Tatiana Veselkina
Named John at birth, he was baptized John in honor of the Baptist of the Lord. In monasticism he was named Joseph in honor of the Joseph the Betrothed, and in monasticism - Job in honor of St. Job of Pochaev, one of the saints especially revered by the Russian Church Abroad, who became the patron saint of publishing in the Russian dispersion. From the Slovakian town of Laromiroff came the printing house of St. Job of Pochaev, which still exists today. This is how the publishing business began, thanks to which for many years the Jordanville printing house supplied books and other printed products to the faithful in the historical homeland.
Bishop Job of Stuttgart (Bandmann)
We recorded this interview on the second day after the episcopal ordination of Vladyka Job (Bandmann).
“I am lucky to have bishop-colleagues,” I thought. And in general, this is the first bishop whom I interviewed just one day after his consecration, when he was not yet accustomed to the address “Vladyka” and remarked: “If someone from behind says: ‘Vladyka Job!’, I think: who is it? Who is it addressed to?”
In general, this chiarotony should have taken place two years ago in the monastery of St. Job of Pochaev in Munich, two years after the death of Archbishop Agapit (Horacek) of Stuttgart, also a hereditary journalist, who was dearly loved by his Russian flock in Germany. The meeting of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad and the celebrations dedicated to the 100th anniversary of its foundation were also to be held there. But the virus closed the road. And so in the interval between virus waves, when it seemed that the virus had receded, the traditional crowded - except for last year - celebration in honor of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God was timed to coincide with both the meeting of the Synod (no longer online, but “in-person”) and the hierarchal chastening, which in the presence of the Guide of the Russian Dispersion, as parishioners noted, was “solemn to the point of tears”.
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“In what language shall we write the interview?” - I ask the Vladyka. His native language is German, his second language is English, and Russian is his third. We started in Russian, and if anything happened, we decided that we would switch to English. “If anything” did not happen. Vladyka Job answered wonderfully in Russian, with the familiar timbre and intonation of Metropolitan Mark of Berlin and Germany, next to whom, starting with his acquaintance as a teenager, he has been with for 24 years.

• The only child of my parents, I was born in Berlin, where we lived for most of my life. My dad made reports and documentaries, mostly on automotive subjects. He was looking for interesting subjects for his films, and one day during summer vacation he took me on a shoot and we went to America. There we traveled 4,000 kilometers along the famous US 66 route.

Road 66 was opened back in 1926 and back then it started in Chicago, went through the states of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and ended in Los Angeles, California. At that time, my dad was making a movie about the major shopping malls in the United States. Later, my mother started making movies too. Only already on religious themes.
About the apartment temple and baptism on the Jordan
John Bandmann with his parents

• Was mom a person of faith?
  
• My mom came from the former East Germany, where atheism was taught in schools. She recalled that as a child she believed in God, which is natural for children, until she was told that God was not to be believed in, just like Santa Claus. She was saddened, and already in the West it was important for her to find an answer to the question: where is God, where is the truth? And she actively searched for Him almost all her life.
  

We did not find the Truth and continued our search, and through trips to Greece and the Holy Land we came to Orthodoxy

When I was about 12-13 years old, I also took part in her search, and together with her we first converted to Catholicism, but noticing that we did not reach the roots of Christianity and did not find the Truth, we continued our search, and through trips to Greece and the Holy Land came to Orthodoxy.
I was very impressed by the trip to the Holy Land, I was about 14-15 years old at that time. We decided to go on a pilgrimage without a specific plan, with backpacks, and there to orient ourselves on the spot: how God will lead us. In the same way we traveled around Greece. It was an interesting form of travel, helping us to get to know the country and people well.
On Mount Sinai in Egypt, where we were going to meet the dawn, we slept in a tent we had brought with us. It was very cold, we got very cold and at night we got up and went to one of the houses on the top and asked the owners for blankets.
At Sinai in the Catherine Monastery we met one monk who was the keeper of the ossuary. He used to be a Catholic, then converted to Orthodoxy and for us in the monastery library he found books in German - the life of St. Sergius of Radonezh and two books on Orthodoxy - and made us photocopies.
He also gave us the address of the Monastery of St. Job of Pochaev in Munich, which he knew about because Vladyka Mark came every year with pilgrims to the Holy Land.
Monastery of St. Job of Pochaev in Munich
I was still a schoolboy, and my mother brought me to the monastery to get acquainted. For two weeks I helped there: I made incense, candles, and watched how the monks lived. After the monastery I decided to become Orthodox. My mother also decided to be baptized with me.

After the monastery I decided to become Orthodox.

Vladyka Mark told us about Orthodox parishes in Germany of different jurisdictions - Serbian, Romanian, Greek - and advised us to go to their services and choose one that would be to our liking, but did not force us to go to Russian parishes abroad. However, my mother and I decided to go where God had originally led us.
In Berlin, we began to go every Sunday to a small church that was located in an ordinary apartment. There was not even a regular choir. We immediately took everything seriously and it was already clear to us that we would not only pray, but also help at the parish.
The parish was Russian-speaking, and at first we did not understand anything, everything was difficult for us. We immediately began to learn Russian, and a parishioner helped us with Russian and Church Slavonic so that we could read on the choir. We learned singing, we learned the Typikon, and I also served in the altar, and then I began to sing on the choir. We understood that Orthodoxy can be learned through living tradition, not only through books.
Already after entering the monastery, I thanked God for bringing me to Orthodoxy, to which I decided to devote my life, because at that time nothing in the world attracted me.

• When did the baptism itself take place?

My mother and I were baptized by Vladyka Mark at the Jordan River

• In 1998 Vladyka Mark offered us to go on a pilgrimage trip to the Holy Land, and there on the Jordan the Vladyka baptized my mother and me. God arranged everything for us very simply. He pointed me to the monastery and to Vladyka Mark, who became my second - spiritual - father.

My own father was not particularly pleased, because he always hoped that I would be of “use” to society. But now, as it often happens, he has accepted it.

• Finished school and went to a monastery?
  
• After school we in Germany are obliged to serve in the army for six months or to pass social service, which I chose. I served in a home for the disabled not far from the monastery in Munich, not intending to enter it at that time. And I lived in the convent.
  

During the service I realized that I wanted to stay in the monastery. My decision was hard for my mother, but she accepted my choice, blessed me and decided to drive me from Berlin to Munich herself. It was the year 2003.
Kursk Root Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God
At that time, the Kursk Root Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary was in Berlin, and when the local bishop heard that we were going to Munich, he asked us to take the icon with us. And so I went to the monastery in the car on my knees with the icon. Six hundred kilometers of the way, about 8 hours we drove. Then I realized that it was the Most Holy Mother of God who brought me to the monastery.
The next day I was sent to obedience in the candle workshop. There on the wall I also saw the Kursk-Korena icon. And years later, during the festive liturgy on the day of commemoration of the icon “The Sign”, when the icon itself was in the church, I was elevated to the episcopal dignity in Her house, in the Cathedral of the Sign in New York.

• Let us return to your arrival at the monastery. How much time passed from the time of your arrival there to your tonsure?
  
• Vladyka Mark immediately told me to enter the theological faculty at the University of Munich. I asked for six months to get used to monastic life, and then I went to study. Even though I had been and lived in the monastery, I still had to adjust to the monastery in my new capacity.
  

Monk Job (Bandmann)
In connection with my studies, I was a novice and then a monk for quite a long time. I was tonsured into monasticism in 2006 with the name Joseph in honor of Joseph the Betrothed, and ten years later I was tonsured into monasticism with the name Job in honor of St. Job of Pochaev. In the same year I was ordained a deacon, and almost two years later I became a hieromonk.

• To what obedience were you assigned?
  
• In our monastery it is customary to fulfill all obediences. I was regent of the monastery choir, editor of the Orthodox magazine “Der Bote” (“The Messenger”), did layout and preparation for printing of Orthodox literature, but in the end my main obedience was to work in the printing house as a printer. In our publishing house we have a full circle of preparation and printing of books, except for hard binding.
  

Our printing house publishes books in Russian, German and English. There was a period when we only republished books: we republished the textbook on dogmatic theology by Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky, the book by Fr. Seraphim Rose's book “The Soul after Death,” and a collection of reports in German by the famous professor John Ponagopoulos.
We distribute our books at parishes in Germany, and in recent years through an online store, almost half of whose catalog is taken up by our books. Unfortunately, it is not a monastery store, because we don't even have a separate room for a bookstore. In fact, the monastery has long since become small for our needs.....
About asceticism and using the head for its intended purpose

• Vladyka, tell us more about the monastery....
  
• Now we have 8 monks and novices from different countries. There are Germans, Russians from Kazakhstan, Ukrainians. One of our fellow monks is currently living in a hermitage in France.
  

The monastery has existed since 1945, when after the war the brethren gathered from Russian refugees and rented a house in which we still ascend.

In 1980. Vladyka Mark introduced the Athonite statutes to the monastery

This is the only men's monastery in Western Europe where the liturgy is celebrated daily. Vladyka Mark, when he became bishop in 1980, brought his colleague - then a novice and later Archbishop Agapit - to the monastery and introduced the Athonite statutes.
Our main labor is in publishing. We also make candles, incense, we have a small jewelry workshop and apiary.
The motto of our monastery is the Latin phrase that was the motto and spiritual basis of the monastic statutes written by St. Benedict of Nursia - “Ora et labora” (“Pray and labor”). St. Benedict believed in the necessity of combining prayer and work in monastic conditions, that is, combining contemplation and action.
Brethen of St Job of Pochaev monastery in Munich
We get up at half past four in the morning, from 4 to 8 a.m. we serve midnight, Matins and Liturgy. After breakfast and obedience - at 12 noon - rest. After dinner - cell prayer. In the evening - at 18:00 - Vespers and at 20:00 - Vespers. Between the services - work. It is a very difficult rhythm, not everyone can withstand it. I think my brethren will agree that the most difficult thing is to get up early in the morning. But it is not difficult at all for Vladyka Mark, our most faithful monk.
Vladyka Mark used to be able to return from a trip at 1:00 a.m. and at 4:00 a.m. he was already serving. This is a role model for me. Asceticism helps in the kind of monastic life that Vladyka Mark has chosen for himself. He has practically no hobbies other than translations. He mainly translates the works of his spiritual father, St. Justin (Popovich), from Serbian into Russian and German at the same time. We have already published his translations.

• If you were asked what kind of rector Vladyka Mark is, what traits of his character would you first of all note?

Vladyka Mark is an ascetic. Absolute. Very strict about himself

• He is an ascetic. Absolute. Very strict with regard to himself and he strictly educates us, but he always does it with love.

Vladyka is a man of a different generation than the rest of the brethren. He is now in his 80s, he lived through World War II as a boy, saw socialism in East Germany, starved. He has been through terrible times, and all this has affected him. Sometimes we do not understand why he can react harshly if we throw something away, because he himself survived the famine. But Vladyka understands that we are different generations and he gives us leniency.
Mark, Metropolitan of Berlin and All Germany

• Does he treat you as monks, children or... how?
  
• From the very beginning Vladyka has perceived us all as responsible adults and always expects that we can take care of our own basic needs, that we as adults understand the responsibility for our souls and for our salvation. This may be unusual for monastic life. After all, there are spiritual fathers who determine everything for the novice and completely forbid him to think for himself.
  

Since Vladyka Mark deals with the diocese, parishes and cannot follow our every step, he always relies on us. In fact, this is very helpful. But it depends, of course, on what kind of novice is of character and disposition. Not everyone succeeds. There are people who need to be shown and pointed out, and we, brothers, help and support each other in everything.

• Vladyka, can you call your monastery Russian Orthodox? Or how would you characterize it?
  
• Exactly so: it is a Russian monastery. True, I don't know how many monasteries in Russia have such an Athonite charter as ours.
  

Job (Bandmann), bishop of Stuttgart

• What worldly activities are allowed in your monastery?
  
• As in all monasteries nowadays, it is difficult for us to define how and how much we can use the various possibilities of the Internet and social networks. At least we rely on the prudence of the brethren and do not forbid these things.
  
• What social network can you be found on?
  
• I have an open account on Instagram.
  
• What are your hobbies?
  

I write music, mostly liturgical

• I have many monastic obediences, which are my hobbies, you could say. Music, for example. In the monastery I was a regent and now I sometimes regent, I try to give a voice to future singers. I write music, mostly liturgical music. But I write such difficult things that we cannot sing in our monastery. I am waiting for a worthy choir! I also love photography.
  
• What kind of secular music do you allow yourself to listen to?
  
• I believe that one should not be limited by genres, but rather by the time of listening and the emotionality of the piece of music. There is music that disturbs the soul too much, excites its low feelings and even openly provokes evil, works against God and faith. Such music would not be recommended for anyone to listen to.
  
• What do you read from secular literature?
  
• I very rarely read, and if I do, I read science fiction, novels with philosophical or psychological overtones, for example, Dostoevsky, Herman Hesse.
  

About a worthy castle for a Russian monastery
Seifridsberg Castle

• Vladyka, do pilgrims come to you for spiritual help?
  
• Constantly, all the cells are occupied.
  
• And specifically to you? Do you have spiritual children?
  
• Not many. God has not sent me such people who would ask for spiritual children, and I do not consider myself an elder. I have some experience, but it is not for me to judge whether I can help a person as a real spiritual father. I am a little afraid of that. There are people who come and ask. I can give advice, but, of course, not in the way that Vladyka Mark does, for example.
  

In general, you need to be a saint, like John of Kronstadt or the elders of Optina, who could look into people's souls and see their past and future. But I cannot dispose of people's lives in this way.

• Lately the monastery cannot accept all the pilgrims, but now you have found a place absolutely suitable for the monastery, where you can expand ...
  
• We tried for a long time to agree with the Munich city administration to expand the monastery on our present site. But they did not want to understand us.
  

Originally the monastery was located in a relatively isolated area on rented land. As time went on, houses were built around it, and young people began to gather in the nearby parks at night and disturb the brethren, who already had only 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. to rest. Not only was garbage thrown onto the monastery grounds, but there were even a few arson attacks. As a result, our garage almost completely burned down.

We found a place that is perfect for a monastery. This is Seifriedsberg Castle

And finally we found a place that is perfect for a monastery because it is located in a secluded place and surrounded by nature. This is Seifridsberg Castle. Now we have to buy it. And then it will be monastery property.
The first mention of the castle dates back to 1251. It was built by Bishop Siegfried III, Count von Rehberg. The castle consists of a three-storey main building and a side wing. The main building and the entrance are connected by a wall with a tiled roof, forming an enclosed courtyard.
In 1851, a forest park was laid out in front of the palace, in which shrubs and trees from all over the world were planted, including a ginkgo tree known for its healing properties, sequoias, rhododendron bushes, which are now more than 100 years old and are a natural wonder when they bloom in May and June.
Seifridsberg Castle
The castle is conveniently located an hour's drive from Munich, and the number of brethren will hopefully increase. We will finally be able to build a real church instead of a house church, a monastic building for the brethren, a hotel for pilgrims, additional workshops, and further development of our production. We also plan to place there a diocesan center, a center for youth missionary work, an educational center for courses for clergy.
Both financially and in terms of the sheer size of the area and what needs to be done, neither our monastery nor our diocese has ever undertaken such a large project before.
The Russian Church Abroad is not a wealthy church at all, and we continue to bargain with the owners of the castle and the grounds. We have also established a fund through which we intend to raise money for the purchase and renovation, which will be expensive. To carry it out we will need volunteers in addition to specialists.

• How much money will be needed to buy the castle?
  
• Approximately 2.5 million euros, the renovation will cost at least 1.5 million or even more. And only then can we plan the move. It won't be easy for the monastery.
  

Vladyka Mark has entrusted me with this project, and I am working on it at the same time as I am completing my doctoral thesis.

• On the topic?
  
• “Theodicy in the New Testament” - why is there evil and suffering on earth?
  

On communicating “face to face” with God and the headship of men
Christ the Pantocrator. Mosaic

• Remind me, what does the word “theodicy” mean?
  
• It is a set of religious and philosophical doctrines designed to justify the governance of the universe by a good God, despite the presence of evil in the world: the so-called problem of evil.
  

I wanted to find an answer to this question in the New Testament, because I have been familiar with this subject since childhood, because it is a favorite question of people who do not believe. I came to faith and had many conversations and debates with my unbelieving friends on this subject. It was important for me to find the answer myself and explain it to them.
During my studies, I realized that while the Old Testament is present on this subject and even attempts to give answers, it does not solve the problem as a whole. But in the holy fathers and in Christian literature this subject is not so much covered. This means that the problem is solved through the New Testament, through Christ.
I think that the strongest answer that God has given us is Christ. He not only suffered, but overcame both suffering and death. The apostle Paul writes very well about this in his letter to the Romans: “Christ Jesus died, but He also rose again: He is at the right hand of God, He also makes intercession for us” (Romans 8:34).

After the resurrection of Christ, everything is defeated: suffering, the devil, death, and human corruption

In his epistle he addresses the Christians of Rome, who were mostly Gentiles, and speaks a lot about the “truth of God” which is received by faith. This truth is inherent in God and is manifested in all His actions. God reaches out His divine hand to man and gives this truth, this answer, through faith. He shows that after the resurrection of Christ all things are conquered: suffering, the devil, death, and human corruption.
This may not be clear to us now, but gradually we begin to feel the grace that draws us into a new world where evil, suffering, and death themselves will be absent. “If with your mouth you confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the heart you believe unto righteousness, and with the mouth you confess unto salvation” (Rom. 10: 9-10).

• So man can only get the answer to this question after he comes to the true God, as he meets Him personally?
  
• Yes. God did not just give the answer as a written explanation, He gave us Christ. That is the answer. God has shown that every person can personally meet Christ the Savior and personally receive Him into his life and into his heart. And the more sincerely we do this, the more the question of the presence of evil and suffering in the world will no longer exist for us.
  

Bishop Job (Bandmann) of Stuttgart

• What are the paths that lead a person to a personal encounter with God? Or are these paths inscrutable and the way to a personal encounter is the whole life of a believer? Can God come into a person's heart unexpectedly?

If you are not interested in God, what kind of personal meeting can we talk about?

• There is one way, and that is prayer. Prayer is communication with God. If you are not interested in God, what personal meeting can we talk about? And this prayerful fellowship is higher than thinking or talking about God, that is, “theologizing.” That's why we must set our whole life on prayer and build our life around it. Although any child can pray, perfect unceasing prayer, which no longer needs words, no longer needs ideas, is a “face-to-face” communication with God, and is the result of a person's great feat and endeavor.
  
• A person goes to church, reads spiritual books, confesses and receives communion regularly, and even teaches others. Is it possible to determine whether this person lives with God? What, in your opinion, are the signs of a “man of God”?
  
• Hardly anyone dares to evaluate a person's spirituality from the outside. Even in confession one cannot always see what is really going on in the soul. Some may show, of course, obvious holiness, which cannot be hidden from the one who knows how to recognize it, but this is an exception. And a rare one at that.
  
• Do you teach the Law of God to young people?
  

I teach Orthodoxy to high school children

• In some schools in Germany, where there are many Orthodox children, they hire a special teacher. I teach Orthodoxy to high school children in different schools. Now I have 13 people in my class - these are children of parishioners, but in the current conditions of coronavirus and restrictions, of course, this is not all who could and wanted to go to class.
  
• And how is the monastery itself living during the pandemic?
  
• One of the temptations of Jesus Christ in the desert was to use spiritual power and neglect danger: “Throw yourself down and the angels will catch you.” But that's not about us. We try to live peacefully and without unnecessary fear. But it is easier for us than it is for the laity to cope with this situation. Before the quarantine, it was as if we were living in quarantine: our temple and workplace are located where our cells are.
  
• Vladyka, what, in your opinion, will be the most difficult for you as a bishop at first?
  
• I think everything at the beginning will not be easy. Everything is new, even though I have lived close to the bishop for a long time and theoretically understand what the bishop does. They say that traveling to parishes is exhausting and draining, but I think it also gives a lot of grace and strength. At least for me, it won't be the worst thing.
  
• Now I will list several qualities of human character: education, humility, asceticism, wisdom, kindness, sense of humor. In what order do you think they are important for a bishop?
  
• Wisdom, prudence are the main helpers in everything. Then, in my opinion, humility and asceticism. A bishop cannot do without education. And the final place is shared, I think, by kindness and a sense of humor.
  

And the main thing for a bishop, despite the fact that he has to deal with paperwork, real estate and money, is that he is in direct contact with people. And first of all, he must see what kind of person is in front of him, what this person is capable of, how he can be led and how not; what to entrust, what obedience to direct him to, how to behave towards him and how not to behave. This, I think, is the most important and the most difficult.
Bishop Job (Bandmann) of Stuttgart
spoke with Tatiana Veselkina

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I have applied to over 100 jobs with only 2 phone screen interviews. I have iterated over my resume based on the feedback from this subreddit, and senior software developers on LinkedIn.
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Thank you very much everyone. Have a great weekend.
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