(1974 — 2009)
This selection of books by priest Daniil Sysoev consists of his biblical interpretations, conversations, sermons and missionary works.
Priest Daniil Sysoev was one of the most prominent clergy involved in missionary activities (especially among adherents of Islam) of the Russian Orthodox Church. As rector of the Church of St. Apostle Thomas, located in Moscow, the priest unbendingly professed Orthodoxy, despite numerous obstacles and threats, the critical attitude of opponents of the Church.
Father Daniil Sysoev grew up in a family of priests. His father serves as rector of the temple. John the Theologian, while his mother teaches the Law of God in the Orthodox classical gymnasium. In addition, Father Alexy Sysoev serves in the Church of St. the supreme apostles Peter and Paul, which is located in Yasenevo. In the late nineties of the last century, Father Daniil himself taught at the Yasenevo gymnasium.
In 1988, priest Daniil Sysoev took part in the revival of the Optina Monastery (this monastery did not function during Soviet times), in the Kaluga diocese. In 1991 he became a student at the Moscow Theological Seminary, where he successfully completed his studies in 1995. During his years of study, the future clergyman showed initiative in seminary life, tried himself as a singer and director of the choir of the Regency School, learned with interest the church rules and taught sciences, establishing himself from a young age as a strong and convincing person, capable of defending his point of view to the end, caring for the maximum possible correspondence of the actions, thoughts and statements of all Orthodox Christians with the true faith.
He painted mountains, hermit cells and the sky
“We went to the monastery from the opposite side from the entrance, went out onto the slope, and from there we saw the monastery.
It was sunset, and we all thought we were seeing the real Jerusalem. ...We knew for sure that it was him. And Father Daniel sang the stichera “May God rise again, and His enemies be scattered... Shine, shine, New Jerusalem,” recalled one of the friends, Fr. Daniil Sysoev about a pilgrimage trip to the New Jerusalem Monastery. “It was autumn... We stood in front of the New Jerusalem, and Father Daniel sang about it, and we contemplated this beauty.” As a child, the future priest drew unknown countries, where there were mountains, waterfalls, hermit cells, and below - villages with people. Processions of the cross took place through the streets, and in each village there were several churches.
“The main thing is space, the sky. It was constantly present to him with some incredible sparkle,” recalls Fr.’s mother. Daniila Sysoeva, Anna Midkhatovna. The preschooler knew the book about saints “Byzantine Legends” practically by heart.
During Easter services, Father Daniel radiated so much joy that it overwhelmed all his parishioners. But even on the most ordinary days, he constantly smiled and laughed. According to many of Father Daniil’s friends, he did not like loneliness, he easily became the life of the party, and guests often came to his house. People who knew him closely enough remember the “childish simplicity” of Father Daniel.
Priest Daniil Sysoev - Five public conversations
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Five public conversations
About God and Holy Scripture
- Peace to you. Today we will talk about God. Who is He, what is His nature? Often people, speaking about the Almighty, are in terrible ignorance. When a person claims to believe in God, one must always clarify which one, because often for the interlocutor God is either the cosmos, or conscience, or energy, or something else. One person even said that God is an invention of people who want to have meaning in life. And this is someone who has come to be baptized! We will baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and therefore anyone who believes otherwise cannot be baptized.
Once a person being baptized declared that he did not believe in the Trinity, but “there is something there.” I told him that I would not baptize “into something.” I want to know how you believe in God. Who is God?
- High power.
- What is this Power higher than? Above the ceiling? Or “higher” in the sense of being higher in being? And if it’s just Power, then how can It be higher than us, who are aware of ourselves and sometimes control ourselves? No! This definition, although correct, is far from sufficient.
- Creator.
— That’s right, what other definitions can be given?
- Almighty, Almighty, Omnipresent...
- Right. Let's figure this out. I prefer to first call God the Creator. Why? This is the most accurate definition with which the martyrs usually began their sermons. When a Christian was arrested and brought for questioning before a judge, he was asked: why don’t you bow to our gods - idols, idols, gold, silver, stone? He answered: why bow to the creations of human hands? I worship God the Creator, who created all living things. And the prophet says: “... the gods who did not create heaven and earth will disappear from the earth and from under the heavens” (Jer. 10, 11). He who recognizes the Creator is internally free from created things. From faith in the Creator it is easier to understand all His other properties. We see that the world is one. It exists according to uniform laws, which means that Its Author, God, is one. There are not many gods. Otherwise, they would be in a state of constant confrontation, destroying the world. But here it is necessary to introduce clarification, without which we may become further confused. What does Creator mean? How is creation different from birth? Is there a difference between these concepts?
- No.
- No? So, making a stool and having a baby are the same thing? Are there no fundamental differences between a stool and a child?
- They are different.
- How? Fundamentally different? Yes, the child and his parents are people. But a stool, a tape recorder, a picture are inanimate objects. Their essence is different. Using this analogy, let's see what does the concept of creation imply? The creation has a different essence from the Creator, just as a stool differs from a carpenter. And since the Creator is different from the creation, then we obviously cannot find the Creator Himself inside the creation. The photographer himself is not in the photograph, unless it is a self-portrait, but the thoughts and feelings that the photographer wanted to express are there. It is very important.
God is not gold, not silver, not air, not earth, not space, not stars, not cosmic energy, not cosmic mind. Why? Because the cosmos is created, and the Creator is outside of creation, which means that God is not a cosmic mind. He cannot be a star, so stars do not control a person. Astrology is the worship of luminaries instead of God, idolatry, one cannot believe in it. God is not a man either. He is not the highest part of a person, not his soul. Therefore, the statement “God is in my soul,” which implies that God is part of the soul, is erroneous. God is the Creator of the soul, but not the soul. God is the Creator of man, but not man. Is God the Father for all people?
- For all.
- Not certainly in that way. Let's figure it out. We agreed that only someone who has the same essence as the one who gave birth can be given birth. God is the Father of Christ and through Him He adopts us. This adoption is given by Baptism. For the unbaptized, God is not the Father. An unbaptized person cannot recite the Lord’s Prayer because he does not have God as a Father. For him, God is only the Creator, to whom he, of course, is not indifferent, who loves him and takes care of him. Therefore, when people come to prepare for Baptism, we tell them: be sure to pray, without prayer you will not come to God. But it is better to pray in the words of the psalms, turning to God the Creator.
God is outside the Universe, since He is not a creation, but its Creator, which means He is outside of space and time. The universe exists in space and time. And since God is outside of space, then He is also outside of matter, which means He is not material, therefore we call Him Spirit, that is, a Being that does not have a material body. Don't think that God has arms, legs, and a head. Back in the fourth century, the Church condemned the heresy that claimed that God has a body like a person. Don't think that God is an old man sitting on a cloud. It has no taste, no color, no smell, no form, because these are material characteristics. He cannot be depicted. God is outside of space, since He is not limited by it, has no dimensions. God is absolutely infinite. But we must understand that it is not the one who is huge who is infinite, but the one who is outside of space. And therefore we say that God is Omnipresent, and if He were limited by space, He would not be the Creator. He would become a limited being and not God.
- Why can’t we call It space? Is space the devil?
— God cannot be a cosmos because He is its Creator. I am talking about the material cosmos, and not about the one that occultists write about. Space is not the devil. However, in the Bible Satan is actually called the ruler of the cosmos, the prince of this world (in Greek, “this cosmos”). But it is called this way not because it possesses the visible cosmos, but because it owns those people who worship the visible cosmos as God, serve the visible cosmos. Those who serve the cosmos, that is, the creation instead of the Creator, are in the kingdom of the devil. The devil did not create them, but only took possession of them through deception or lies.
The word “cosmos” has two meanings in modern language: there is “outer space”, which is studied by astronomers, it is the creation of God; and there is also “space” with which sorcerers contact. The concept of “world” is also not unambiguous: this is often called the totality of people living contrary to the will of God - a world in which the devil reigns, as Scripture says.
- You say that the world was created, but in fact it arose from a big bang many billions of years ago.
- How do you know?
- Science has proven it.
-Are you personally sure of this?
- That's what scientists say.
“They used to think that the earth stood on elephants, but now they claim that it was caused by an explosion.”
- What about the theory of evolution, which has been proven?
— These are hypotheses that change every year. Read Darwin carefully; he put forward his theory as a hypothesis and was not entirely sure of it himself. There is nothing more unreliable than the latest scientific hypotheses. The past generally does not belong to the scope of science, especially the pre-human past; there are no methods for studying it, only assumptions. You cannot experiment with the past, and in the pre-human past you cannot even check the testimony of witnesses. All the talk that science has proven how the world came to be is scientific mythology.
- When Christ was born, they say that some kind of star fell, the wise men followed it... But what about your statement that the stars do not influence anything?
- So the Star of Bethlehem did not influence anyone, it did not drag them, it simply showed that God was born.
- Was this a sign?
- Yes, sure. A sign deliberately given by God. The Magi are astrologers, they were given clear instructions. In addition, the Lord gave such a sign so that the wise men would stop practicing astrology. The star did not fall, but moved in violation of all the laws of celestial mechanics. She sailed not from east to west, but from northeast to southwest. This was the only way to induce the Magi to follow the star and indicate the place where the Baby lay. It was a miracle of God, revealed to show the absurdity of worshiping the luminaries.
Let's return to talking about God. Consider the statement - God is omnipresent. We believe this is true. The psalmist David says: “Where can I go from Your Spirit, and where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven - You are there; If I go down to the underworld, you will be there too. If I take the wings of the dawn and move to the edge of the sea, Thy hand will lead me there, and Thy right hand will hold me. Shall I say: “Perhaps the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will become night”; but the darkness will not obscure You, and the night is as bright as the day: both the darkness and the light” (Ps. 139:7-12). God fills everything - Heaven and earth. He is everywhere, entirely, and at the same time not limited by anything. He is not contained by the heavens of Heaven, but at the same time it is said that He dwells in those who are meek in heart, humble and trembling at His words: “I dwell in the high place of heaven and in the sanctuary, and also with those who are contrite and lowly in spirit”; “But this is the one I will look upon: the one who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at My word” (Isa. 57:15; 66:2). It cannot be said that the Lord fills everything equally. He is found differently in the hearts of the sinner and the righteous; otherwise He dwells in the temple of God, because it is the house of the Living God, according to His own word: “...My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Is. 56:7). And it’s completely different, for example, in a tavern. Even there God may be, but as a Judge. In the temple, the presence of the Lord is felt most clearly; His special power acts there, reviving our souls, transforming hearts, cleansing sins. But the Lord Himself does not change depending on what the people who receive Him are like. And everything that is in space cannot influence Him.
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“Father Daniel is walking along the passage and reading the Bible as he goes.”
Prayer before the session with the missionaries.
February 2008. Photo by Ekaterina Zagulyaeva “The first time I saw Father Daniel on the street: he was arguing with sectarian agitators, and I was amazed that he knew the Bible almost by heart. He operated the Bible as a text that was constantly before his eyes,” said Miloserdiya.ru journalist Ilya Agafonov. — While working on some material, you could call him at any time and ask what the holy fathers or Russian spiritual authorities said on this or that issue. He immediately gave the answer."
Incredible erudition was characteristic of Father Daniel already in the seminary. One day the inspector began to scold him for taking communion “too often.” “Based on canonical rules, sayings of the holy fathers, texts of divine services and priestly prayers, which were generally unknown to us at that time, Daniel easily proved that a person is called to receive communion at every service,” recalled Priest Alexey Lymarev.
In the same way, the seminarian knew the liturgical regulations and strove to strictly observe them. “We had certain concessions that he really wanted to correct: for example, when he read the Canon, he made sure to read it into six troparia, as according to the Rule, and not into four,” said Archpriest Mikhail Shchepetkov. “He was even nicknamed the “walking Typikon.”
Father Daniel re-read the Bible all his life. “I’m riding on the subway and I see Father Daniil walking along the passage and reading the Bible as he goes, sometimes bumping into passers-by,” said Elena Krylova, a friend of the Sysoev family.
Books, sermons, conversations, interpretations of Daniil Sysoev
During his service in the church, Father Daniil Sysoev wrote many Orthodox books, which closely resonated with his hobbies, specifically missionary work. Although Daniel had books on other topics.
All of his works can be conditionally divided into three categories: the Divine creation of the world, Orthodox Christianity, its features and orders, and polemics with people of other faiths, i.e., non-believers. "The Chronicle of the Beginning" was written in 1999. In this book, the author describes the creation of the world, its development and formation. Daniel focuses on the seven-day account of the creation of the world, accompanying each day with his comments and reasoning. “Why go to church every Sunday?” — published 2007-2008. Aimed at describing Orthodox culture and traditions. The author encourages you to attend church or temple every week and explains why.
Daniel also wrote many articles in magazines and almanacs. Mostly all articles were published in the magazine “Holy Fire”. Many of them were directly related to other religions. For his bold statements and writings, Daniil was threatened and promised to be killed by some extremist groups.
Daniil Sysoev wrote all his books so that people knew their religion. He called on all people to follow the old traditions and culture of their ancestors.
“Listen to how beautiful the stichera of Easter sounds!”
The bloody cross of Father Daniel, which was on him at the time of his death.
Photo: pitanov.livejournal.com “We very often build Christ around our lives, but for him Christ was the center, and he built everything from Him,” recalled Archpriest Igor Fomin.
“He was a man completely immersed in faith, just as they said about the Old Testament righteous people that they “walked before God,” and something like this can be said about Father Daniel,” shares Ilya Agafonov. “In his words, deeds, actions, he always seemed to stand before God.”
He expected the same boundless faith from those around him. Elena Krylova, a family friend of Daniil’s father, gave birth to a premature boy, the child was in intensive care. Mother Yulia called her: “Wait, we are going to baptize your son!” “Father brought with him a bottle of holy water, very cold, because it was freezing outside,” Elena recalled. “And I was very scared, because the baby had pneumonia, and dousing him with ice water could worsen his condition. “Don’t you believe in God?” - Father Daniil asked me sternly. I couldn’t argue, the child was baptized, and he immediately began to recover.”
Any conversation with Father Daniel, no matter where it began, turned out to be a conversation about God, about the need to serve him and become like him, the priest’s friends recall.
Moreover, he could speak on theological topics in any situation: on the way to the subway, sorting through potatoes in the kitchen, balancing on one leg with his trouser leg rolled up, and washing the other in the sink.
He could stop a classmate in the seminary corridor and say: “Listen, listen how beautiful the stichera of Easter sounds!” - and start singing a melody to a Byzantine tune.
Teenage years and early life
Youth and young adulthood were the beginning of serious spiritual study, and then of real church service. These were the times of his student life, finding a family, the birth of his first daughter, and making new friends. At the same time, he began missionary work and conceived his project of building a temple.
Student times
Friend Pyotr Meshcherinov recalls his student days. He immediately singled him out from the entire large stream of those who came to study. Daniel loved to read. He always attended lectures, but rarely listened to them, because he already knew almost everything he was reading. He always sat down at the end of the classroom, closer to the window, and immersed himself in a book.
Other friends and acquaintances from the seminary remembered Sysoev as a man who not only professed the faith, but also preached it, a sincerely loving and caring person.
He himself said that during his studies he was finally convinced that only Orthodoxy carries the truth, and having broad knowledge, he argued with students and teachers, convincing them of the correctness of his judgments.
He graduated from the seminary in 1995, after which he was ordained a deacon, and in the same year he entered the Moscow Theological Academy, and in 2000 he graduated from it with a candidate of theology degree.
Personal life
Mutual friends from the seminary introduced the guy to his future wife Yulia Sysoeva (nee Brykina). The young people quickly realized that they were very suitable for each other, and on January 22, 1995, with the blessing of the shepherd, they got married.
In their marriage, they had three daughters: the eldest Justina, the middle Dorothea and the youngest Angelina. They were a wonderful family, Daniel showed himself as a loving husband and father.
Mother Julia eventually became a writer of Orthodox books.
Church service
He served as a deacon in the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Gonchary, where he uncompromisingly followed the rules and demanded the same from others, which is why he could not find a common language and was on bad terms with the rector of the temple. Also, since 1996, he served at the Krutitsky Patriarchal Metochion, where he also provided assistance to people who suffered from the actions of various sects and occult societies. Was part of the Counseling Center.
In 2001, he was ordained by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II to the rank of priest, after which he served as a cleric in the Church of Peter and Paul in Yasenevo, and in 2004, for the holiday of Holy Easter, he was awarded the right to wear a kamilavka for his diligent service to the Church of God.
In 2006, he began serving in a temporary wooden church, whose altar was consecrated in the name of the Apostle Thomas, where Sysoev became rector. There he began to actively develop his missionary activities.
Temple foundation
In 2003, Father Daniel conceived and organized an independent parish community, located near the Kantemirovskaya metro station, and in November 2003, having received a blessing from Patriarch Alexy II, he began organizing the construction of a temple in honor of the holy Prophet Daniel (Prophet Daniel is his heavenly patron ) on the territory of the Southern Administrative District of Moscow.
Due to minor disputes over the land allocated for the temple, construction was delayed and continues to this day. Fundraising continues on the official website, and any help is accepted. The temple was Daniel's dream, which he never saw come to fruition.
He didn't want tolerance
Class with missionaries.
February 2008. Photo by Ekaterina Zagulyaeva “There were no authorities for him: he could publicly, without fear of anything, argue with any person, even with a professor, if he believed that he was mistaken in something,” recalls Archpriest Dionisy Pozdnyaev.
Seminarian Daniil Sysoev could get involved in a discussion even during a lecture, for which he was sometimes punished. But this did not stop him from starting theological disputes again and again.
Then in his life there were thousands of meetings, broadcasts, debates, round tables. He participated in discussions with Muslims, sectarians, and neo-pagans. In his youth, as his wife put it, he “boiled with zeal for God”; later he learned to argue more calmly. But he always remained disconcertingly straightforward.
“He did not want tolerance, did not want Christ to be put on the same level as Mohammed, Buddha or Jehovah and to be prayed to,” recalled Fr. Alexy Sysoev, father of the priest.
Many things related to other faiths, sins or misconceptions are not customary to say out loud. But Father Daniel always finished his thoughts to the end. And speaking, for example, at a scientific conference, he could say that science should be the “handmaiden of theology.”
Thanks to his recklessness, Father Daniel gained some scandalous fame. One Muslim journalist even contacted the prosecutor's office demanding that a case be opened against him for inciting interreligious and ethnic hatred.
During his life, Father Daniel baptized more than eighty Muslims, including several Wahhabis and two people who were going to become martyrs. And more than five hundred Protestants.
Walking around in a cassock all the time was normal
Father Daniel talks with a follower of the Jehovah's Witnesses sect at the stadium.
Kyrgyzstan, June 2008. Photo by Ekaterina Zagulyaeva Father Daniil was always a missionary; he did not turn into an ordinary “citizen Sysoev” in the evenings or on weekends.
“We lived nearby, and after services we drove home together several times,” recalled Archpriest Vladimir Shmaliy. “He shows me: “Here is a beer stall where I go to drink beer with the men and talk about Christ.”
I tell him: “Listen, Father Daniil, is it normal that you go on the subway in a cassock, or walk down the street in a cassock? This means that anyone can come!” - “Yes, anyone.” I think he never took off his cassock. He believed that it was important to be in a cassock all the time, because the priest is a warrior of Christ.”
One day, Father Daniel managed to save a woman who was about to commit suicide. She spoke to him on the street precisely because of his priestly clothes.
“Even to hooligans in the subway who pestered him about his appearance, he answered in such a way that it turned out to be a sermon about faith and about God,” said Evgeny Kudashov, a friend of the Sysoev family.
Father Daniel, without hesitation, could organize a prayer service in a public place that was not intended for this at all: at the airport, on the ruins of a crusader fortress, etc.
With the blessing of the clergy, he served prayer services in the Tatar language and went to preach on Sabantuy.
At the Seliger youth camp he served as a missionary among Chechen participants, and in Moscow he made “forays” into places where migrant workers lived crowdedly.
“The Islamists treated Sysoev with wary respect, but without hatred”
Having burst inside the temple, the killer shouted: “Where is the abbot?” But instead of Sysoev, his assistant Vladimir Strelbitsky came down from the second floor to meet the man. And then he received a bullet in the chest. The watchman Tatyana, who came down with Vladimir, got scared, fell to the floor and hid under the bench. She screamed, and Father Daniel himself came out to scream.
Turning to him, the killer shot the priest three times, hitting him in the head, neck and chest. After this, the attacker ran out of the temple and disappeared. Not by car, but just by running.
“Do not be afraid, I will petition that you be glorified as martyrs.”
Church of St.
Apostle Thomas. A few hours after the murder of the rector, priest Daniil Sysoev. November 20, 2009 Photo by Deacon Andrei Radkevich In 2007, Father Daniel organized a missionary circle at the Church of the Apostle Thomas and convinced other priests to create the same in their parishes. Before attending a meeting of sectarians, he instructed the missionaries as follows: “Disperse one by one. While listening carefully to the sermon, ask your neighbors clarifying questions. Point out contradictions between the pastor's words and the Bible. Your task is to show logical inconsistencies without scaring the person away.”
“Father Daniel treated the missionaries as a fighting unit of the Church, whose weapon was the knowledge of the Word of God,” recalled Ekaterina Zagulyaeva, correspondent for the Neskuchny Sad magazine. She traveled with Father Daniel's group to Kyrgyzstan in 2008.
“We had to go to a mountainous Muslim village known for its radical sentiments. There was an assignment to secretly baptize a dying woman - it was her own desire.
Before the flight, Father Daniil joyfully admonished us: “Don’t worry at all, if they kill you there, I will petition that you be glorified as martyrs,” said Ekaterina Zagulyaeva.
Seraphim Maamdi, an Orthodox Kurd, recalled how Father Daniel suggested that he organize a trip to Iraqi Kurdistan (the center of Yazidism, a religion that arose from Zoroastrianism) to preach about Christ. “I said that... I would be guaranteed the crown of martyrdom, because the radicalism of the people of Iraq is known to the whole world.
But Father Daniil said that there was nothing to be afraid of, they threatened to cut off his head fourteen times, but will we really retreat out of fear,” he said.
“Our only and eternal Motherland is heaven”
Funeral service for the murdered priest Daniil Sysoev.
November 23, 2009 Photo by Deacon Andrei Radkevich “The best death for a Christian, of course, is martyrdom for Christ the Savior. This is the best death that is possible for a person in principle,” wrote Father Daniel in his book, called “Instructions for Immortals, or What to Do if You Still Died.”
He didn’t just want to be saved, he dreamed of martyrdom. “He said that it was wrong to argue that “there’s no way to get into heaven.” He was not content with being “over the edge,” said Yulia Sysoeva.
Father Daniel constantly received threats from radical Islamists, Satanists, etc. When his friends urged him to be careful and reminded him of his children, he replied that the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos would not abandon the family of the martyr.
“I once asked him: “Don’t you like it here? You do this all the time that everything can collapse at once.” And in response I heard: “And it’s much more interesting there!”,” recalled Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev.
“Our only and eternal Motherland is heaven. Our Father lives there, our fellow citizens are saints there, there the Church will find eternal peace after a long war with the devil,” Father Daniel once said in an interview with Neskuchny Sad magazine.
