In 1977-1982. studied at the evening department of the Faculty of Philology of the Abkhaz State University; worked as a tour guide, teacher of Russian language and literature in high school.
In 1983-1985. served in the ranks of the Soviet Army. After demobilization, he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary and was accepted into the brethren of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. On July 21, 1986 he was tonsured a monk, and on June 7, 1988 he was ordained hieromonk.
In 1988 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary and was sent to study at the Sofia Theological Academy (in 1990 it was returned to the status of the theological faculty of Sofia State University). During his studies in Bulgaria, he served as a priest in the Russian Church of St. Nicholas in Sofia.
In 1992, having completed his studies, he returned to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and served as an assistant economist. On December 15, 1992, he was appointed rector of the Moscow metochion of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
On August 19, 2003, in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, he was consecrated Bishop of Saratov and Volsky.
On October 6, 2011, by decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was appointed head of the newly formed Saratov Metropolis.
He is the rector of the Saratov Orthodox Theological Seminary - a higher religious educational institution; Chairman of the editorial board of the journal “Orthodoxy and Modernity”.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of June 7, 2012 (magazine No. 55), he was confirmed as rector (holy archimandrite) of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery in Saratov.
Has awards of the Russian Orthodox Church:
- medal of St. Sergius of Radonezh II degree, 1987;
- medal of St. Sergius of Radonezh, 1st degree, 1988;
- Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh II degree, 2011;
- medal of the Saransk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church "Merciful Heart" 1st degree, 2013;
- Patriarchal sign “700th anniversary of St. Sergius of Radonezh”, 2014;
- memorial Patriarchal panagia, 2015;
- anniversary medal “1000th anniversary of the repose of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir”, 2015;
- medal of the Synodal Department for Prison Ministry of the Holy Great Martyr Anastasia the Patternmaker, 1st degree “For faith, mercy and contribution to the development of prison ministry of the Russian Orthodox Church,” 2015;
- medal of the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church “First Printer Deacon Ioann Fedorov”, 1st degree, 2015;
- Order of St. Innocent of Moscow II degree, 2016
Has awards of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church: Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 1st degree, 2015; badge of honor of the Rusen Metropolis “St. Demetrius of Bassarbovsky”, II degree, 2017.
Born on July 31, 1961 in the city of Sukhumi, Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1982 he graduated from the Faculty of Philology of Abkhaz State University. In 1985 he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary and was accepted into the brethren of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
After graduating from the Moscow Theological Seminary, he was sent to study at the Theological Faculty of Sofia State University. While studying in Bulgaria, he served as a priest in the Russian Church of St. Nicholas in Sofia. After completing his studies, he returned to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. In 1992, he was appointed rector of the Moscow metochion of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
On August 19, 2003, in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, he was ordained Bishop of Saratov and Volsky. The consecration was performed by His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II.
During the seven years of Vladyka Longin’s tenure at the Saratov See, the number of operating parishes in the Saratov diocese doubled. Ancient churches are being restored, destroyed shrines are being restored, and new parishes are opening.
Bishop Longin is the rector of the Saratov Orthodox Theological Seminary, a higher religious educational institution that is the oldest educational institution in Saratov. In 2010, Saratov Seminary celebrates its 180th anniversary.
The seminary is not the only religious educational institution in Saratov - in 2005, a Training Center was created in the diocese in the name of the Venerable Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth, where girls are trained in the specialties “Church Choir Director” and “Sister of Mercy”.
In 2007, the Holy Protection Orthodox Classical Gymnasium opened in Saratov. In 2010, admission to the first grade took place at the Orthodox gymnasium in the name of St. Alexander Medem in Khvalynsk. Preparations are being made to open comprehensive Orthodox schools in Petrovsk, Pokrovsk (Engels) and Balakovo.
There are Sunday schools at the churches of the diocese. Pupils of Sunday schools spend their summer holidays in the diocesan Orthodox children's health camp "Solnechny". The Svyato-Romanovsky children's Orthodox choir school operates.
The Ruling Bishop of the Saratov Diocese pays priority attention to the educational, missionary activities of the Church and the development of its social ministry. The diocese has created a missionary department, a department for interaction between the Church and society, a department for religious education and catechesis, a department for interaction with the armed forces and law enforcement agencies, and a department for social service and church charity. There is an association of Orthodox teachers, a charity society and a society of Orthodox doctors, and an Orthodox youth society.
Many events taking place in the Saratov diocese have not only intra-church, but also social significance. The Pimenov Readings, first held in 2003, have become traditional - now it is a large-scale interregional church-public forum that annually brings together many participants from different cities of the country.
Thanks to the work of the diocesan information and publishing department, the main events of church life are reflected in the Saratov media. The diocese publishes the newspaper “Orthodox Faith” and the quarterly full-color magazine “Orthodoxy and Modernity.” Saratov television broadcasts the programs “Symbol of Faith” and “Heaven on Earth,” prepared by the diocesan television studio. The publishing house of the Saratov diocese is actively working. The information and analytical portal “Orthodoxy and Modernity” is one of the most visited sites on the Orthodox Runet.
Bishop Longin is a member of the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, is the chairman of the editorial board of the journal Orthodoxy and Modernity, and a member of the editorial board of the magazine Alpha and Omega. Since 2005, he has been a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.
And a person learns lessons from all life situations. This is natural and necessary. If we talk about what happened in my life, then the most important lessons in it were connected with the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and with the period from which the revival of church life in Russia began.
"Another Planet"
When, soon after graduating from the philological department of the Abkhaz State University, I firmly decided to become a priest, I deliberately went to serve in the army, although according to the legislation of that time I had the right to a deferment. I even had to write an application to be drafted into the Armed Forces (those who did not serve in the army were not accepted into the seminary). By the way, military service became a very good life school for me, and I am grateful to God that I went through it. I haven’t regretted it for a single minute, and since then I have recommended all young people who ask my advice to join the army. Throughout my service, I knew that I would be a priest, and I internally prepared for this. Immediately after demobilization, I went to enter the Moscow Theological Seminary, which is located in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
Today, it is probably very difficult to imagine, but then, in the Soviet Union, the seminary was not even another state, but another planet. And when a person found himself in the atmosphere of a spiritual educational institution, it was so different from all his previous experience, whatever it was, that it simply turned his entire consciousness upside down.
What first of all struck me then in the seminary was the library and books that were not available anywhere else in the Soviet Union, except for some special storage facilities to which ordinary people did not have access. If somewhere out of the corner of our ears we heard about the existence of certain books, we did not see them and did not hold them in our hands. And here they are in front of us!.. By the way, all my fellow students experienced this feeling, similar to shock, to varying degrees, and I remember my comrades who, with a feverish sparkle in their eyes, sat in the library all their free time and made notes from the patristic works for of your future ministry. They copied it by hand, of course; there were no computers then. The first person who came to the seminary with his typewriter was my classmate Andrei Kuraev, the future famous father protodeacon. He had a huge, heavy mechanical typewriter, and he carried it with him everywhere, bending over to one side. We all performed some kind of obedience. He and his typewriter most often sat on duty and typed something, this surprised everyone because it was unusual.
I also took notes on the holy fathers and other literature that interested me. I remember my first serious abstract - a book by S. L. Frank about the heresy of social utopianism. Then Saints Basil the Great, John Chrysostom - I practically rewrote his “Six Words about the Priesthood.” In 1985, when we came to the seminary, no one could have imagined that several years would pass and these books would be published. We did not have any special hopes that the position of the Church in Russia would change radically.
Today you can hear such reproaches: how could we live under Soviet rule and not resist, why didn’t we become dissidents, didn’t fight, didn’t take to the streets? But the fact is that the conditions in which we found ourselves were, in a sense, natural for us - we were born and raised in volume state, in those conditions, in that country. We cannot say that we “accepted the rules of the game.” These were not “rules of the game” for us, which could be accepted or not accepted. It was simply our life - at that time and in the country in which the Lord brought us to live. Yes, there were people who fought, who took to the streets. But for most of them, spiritually, it ended very badly (as, for example, for the former priest Gleb Yakunin and some others).
We had bright teachers and very interesting lectures. I entered the seminary in 1985. This was the time of the rectorship of Archbishop Alexander (Timofeev) - the time of the true heyday of Moscow theological schools. Bishop Alexander did a lot, and first of all, he ensured that people with higher education were accepted into the seminary. This fact alone testifies to how difficult the life of the Church was in the Soviet Union. The year 1985 was the first year when, not as some isolated exception, but en masse, people with higher education were allowed to enter the seminary, and a whole stream of us came in - course A.
The second of the most important deeds of Bishop Alexander was that he was able to obtain permission to accept people who, perhaps a little unlovingly, were called “Varangians” for teaching work at the Moscow Theological Seminary and Academy. These were secular scientists - from the Academy of Sciences, various academic institutes, people with academic degrees and at the same time believers, church members. At the same time, when starting work in theological schools, they did not abandon their teaching and research activities in secular institutes. Many of them subsequently became clergy... These “Varangian” scientists were able not only to improve the level of teaching in the seminary and the Academy, but also to bring church life out of the underground in which it was located - and this was a revolution in relations between the Church and the state, which began in separate Moscow theological schools. There were no trends of future perestroika yet, we did not expect any special changes, but still some special feeling - joy, enthusiasm - was felt by everyone who taught and studied at the seminary then.
In the heart of Russia
Most of all, of course, I was shocked by the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, as, probably, by every person who sees its wondrous beauty. It has been said many times that the Lavra is the heart of Russia, a place where the sky is somehow especially close to the earth. This may sound pompous, but that's exactly how it is.
When I was studying, we had a tradition: between breakfast and the first lesson we ran (we ran, especially in winter, because in a jacket, in order not to freeze, we have to run) to St. Sergius. This tradition developed somehow completely naturally; no one forced anyone, no one taught anyone, but every morning everyone went to be blessed by the Saint, and there was a deep and sincere feeling of the closeness of Saint Sergius to us. The words that theological schools are the big cell of the Reverend were neither a formality nor an exaggeration.
The main treasure of the Lavra for me was its worship. I love services, and in general, it was largely thanks to this love that I came to the Church, but the services in the Lavra were something extraordinary. Then Father Matthew was in the prime of his creativity, his choir was in the best shape. He had wonderful singers who would be a credit to any professional group. Moreover, Father Matthew never hired professional musicians, especially those who studied vocals; this was a complete taboo for him. He taught everyone who sang in his choir to sing from scratch. That unique style of singing, the special sound of his choir was built on the fact that he personally trained and educated each singer. This titanic work accompanied his creative activity for almost fifty years.
The vicar of the Lavra at that time was the current Metropolitan of Tula and Belevsky Alexy. He served magnificently, unforgettably, as the heir to the classical Moscow liturgical tradition. In his youth, he was a subdeacon of Bishop Serapion (the entire Russian Church knows him), who in turn was a subdeacon of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy I and borrowed his manner of service in many respects from him, and Patriarch Alexy I is, one might say, the liturgical standard of the Russian Church. All this together - the service of the father of the vicar, Archimandrite Alexy, the singing of the choir of Father Matthew, in general the entire charter, order, order of the Lavra service - captivated me for the rest of my life.
People often ask me: “Why did you become a monk? How did you come to this idea?” And no matter how much I try to answer this question, I can’t, I don’t know how. In the spring, when my first year of study had not yet ended, I had already submitted a petition to be admitted to the brethren of the Lavra. There were no external “shocks”, insights, or spiritual upheavals. It’s just that several months of staying in the Lavra completely convinced me that this was the right thing to do, and I came to the governor with a petition.
Then a lot of seminarians went to the monastery - this is another sign of the times. It was not yet spring in the full sense of the word, but a thaw had already begun - it became possible to take as many people to the Lavra as petitions were submitted. Admission to the Lavra has always been limited, always very carefully monitored by the relevant authorities - and suddenly the governor of the Lavra achieved such a “relaxation”. The Father Superior was a man of extraordinary charm, whom no one could resist, including representatives of the relevant authorities, who very strictly monitored the life of the monastery. None of them ever left the Lavra, as they say, “thin and inconsolable,” but this was done solely for the good of the monastery, in order to influence the authorities whose task was to “drag and not let go,” but who gradually became more favorable to the monastery and spiritual schools. This kind of work - joint, invisible to the world, incomprehensible to our time, and often slandered, was carried out for the benefit of the Church by people who were then at the head of both the Moscow theological schools and the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
Difficult Happiness
Another lesson is the obediences that had to be carried out in the Lavra. For some time I was a subdeacon with the father governor, then I was assigned to lead excursions for some groups that visited the Lavra. All the “ordinary” guides were secular people, employees of the museum-reserve. But some excursions were led by monks - for especially “honored guests”, mainly foreigners or Soviet party activists. This contingent was given such a privilege, apparently for the sake of variety of impressions.
I remember there was absolutely no time. In the morning I attended the early Liturgy. In the summer, there was a service in the Assumption Cathedral, and I got up at four o’clock, at half past five I went to open the temple, and it is huge, and even just opening all the doors is a rather long process. Then it was necessary to walk around with a portable ladder, light all the lamps, and prepare everything for the service. This took 30-40 minutes. At this time, the fraternal prayer service was just ending, and the clergy serving the early Liturgy came. After the early Liturgy - breakfast and classes. After classes - excursions, after excursions - evening worship, which I went to almost every day. This was such a stressful life - an absolutely happy life, I still remember it. I remember not in detail, but as one dark-light spot: dark because I slept, as in the army, wherever I could lay my head, and light because of the feeling of joy and completeness. By the way, this is another lesson that I learned at the Lavra: the busier a person is, the happier he is for some reason.
The main thing, of course, remained the Lavra service - now not only solemn, festive, but ordinary, everyday. I spent the entire annual circle (and more than once) in the fraternal choir and in the altar - reading, singing, monasticism. It was then, it seems to me, that I understood the service, recognized it and was amazed not only by its beauty, but also by the grandeur of its design. After all, what is worship? This is not just a testimony to the past or an attempt to adequately and beautifully mark certain important events that took place in distant times. The annual liturgical circle is a special world, a special life with God and with the saints, of which you become a participant. And in the Lavra, I forever fell in love with worship, not as some kind of, in the words of priest Pavel Florensky, “synthesis of arts,” but as a special life. Although from the point of view of that very “synthesis” it is impossible to imagine anything better than the Lavra: ancient cathedrals of prayer, icons of Andrei Rublev and other ancient masters, festive worship as a real, incomparable celebration, thanks to the service of the father of the governor with the brethren and the magnificent choir Father Matthew...
The entire stay at the Lavra was the main life lesson for me. For me, Lavra has always remained my home. She is close to me, and I dare to hope that I can consider myself part of the brethren of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, I think that I am connected with it for life.
Orthodoxy is not limited to Russia
In 1988, after graduating from the seminary, I was accepted into the Theological Academy and, along with my other ten fellow students, first-year students, was sent to study abroad. This is also the initiative of Bishop Alexander: he really wanted our students to have as many opportunities as possible to expand their horizons, and he achieved the opportunity to send academy students to five then socialist countries: Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. The current Bishop Kirill, Bishop of Stavropol, then still a layman, and I went to Bulgaria. We were accepted into the first year of the Sofia Theological Academy, and I began to serve as a priest at the metochion of the Russian Orthodox Church - in the church in the name of St. Nicholas in Sofia.
I’ll say right away: after the Lavra, the life of the Bulgarian Church seemed to us very unusual and... falling short of what we would like. Most likely, she was simply too unusual for us. Although they joked then: “A chicken is not a bird, Bulgaria is not a foreign country,” but still it was a foreign country, whose life was different from ours both in a simple everyday sense, and, most importantly, in the sense of churchliness.
The biggest impression in the first days of my stay in Bulgaria was the clergy who always walked the streets in a cassock. I remember literally one of the first days we were walking around the city, getting to know Sofia and seeing this scene: the priest was walking, holding the child’s hand, next to him, arm in arm, his mother was walking, very well, fashionably dressed, they were cheerfully talking to each other. - and no one pays much attention to them! For those around you, seeing a priest in clerical dress is absolutely common. In the Balkans, to this day, a priest in civilian clothes is something unthinkable. In the Soviet Union, everything was the other way around: outside a church or monastery, the clergy were forced to wear civilian clothes. This always gave me a heavy feeling, since it was yet another evidence of the humiliated state in which the Church was in those years. Nobody probably remembers how in the 1980s, even in the 1990s, in Moscow they looked at a man in a cassock. Somewhere in 1988 or 1989, I was once riding on the subway in monastic clothes, which I had tried to wear since my tonsure. And now I remember that I was riding the escalator down, and the people who were riding the next escalator up, in the direction of travel All they turn their heads in my direction, because a man in a cassock was then simply an unprecedented sight.
What else surprised me at first glance in Bulgaria: many ancient, sometimes huge churches - not blown up or closed. At home, when we saw a temple, we usually asked: “Is this a functioning temple or not?” In Bulgaria, such a question was meaningless - if there is a temple, then it means it is functioning, with a few exceptions: it happened that the temples stood closed somewhere in the mountains, far away, where no one had lived for a long time. We were also surprised by the huge number of monasteries, although, in our opinion, they were practically empty - one, two, well, a maximum of five monks could live there.
I was struck, of course, by the majestic Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia - then the largest cathedral in the Balkans, with marvelous paintings. It was almost the first time I saw a temple that had preserved its interior decoration in stylistic unity. After all, what were churches like in the Soviet Union? You will even enter some Moscow church that was not closed during Soviet times - the decoration there is completely eclectic: ancient icons and then some small home icons on the walls. You look: one crucifix, a second, a third... When churches were closed, people tried to preserve what they could, and some shrines were transferred from one church to another. And here, in Bulgaria, the way this temple was created is the way it remained decades or centuries later. But, at the same time, the impressions were contradictory, imagine: the temple-monument of St. Alexander Nevsky, beautiful decoration, a magnificent mixed choir - and the almost complete absence of people, somewhere from 100 to 200 people at the altar. And the service itself, for example, the all-night vigil, most of all resembled a costume concert, because it lasted from 50 minutes to an hour and a quarter...
At first there were a lot of negative impressions. Although, most likely, it was a matter of our perception: we were maximalists, we came from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and we seemed so highly spiritual that it’s funny to remember now. I will not hide that in the first year of my stay in Bulgaria I really wanted to go back to Russia, I was so uneasy. With God’s help, I managed to overcome this desire, I stayed, and, probably, that’s why the Lord seemed to open for me some kind of door into the inner life of the country and its people. I had the opportunity to see a lot of good things, meet wonderful people - amazingly open and sincere lay people, clergy, monks, representatives of a very deep, almost uninterrupted church tradition. This is the recently deceased Archimandrite Nazarius, a wonderful confessor who lived in a small monastery in the mountains near Sofia, and Bishop Nathanael, Metropolitan of Nevrokop, and a number of other people with whom even today, almost twenty years later, I maintain the best relations.
Of course, I still have a feeling of gratitude and reverence for the shrines of Bulgaria. During my years of study, I tried to come to the Rila Monastery every time I had the opportunity: I got on the bus and went to stay in the monastery for at least thirty to forty minutes, pray to St. John of Rila and return to Sofia on the next bus. In general, Bulgaria has kind, pious, believing people, and Bulgaria lives in my heart to this day.
In those years, I got the opportunity to get acquainted with the church life of other Local Churches, because we, these ten students, began to visit each other. Nowadays, few people can be surprised by this; today people, thank God, travel freely to other countries. But then, in the late 1980s, it was a rather “exclusive” experience that, by the grace of God, I had the opportunity to acquire.
For example, with those of our friends who studied at the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade, we visited the center of the Serbian church revival - the Convent of the Entry, where Father Afanasy (Jevtic) then served. We went “on a crossroads” to the famous convent of Chelie, where the Monk Justin (Popovich) was buried: we visited his grave, served the Liturgy in the church where he served. In general, Serbian female monasticism is one of the most vivid impressions of Serbia. Few people know that it is actually a copy of Russian female monasticism in its pre-revolutionary tradition. The fact is that in the Serbian Church, female monasticism had practically disappeared by the twentieth century, and the nuns of Russian monasteries, refugees who settled in Serbia, revived female monasticism here as an institution.
We traveled a lot around Serbia, traveled almost all of Romania, whose church life is almost unknown in our country, although it can rightfully be considered the most Orthodox country in the world. And finally, the most valuable thing for me is trips to Greece and Holy Mount Athos. I visited there for the first time in 1989 and then went to the Holy Mountain every year while I was studying. At that time, no one from Russia, except for official delegations on St. Panteleimon’s Day, went to Athos, and I lived there for weeks. Athonite monasticism is a unique phenomenon; in many ways it differs from our monasticism for the better. This is understandable: the thousand-year-old tradition of monastic work was preserved on Mount Athos practically intact, unlike in our country. And today the Holy Mountain is a kind of tuning fork for all church life in Greece and throughout the Orthodox world.
The main lesson of that time was that I realized that Orthodoxy is not limited to Russia. Russian church life, Russian church tradition is a special phenomenon in the Orthodox world, but not the only one.
I think that this experience gave a lot for my further service, and largely thanks to it, subsequently, both monastic life and a parish community developed over time at the Moscow metochion of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where I was rector.
And one more thing, probably the most important life lesson for today. I read a lot about humility, but I truly understood what it was only after about a year of my life as a bishop. Nowadays it is customary to scold bishops: they are “princes of the church”, far from the people, cruel and excessively demanding, etc., but I, “from the inside,” have a different point of view. Sometimes it seems to me that bishops are the most humble people in the world, because they live all the time in a state of insoluble internal contradiction: most of them understand What needs to be done, and works tirelessly, at the same time realizing that it will not be possible to do even a tenth of what is necessary. For objective reasons - the lack of conditions, human and material resources, and finally, unanimity and understanding among others, including the clergy. And living constantly in such a state is probably the greatest school of humility. If, of course, you manage to humble yourself...
Alexander (Timofeev; 1941-2003), Archbishop of Saratov and Volsky. From July 1982 to August 1992 - rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary. Since February 1994 - Archbishop of Maykop and Armavir. Since July 1995 - Archbishop of Saratov and Volsky. He died suddenly on January 7, 2003, on the Nativity of Christ, from acute heart failure.
Matthew (Mormyl; 1938-2009), archimandrite. He took monastic vows at TSL in 1962. From 1961 until his death he served as regent of the united choir of TSL and Moscow theological schools. Honored Professor of the Moscow Academy of Sciences. See about him: Orthodoxy and modernity. No. 19 (35). pp. 30-31.
Alexy (Kutepov; b. 1953), Metropolitan of Tula and Belevsky. See about him: Orthodoxy and modernity. No. 17 (33). pp. 28-34.
Serapion (Fadeev; 1933-1999), Metropolitan of Tula and Belevsky. See about him: Orthodoxy and modernity. No. 17 (33). pp. 29-30.
Nathanael (Kalaidzhiev; b. 1952), Metropolitan of Nevrokop. See about him: Orthodoxy and modernity. No. 12 (28). pp. 30-33.
Afanasy (Evtich; b. 1938), Bishop. Famous archpastor of the Serbian Orthodox Church, profound theologian. In July 1991 he was consecrated Bishop of Banat (Serbia, Vojvodina), in May 1992 he was appointed to the Zaholmo-Herzegovina See (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Since 1996, he has been retired due to health reasons, but continues his scientific work, participates in scientific conferences on the history of the Church, philosophy, theology and Christian culture.
Justin (Popovich; † 1978), reverend. Serbian ascetic and spiritual writer. Born in 1894 into the family of a priest. Studied at the seminary of St. Savva in Belgrade, where the future Saint Nicholas (Velimirovich) taught at that time, then at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, at the Faculty of Theology in Oxford. From the end of 1930, in the rank of hieromonk, he was a missionary in the Carpathian cities (Uzhgorod, Khust, Mukachevo, etc.). He was nominated for the revived Mukachevo episcopal see, but out of humility he refused it. Since 1932 he has been a teacher at the Bitola Seminary, and since 1934 he has been an associate professor at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Belgrade. From May 1948 until his death he labored in the Chelie monastery near Valev, where he was a confessor. He reposed before God, as he was born, on the feast of the Annunciation. In 2010 he was canonized by the Serbian Orthodox Church. Author of numerous spiritual works, including “Dogmatics of the Orthodox Church” in 3 volumes and “Lives of the Saints” in 12 volumes.
In 1977-1982. studied at the evening department of the Faculty of Philology of the Abkhaz State University. At the same time, in 1979-1981. worked as a guide, in 1981-1983. — teacher of Russian language and literature in high school.
In 1983-1985. served in the ranks of the Soviet army. After demobilization he entered the.
In May 1986 he was admitted to the brethren.
On July 21, 1986 he was tonsured a monk, on August 29 he was ordained a hierodeacon, and on June 7, 1988 he was ordained a hieromonk.
In 1988 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary and was admitted to the Moscow Theological Academy. In October of the same year he was sent to study at the Sofia Theological Academy. St. Kliment Ohridski, at the same time studied at the Faculty of Theology of Sofia State University. During his studies in Bulgaria, he served as a freelance priest in the Russian Church of St. Nicholas in Sofia.
In 1992, having completed his studies, he returned to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and served as an assistant economist.
In May 1994 he was elevated to the rank of abbot.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of June 7, 2012 () he was confirmed as rector (hieroarchimandrite) of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery in Saratov.
Education:1988 - Moscow Theological Seminary.
1992 - Sofia Theological Academy, Faculty of Theology, Sofia State University.
Place of work: Saratov Metropolis (Head of the Metropolis) Diocese: Saratov Diocese (Ruling Bishop) Awards:- Vladyka, the press has already written more than once about how much the Saratov diocese has changed over the years of your episcopal service. She changed not only externally, but also internally. There was a feeling of religious uplift. Is this view from the outside close to you and how does it coincide with your personal assessment of six years of work?
- My predecessor, the ever-memorable Archbishop Alexander, left the diocese in a fairly prosperous state. I'm talking about inner well-being, which is not always noticeable from the outside. And it was a good basis to work from. Six years is a short period by all standards. But if I managed to do something, it was largely thanks to those people, or, in secular terms, the team that I brought with me from Moscow. This is part of the brethren and parishioners of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, which I once had to open in Moscow, and of which I was rector for about 11 years. And this is truly a team of like-minded people. Thanks to their active work, involvement, youth, enthusiasm, and simply their general level, it was possible to do what was done.
Many new people came to the clergy of the Saratov diocese. Today, more than half of the clergy are people who came to the clergy in the last six years. Saratov has always had a traditionally strong seminary. It was strong before the revolution, and in that short period after the war when it functioned - from 1948 to 1961. It also trains personnel quite well today, and I believe that this is our great achievement.
- At the beginning of your ministry, you called one of your main tasks the restoration and construction of churches in the Saratov region. How are things going with this item today and are you satisfied with the result?
- Previously, there were many parishes in the region that were registered as legal entities, but existed only on paper. At best, the priest came there once a month, or even every six months. We managed to change the situation in most of these places. In some places we built new churches, in others we refurbished old premises. As a result, formal figures were filled with real content.
In general, the number of parishes in the region has approximately tripled in six years and now there are about 230. Is this a lot or a little? Before the revolution, there were 1,100 parishes in Saratov. The last one was closed in 1938. In the post-war years, during a certain period of warming between the Church and the Soviet state, several parishes were opened, and before perestroika there were fourteen such parishes. Compared to this period, of course, 230 parishes is a lot. If with the pre-revolutionary one, we are only at the beginning of the journey.
There is such a modern expression - walking distance. It does not really suit the Church, however, we must give people this opportunity today - to come to church without taking any long trips. When a person from a remote microdistrict needs to go to the city center in winter to get to the all-night vigil at five o’clock, and then return home at 8 p.m., this is one situation. And it’s completely different when the same person has the opportunity to leave the house and walk to the temple. Therefore, our task is to make churches in Saratov and other cities of the region accessible to Orthodox believers.
At the same time, the construction of temples is only a very small part of the issues that have to be resolved. Despite all its importance, the most important thing is still the content of church life, its filling. And here the education of the clergy comes to the fore, without which everything else will be useless. A priest is the most selfless profession in the world, requiring complete dedication from a person. It has always been difficult, but today the main part of society has adopted the ideology of a consumerist attitude towards everything - to life, to family, to loved ones. Therefore, qualities such as heroism (I’m not afraid of this word, because taking your wife and child and leaving with them somewhere in the Algai region and there, under the indifferent glances of others, starting to restore the parish is really heroism), are much more difficult to instill. This makes the task of training clergy today more difficult than ever.
Voice of conscience
- By the way, about consumption. Today, many perceive the global financial crisis as a natural consequence of the state in which our society has existed in recent years. How do you feel about this, and what should be the role of the Church in this case?
The consumer society is not just another social utopia, as the communist idea was in its time. This is a utopia that is fatal to civilization. And, of course, the crisis in this context can be considered as one of its manifestations, which His Holiness the Patriarch now talks about a lot.
The role of the Church in this situation can be very great. Another thing is that you shouldn’t expect any immediate solutions from the Church. Each person must pass the Gospel through his heart, and this is a long process, especially today, when, in addition to the voice of conscience, a huge number of voices sound in every person from the cradle, calling him to live not as God commands, but as he wants. A person is literally torn apart by everyone who invites him to “let loose” and have fun in this comfortable world (although this is a huge lie: it is actually inconvenient). That is why people today - more than ever - are inclined to pass by the Church.
But a person is not adapted to such a life, he breaks down, and breaks down very quickly. And the most offensive thing is that a significant part of the people who do reach the temple turn out to be broken, and it can be very difficult to help them restore some human reactions, a human attitude towards life. Before explaining to the newcomer how he needs to live, he needs to be cured, simply brought to his senses, returned to his human appearance. This is also a very big problem facing the Church today. In fact, she stands before society too, it’s just that society turns a blind eye to it...
-Let's talk about church activity. Today the Church is especially active, and this greatly irritates many. People don’t like that the Church, which, from their point of view, should deal exclusively with spirituality, “messes up” into public life, allowing itself to speak out about such purely secular things as, for example, a Madonna concert. What should the Church do in this situation so as not to become a temptation, including for people of faith who do not have a clear position on this topic??
There are good words of Christ the Savior in the Gospel: we must do this and not abandon that. Of course, the Church must be active, and we try to show this activity to the best of our ability, so that as many people as possible, having come to know Christ, experience genuine conversion, and at the same time come to know themselves.
Many are irritated not only by the activity, but also by the very existence of the Church. There are people who do not like the Church, for whom the fight against it is the meaning of their life. And we will not be able to satisfy their claims in any other way than by self-destruction.
As for “interference” in public life, only one thing can be said here. There is no more totalitarian consciousness than the liberal one. Today, some people and movements who consider themselves the standard of democracy allow themselves to speak out against the Church, accusing it of all mortal sins. Why, in fact, cannot the Church, which is a collection of very different people, express its opinion? After all, even we, the clergy, have the same rights as everyone else. So why can the neighbor Uncle Vasya from the stairwell, if he doesn’t like the Madonna, say so, but the priest Father Vasily from the neighboring church cannot?
Of course, if the Church starts trying to ban Madonna's concerts, this is bad and should not be done. But the Church is simply obliged to express its opinion. We live in a democratic country. There are people who, I repeat, simply do not like the Church. But perhaps you shouldn’t try to hold them accountable for this. They live for themselves and live, you won’t be nice by force...
"Difficult" flock
- On the issue of dislike. In this sense, how are your relations with Saratov government officials, and in particular, Governor Pavel Ipatov? Are you able to reach them?
We have a difficult internal situation. Too many people have difficult relationships with each other. And of course, when you maintain relationships with everyone, it can be difficult. Sometimes people come and start saying unkind things about each other. I never support such conversations, but sometimes you have to listen to it all, and hear it from different people. It’s not a fact that the person I was told about today won’t come to me tomorrow and will say similar things about his opponent...
- Do you have to be a diplomat?
- Not a diplomat - a priest. I always try to be like that, and never support “accusatory” conversations or condemnation, although sometimes I have to communicate with people who cannot tolerate each other and do not communicate with each other. I always try to see a specific person in front of me, and if there are any painful topics, I simply avoid them. This is not diplomacy, this is what any priest should do. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s neighbors on the landing who haven’t spoken to each other for ten years, or officials who don’t like each other for some reason.
As a person who communicates with government officials, I can say that the people who are in power are exactly the same people made of flesh and blood, with their own problems, they have a heart, they have a mind, and the voice of the Church is far from being for them. is always indifferent. I have established purely human relationships with many, which often do not break even after they leave their posts. I am convinced that officials are also a worthy object of missionary efforts. Why should the Church preach among young people, students, pensioners and other social groups, but wall off officials? After all, officials are perhaps the largest stratum in our society, and this is also our flock. Of course, not everything is as simple and smooth as we would like, but, in general, I thank God for the relationship that we have developed. I am grateful to Dmitry Fedorovich Ayatskov, he helped us in many ways. And Pavel Leonidovich helps. We are working very actively with the current regional government. And if God bless, we will work with the following...
- The Church is often criticized for its cooperation with the authorities. Especially if this government does not live up to the hopes of those citizens whom it is supposed to serve faithfully. Nevertheless, these are the people today who often find themselves favored by the Church. They are praised and given awards, as was the case at the Days of Slavic Literature and Culture. And people who really help the Church, build churches, do charity work, find themselves out of work...
- I don’t think that any of those who build our churches and help the Church can complain that they are not noticed or forgotten, that they are not paid attention to, this is not entirely correct...
As for the Days of Slavic Literature and Culture, this large, complex, costly event was carried out almost entirely through the organizational efforts of the regional government. And no matter how anyone treats certain personalities, this is a fact. And awards were given precisely for this. And if someone on this occasion considers it possible for themselves to be offended by the Church, well, I cannot prohibit it...
You can’t put a scarf on every mouth. It's impossible to please everyone. All my actions as the ruling bishop are dictated by one thing - the benefit for the Church and for the people. Did the holiday benefit the Church? Brought it. Some people don’t like the current governor, others didn’t like Ayatskov. I am more than sure: no matter how many governors and mayors we have, there will always be people who will not like them. A man will be golden, he will break into blood for the region, the city, for the people - and still he will not please someone, and not just one, but a significant number of people. And they will revile him, and they will say all sorts of nasty things about him, they will bring to light all his shortcomings, imaginable and inconceivable, invented and existing. And if you take this seriously, you just need to lock the doors of the diocese and not let anyone in. But will this make sense?..
- Do you accept officials as a flock, and do they accept you as a shepherd?
- I have one principle, and I believe that every clergyman should follow this principle. They asked - answer. They asked for help - help. But if a person does not open his soul to you, you should not try to somehow get into it. I have extensive experience communicating with people in power who open their hearts absolutely sincerely and sincerely relate to everything related to the Church. And there are quite a lot of such people.
Wealth earthly and heavenly
- Today we see more and more examples of people of completely different incomes donating money to the Church and the construction of churches. Can we say that charity in our area is becoming fashionable again - in the good sense of the word?
- I would say this: it is entering our lives again. The circle of philanthropists is heterogeneous. Let's say two farmers come to me in a village and say: we want to build a temple. Who are they, the philanthropists? These are people who realized that the temple is necessary for them and those who live next to them. These are members of the Church, so it is the Church itself that builds the temple. Not in the sense that the diocese gave money and brought builders - this is done by people who are members of the Church. These people went to the temple in the neighboring regional center for several years, and then they had the opportunity to build something at home. They are not rich people, not oligarchs, not industrialists. They have some kind of income. In the fall, the grain was collected and an extra penny appeared. They didn’t collect it like this year, they sit all winter, making ends meet until next spring. And today there are not one, not two, or even a dozen such examples - more. And this is what makes me most happy. This means that the understanding that the Church is not something that is needed for someone, but something that is needed for all of us, is once again entering our lives, and this is very good.
- There is a stereotype in society that if a rich person gives money to a church, it is because he wants to pay off his past sins in such a simple way, to buy an indulgence from God...
- Our people have seen enough of “The Godfather”... Sometimes the most serious people seem to be guided by some very common cliches. Not only in relation to church life, but also other things that are not within the scope of their immediate interests. I think there are no such people as you are talking about; everything is much more complicated. Why does a person help an orphanage or school by buying computers? Or a person who lives in St. Petersburg, and was born in the Bazarno-Karbulaksky district, builds a temple in his homeland, although he no longer has anyone left there, not even relatives? You see, as many people there are, there are as many ways to God. This happens in each heart in its own way, and cliches do not work here; they make life easier for those who do not want to understand the essence of things. Here is a phenomenon, it is incomprehensible, but it excites: why? What is it? But instinct says that if you dig too deep, it will be bad - you will discover something that you don’t want to know. Therefore, it is easier to stick a label and forget about it. People who use cliches are most often dishonest with themselves. They don’t want to open their eyes, it’s more convenient for them to live with their eyes closed, that’s all.
- You talked about ordinary farmers, but what about wealthy people - officials, businessmen? Have they become more responsive in terms of charity over these six years?
- People become responsive when they see that the funds they brought are used. When you give people the opportunity to see the fruits of their labor. When you realize that the Lord has given you the opportunity to serve other people, this is a unique feeling, it cannot be compared with anything. It is more valuable than all medals and awards. And the more people experience this, the more philanthropists there become. There are quite a lot of such people in the region now. And here it is appropriate to mention your publisher Sergei Kurikhin, a deputy of the Regional Duma and director of the Orthodoxy and Modernity charity foundation. He is one of those people who does a lot for the Church, and does it absolutely sincerely.
From prison and from scrip
- Another fashionable cliche: why does the Church accept help from people with a negative past, why does it not refuse their money...
But the fact is that people who say this have not read the Gospels. A person “with a negative past” was the first to enter heaven - this is a thief crucified with Christ. He repented while dying, it was just that the execution was long and he managed...
I have said many times: the Church does not have investigative bodies. And, thank God, otherwise it would not be the Church, but it is unclear what. A person comes, how can I know the source of his income? Today a person is respected and on the crest of popularity, and tomorrow he, excuse me, is in prison. But I have no way to predict this...
- For example, Aksenenko. At one time he also received church awards, but now he’s sitting in a pre-trial detention center...
- He not only received awards, he did a lot, and built several temples, and he had completely sincere motives for doing this...
- It turns out: here is a person helping the Church, and now he is sitting in prison. And there is no conflict between these two states?
- Of course, there is a conflict. But at the moment when he helps the Church, he is not in prison. And even when he is under investigation, we cannot condemn him until the court makes a decision. And it happens that a person is imprisoned and then acquitted. I recently served in one area, there is a leader who has helped the temple for many years. Thanks to his help, the parish that was established there received premises. He also helped with the repairs. He repaired it and... went to jail. He was sentenced to 8 years. The father who communicated with him did not abandon him, he visited him, wrote letters, and participated in his fate. Although they could also tell him: he’s a swindler! Why are you helping him? Here we need to repent to the people: forgive us, good people, that a swindler helped us! And he served there for a year, and he was completely acquitted, his time served was compensated, and he was made head again. And now it works safely. This is how it happens in life. And here I am on the side of the priest, who was not afraid, did not abandon this man, did not shake off his hands with disgust.
Life is much more complicated than cliches. Of course, if a person comes and says: Vladyka, I sold a batch of drugs here very profitably, take the tithe... - I won’t take it. And no priest, I hope, if he is in his right mind, will ever take it. If I know that the owner of an enterprise has not paid people wages for a year and at the same time brings money to the church, I will say: go pay people wages. Before God, this is higher than what you donate to the church...
- Doesn’t it matter to you whether the person receiving the award is a believer or not? Or maybe he's even an atheist? Or is this not a criterion?
- Atheists do not help, I can say right away. It happens that non-Orthodox people help. We have one Muslim in the Saratov region, I will not mention his name, he helps the Church very well, and on his own initiative. He even built an Orthodox church...
We sometimes do not take words about tolerance and the need to live in peace seriously. And there are people who, oddly enough, take it seriously. So he built a mosque, and in a neighboring village - a temple. Because Muslims live in one village, and Orthodox Christians live in another. Should we be grateful to this person, do you think?
- Many people help for the sake of PR, trying to earn points for themselves...
- You see how many attacks are coming against the Church, what kind of PR is this? For many, helping the Church is anti-PR. You may be surprised, but there are people who help the Church and do not give their names because they occupy a responsible position and do not want journalists to know about it. They are afraid that their reputation will be damaged. Therefore, forget about the fact that this is PR and never think about it again...
You will recognize them by their fruits...
- Since we are talking about responsible positions, I cannot help but ask about Patriarch Kirill and his new style of missionary work. This is probably the first Patriarch in history who gathers large stadiums and is not afraid to speak with young people in a language unusual for the Church...
- His language is just church language. As for stadiums, the Orthodox Church had a normal attitude towards this, it just did not have such an opportunity for preaching. Today it exists, and His Holiness the Patriarch uses it. He does it great. I think it is God’s mercy to the Russian Church that today such a person is at its head. A wonderful speaker and a very good organizer. I hope that his endeavors will help the Church deepen the main part of our ministry - educating the people in the Christian spirit. What we do everything else for.
- Returning to the results, have you managed to acquire associates over the years and how many of them are there?
- Enough. This is, first of all, the clergy. I am grateful to God, we have good clergy in the Saratov diocese. Of course, there are exceptions, but in most cases people work very selflessly and do things that are impossible to do with human strength - the Lord helps...
Many lay people became truly close to me. Sometimes these are people completely, at first glance, unexpected, the same officials, entrepreneurs. And thank God.
- What was the most difficult thing during these six years?
- Nothing is simple. It's Complicated. Sometimes everything is done to the limit of human capabilities. By the grace of God and with the help of a very small number of assistants, each of whom has to work for seven at a time. But at the same time, the Lord consoles us by showing us the fruits of our labors. They are modest, small, I am absolutely aware of this, and I have no illusions here. But when you see that there are new people in the church, that a parish has taken place here, that a parish has taken place there, that you were able to find the right priest for this place, this is such a joy for the sake of which everything else is worth enduring...
The conversation was conducted by Elena Balayan
Newspaper "Vzglyad"
