Chapter 2. Residence of Hieromonk Leonid in the Valaam Skete. – His transition to the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery, then to the Ploshchanskaya Hermitage and, finally, to the Optina Hermitage of the Kaluga Diocese

Bishop Leonid
(in the world
Denis Vladimirovich Tolmachev
; May 12, 1975, Moscow) - bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, bishop of Urzhum and Omutninsky.

Biography

Born on May 12, 1975 in Moscow. Baptized in infancy.

In 1982-1992 he studied at secondary school No. 2 in Odintsovo, Moscow region, in 1992-1997 - at the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K. A. Timiryazev.

In 1997-2001 he studied at the Perervinsky Theological School in Moscow, which was transformed into a theological seminary on July 17, 2001.

During his years of study at the Perervinsky Theological Seminary, he collected historical and archival material about the Nikolo-Perervinsky Monastery, the result of which was the book “Nikolo-Perervinsky Monastery. Essays on History", published in 2005.

Since May 2002 he was in the Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage.

On April 20, 2003, Archimandrite Venedikt (Penkov), abbot of Optina Pustyn, tonsured a monk with the name Leonid in honor of the Venerable Leonid of Poshekhonsky.

On May 4, 2003, he was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon by Archbishop Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk in St. George's Cathedral in the city of Kaluga.

In 2005, he received a diploma from the Perervinsky Theological Seminary, having passed the missing subjects for the seminary course.

On October 23, 2006, he was ordained to the rank of hieromonk in the Vvedensky Cathedral of the Optina Hermitage by the same Eminence.

Since 2007, he studied at the correspondence sector of the Moscow Theological Academy, which he graduated in 2012, having defended his thesis at the Department of Church History on the topic “The Theological School at the St. Nicholas Perervinsky Monastery”[1].

On November 8, 2013, he was sent to the Assumption Metochion of Optina Hermitage in St. Petersburg as a full-time clergyman.

In 2007-2010, he was a consultant in the compilation of books of annual liturgical instructions published by the Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate.

In 2012-2014, he wrote a number of articles on the history of the Nikolo-Perervinsky Monastery. The works were published in the collections “Plato’s Readings” and “Proceedings of the Pererva Orthodox Theological Seminary.”

Since January 2014 - Dean of the Assumption Metochion of Optina Pustyn in St. Petersburg.

Bishopric

On October 23, 2014, by decision of the Holy Synod, he was elected Bishop of Urzhum and Omutninsky[2].

On November 1 of the same year, at the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy in Moscow, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus'[3].

On November 11, 2014, in the cross church in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God of the Patriarchal residence in Chisty Lane in Moscow, Archimandrite Leonid was named Bishop of Urzhum and Omutninsky[4].

On December 14, 2014, in the Cathedral of the Beheading of John the Baptist in the St. John the Baptist Convent of Moscow, the consecration of Archimandrite Leonid (Tolmachev) as Bishop of Urzhum and Omutninsky took place, which was performed by: Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Barsanuphius ( Sudakov), Metropolitan of Vyatka and Slobodskaya Mark (Tuzhikov), Archbishop Filaret (Karagodin), Archbishop of Sergiev Posad Feognost (Guzikov), Bishop of the Resurrection Savva (Mikheev), Bishop of Yaran and Luza Paisiy (Kuznetsov) and bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church: Bishop of Bach Irinej (Bulovich), Bishop Anthony (Pantelic) of Moravich, Bishop David (Perovich) of Krusevac, Bishop Jerome (Mocevic) of Egar[5].

Garden manager

The crow's cawing, persistent and loud, greets us with the bishop as soon as we enter the fraternal - closed - half of the monastery. I complain that it is impossible to record good sound under such hubbub: it is assumed that we will be filming the conversation with cameras. The governor immediately reacts: “We have nothing but problems from these birds! They’re eating our apples,” one can hear genuine concern in Bishop Leonid’s voice. “Even when I was the manager of the garden here, nets had to be pulled over the trees.” I note to myself that I’ll ask about obedience in the garden later, but for now I look around: paving stones, ancient buildings, lanterns with curlicues. Picture from old books. A light breeze passes under my shirt. “And you, Vladyka, still feel awe when you walk along these paths?” “Now I only feel responsibility,” he answers without hesitation, “because for me it’s a big burden.” And then he gives us a frank story: “There are times when I forget that I am a governor. And I remember the moment when I was just a resident here. Recently, people were waiting for me in my office, I go there and think: why is Father Viceroy calling me? Then I walked a little more and remembered: I’m the governor myself now!”

...Finally we reach a plum orchard, and here we decide to stop to record the conversation.

Bishop of Mozhaisk Leonid

“It seemed to me that it is only possible to fully fulfill the Gospel commandments through monasticism.”

— Vladyka, in previous interviews I read that in your family only your grandmother was a believer. Was she the one who brought you to the Church?

“My grandmother really was a believer all her life. She came from a simple family; being young, she survived the siege of Leningrad. She often told me about this terrible time and how they finally got out of the city along Lake Ladoga. My parents brought my brother and I every summer to visit our grandmother in the village, in the Lipetsk region. There she regularly took us to church. I must admit, I didn’t really agree to this, and there were times when I even resisted. I read a lot of atheistic literature at school.

- Who were your parents? Haven't you talked to them about the Church?

My ordination to the deacon coincided with the fortieth day of my grandmother’s death

— My father worked in the Moscow subway, and my mother was an engineer, she comes from the Ryazan region. The family was not a believer, only the grandmother. She always prayed: both at lunch and at dinner. And even - we had a farm in the village - she didn’t allow us to harvest hay on big holidays, and we didn’t allow us to work, we approached it strictly. I’ll tell you—I don’t usually tell you, but it’s important to me—that my ordination as a deacon after being tonsured as a monk coincided with the fortieth day of my grandmother’s death.

— It is known that after school you entered the agricultural academy, the famous Timiryazevka. What did your future look like back then?

— Probably, some kind of craving for the animal world appeared thanks to life in the village. In addition, I studied in a class with a chemical and biological bias. While still in school, we had an internship at the All-Union Scientific Research Institute for Selection and Seed Production of Vegetable Crops. I liked going there, and in the future I wanted to do research related to plants. That’s why I chose Timiryazev Academy.

Painting in the book of honored guests in the museum of the writer Vladimir Krupin in Kilmezi

“But the first year in the end turned out to be associated with a more conscious coming to the Church than in childhood. Where did it all start?

— It was 1993. These, you know, are the events associated with the murdered brethren of the Optina monastery. I even remember that day. We were in the dining room, having breakfast, and someone told me that three monks had been killed in Optina Pustyn. For some reason this stuck with me. And then my brother, who is now a priest, started going to church, and I started taking books from him. And I was especially struck by the works of Sergei Nilus, where he describes Optina, the life of the elders.

— How could they impress a first-year student at a secular university?

- There are such stories - not just, you know, a template biography - but such moments of life that cannot be reflected anywhere, but God’s Providence is visible in them. And this, of course, really amazed me, and later, when I started going to church - in 1994-95 - it was my first trip from the parish to Optina Pustyn. Here we, I remember, spent the night in the Vladimirskaya gate tower, on a wooden floor. In the morning there was a liturgy, and then there was the first immersion in the source of Paphnutius Borovsky, this was actually the first immersion in my life. It was winter, severe frost, but I calmly endured it, and that impression stayed with me for a long time. And also - on another trip - I remembered the liturgy at the monastery, back then they were still allowed to perform services there for parishioners. There were a lot of people, it was incredibly stuffy.

Bishop of Mozhaisk Leonid

— Remember that turning point, after which you said to yourself: now I’m only with the Church?

— During the period when I started reading Nilus’s books, I once again went to the village. A pious grandmother lived with us there, and she then gave me the “Kievo-Pechersk Patericon.” I read it, and it seemed to me that it is only possible to fully fulfill the Gospel commandments through monasticism. From that moment on, I decided to follow the monastic path. Subsequently, there were, of course, some delays; I had to finish college. Then I entered the Pererva Seminary. But even then I firmly decided that the monastic path was mine.

“It’s one thing to read and admire, but another thing to actually take monastic vows.” How did it happen that you ended up being a resident of Optina?

Came to Optina and stayed here forever

- I believe that this is the Providence of God, it was not so much that I myself chose this monastery, but rather that it was the Providence of God that brought me here. Because when I was at home and didn’t know where to go, I called my friend, who helped me work in the archives to write works on the history of the Pererva Seminary (and I wrote many articles on this topic). So, a friend immediately put me in touch with Father Afanasy, he was then the head of the publishing department of Optina. Hieromonk Afanasy is still here; is on another obedience. He suggested collecting information about the monastery in the archives of St. Petersburg, and I went. It was April 2002, I lived for a month in the St. Petersburg courtyard on Vasilyevsky Island, collecting information. On May 1, 2002, he came to Optina and stayed here forever. He continued working on history and publishing books.

Optina Pustyn

— So you were one of those who restored the history of the monastery?

- Well, don't say that! There were some materials that I found that were not known, I will say so. Only later did the governor, the late Father Venedikt, put me in obedience, not related to publishing, with archives. I ended up working on a subsidiary farm because I had the necessary education—I spent probably about ten years there. Passed almost all obediences: stables, poultry house, gardens, even worked as a machine operator for one winter. He was a dean and manager of a subsidiary farm for some time.

“The big problem is that young people have no ideals”

Reverend Hieromonk Rafail (Sheichenko)

— They say that you were almost sent to Kamchatka then, but in the end you ended up in St. Petersburg. In that same courtyard on Vasilievsky...

“It’s probably better to say it again: God’s Providence itself led me.” I had no intention of leaving the monastery anywhere, I wasn’t eager to go anywhere, but I did not oppose the decision of the Hierarchy. When Bishop Artemy was appointed to the Kamchatka diocese, he had a project - to take three inhabitants each from Optina and Valaam, so that they would engage in missionary work in Kamchatka. My father offered me the governorship, I didn’t refuse, but then he changed his mind about sending me. From that moment I realized that I had to carry out the will of the hierarchy, not resist, and after that I ended up in a courtyard in St. Petersburg. I spent a year there, in parish service, and this activity taught me a lot, prepared me for work in the diocese, because if I had immediately gone from the monastery to the diocese, it would have been much harder for me.

— By the way, about the diocese. You were in Vyatka. And there again your paths crossed with Optina...

— In our Urzhum diocese there was the so-called VyatLAG: these are the places where prisoners-confessors for the Orthodox faith were imprisoned. The resident of Optina, Rev. Hieromonk Rafail (Sheichenko), was also there; he was serving the last six years of his twenty-year sentence in VyatLAG. He somehow connected me, apparently, with his native monastery.

— Why do most of our people remain indifferent to the topic of the new martyrs?

People don’t want to change themselves, but you need to change yourself - that’s what’s important

- In the modern world, people do not want to follow any example - they want to live more passively and more, so to speak, sluggishly. It’s very difficult to follow an example, you have to always be tense, always be in a fighting mood, in a smart appearance, and, of course, when people are given the lives of the new martyrs to read, they don’t like it. They like what? Biographies in which there are many miracles, many predictions of the elders. They read, admire, but do not get any benefit from it, because the most important benefit from a biography is when a person not only read and admired what he read, but also tried to follow the example of the person he read about. People don’t want to change themselves now, but we need to change ourselves - that’s what’s important.

Conversation with pilgrims from the Kirov region. August 14, 2018

— These words are especially close to young people...

— The big problem is that young people have no ideals, no desire for some kind of feat, and it is very important that modern youth have no desire to take responsibility. It happens that you put—I’ll tell you about the diocese—a priest, but he doesn’t really want to do anything. He performs divine services and performs the required services, but he doesn’t particularly want to work with parishioners; he lacks initiative and responsibility. This has never happened before, I look at my peers: no matter what order was given, the person tried to carry it out. Now - “Sorry, it didn’t work out for me,” or “I’m sick,” or “I can’t.” That's all. And he quits on the spot. Or maybe he just doesn’t want to do anything.

— Let's return to Optina. How did your appointment as governor happen?

“There were premonitions, there were omens that led me to this, but, of course, there was even some kind of shock after the decision of the Holy Synod, but I accepted it. I have long been accustomed to living by obedience, so I do not resist the decision of the hierarchy.

“I also had disappointments”

First liturgy at the monastery

— Have you already understood what problems you will have to face here? How will you solve them?

— Internal problems, I won’t talk about them, but I will have to face them... I will continue what the late Father Viceroy, Archimandrite Benedict, did. We will try to ensure that those people who come to the monastery (a significant part are pilgrims) are not left without care, so that they are received, accommodated and leave with spiritual benefit and a good impression of the monastery. And perhaps they would spread this impression and talk about the monastery as about the whole Church. Because the example of monastic monasteries is a valuable example that shows that the Russian Orthodox Church is holding on, and what the media says is completely untrue.

— The media, for example, say that today many are leaving the Church. If we compare it with the 1990s, now it’s just an exodus. How can this be explained?

“We didn’t have the kind of continuity when parents bring their children to Church. And they don’t teach you how to go to church, how to live church life in general, how to live in marriage. People, having read books, wanted to see an ideal Church. But reality turned out to be difficult for them. Some people set expectations that they themselves found impossible to achieve. Now what can be done? Just have a realistic approach to life - and try to find a priest, a confessor who will explain, interpret the church rules for our life, will not make them easier - under no circumstances! - but simply explain how to perform them and not overstrain yourself.

— Many also leave the Church and monastics...

— When I was in the diocese, the so-called confessions of “formers” appeared in the media. I've read some. Not all. Because they are hard to read. This is written by a man already offended by everything - by the clergy he encountered, offended by God. But I see the following in these confessions: the person himself made a mistake. He mostly just idealized where he was going, he didn't understand where he ended up. There was no sober, reasonable approach, assessment and perception.

— Vladyka, you also read books, you probably idealized something, were disappointed in something, but you remained...

— Yes, I also had some disappointments, especially when I was faced with service in the diocese. The clergy who were there were not monks or ascetics, they were more worldly, more immersed in their affairs and family concerns. And I still tried to stick to the example that I had in the monastery, and not pay attention to the fact that there is a more loyal attitude to the rules, the Gospel commandments.

Divine service in Optina Hermitage

— The big brotherhood is now in Optina?

— 200 people, including novices. But this is thanks to the father governor - because back in 2013 there were 150 people here, during the five years that I was absent, the number of brethren increased by about 50 people.

-Are you taking everyone?

The people we consider elders were not everyone perceived as such.

- No, you know, we have such a feature that a lot of people come to the monastery, and there is a choice. And those people who come have a strict attitude towards them. I remember I was ordained a year later - of course, I had an education - but others were kept for a long time. There were periods when we were not ordained as hieromonks for two or three years. The governor was very strict. That's how it should be! So you asked why the monks leave the monastery. This is also due to the fact that the testing period was short. It’s not like that with us...

— Is it possible that in the near future Optina will again become famous as the monastery of the elders?

- I'll say this. When it was the 19th century, those people whom we now consider elders were not perceived by everyone as such. Individual people listened to one elder and criticized the other, although they lived together, in the same monastery, at the same time. That is, for some, a monk is an elder, because he has become an authority for him, and accordingly, a person listens to him and follows his instructions. Now there are such people too. Do you know how the late Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) joked when people came to him at the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery? They approached him and asked - where can one find the elders? He replied: “The old men are lying in the caves, but here there are only old men!” A person himself determines who is an elder for him and who is not an elder.

Why do people today come to elders and spiritual fathers? For the most part - I'm not saying that all, but many - in order to receive revelation about your life, about the future. They can get it, but will they follow it? We can cite the Apostle Paul as an example. When he was stricken with blindness, why did the Lord appear to him? Because the Lord knew that he (then Saul) would change. So, it happens that the elder does not answer or say anything to people, because people will not change. So that they are no longer condemned at the Last Judgment, the Lord simply does not reveal this to them.

Maxim Vasyunov talked with Bishop Leonid (Tolmachev) of Mozhaisk

Notes

1. [history-mda.ru/nov/25-aprelya-sostoyalos-zasedanie-kafedryi-tserkovnoy-istorii_1026.html/ On April 25, a meeting of the Department of Church History was held, website of the Department of Church History of the Moscow Theological Academy]. May 6, 2012.
2. [www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/3804583.html Journals of the meeting of the Holy Synod of October 23, 2014.] // Patriarchia.Ru (October 23, 2014).
3. [www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/3821245.html The Primate of the Russian Church led the celebrations on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Venerable Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna.] // Patriarchia.Ru (October 23, 2014)
4. [www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/3837399.html Archimandrite Flavian (Mitrofanov) was named Bishop of Cherepovets and Belozersk, Archimandrite Pavel (Timofeenkov) was Bishop of Molodechno and Stolbtsy, Archimandrite Leonid (Tolmachev) was Bishop of Urzhum and Omutninsk and Archimandrite Anthony (Doronin) as Bishop of Slutsk and Soligorsk.] // Patriarchy.Ru
5. [www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/3876827.html The Primate of the Russian Church celebrated the Liturgy at the St. John the Baptist Monastery in Moscow and led the consecration of Archimandrite Leonid (Tolmachev) as Bishop of Urzhum and Omutninsky.] // Patriarchy.Ru
6. [www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/2173221.html For the holiday of Holy Easter, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill awarded a number of residents and clergy of stauropegic monasteries with liturgical awards]. // Patriarchia.Ru (April 20, 2012)

Vladyka Theophan about the new governor: “Remember one thing: this man is not accidental...”

DECISION OF THE SYNOD: TO APPOINT HIEROMONK SIMEON IN CONNECTION WITH THE REQUEST OF THE METROPOLITAN OF KAZAN AND TATARSTAN

Just yesterday, at the patriarchal and synodal residence in the Danilov Monastery in Moscow, a long-awaited event for many in the republic took place - a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Synod finally made the expected decision on the scandal in the Sviyazhsk Mother of God-Assumption Monastery related to the appointment of a new abbot of the monastery. In the journal of the meeting dated December 27, at the very end of the document, there was an almost inconspicuous entry, briefly telling about the decision to dismiss Abbot Silouan ( Khokhiashvili Simeon ( Kulagin in his place . Moreover, this decision was made in connection with the personal petition of Metropolitan Feofan .
Let us recall that in mid-October a scandal broke out in the metropolis related to the bishop’s intentions to remove abbot Silouan. His followers began to collect signatures in his support, even preparing street protests, but then the conflict was extinguished. For the last couple of months, the duties of the monastery's abbot were performed by Hieromonk Ambrose ( Stepanyuk ). Ambrose began his service to the church in one of the parishes of the Nizhnekamsk region, after which he went to Sviyazhsk, where during the time of Silouan he was dean for some time. But, according to the newspaper’s interlocutor, Ambrose could not find a common language with him, as a result of which he was forced to move away from monastic life and go to serve in the village of Drozhzhanoe. However, after well-known events, Metropolitan Feofan again called him to Sviyazhsk to manage the monastery. However, as a source in the church community told BUSINESS Online, Ambrose allegedly did not live up to the Metropolitan’s expectations as a manager, despite the fact that he was familiar with the life and everyday life of the monastery firsthand. However, it is no less likely that he was a transitional figure from the very beginning - it is logical that such a strategically and financially significant position requires a 100% trusted person.

In the journal at the very end of the document there is an inconspicuous entry telling about the decision to dismiss Abbot Silouan from his post as abbot of the monastery and install Hieromonk Simeon in his place.

This, apparently, was found in the Holy Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage. The place was offered to Hieromonk Simeon (Kulagin), a resident of a monastery in the Kaluga region, where he was a cellarer, that is, he was involved in providing food for the monastery. This decision was received with sadness in Optina Pustyn: according to BUSINESS Online’s own sources in the church community, the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Venedikt , did not want to give valuable personnel to Tatarstan. However, in the church world this is a common practice - no one wants to lose people, but they resign themselves to the decision of the Synod.

In the Sviyazhsk Monastery, the new abbot Simeon will appear on the island for Christmas Photo: tatmitropolia.ru

“YOU WILL SEE: THE BENEFITS WILL BE GREAT, THE MONASTERY WILL HAVE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT COLOR”

Nevertheless, the die is cast and the choice is made. In the Sviyazhsky Monastery, a new abbot will appear on the island by Christmas. Metropolitan Feofan of Kazan and Tatarstan expressed this hope in a conversation with BUSINESS Online.

“This is a man who has a higher theological education - he is a candidate of theological sciences,” the bishop described the new vicar. — He has a higher secular education. Good experience of monastic life - he worked in Optina Pustyn. Therefore, this is what is needed for the monastery.”

The Bishop found it difficult to say what kind of obedience Hieromonk Simeon performed in the Optina Hermitage. But he emphasized that he is an experienced person, and above all from the point of view of monastic life, which is important for the Sviyazhsk monastery.

“First of all, it is necessary that monastic life be truly monastic,” the Metropolitan outlined the tasks of the new abbot. — So that there is continuity, so that there is a monastic spirit, because a monastery is not a place for homeless people who just want to clear the snow! First of all, there must be prayer, the structure of monastic life. So that the monastery should be a monastery, so that the number of inhabitants is not limited, as it was, to two or three people, so that there are more inhabitants, so that educational activities develop, so that people feel that they are coming to the monastery. To a monastery, where they can find both the word of an experienced monk and an intellectually developed person, so that there is no narrow-mindedness.”

Theophan: “A good experience of monastic life - he [Simeon] worked in the Optina Hermitage. Therefore, this is what is needed for the monastery" Photo: "BUSINESS Online"

Considering the size of the monastery, it could have many more inhabitants than now, but it should not be a “collective farm”. The brethren may well number 25 people, the bishop expressed his vision. In this case, a good, managed community is created, where everyone has their own place and their own obedience. By the way, there are no such large monasteries in Tatarstan yet: for example, judging by the metropolitan website, there are about 10 monasteries in Kazan Bogoroditsky, and 12 in Raifa. Why was Simeon chosen for the work of the governor? As Metropolitan Theophan noted, “the Bishop knows many.”

“Remember one thing: this person is not accidental,” the bishop emphasized. “Naturally, the patriarch personally—after all, the appointment went through the Synod—knows him and blessed him. And, naturally, the ruling bishop always has the last word and right. In Tatarstan, for example, the last word always belongs to the president in secular cases. And in spiritual matters, the one who is the metropolitan in the region determines the personnel policy.”

The new governor has not yet arrived on the island, it takes some time to complete the paperwork - after all, the decision was only made yesterday.

“I am absolutely sure that a new stream will appear in the life of Sviyazhsk,” concluded Feofan. “You will see: the benefits will be great, the monastery will take on a completely different flavor.”

The future hieromonk Simeon in the world bore the name of Artem Kulagin Photo: tatmitropolia.ru

THE AGED FROM THE OPTIA DESERT

The future hieromonk Simeon bore the name Artem Kulagin . He was born on April 26, 1978 in Barnaul. Baby Artem was baptized only in 1990 in the Intercession Cathedral of Barnaul. His father, now an entrepreneur, has a higher education in history, which was reflected in his son: after graduating from high school in 1995, he entered the history department of Altai State University, where he studied until the early 2000s. Immediately after this, I decided to continue my studies in this field and entered graduate school at my alma mater. At the same time, he worked as a teacher at the Department of Contemporary Russian History at the same university. During his studies at the university and in graduate school, he had a deferment, and therefore did not complete military service in the army.

Kulagin first showed a desire for monastic life in 2002, when he began to regularly attend services in the temple. The future clergyman came to the Holy Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage in the summer of 2005. There, before his ordination as a deacon, he passed labor obediences for five years in the cowshed and in the skete, for some time he was also an assistant dean and a librarian, in 2007 - 2011 he passed obediences in the St. John the Baptist Skete of the Optina Hermitage: sexton, assistant guide, tour guide, after that he became the manager of the monastery’s pilgrimage hotel. Without breaking away from his monastic life, Kulagin studied by correspondence at the Moscow Theological Seminary. He was tonsured into the mantle (that is, became a monk of the mantle) on November 4, 2010 in honor of the holy righteous Simeon the God-Presenter. Simeon's priestly consecration took place in 2012. After the seminary, he also entered the Moscow Theological Academy in absentia, from which he successfully graduated in 2015. He defended his thesis at the Department of Church History on the topic “St. John the Baptist Skete of the Optina Monastery at the beginning of the twentieth century (1900 - 1923).” As an applicant, he is working on a PhD dissertation on the history of the Optina monastery. Among the church awards he has a loincloth, presented by Patriarch Kirill . As befits monastics, Simeon is not married and has no children.

“The current metropolitan (Theophan - editor’s note ) forbade him from any communication with the press before meeting him,” the office of Optina Hermitage told BUSINESS Online in response to a request to talk with Father Simeon. — The Metropolitan is the master of his diocese and also has his own definite opinions regarding the press. They haven’t met yet, haven’t discussed anything, so we can only give autobiographical information. The rest is not available yet, unfortunately. He will arrive at the new place after a conversation with the metropolitan, who will place certain emphasis on what is possible and what is not.”

BATTLE FOR SVIYAZHSK

The battle for the post of governor of the Sviyazhsk Mother of God Dormition Monastery went public in mid-October of this year. It all started with the fact that in Orthodox circles they started talking about Metropolitan Feofan’s intention to remove the abbot of the monastery, Abbot Silouan, from the administration. This information was confirmed - the bishop repeatedly had conversations with the head of the monastery and more than once recommended that he leave of his own free will. The Metropolitan’s main argument was the question of the allegedly gray financial schemes that had developed in the monastery, with which he was dissatisfied.

Sviyazhsk Mother of God Dormition Monastery Photo: “BUSINESS Online”

But the abbot refused to obey and leave his post, as a result of which he instantly became disgraced. The intra-church struggle was complicated by the fact that de jure the decision to remove the rector of the monastery from his position is made only by the Holy Synod on the proposal of the diocesan bishop.

Silouan's close circle decided to fight to the last for their priest, trying to give battle to the new bishop. Their main weapon then became a petition to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill in support of Silouan. The authors of the open letter complained to the primate about the increase in taxes on church candles and other utensils, about the financial fraud of the bishop’s entourage and his harsh personal qualities. In addition to complaints, the letter also contained a main demand - to stop the removal of abbots of monasteries and churches. According to the newspaper’s interlocutors, in just one year of the Metropolitan’s reign, 28 Tatarstan influential and not so influential clergy lost their positions.

Hegumen Silouan Photo: BUSINESS Online

The side of the head of the Tatarstan Metropolis, on the contrary, argued that the reason for Silouan’s resignation lies purely in disagreements over the financial and economic activities of the monastery. For example, all financial issues related to the monastery were in the hands of the abbot’s relatives. The wife of Silouan's brother was in charge of the entire trading part, although this was a direct violation of the monastery charter, and the elder brother of the abbot was responsible for the entire economic part of the monastery. All other arguments of the dissatisfied were defeated by the Metropolitan himself, which forced the Bishop’s opponents to go to an open rally against him. However, the demonstration in the center of Kazan never took place - Abbot Silouan preferred to avoid “bloodshed”.

At the same time, by the end of October the question of who should be the abbot of the monastery in Sviyazhsk was resolved by itself. Hegumen Silouan was appointed to a new place of service in the Buinsky district - to the church at the holy spring of Panteleimon the Healer, and was appointed in his place. O. Deputy Hieromonk Ambrose. However, the disgraced abbot preferred a more radical option and went to Georgia.

STAUROPYGIAL OPTINA OF DESERT

Optina Pustyn belongs to the so-called stauropegial monasteries - that is, to the monasteries that are personally governed by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. The life of such a monastery is directly supervised by the abbot, but the abbot is the patriarch. There are 33 of them in Russia - the list is given on the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Sviyazhsk Photo: BUSINESS Online

Optina Pustyn is located in Kozelsk (Kaluga region), which is approximately 300 km from Moscow. It was founded at the beginning of the 15th century - according to legend, its first inhabitant and founder was a robber named Opta, called Macarius in monasticism. But the fame of the monastery dates back to the 19th century, when a monastery was built in the monastery. The main shrine of the monastery was its pious elders, 14 of whom are venerated as holy venerable elders of Optina, so that the light of their life continues for many believers. The eldership in Optina Pustyn, according to the official website of the monastery, appeared in 1829. And it was precisely the experience of eldership that permeated not only church life, but also Russian culture. Zhukovsky and Vyazemsky, Gogol and Turgenev, Tyutchev and Alexey Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Tchaikovsky came to them... Even Zhukov came (even after the monastery was closed, the elders still lived and prayed in the desert) - the future “Marshal of Victory” came in 1928.

Many considered the monastery one of the most comfortable in Russia - in particular, this is what St. Ignatius ( Bryachaninov ) wrote, whose spiritual father was one of the first elders, the Monk Leo . Anthony of Kazan and Sviyazhsk also mentions the monastery and its brethren in his letters .

By the time of the revolution, a huge number of pilgrims from all over Russia were flocking here, although at that time there were more than a thousand monasteries in the empire. It is not surprising that after the revolution the monastery was closed almost immediately - in February 1918 and finally liquidated in 1923. Many of its inhabitants were arrested and later died in the camps.

The return of the monastery to the Russian Orthodox Church took place in 1987. There were also tragedies of modern times - for example, on Easter in 1993 there was a high-profile murder, when three inhabitants were killed by the hand of a Satanist.

Excerpt characterizing Leonid (Tolmachev)

- That’s how the young countess is - a pure march - I’ve never seen another like it! - he said, handing one pipe with a long shank to Rostov, and placing the other short, cut shank with the usual gesture between three fingers. “I left for the day, at least on time for the man and as if nothing had happened!” Soon after the uncle, the door opened, obviously a barefoot girl by the sound of her feet, and a fat, ruddy, beautiful woman of about 40, with a double chin, and full, ruddy lips, entered the door with a large tray in her hands. She, with hospitable presence and attractiveness in her eyes and every movement, looked around at the guests and bowed respectfully to them with a gentle smile. Despite her greater-than-usual thickness, which forced her to stick her chest and stomach forward and hold her head back, this woman (the uncle’s housekeeper) walked extremely lightly. She walked up to the table, put down the tray and deftly with her white, plump hands removed and placed bottles, snacks and treats on the table. Having finished this, she walked away and stood at the door with a smile on her face. - “Here I am!” Do you understand uncle now?” her appearance told Rostov. How not to understand: not only Rostov, but also Natasha understood her uncle and the meaning of the frowning eyebrows, and the happy, self-satisfied smile that slightly wrinkled his lips as Anisya Fedorovna entered. On the tray were herbalist, liqueurs, mushrooms, cakes of black flour on yuraga, comb honey, boiled and sparkling honey, apples, raw and roasted nuts and nuts in honey. Then Anisya Feodorovna brought jam with honey and sugar, and ham, and freshly fried chicken. All this was Anisya Fedorovna’s farming, collecting and jamming. All this smelled and resonated and tasted like Anisya Fedorovna. Everything resonated with richness, purity, whiteness and a pleasant smile. “Eat, young lady countess,” she said, giving Natasha this and that. Natasha ate everything, and it seemed to her that she had never seen or eaten such flatbreads on yurag, with such a bouquet of jams, nuts on honey and such chicken. Anisya Fedorovna came out. Rostov and his uncle, washing down dinner with cherry liqueur, talked about the past and future hunt, about Rugai and the Ilagin dogs. Natasha, with sparkling eyes, sat straight on the sofa, listening to them. Several times she tried to wake Petya up to give him something to eat, but he said something incomprehensible, apparently not waking up. Natasha was so happy in her soul, so happy in this new environment for her, that she was only afraid that the droshky would come for her too soon. After an accidental silence, as almost always happens with people hosting their acquaintances in their home for the first time, the uncle said, answering the thought that his guests had: “So I’m living out my life... You’ll die,” it’s a matter of course. - there will be nothing left. So why sin? Uncle's face was very significant and even beautiful when he said this. At the same time, Rostov involuntarily remembered everything that he had heard good from his father and neighbors about his uncle. Throughout the entire region of the province, the uncle had a reputation as the noblest and most disinterested eccentric. He was called upon to judge family matters, he was made an executor, secrets were entrusted to him, he was elected to judge and other positions, but he stubbornly refused public service, spending the autumn and spring in the fields on his brown gelding, sitting at home in the winter, lying in his overgrown forest in the summer. garden. - Why don’t you serve, uncle? - I served, but quit. I’m no good, it’s just a matter of march, I won’t understand anything. This is your business, but I don’t have enough sense. As for hunting, it’s a different matter; it’s pure marching! “Open the door,” he shouted. - Well, they closed it! “The door at the end of the corridor (which my uncle called the kolidor) led to the hunting room: that was the name of the men’s room for hunters. Bare feet quickly padded and an invisible hand opened the door to the hunting room. From the corridor the sounds of a balalaika, which was obviously played by some master of this craft, could be clearly heard. Natasha had been listening to these sounds for a long time and now went out into the corridor to hear them more clearly. “This is my coachman Mitka... I bought him a good balalaika, I love it,” said the uncle. “It was my uncle’s habit that when he came home from hunting, Mitka would play the balalaika in the hunting lodge. Uncle loved listening to this music. “How good, really excellent,” said Nikolai with some involuntary disdain, as if he was ashamed to admit that he really liked these sounds. - How great? – Natasha said reproachfully, feeling the tone in which her brother said this. - Not great, but what a delight it is! “Just as her uncle’s mushrooms, honey and liqueurs seemed to her to be the best in the world, so this song seemed to her at that moment the height of musical charm. “More, please, more,” Natasha said through the door as soon as the balalaika fell silent. Mitka set it up and again brilliantly rattled Barynya with busts and interceptions. Uncle sat and listened, tilting his head to the side with a barely noticeable smile. The Lady's motive was repeated a hundred times. The balalaika was tuned several times and the same sounds rattled again, and the listeners did not get bored, but only wanted to hear this game again and again. Anisya Fedorovna entered and leaned her corpulent body against the ceiling. “Please listen,” she said to Natasha, with a smile extremely similar to her uncle’s smile. “He plays well for us,” she said. “He’s doing something wrong in this knee,” the uncle suddenly said with an energetic gesture. - Here you need to scatter - it’s a pure matter of march - scatter... - Do you really know how? – Natasha asked. – Uncle smiled without answering. - Look, Anisyushka, are the strings intact or something on the guitar? I haven’t picked it up for a long time - it’s pure marching! abandoned. Anisya Fedorovna willingly went with her light tread to carry out her master’s instructions and brought a guitar. Uncle blew away the dust without looking at anyone, tapped the lid of the guitar with his bony fingers, tuned it and adjusted himself in the chair. He took (with a somewhat theatrical gesture, placing the elbow of his left hand) the guitar above the neck and winked at Anisya Fedorovna, began not to Barynya, but struck one sonorous, clean chord, and measuredly, calmly, but firmly began to finish the famous song at a very quiet pace: Po li and ice pavement. At the same time, in time with that sedate joy (the same one that Anisya Fedorovna’s whole being breathed), the motive of the song began to sing in the souls of Nikolai and Natasha. Anisya Fedorovna blushed and covered herself with a handkerchief, laughing and leaving the room. Uncle continued to finish the song cleanly, diligently and energetically, looking with a changed, inspired look at the place from which Anisya Fedorovna had left. There was just a little something laughing in his face on one side, under his gray mustache, and he laughed especially when the song progressed further, the beat quickened, and something came off in places where it was too loud.

“I love heaven very much” - the rules of life of Bishop Leonid of Vladikavkaz and Alan

Anna Kabisova

I really love the sky and airplanes

For me there has never been a contradiction between faith and science. The only thing that distinguishes believers from non-believers is that they do not require scrupulous total proof, but take some things directly on faith. As we know, not all scientists manage to prove certain hypotheses at a certain stage with millimeter accuracy, and the 21st century is evidence of this. Many scientists are faced with the fact that they are at a dead end and cannot move forward. Whether the Lord will allow them to move on depends only on Him.

Why do we need to put everything on a scientific basis? Miracles that people cannot explain by logic are explained by the belief that God has nothing impossible. As Ivan Savvich Nikitin wrote: “There is a higher mind, which wonderfully created everything and rules wisely over everything.” There are people who believe and nothing will shake their faith, and there are people who doubt, but for the latter, perhaps the time has not yet come. And there are also those who deny everything, but in order to deny, you must also understand What you are denying.

Personal archive

Wondeeboom Flight School in South Africa

I constantly follow the news of science, I really love everything new, dynamic, everything that is put into practice by people of a scientific mindset. First of all, I try to be interested in the latest achievements of our dear and deeply beloved Fatherland, which, as you understand, I am deeply concerned about. I hope to see the results of the development of innovations and the contribution of investments made at the state level in science in the near future.

Before the army, I worked as a laboratory assistant in the flight training department at the department of aerodynamics and flight dynamics in a military unit, and even then I dreamed of connecting my life with the military sphere. I really love the sky, airplanes, and space flight is a close topic for me, but how practically I would be ready to fly into space, I don’t know. I know that His Holiness the Patriarch answered a similar question in the affirmative and I have no doubt at all, if not for his rank, that he would have done this.

You will serve, but in a different guise

We had many clergy acquaintances in our family, and while I was still a high school student, during the holidays I helped in several churches in the Krasnodar region. But at that time I didn’t think about going to seminary or studying at the department of theology, I was more inclined to become a military man, and our country’s air force, which I love very dearly, played an important role in this. I respect you. But the Lord has his own plans for each person, and no matter how much we would like this or that development of events, it does not always work out the way you want. The Lord, like an affectionate father, little by little, so that you are not frightened or disappointed, leads you to your destiny and then you yourself, with your clear thoughts and a clear understanding of what you need in life, follow the path that God needs. As we understand, a loving Father will not show his child a false or shameful path. He will strive to show him what is necessary, just as the Lord showed me the way.

Press service of the Vladikavkaz and Alan diocese.

Bishop Leonid

I once said to one of the priests with whom our family communicated, and whose church I once served at the altar (to this day, thank God, he is alive and well and carries out his priestly ministry): “Father, bless, I want to go to a military school.” He then smiled very softly and said: “What military school? You will serve, but in a different guise.” I say: “But how can that be, I wanted to go to a military school.” And he replied: “Most likely, this is not yours, prepare your documents for the seminary.” I was confused then, but when everything worked out, all questions were removed and I realized that there was no point in contradicting and resisting the will of God.

My mother supported me, it was important for her that I personally made the choice myself, because with this decision I then had to spend not just a temporary period of life, but the entire subsequent life, because there was no going back.

Everything depends on each individual, and for some this is a difficult choice; a person cannot decide for years. In my lifetime, there have been several examples of how a person could not make up his mind even for decades, because we have an institution of white and black clergy - monastic and married priests; it is difficult for someone to make a choice between these positions. For me, the choice was, I won’t say it was easy, but in any case, it was quick and confident. I immediately made up my mind, the Lord gave me a solution to this issue and I, while still a student at the Leningrad Theological Seminary, had already been ordained.

My grandmother and mother copied all the prayers by hand

I was raised in an ordinary family - my father is a scientist, my mother is a teacher at a music school. We went to church whenever possible, I won’t say that every Sunday. But already in the 7th and 8th grades I began to sing in the choir in our St. George Church. At that time, I was still shy, hiding behind icons, because at that time at school, and in the country as a whole, there were still problems with these issues. I really liked the worship and the course of the church service, the singing, the peaceful prayer addressed to God. Of course, in childhood and adolescence, all this leaves its mark on a person.

Personal archive

Bishop Leonid

In those days, the only spiritual literature we had was the Bible; the rest was copied by hand or distributed through samizdat. There weren’t even enough prayer books - my grandmother and mother copied all the prayers by hand. My grandmother was a deeply religious person, I spent all my holidays with her in Stavropol, and I was baptized there in St. Andrew’s Cathedral.

I remember that in my student days, then still in Leningrad, we unloaded cars with books, it was a gift from the Swedish Scientific Bible Society and, among other things, there were three volumes of the Bible with commentaries by Professor Alexander Pavlovich Lopukhin. In my opinion, these are some of the best explanations of the Holy Scriptures. This heavy three-volume work was printed on papyrus paper, the first time we have seen such a thing. I still have this amazing publication at home.

Mom feels great here

My pets, a parrot and a cat, travel with me everywhere. First I got an African gray parrot, which was born in a Czech nursery. Then, at the age of three months, I brought him to Greece, and from there to Egypt, by the way, at the height of bird flu, but, Thank God, there were kind people who helped to avoid problems. Later, we went to Argentina together, and then here. Traveling with animals is very difficult, because now in many countries birds are prohibited from being imported and no one is interested in the fact that this bird is not from the wild, but from an incubator. The parrot has never seen wildlife; all its life it lives in a large enclosure, which we also take with us, and it weighs about 100 kg. I may refuse to transport some of my things, but I carry everything my animals need. Now my mother takes care of the pets, because I am not at home all day.

Personal archive

The first real winter in 19 years. After returning to Russia with my mother

I have to travel a lot, in addition to the main workload at the Alan See, since December 2021, by the decision of the Patriarch and the Holy Synod, I am the Manager of the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Republic of Armenia.

Mom feels great here, she has always had only one problem - she does not speak any foreign language. But an interesting fact is that in Egypt the Arabs also understood her, so my mother convincingly knows how to convey her point of view and what she needs in this life. Her vital energy always helps her with this.

When my mother heard about my transfer, and this happened very suddenly for me - at an extraordinary and unscheduled Synod a decision was made on my appointment to the Vladikavkaz department, she took this news very positively. She had only one question, which we still laugh about - when I said that I had been appointed Bishop of Vladikavkaz and Alan, my mother asked: “Is this Russia?” After I smiled and answered in the affirmative, my mother said that she was going to pack her things.

Press service of the Vladikavkaz and Alan diocese

First day in Ossetia. Meeting at the Cathedral of St. George the Victorious

Man is lonely by nature

Over the years, you don’t make friends, good acquaintances, yes, but I’ve always had a lot of them. Unfortunately, I have only a few real friends and there are enough fingers on one hand to count them. I have had these friends since childhood. The most interesting thing is that at various stages of life, we had diametrically opposed opinions on many issues, but this did not prevent us from maintaining close relationships, being friends and, thanks to this, maintaining friendship.

Press service of the Vladikavkaz and Alan diocese

Acquaintance with the work of S. Edziev. Sat down. Pocket-Sinjikau

A person of my rank is by nature lonely, loneliness is our accompanying life doctrine, from which we cannot escape. Parents are short-lived, but you have to trust in God and the people who surround you. And in order to be surrounded by people, you must try to deal with them according to conscience and honor, try to respect them if you cannot love, even though we say that love is the main credo, a commandment from God. God himself is love; the Lord created the world out of love. There should be love between people, respect, tactful perception of each other - this is very important and the older we get, the faster time passes and the more obvious the common philosophical truths become. But in the meantime, you should not waste your time on those who repeatedly betray you, who try to resolve their issues at the expense of others, who behave inappropriately, in the hope that everything will be hidden. Do everything you can to correct this person, but if the result is zero, it is better to devote this time to those people who really need it more.

Press service of the Vladikavkaz and Alan diocese.

With the abbots of the Alan monasteries, Hieromonk Stefan (Dzugkoev) and Abbess Nonna (Bagaeva)

I cannot say that I am a lonely person - from morning to evening I am surrounded by people. But I also can’t say that I’m not alone, that would be dishonest. Loneliness should not be scary, for me it is a natural companion in life, I can devote more time to my work and service.

I agree that criticism of the Church is necessary

I agree with Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov) that criticism of the Church is necessary, but it is important that it be reasonable criticism. The Church institution is a very complex, living, multifaceted Unit, and I don’t even want to say the word “organization,” because in relation to the Church, it is unworthy. Let's call it a living organism, because many of the processes that take place in the Church are living. The Church can be sick, the Church can rejoice, the Church can grieve, the Church can be transformed and transformed. And She is transformed! For us, believers, this is a saving bridge between heaven and earth, and we walk along it. We walk in different ways - in some places it’s shaky and shaky, because bridges are also different - in some places it’s completely “in ruins” and there you can stumble and fall, but we must do everything so that our church bridge is strong and strong and does not serve only for us during our lifetime, and for many more times in the future, until the Lord himself decides what to do next.

I am not a supporter of sweeping criticism by people who have never been to the Church and do not know its internal structure.

Photo from the website Patriarchia.ru

With Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' and Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa.

The Church may and does have its own processes and topics that are best not touched upon, based on ethics and understanding of the complexity and subtlety of the organization’s structure. It is quite fair that there are some shortcomings and we talk about them. This is why the fullness of the Church exists, which is not built only on the relationship between priests and bishops, or priests and parishioners. The laity, who represent all the processes within the church and see some shortcomings, have the right to express criticism, and, naturally, they will listen to it.

The most important thing for us is caring for the flock, the spiritual salvation of a person.

It’s still difficult for me to talk about this, because I served abroad for 19 years and returned to Russia only a year ago.

It would be better if we avoid some performances

Yes, I saw the movie "Leviathan" and I know what happens with the movie "Matilda".

I understand that every person can create, and no one forbids a person to express his aspirations, but in recent years such a phenomenon as “performance”, in its worst manifestation, has been tirelessly haunting us. And believe me, it would be better for us to avoid some performances when someone goes against their conscience and engages in disgrace on Red Square, staging incomprehensible performances. After all, you can do this in a civilized manner, but when you go and do some obscenities in front of old people, children and women, and call it “performance,” then the only question I have is: “Where is this person’s moral window? Where is the line beyond which he cannot step? And if he has already stepped over, does that mean there is no bottom? No restrictions?"

Press service of the Vladikavkaz and Alan diocese.

Bishop Leonid

Most often, the people who do such performances are mature, accomplished people with higher education. This is not the part of society that didn’t read anything, didn’t think anything and didn’t ask any questions. But something prompted these people to commit illegal acts, to have a tactless attitude towards other people. It turns out that a certain handful of people, eager to attract attention, either to their activities or to themselves, come out and try to convey something, as they say, to the State and to the Church. But by their illegal actions that offend other people, they achieve nothing but censure and condemnation.

Naturally, the Church eventually forgives them. We have an open country where believers, atheists, and people of different faiths can exist, find yourself, but you shouldn’t do PR for your loved ones in the name of the Church, it’s dishonest.

If we talk about the action in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, then, first of all, we must understand that this is not a public place where you can do and say whatever you want. This is a place of solitude for people to communicate with God. After all, when you go into a stranger’s house, you wipe your feet and even take off your shoes, and you won’t sit down until you’re offered it.

The temple is not like that, it is always open, it is open, just like God’s heart is open to us, but why do we need to come and defend some of our interests? They say that they drove the traders out of the temple? But did Christ himself dance or bless someone for this kind of behavior in places of worship? You will not find this in the Holy Scriptures, in the testimonies of the evangelists and from the lips of Christ’s closest disciples, too.

We have a constitution and legislation, according to which we are not constrained in our expression of will, but we have certain framework rules, and if we take the moral component of our legislation, then it is not written there that murder is a sin, but it is clearly stated that you will suffer responsibility for this.

Under the Soviet Union, which I do not have ardent love for, the Church was infringed on in its rights, and I still saw the institution of commissioners for religious affairs, but then at least they tried to objectively and clearly qualify this or that act.

Press service of the Vladikavkaz and Alan diocese.

V St. George Readings

Accusing the Church and State today of conservatism and intolerance, and this is very often now heard on various political platforms, people simply do not understand how seriously and quickly Russia has advanced from the communist system to today’s permissiveness. In the modern world, it is very difficult to limit a person, but it is very easy to throw mud at him.

I believe that the rule should be legislated that one cannot insult other people, and if one has insulted one, one must be held accountable.

The 90s broke us very much, but did not break us, and now I see how the State is trying to do everything to make people’s lives better, but not everything works out, and not everything works out for the Church. But we have to work, we can’t just come and say: “you’re lazy, you’re not a good person, you can’t do anything.” We need to raise our level of professionalism, our social outlook on the world, we need to be more tolerant of each other and raise our nation, fatherland, and the people who inhabit our country.

As for the film “Matilda,” it is no coincidence that various law enforcement agencies are classified as “secret” for several years or for life. This is no coincidence and not because someone doesn’t want to talk about something, but simply either it’s not time yet, or it’s not necessary and not useful for people to know this information.

Photo from the website Patriarchia.ru

With Dmitry Medvedev and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa Theodore II in Cairo

I don’t know what it means to become a fanatic, but a person must understand for himself that any fanaticism in any manifestation does not bring positivity and a positive outlook.

We must work tirelessly on ourselves, read a lot, and educate ourselves. You should never use one source of information; they should be different. There is no need to look for interesting people, you yourself need to become interesting and useful to society.

We can’t slide into hedonism, what will happen to us then? It is necessary not to expand the range of desires, but to narrow the threshold of needs.

The Church must be conservative

There may be processes in the Church that may need to be eliminated or corrected, but this must be done in a civilized manner, achieved through other levers.

The task of the Church is to raise intellectually developed, spiritually rich people, so that these people form the backbone of our future society. And let it be conservative, and we never said that the Church is not conservative on some issues, it must be conservative, only in this way can we survive in our 21st century.

For 19 years I served in various countries and in various positions. I saw both the Arab “spring” and the tolerant countries of South America, where same-sex marriage has already been partially approved. At the next conference there, I was asked to “smooth out the corners.” I said: “Sorry, you can call me whatever you want, but since you invited me, I will say what I have to say. We do not agree and will never agree, because this is alien to the Church.”

Personal archive

Argentine Navy submarine Saint John

Here in the Caucasus, we understand what a family is - the head of the family is the father, the keeper of the hearth is the mother, children from a full union of a man and a woman, everything is as in the Holy Scriptures. Why replace all this? Can we really say here, let’s be tolerant? Let anyone agree, but not us. We see with great regret that some churches follow such a disastrous path, thereby calling into question the very essence of the Old Testament and New Testament teachings about salvation. This is a terrible process, a dead end. It would be better if they consider us conservative, but we know better what we and the people need, we speak boldly about it and do not stray from this rut.

I saw actions to protect churches in Argentina from LGBT people. People were doused with slop, but they held hands tightly, stood around the temple and did not allow this human chain to be broken, so that the Catholic church would not be violated by these LGBT representatives breathing malice. Don't think that these are poor boys and girls to be whipped.

It is very important for us to protect young people from this. We don’t get into someone’s bedroom, it’s not interesting for us, the person himself will be responsible for his views on this life and for what’s going on in his “closet.”

There is no need to say that the child should be given freedom of choice. One of my friends has been living abroad since the 90s, he has three children, and recently a social commission came to them and said that if he again does not allow children to attend sex education classes, they will raise the issue of removing the children. And he was very scared. And when he told me, from the words of his children, who are 9 and 10 years old, about what they are taught and taught there, my hair stood on end as an adult man. Who can be raised with such an attitude? I'm not talking about the fact that children will grow up and not learn that there are certain views. We need to talk about this, but this is the prerogative of the family. There must be education in the family. And if you start teaching this to 9-10 year old children, then at the age of 16 we will get a person, if not with a broken psyche, then at least with very unambiguous views on this life. The minimum is a cynic, and the maximum is that I’m afraid to even imagine.

Press service of the Vladikavkaz and Alan diocese.

In the archives of SOIGSI named after. V. Abaeva

Someone will see one thing in Woland, and someone will see another

How many generations will read Bulgakov, there will be so many opinions and theories, but the most interesting thing, and this is my conviction, is that we will never know what the author himself wanted to say. We understand what he introduced us to, but everyone has their own truth. Some will see Woland as one thing, and others as another. The same thing with the figure of the Master. The general background against which the master lives, his views, his most complex relationships, and if everyone is collected and arranged against this background, you will get the most complex, as doctors would say, diagnosis. The novel is, of course, serious. Honestly, as much as I read, I find something new for myself. Because we grow up, we become older, and through the prism of life positions and lived experience, we perceive what we read earlier, in a different way.

Press service of the Vladikavkaz and Alan diocese.

Maundy Thursday in Holy Week. The rite of washing the feet of the clergy of the diocese

I never discussed with my comrades whether reading this novel was anyone's first time entering the temple. I believe that for this we need other literature, more understandable, which clearly explains the truth and essence about Christ, the Church and the processes that are taking place.

Unfortunately, we are not given a second chance

I would not speculate on who Bulgakov had in mind when depicting the figure of Pontius Pilate.

No one has canceled the role of man in history. We are all different people, with different education, intelligence, upbringing, attitude to life, and it is impossible to put different people in the same position and demand the same attitude from them. Somewhere there will be excesses and shortcomings, and somewhere else everything will be perfect. You cannot make people equal, but you can unite them with one goal, as the Church does, in caring for your salvation. And to draw parallels is to bring confusion and vacillation into society. Not a single subject of the federation can boast of as many busts of Stalin as we have in public and private spaces.

Press service of the Vladikavkaz and Alan diocese.

In the Alan Epiphany Convent

He wasn't stupid, that's for sure. It's another matter to talk about methods of government. In any case, a person will be responsible before God for all his actions. The Church teaches us that the more a person is given, the more will be asked of him. I say this to many people in power.

This or that position is not beautiful offices or benefits, it is a heavy cross, it is sleepless nights when you wake up and cannot get the thought out of your head. Behind each of these people are families and society as a whole.

Such a person is responsible for what he has been entrusted with and when the time comes, he will answer. They won’t ask him how he lived, but they will ask him: what did you do for people in this position?

The ideal earthly dispensation is a utopia

Faith is a deeply intimate concept and it is difficult to say now for another person whether he has faith and how much of a believer he was or not. You can imagine what decisions he had to make. God forbid anyone. And I do not rule out that if everything had turned out differently, perhaps if he had been alive and history had repeated itself, he would not have made some decisions or made them from a diametrically opposite perspective. Unfortunately, we are not given a second chance and history does not tolerate the subjunctive mood. There is only one chance and you must use it 100 percent.

It is tactless to talk about other people and I try not to do this, especially when making judgments. I'm not a historian.

Personal archive.

Argentina. Visit to Mar del Plata

I know only one thing - the ideal earthly dispensation is a utopia. The people may love one leader or distrust another, but 100 percent, there has never been such a leader in history who never made mistakes.

And Russia is not a dwarf state that you can travel around in one day, it is a huge territory, with spaces and scales that frighten many people abroad. And they do the right thing (laughs).

The Russian Orthodox Church has never abandoned its children

The question of the relationship of the Russian Orthodox Church with the spiritual processes taking place in South Ossetia is truly complex and we all understand the historical background of how it all began. I always say that these wounds take centuries to heal, or never heal. Therefore, I will not give a forecast, but I will say one thing - both to His Holiness the Patriarch, and the Holy Synod, and to me, as the ruling bishop, the position of the people is clear, we are constantly taking care of it, looking for options, consulting and working intensively in this direction. Recently, the President of South Ossetia Anatoly Bibilov met with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. I was present at this meeting. There is a certain level of understanding of how and where we will move next. I want to convey one thing to readers - the Russian Orthodox Church has never abandoned its children, it tried not to do this before, and with God’s help it will not do so in the future.

Press service of the Vladikavkaz and Alan diocese.

Reading the Twelve Gospels on Holy Thursday. Cathedral of St. George the Victorious

In my work I am close to perfectionism

Time passes inexorably fast and I try as best I can not only to stop it, but to implement as many tasks as possible and get closer to the goals that we have set for ourselves.

In my work I am close to perfectionism, so for me the slightest roughness is unacceptable. To be honest, I sometimes suffer from this and, probably, my subordinates partially suffer, because the bar that is set is quite high. I myself strive to work on myself all the time and therefore I ask, and sometimes even force, my subordinates to do the same. But I try to be fair.

I read everything, I really love novels and documentary historical works, and I enjoy reading scientific and technical literature. Every day I have to dig through a lot of press, sometimes in a day I can read several dozen publications, and not only in Russian. The lion's share of reading time is spent working with sources of information - this is very important for any leader in order to be not only aware of what is happening, but also to form a balanced approach and an objective point of view on certain issues.

What I don’t use is social networks - often you can’t find useful information there, plus it’s a waste of time.

Press service of the Vladikavkaz and Alan diocese

Lithium at the grave of K. Khetagurov in the pantheon of the Ossetian Church

I do not forbid the priests of our diocese to use social networks, moreover, I think it is correct and positive, maybe I would do it too, but I physically do not have enough time. But the priest must understand that his primary task is to convey to his flock the essence of Christ and the Church. If the priest begins to delve into worldly vanity issues, then we gently correct this position.

In Rome, act like a Roman, and eat Ossetian pies in Ossetia

I’m an omnivore and I can’t say that I don’t like something. Maybe just parsley. I don’t like it as a substance (laughs). In Ossetia we have very tasty cuisine and, first of all, pies, of course. Guests often come to me and everyone eats “tsaharajinta” with great pleasure, and when they leave, I also give them pies with me. I tried to eat Ossetian pies in Moscow - this is not quite the same thing, of course, “in Rome, act like a Roman, but eat Ossetian pies in Ossetia.”

Ossetia is very little open to the world

Therefore, we need to invite everyone here for a visit. Ossetia is very little open to the world and we are working hard to correct this. We have already received registration for pilgrimage trips, we are trying to find any opportunities, we are productively meeting with William Gagiev, who heads the tourism committee. People are still afraid to come here, they consider the region dangerous, but I always, even on a private level, explain that ours is hospitable, beautiful, with many shrines and ancient temples.

This could be a world-class discovery

We are now actively engaged in the restoration of several objects - the Zrug temple and the Nuzal chapel. When you don’t pay attention to something for decades, then everything collapses and falls, and now the main task is to preserve those grains that remain. As for Nuzal, this is generally a sore subject, we attract the best specialists that are in Russia - from Moscow, St. Petersburg, but there are still enough difficulties.

Everyone knows the wonderful scientist and historian Evgenia Georgievna Pchelina, whose archive we are trying to obtain, but so far without success. We are ringing all the bells, no matter which offices we have contacted, State Duma deputy Zurab Makiev and our representatives in the Federation Council have already gotten involved, but the “owners” of the archive are not making any compromises. The archive is in a semi-deplorable state, it was almost half flooded with water - unique things are lost! But they tell us that there are not enough specialists and it is not possible to disassemble the archive in the next 10-20 years, and if you want it on commercial terms, then you will pay 14 million rubles.

Press service of the Vladikavkaz and Alan diocese.

Memorial Elkhotov Gate. With the Head of the Republic of North Ossetia-Asia V. Bitarov and the Minister of Internal Affairs M. Skokov

And there may be unique things there, a direct link to who was found in the chapel itself in Nuzala - after all, we understand who we are talking about, this could be a world-class discovery! But they don’t give it to us. We say that we have our own specialists - historians, archivists, let them in or give the archive to us, but they don’t want to.

God willing, the president will sign a decree on celebrating the 1100th anniversary of the Baptism of Alanya and maybe, as part of the implementation of this program, we will be able to pave the way to the archive.

Alania made its choice before Kievan Rus

I don’t see any problem in being greeted with three pies and our Ossetian beer. I consider this a good tradition, moreover, if we look into the depths of centuries, we will see that any correct Ossetian feast began with prayer, and monotheism, an understanding of turning to the Lord God, is clearly visible there. There is no need to look for a cat in a dark room when talking about the traditional beliefs of Ossetians and the Orthodox faith. You need to calmly and lovingly treat what you have.

There are people interested in the national component of faith, who take it as software and try to put it on a national track. This is a very bad trend that can lead to great trouble, because it will bring discord into society, divide the people along religious lines, and then a terrible catastrophe will happen for Alania and the Ossetian people. Therefore, under no circumstances should manipulations on this topic be allowed.

Alania, before Kievan Rus, made its choice at the state level, and this choice was clear, logical, necessary then, and the people accepted it. Thanks to this choice, Alania declared itself at a very high level. Why abandon the choice of our ancestors and speculate on this? I think this is counterproductive, first of all, for future generations.