Russian Orthodox Cathedral
DEAN
BORSH TUTORED THE YOUNG GURDJIEFF in the commandments and other Christian
precepts. Gurdjieff speaks of him as "my unforgettable tutor, my second
father," and writes that years after his tutor's death Gurdjieff requested
that a full funeral service be held over his grave. He says: "Rest in
peace, dear Teacher! I do not know whether I have justified or am justifying
your dreams, but the commandments you gave me I have never once in all
my life broken."
The statement being so unequivocal it is odd that a belief
still remains among some that Gurdjieff was a Sufi. Gurdjieff was baptized
a Christian, begins All and Everything with a Christian prayer
to the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, directed that his funeral
be held at the Russian Orthodox Church and his burial be performed according
to the church's prescriptions, and earlier when opening his Institute
for the Harmonious Development of Man declared to his students: "The program
of the Institute, the power of the Institute, the aim of the Institute,
the possibilities of the Institute can be expressed in a few words: the
Institute can help one to be able to be a Christian." Given the evidence,
why would there be any doubt that Gurdjieff was a Christian? The confusion
results from how Christianity is conceived. Gurdjieff is a Christian but,
in the deepest sense, a "prehistoric Christian." For more discussion of
this subject, see The Gurdjieff Journal,
Volume 7, Issue 3, "Essential Questions: Who Is Gurdjieff?
What Is the Origin of the Teaching" and also Volume
6, Issue 2, "Gurdjieff and Christianity."
