Nazarius, Bishop of Kronstadt, vicar of the St. Petersburg diocese

There are articles on Wikipedia about other people with the name Nazariy and the surname Lavrinenko.

Biography

Born in the village of Ivkovtsy in the Cherkassy region (Ukraine) in a large family.

In 1974 he graduated from the Crimean Agricultural Institute.

From 1974 to 1975 he served in a group of Soviet troops in Germany.

Since 1978, he worked at the Central Republican Botanical Garden of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR as a senior engineer.

In 1982 he entered the Leningrad Theological Seminary.

On February 28, 1985, he was tonsured a monk by Archimandrite Manuil (Pavlov), ordained a hierodeacon on March 3, and a hieromonk on August 19.

Since March 1986, he carried out obedience in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Since November 1987 - rector of the Transfiguration Cathedral in the city of Vyborg.

In 1988 he graduated from the Leningrad Theological Academy; in the same year he was elevated to the rank of abbot.

Since January 1, 1990 - rector of the metochion of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God of the Valaam Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery in Leningrad.

From 1990 to 2009 - member of the Diocesan Council of the St. Petersburg Diocese[1].

In February 1991, at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, he was elevated to the dignity of archimandrite and appointed rector of the Konevsky Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery.

In 1996, he was appointed dean of monasteries and farmsteads of the St. Petersburg diocese.

On December 27, 1996, he was appointed acting rector of the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra[2].

On April 17, 1997, by decision of the Holy Synod, he was confirmed as the vicar of the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra[3]; at the same time, until July 19, 1999, he served as rector of the Konevsky Monastery[4].

Bishopric

On May 27, 2009, the Holy Synod elected Archimandrite Nazarius as Bishop of Vyborg, vicar of the St. Petersburg diocese. On the same day, in the house church in honor of the holy fathers of the seven Ecumenical Councils of the historical building of the Synod in St. Petersburg, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill led the ceremony of naming Archimandrite Nazarius Bishop of Vyborg[5].

On May 28, 2009, in the Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, his consecration as Bishop of Vyborg, vicar of the St. Petersburg diocese, took place, which was performed by Patriarch Kirill, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Vladimir (Sabodan), Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Vladimir (Kotlyarov), Metropolitan of Minsk and Slutsk Filaret (Vakhromeev), Metropolitan of Krutitsky and Kolomna Yuvenaly (Poyarkov), Metropolitan of Chisinau and All Moldavia Vladimir (Kantaryan), Metropolitan of Ekaterinodar and Kuban Isidor (Kirichenko), Metropolitan of Tula and Belevsky Alexy (Kutepov), Metropolitan of Donetsk and Mariupol Hilarion (Shukalo), Archbishop Archbishop of Volokolamsk Hilarion (Alfeev), Archbishop of Berlin and Germany Feofan (Galinsky), Archbishop of Saransk and Mordovia Barsanuphius (Sudakov), Archbishop of Vladivostok and Primorsky Veniamin (Pushkar), Bishop of Gatchina Ambrose (Ermakov), Bishop of Peterhof Markell (Vetrov), Bishop of Solnechnogorsk Sergius (Chashin), Bishop of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky Alexander (Drabinko)[6].

On November 23, 2010, he was appointed chairman of the diocesan court of the St. Petersburg diocese[7].

On March 12, 2013, by decision of the Holy Synod, the title was changed to “Kronstadt”[8].

Temple from childhood

Oddly enough, after school I really wanted to be a doctor. This, you know, inspired something. But I had to enter the Agricultural Institute in Simferopol, where my older brother was already studying. In the medical competition at that time there were 12 people per place, but my parents pinned their hopes on me! They pulled out all the stops and kept the farm on purpose. He studied at preparatory courses at an agricultural institute, and dreamed of passing exams at a medical institute, where Saint Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) once gave lectures, already being blind. Only he, of course, was no longer alive at that time. I learned about him on a city bus on the way to school - the conductor told me that she was once lucky enough to listen to him. But if we talk about the choice of life path, it was made when I had already arrived in Kyiv - at the same time I worked as a researcher in a botanical garden and sang in a church choir. Then I became more and more convinced, more and more often I remembered blessed moments from childhood: despite the fact that our church was unheated, the old women standing on the choir were almost waist-deep in felt boots, the very atmosphere of the service was so etched in my memory... All this , one way or another, has always been in me. It was then that I dropped everything, received a blessing from the priests, and came to Leningrad to enter the theological academy.

Awards

Church

• Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh, III degree
• Order of the Holy Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, III degree
• Order of St. Andrei Rublev, III degree
• Order of the Holy Lamb, 1st class (Orthodox Church of Finland)

Secular

• Nakhimov Medal
• Jubilee medal “300 years of the Russian Navy”
• Medal "In memory of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg"
• Medal "300 years of the Baltic Fleet" (departmental medal of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation)
• medal "70 years of the Northern Fleet" (departmental medal of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation)
• medal "100 years of the submarine fleet"

Tolerate the offended feeling?

The burning question is whether the church should interfere in creative processes. The Church must clearly protest if there is direct mockery and violation of moral standards. How can we remain silent when icons are chopped down, when crosses are poured with urine, when blasphemy actually occurs? If someone likes this, arrange it in your apartment, let those who are interested come. “Why do the clerics interfere in the affairs of the state!” How can we not interfere if that part of society that is offended brings its grievances to us? You know, I never go to such events, because, probably, if I saw some of the exhibits, I myself would not be able to stand it. We are people too, no matter what rank we have. But you need to clearly understand: there are those who make PR for themselves with this, and those who really cannot tolerate an offended feeling.

Notes

1. The annual Diocesan meeting of the St. Petersburg diocese took place inaccessible
   link). Access date: August 15, 2011. Archived December 8, 2009.
2. Definitions of the Holy Synod (inaccessible link) // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, February 1997
3. Definitions of the Holy Synod (inaccessible link) // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, June 1997
4. DEFINITIONS of the Holy Synod of June 4 and July 18-19, 1999 / Official documents / Patriarchy.ru
5. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill named the vicar of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Archimandrite Nazarius (Lavrinenko), Bishop of Vyborg.
6. On the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill led the Divine Liturgy in the Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
7. The annual meeting of the clergy and laity of the St. Petersburg diocese took place.
8. Journals of the meeting of the Holy Synod of March 12, 2013. Patriarchia.Ru.

Feel your elbow

In the four years that we have been holding a religious procession in honor of the transfer of the relics of Alexander Nevsky, I believe that only one was almost a failure - when 20 thousand people came. For such a city this is very little. But you know, I’m interested in correctly presenting the significance of this event for every person, because people are mostly indifferent, and the Orthodox are no exception. Everyone thinks: I won’t go, others will go anyway, and sits on the stove, watching TV. But a religious procession is still work; I believe that participation in it is practically at the same level as participation in a divine service. From this point of view, I wonder how many people there will be. Of course, you can engage in campaigning, but then people who are completely far from this will come. Although I still urge: come those who simply respect their history, those who feel lonely, even a non-believer, let them come, but only let them respect our tradition and faith. It’s good if after this a person thinks: oh, St. Petersburg is not only architecture, there’s something else here! I don’t know whether it is justified or not that they say that someone is being driven to a religious procession. I am completely against this, it should be the dictates of the heart. Be it religious, be it historical, be it patriotic, but your own decision. The main thing where all the efforts of not very good people are now directed is to separate them. At the level of ideas, at the level of neighbors, at the level of the city and state. Disunion is the first thing that makes a person weak-willed and plunges him into stress, or despondency, speaking in church terms. To overcome this, I think you need to feel that you are not alone. The procession of the cross just makes you feel the elbow.

Publications

articles

• The future of the Nativity of the Mother of God Konevsky Monastery // Konevets. (Seminar Report 1991) - Helsinki, 1992.
• introduction // Runkevich S. G.
  Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra, 1713-1913: historical research: in 2 books. - St. Petersburg: Logos, 2001. Book. 1. - 631 p.
• Urban monasticism. Contemporary testimony // Church and time. 2002. - N 1 (18). - pp. 210-219
• Unification of Slavic youth // Dialogue of domestic secular and church educational traditions: materials of the Pokrovsky readings of 2004-2005. - St. Petersburg. : Publishing house of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after. A. I. Herzen, 2005. - 402 p. — P. 237—239
• “The Athonite Quick Hearer” on the banks of the Neva (on the history of the miraculous icon “The Neva Quick Hearer” in the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra) // Russia-Athos: a millennium of spiritual unity: materials of the international scientific and theological conference; Moscow, October 1 - 4, 2006 / edit. I. S. Chichurov. - M.: Publishing house of the Orthodox St. Tikhon's Humanitarian University, 2008. - 480 p. — ISBN 978-5-7429-0340-6 — pp. 450—453
• The word for naming in ep. Vyborgsky, vicar of the St. Petersburg Metropolis // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. 2009. - No. 7. - P. 45-48.
• Bishop of Kronstadt Nazariy: You can be a monk even at the market // rg.ru, December 5, 2016
• Report at the round table in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in the direction of “Ancient monastic traditions in modern conditions.” - St. Petersburg, 2021. - 7 p.

editing and compilation

• The life of the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky. Alexander Nevsky Lavra: historical essay / [ed. archim. Nazariya (Lavrinenko)]. - St. Petersburg: Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra: Vera, 2004. - 96 p. The life of the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky. Alexander Nevsky Lavra: historical essay / [ed. Bishop Nazarius (Lavrinenko)]. - St. Petersburg: Orthodox publishing house Vera, 2009. - 96 p.

interview

• “In our own country we have a greater field for mission and catechesis than in Africa”: Interview with the abbot of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra / bishop. Nazariy (Lavrinenko); Interviewed by V. Yakuntsev, L. Musina, Z. Dashevskaya. - Cephas No. 13 (119), October 2010 // People of the Church: supplement to the Kifa newspaper: Digest of articles from the Kifa newspaper 2007-2012. - M.: Preobrazhenskoye Commonwealth of Small Orthodox Brotherhoods: Cultural and Educational, 2012. - 81 p.
• Bishop of Vyborg Nazariy: Everything to which labor has been put is dear to me // patriarchia.ru, October 5, 2012
• Bishop of Vyborg Nazariy: Nevsky Prospekt is an image of interfaith relations in the northern capital // blagovest-info.ru, January 29, 2013
• Bishop Nazariy: Unfortunately, the Church of the Annunciation has not yet been returned // “Russian People's Line”, 04/06/2013
• Anniversaries give a reason to think about what has been done and what has not: Interview with the abbot of the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Bishop. Nazariy / talked to A. A. Nakonechnaya // Cephas. 2013. - No. 6 (160). — P. 1
• We will not restore what is alien to monastic life // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. 2013. - No. 4 - P. 56-59.
• City Monastery: a candle that burns for everyone // monasterium.ru, December 30, 2013
• A monk is a service // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. 2021. - No. 4. - P. 40-46
• The best gift is the return of the Annunciation Church // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. 2021. - No. 12 (937). — P. 40-44

Twice tonsured a monk

There have never been priests in my family, or indeed in the genealogy in general.
The highest position, so to speak, was held by my grandfather on my mother’s side - he was a church warden in our village. So, I am the simplest person, but in a good way I am very proud of the place where I grew up - this is Ukraine, Cherkasy region. Such a blessed place! Literally in our village there was the famous Medvedovsky monastery, in which the famous Moldavian elder Paisiy Velichkovsky became a monk. On the other hand, there is the Motroninsky Monastery, where during the Uniate era, when the entire right-bank Ukraine was under Poland, the only representative of Orthodoxy was Archimandrite Melchizedek (Znachko-Yavorsky). And our village was never under the landowners, but was free. Because it is purely Cossack. Even my last name - Lavrinenko - comes from the name of one of Bohdan Khmelnitsky’s associates. In modern terms, he was the head of counterintelligence, and his name was Lavrin Kapusta. But, you know, there were no atheists in the family either. Although my father is a stern man who came from the war, he reached Prague, the rest also had a Komsomol upbringing. My mother became my apostle; she was truly religious. Lent comes - she cooks for everyone what she can, but for herself - without any butter. Of course, I’m not a mama’s boy, but somehow I’ve been with her since childhood. Maybe because he is the seventh in the family and the youngest? I went to church with her until, so to speak, they were tonsured “as a monk” at school. It was then that activists gathered and caught those who came to the service. So I was caught on Easter. The next day the teacher cut a cross on my head. But they say you can’t become a monk twice! The most important thing is that they didn’t let me cut my hair; it all had to heal on its own. And as long as I walked like this, so many people called me holy men. And then how interesting it turned out: when I was actually tonsured into monasticism, the name Nikolai was changed to the name Nazariy - it is common in Ukraine. Later, I suddenly look at the calendar: and there on this day the memory of Prince Nikola Svyatosha of Chernigov is celebrated. That's what they called me at school. So, no one guessed.