Vera Johnston
Vera Vladimirovna Johnston (née de Zhelihovsky) (1864 - 1923) was born in the Russian Empire (in what is now Ukraine). She was the daughter of Madame Vera Petrovna de Zhelihovsky and niece of H. P. Blavatsky.
In August, 1888, she married Sanskrit scholar Charles Johnston. The ceremony took place at Mme. Blavatsky's home, 17, Lansdowne Road, London. Col. Olcott, visiting London at the time, represented Vera's mother and the rest of the family at the civil marriage at the registrar's office.[1]
At the request of William Quan Judge, she translated her aunt's Russian-language letters to her family so that they could be published in The Path from December, 1894 to December, 1895.[2]
After Blavatsky died in 1891, the Johnstons became members of the Theosophical Society in America, (later renamed Theosophical Society) headed by Ernest Temple Hargrove. In 1896, Charles and Vera moved to New York City, where Vera was still active speaking at conventions and translating articles.
Sometime after the turn of the century, the Johnstons became also associated with the Russian Orthodox cathedral in New York. In 1912, the Russian Archdiocese moved its seminary to Tenafly, New Jersey. Both Johnstons were deeply involved in the work of the Russian Mission. Vera ran the seminary’s booth at a Russian bazaar in New York City (New York Times, 3/28/1915) and her husband was listed as "Teacher of English Language" there in 1918.[3][4]
Vera and her husband were also members of the Order of the Living Christ.
Online resources
Articles
- Orthodoxy and Theosophy: the Vera Johnston story by Matthew Namee
Notes
- ↑ Henry Steel Olcott, Old Diary Leaves Fourth Series (Adyar, Madras: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1974), 71.
- ↑ Mary K. Neff, Personal Memoris of H. P. Blavatsky, (New York: Dutton, 1937), 241.
- ↑ Orthodoxy and Theosophy: the Vera Johnston story by The Society for Orthodox Christian History in the Americas
- ↑ Post on Orthodoxy and Theosophy: the Vera Johnston story at Blavatsky News Blog