger to come. He cried in the human wilderness during fifty years calling people to serve Allah, glorious and exalted is He, dressed in knee shorts only all the year round, but people laughed at him, put him into prisons and mental hospitals. And they were not amazed at wonders he wrought.
The God of the Earth often spoke and wrote in parables, and many of his words require interpretation. He could not manifest that he was a messenger of Allah and spoke on his behalf, because in the Soviet Union it was prohibited to spread religion, especially Islam. And he declared his prophetic mission, saying, “Do understand ye not who am I, but who is He Who is in me.”
But in the poem “Thou, blizzard, sweptest in the darkness...” ⁶), Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, wrote the straight words “my dear land, severe East”. Or, in the tale “The Magic Ring” ⁷), which is an allegorical prophecy about the messenger to come, he openly wrote “our great Friday”, and it is one of the clear evidences we can find in this tale that the messenger he wrote of is the Mahdi, promised by the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, who said that the Mahdi will come on a Friday.
In the address “I bow low and ask of you, people...” ⁸), Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, wrote that we buried the Father and the Son, what means that we did not fulfill what was revealed to the prophet Moses and Jesus Christ, peace be upon them, and that now the Holy Spirit has come to take their place, what means that has come to be a time for the Law that was revealed to the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, who was named the Holy Spirit by Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, saying, “But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you.” ⁹)
And sometimes Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, spoke almost openly. He said that all religions will come to one religion — these words correspond to the words of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, saying, “Allah will perish all religions except Islam,” ¹⁰) and that he has millions of people. It is clear that that he spoke about the Muslims, for it is a known fact that he was not a defender of Christianity — thus, he said that Christianity was dead when it came to Rus’, and that the priests know the truth, but keep it from people — this saying reflects the words of the Holy Qur’an, which says, “Ye People of the Book! why do ye clothe Truth with falsehood, and conceal the Truth, while ye have knowledge?” ¹¹)
The God of the Earth showed us clear signs. One of them is that during all the time of his mission, his teaching always consisted of five items, what symbolizes the Five Pillars of Islam. One may say that the well known address “Dear Child” ¹²) consists of twelve items, but Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, did not write it himself. He bade his follower Igor Khvoschevsky to write it in reply to thousands of messages he received after publishing the first article on him in the Moscow magazine “Ogonyok” ¹³), and signed it when it was written.
Another sign is the house of Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him. He called it the House of Health, and said that it was intended for all the people, but for reasons beyond his control he could not participate in its building. When the house was finished, his wife Valentina Sukharevskaya asked of him to bless it, but he silently turned round and went away. The only explanation of this fact is that Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, intended this house to be a symbol, for our house is the Sacred Mosque. And there is no doubt that a well, which he himself sank near this house, symbolizes the Well of Zamzam.
It is known the words of Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, that a man like him has not been from the beginning of the world until now, nor shall ever be, and how outstanding his fate was! Borned as a Christian, he passed trying ordeals and became the God of the Earth, through whom the best religion was again offered to all the nations ¹⁴). And he said about his path, “I passed the river of death from the source to the mouth.”
Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, narrated about his life in his diaries. He left about three hundred notebooks with his articles, poems, parables and tales. He said that he writes for the messenger to come, but on the other hand, asked of us to read and study what he wrote.
He attached great importance to three of his works: “A Hymn to God” ¹⁵), “The Victory of Mine” ¹⁶) and “Dear Child” ¹²), and the most important among them is the hymn. Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, asked to start telling about him from this hymn, and said about its significance, “Today everything is in the hymn. It must sound throughout the whole world. Peace upon all the earth.” He also said that there is a secret in the hymn, which must be unclosed, and I made its translation of the meanings according to my understanding of the deeds and sayings of the God of the Earth.
This work corresponds to the words of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, saying, “Allah will bring out from concealment al-Mahdi from my family and just before the day of Judgment; even if only one day were to remain in the life of the world, and he will spread on this earth justice and equity and will eradicate tyranny and oppression.” ¹⁷) And he said that the Mahdi, in the beginning of his mission, will be recognized near the Holy Kaaba.
The word “kaaba” in Arabic literally means a high place with respect and prestige, and the words “the high place” in the hymn mean the Sacred Mosque, where, in its central courtyard, the Holy Kaaba is situated; and the words “He came to us as the God of the Earth” mean that Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, is he who was spoken through the prophet Isaiah and the apostle John, peace be upon them.
I have selected for this publication the most important, in my opinion, works of Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him ¹⁸), and wrote to them commentaries, where I expressed my understanding of his teaching. I have also included in works about the God of the Earth and his teaching, written by other authors.
Saint Petersburg, Rossia.
2009.
¹)According to the Holy Bible, a man from the East is the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him (the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 41, verses 2 and 3, and chapter 46, verse 11), and it appears from those words of Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, that the words “calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country” (the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 46, verse 11) also relate to the awaited Mahdi. In the same way, in the author’s opinion, it is spoken about the Mahdi in verses 13 and 15 of chapter 52, and verses 1 and 4 ‒ 12 of chapter 53 of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah — the author does understand that these verses relate as to Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, as to the Mahdi, and verse 14 of chapter 52, and verses 2 and 3 of chapter 53 — only to the Mahdi.
²)There are several good works about the life and teaching of Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him. These are the books “The History of Parshek” (“Исторія Паршека”), compiled by Nina Pichugina, “How Man Should Live On” (“Какъ человѣку жить дальше”), written by Nina Pichugina and Jury Panov, “The Path to Truth” (“Путь къ истинѣ”), written by Svetlana Koreneva, “The Teacher Ivanov. Life and Teaching” (“Учитель Ивановъ. Жизнь и ученіе”), written by several authors, and also the memoirs of his son Yakov “Father” (“Отецъ”), recorded by Victor Orlin.
³)It was spoken about Porphyry Ivanov through the prophet Isaiah, peace be upon them, “...the God of the whole earth shall he be called.” (The Book of the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 54, verse 5.) The author also sees other relating to him verses in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, and there are among them verse 22 of chapter 8, verse 2 of chapter 9, verses 7 and 10 of chapter 52, and verses 1 ‒ 5 of chapter 65.
⁴)The appearance of Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, is similar to the appearance of One Who is like to a son of man in the allegorical picture drawn in the Book of Revelation. (The Revelation to Saint John, chapter 1, verses 12 ‒ 15.)
⁵)Sunan al-Tirmidhi, hadith 2630.
⁶)Russian title: “Ты, вьюга ѕлая, мглой носилась...”
⁷)Russian title: “Заколдованное кольцо”.
⁸)Russian title: “Низко кланяюсь и прошу васъ, люди...”
⁹)The Gospel According to Saint John, chapter 14, verse 26.
¹⁰)Sunan Abu Dawood, book 37, number 4310.
¹¹)Surah “The Family of ’Imran”, ayah 71.
¹³)It is the article “A Half a Century Experiment” (“Экспериментъ длиною въ полвѣка”).
¹⁴)The Holy Qur’an says about the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, “We sent thee not, but as a mercy for all creatures.” (Surah “The Prophets”, ayah 107.)
¹⁵)Russian title: “Гѵмнъ Богу”.
¹⁶)Russian title: “Побѣда моя”.
¹⁷)Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, volume 1, page 99.
¹⁸)Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, wrote in one of his notebooks: “If you, reader of my words, would know and believe me that I, with my health, refused to have a chair or a quiet room long ago. I wrote not while sitting, to ponder over the script of a word. I am not a writer, I am a man. I am writing these words on paper, and cannot be in time for that, I am putting them one after the other in the standing position. But you yourself see me, or have formerly seen walking upon the earth, even running. I seek for the mystery not in Nature, but inside myself.”
In other words, he wrote on the stream of consciousness, in which case minor errors are unavoidable. And the author considered to be good to correct the sighted errors in the presented original texts.