| Metropolitan Savvaty (Antonov) |
Savvaty (Antonov)
(born 1968), Metropolitan of Cheboksary and Chuvashia, head of the Chuvash Metropolis In the world, Sergei Gennadievich Antonov, was born on September 1, 1968 in the city of Cheboksary, Chuvash Republic, in the family of priest Gennady Antonov.
From 1975 to 1985 he studied at secondary school No. 3 in Cheboksary and received a secondary education. In 1986-1988 he served in the Soviet army, in the Air Force, in Primorye.
On August 20, 1989, he was tonsured a monk by Archbishop Varnava of Cheboksary and Chuvashia, with the name given in honor of St. Savvaty of Solovetsky.
On August 27 of the same year, he was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon by Archbishop Varnava of Cheboksary and Chuvashia, and on October 22 - to the rank of hieromonk.
On November 1, 1989, he was appointed to the position of ordinary clergyman of the Cathedral of the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Cheboksary.
On July 30, 1993, he was appointed abbot of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Cheboksary with the elevation to the rank of abbot.
In 1993 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary.
In 1996, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus'.
In 2004 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy.
On December 24, 2004, by resolution of the Holy Synod, he was determined to be Bishop of Alatyr, vicar of the Cheboksary diocese.
| Bishop Savvaty (Antonov) |
On January 29, 2005, he was named, and on January 30, he was consecrated Bishop of Alatyr, vicar of the Cheboksary diocese.
The ordination in the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior was led by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus'. Concelebrating with him were: Metropolitans of Krutitsa and Kolomna Yuvenaly (Poyarkov), Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill (Gundyaev), Kaluga and Borovsk Kliment (Kapalin), Cheboksary and Chuvash Varnava (Kedrov), Archbishops of Istra Arseny (Epifanov), Tobolsk and Tyumen Dimitri (Kapalin) , Korsunsky Innokenty (Vasiliev), Vereisky Evgeny (Reshetnikov), Orekhovo-Zuevsky Alexy (Frolov), bishops of Krasnogorsk Savva (Volkov), Dmitrovsky Alexander (Agrikov), Sergiev Posadsky Feognost (Guzikov), Tambov and Michurinsky Theodosius (Vasnev), Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas Georgy (Danilov), Lyubertsy Veniamin (Zaritsky). On October 10, 2009, he was appointed ruling bishop of the newly formed Ulan-Ude and Buryat diocese [1].
On December 27, 2011, he was confirmed as rector (holy archimandrite) of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Posolsky Monastery in the village of Posolskoye, Kabansky District of the Republic of Buryatia and the Holy Trinity Selenginsky Monastery in the village of Troitsky, Pribaikalsky District of the Republic of Buryatia [2].
On February 1, 2014, he was elevated to the rank of archbishop by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' in the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior [3].
On May 5, 2015, he was appointed head of the newly formed Buryat Metropolis [4].
On May 24, 2015, he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' [5].
On August 25, 2021, he was appointed Metropolitan of Cheboksary, head of the Chuvash Metropolis, with release from the administration of the Ulan-Ude diocese [6].
Are there lazy people among the refugees?
“Refugees, of course, are not ideal,” admits Bishop Savvaty of Tara. - They are southern people - very emotional. If they thank you, then to the point of tears; if they complain, then about everything, even about the fact that all dairy products for breakfast. But they spoke out - and they already feel better, they no longer ask you to do anything. At the same time, they are all very hardworking. At home they created their family well-being, took care of the children, and suddenly everything broke down for them, there was no work. They are not monks; they will not say the Jesus Prayer. I didn’t meet quitters and parasites - if they got a job, they were only praised there.
Dissatisfaction that refugees were supposedly lazy was sometimes expressed by local residents. Indeed, they say in Tara, they did not want to go to work for 7-8 thousand. However, if a refugee is the father of a family, he has a wife and two children, he needs to earn money to feed four, that is, there is no point in going to work for 12 thousand. And the salaries of 30 thousand that he needs for his family are not available in the entire region, even the official average salary in the region is 15 thousand (in reality - about 10 thousand). In addition, if a Siberian with many children finds a job for, for example, 20 thousand, he no longer needs to start his life from scratch, most often he has already stocked up on household supplies. Therefore, it was difficult for refugees to decide to take up low-paying jobs.
A masterpiece off the beaten track
The Ushakovs from neighboring Burnakov came to this church 270 years ago for confession and communion with the whole family. An example for them was the uncle of the future admiral, whom we know today as St. Theodore of Sanaksar - he, by the way, was also baptized here, in the Epiphany Church. Then the temple was part of the Epiphany Ostrovsky Monastery, closed under Catherine II, who deprived the monasteries of land.
Monument to Fyodor Ushakov and St. Fyodor of Sanaksarsky on the banks of the Volga
Of all the monastery buildings, one cathedral has survived - an example of the Yaroslavl style with a massive quadrangle, high drums, and voluminous domes. Far from big cities, on the edge of the forest at the bend of the Volga, it was preserved as it was conceived by the Yaroslavl masters of the 18th century and has never been rebuilt since then.
And recently, the Church of the Epiphany “on the Island” began to appear in government plans as. A board of trustees headed by the chairman of the regional government was created, and a development program for the surrounding area was prepared. According to it, the Epiphany Cathedral should be completely restored, and modern communications will be extended to the village, where there are practically no local residents left, a pilgrimage center, a diocesan courtyard will be built in it, and instead of a rusty landing stage, a modern pier will be built. They promise not to forget about the roads - for now, from the highway to Khopylevo there is an ordinary dirt road, which is completely destroyed by tractors over the summer.
In the lower temple
All this should become part of the tourist project “Invincible Admiral Fedor Ushakov.”
But plans are plans, and not deeds. The Epiphany Cathedral, the future, has not been seriously repaired for 300 years and until recently was held together only by the prayers of Father Savvaty: at any moment the emergency foundations and vaults of the upper and lower churches could begin to collapse here - brick crumbs are still in the past in the summer rained down on the heads of a few tourists, and it was hard to believe in far-reaching regional plans.
Father Superior leads us to a huge billboard on the wall of the cathedral, here everything is point by point - what has been done over the past few months: “cementation of the foundations in the axes”, “repairing the brickwork with caulking of weathered seams”, “restoration of metal air connections”, “reconstruction of the frame quadrangle heads and copper covering of the heads.”
Now the cathedral, on the heads of which crosses were recently solemnly installed, will certainly not fall. By the end of the year, the builders want to finish restoring and painting the facades, installing shutters and doors, and preserving the frescoes.
Cathedral dome
Preserved frescoes under the dome of the cathedral
And all this for the first time without the participation of the abbot. In Khopylevo, Father Savvaty’s task is to serve and pray. In the morning I prayed, left the house, left the snow, chopped wood, prepared food, read the holy fathers, prepared for the service...
By the summer, another, large chapel should be opened in Epiphany (there were seven of them in total). In the newly rebuilt bell tower, on holidays you can already ring the new bells. Father Superior sings his songs and waits for the pilgrims. Including from their native Crimea.
...To understand how a boy from the wilderness became a great naval commander and saint, you just need to go out to the Volga and stand on the shore. Next to the monument to St. Theodore of Sanaksar, blessing his nephew Fedya for future exploits. Nothing has changed here since Ushakov’s childhood: behind him is the same temple, several houses, and in front is space, the power of great water.
|
Help the body
Of course, concerts and even spiritual conversations would not be enjoyable on an empty stomach. The budget helped with the physical aspects of assistance: the center organized by the Tara diocese became an official temporary accommodation center; the state transferred 800 rubles per day per person for the maintenance of its residents. A religious organization - a diocese - cannot be financed by the state, but the PVR exists on the basis of the ANO "Children's Sports and Health Spiritual and Patriotic Center for the Development of Children and Youth "Zastava Ermaka". It is a secular, autonomous non-profit organization.
The diocese also organized a supply of items.
“People brought things to the warehouse, and three people—chosen from among the same refugees—became in charge of the warehouse. At first, they elected three new people every week,” Bishop Savvaty of Tara laughs, “and then order was established. They have a heightened sense of justice - there was no need to control them, they themselves will bring anyone out into the open.
Of the 151 people from the first wave of refugees who passed through the TRP in Tara, 26 families - about 80 people - submitted documents to the program to assist the resettlement of compatriots. In this case, they receive about 12 thousand rubles for each family member.
Mental help
On August 26, migrants from the South-East of Ukraine arrived in Tara, and on September 2, the Ukrainians themselves held a concert to congratulate the children on the start of the school year.
“The refugees later thanked us and said: you united us and reconciled us,” recalls Bishop Savvaty. — They already had friction, like in any hostel: queues for washing machines, for the bathroom, etc. And then we rejoiced together, rehearsed the children’s performances, and united. It was the spiritual aspect of helping.
They immediately tried to keep the children busy with their studies and clubs. The refugees were introduced to the culture and nature of Siberia, to museums, to history, so that they would fall in love with the harsh region. We organized four handicraft clubs for children, two clubs for adults, and installed sewing machines - the refugees sewed their own clothes, because many came to Siberia in shorts and slippers.
Among the refugees there was one singer (this man is a miner by profession, but already in Donetsk he performed on stage). Thanks to him, the ensemble “Krinitsa” was created in the Tara temporary detention center and they traveled with it to temporary accommodation centers, so that the Ukrainians gave concerts to their fellow refugees. The diocese also perceived this as help.
Photo from the site tara-eparhiya.ru
It turned out that budget funds could not be spent on psychological assistance (although initially it was not specified what they could be spent on). The refugees themselves said that in the first days they were depressed. Priests provided spiritual assistance.
- Apparently, we coped with it. No one gave us grades, but they began to send us those with more complicated cases—people prone to complaints, conflict-ridden people. This means that we understood that we could cope,” states Bishop Savvaty.
Bishop Savvaty wishes refugees a Merry Christmas
Photo from tara-eparhiya.ru
