NOTES ALONG THE WAY
The Books and Articles of Nicholas Berdyaev
The new authorized version of the former Berdyaev Online Bibliotek Library by the late Fr. Stephen Janos
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Father Stephen Janos
Archpriest Stephen Janos was born in Lebanon, PA, to the late Anne (née Marko) and Stephen J. Janos, Sr. He graduated from Reading Central Catholic High School in 1965, and earned his Bachelor’s degree in Humanities, followed by a Master’s degree in Philosophy, from Villanova University. In addition to studying philosophy, Fr. Stephen embraced and studied several languages to include Latin, Greek, German, Russian, and eventually Church Slavonic. Building upon his Greek Catholic influences, Fr. Stephen started to explore the Eastern Orthodox Church.
With the support of his wife (the late Matushka Suzanne Janos), Fr. Stephen started to become more involved in the Orthodox Church until he was ultimately ordained on May 8, 1982. He then graduated from Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity. For over 29 years, he served in parishes located in the Pennsylvania Diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate and the New York/New Jersey Diocese of the Orthodox Church in America. Fr. Stephen was deeply committed to maintaining the integrity of the liturgical service and passionate about preserving the use of Church Slavonic in his services. Much to the chagrin of many a calloused foot, he saw the beauty in hearing and sharing the Word of God in multiple languages. Fr. Stephen became an ArchPriest and was awarded the “Palitza,” before retiring in 2011.
While serving as a rector, he continued to expand his love of languages and started translating from Russian to English. A significant endeavor was the translation of the over 1,500 pages of “Saint-Lives” based on the Reference Book for Clergy-Servers [Nastol’naya Kniga Svyaschennosluzhitelya] published by the Moscow Patriarchate, Moscow 1978 & 1979. His efforts vastly expanded the extent of this material for English readers and is currently available on the Orthodox Church in America webpage. Through his passion for Russian Religious philosophy and translation, Fr. Stephen started to focus on expanding English readers to the works of Nicholas Berdyaev. In addition to establishing an online presence, Fr. Stephen started writing and published over 10 books and numerous articles under the name FRSJ Publications. Up until his death on August 7, 2021, Fr. Stephen worked furiously to continue translating.
Few are aware of his many eccentric passions, including astronomy, nature walks, breeding/competing African Killifish, fly-fishing, and many more. He was a translator, philosopher, priest, father and grandfather. While he liked to refer to himself as the crazy Russian priest, he sought nothing more than to share those passions with others. One of his greatest hopes was to share the beauty he saw in the works of Nicholas Berdyaev.