| Archpriest Vladimir Divakov |
Vladimir Ivanovich Divakov
(born 1937), protopresbyter, rector of the Moscow Church of the Great Ascension at the Nikitsky Gate, secretary of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for the city of Moscow, secretary of the diocesan council of the city of Moscow, dean of the Central District of the city of Moscow, member of the commission for the implementation of conciliarity and for the church administration of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church Born on June 14, 1937 in Moscow into a secular family. His father was an officer, his mother worked as a teacher in an elementary school. In the first months of the Great Patriotic War, my father died near Vyazma. The mother was involved in raising the children. She, like her parents, was a deeply religious person and took her children to church from an early age. The younger brother is Archpriest Mikhail Divakov (b. 1941) [1].
When the Great Patriotic War began, he and his brother were taken to their grandmother in Belarus. They spent the entire war in the occupied territories.
He was baptized in the Church of the Holy Chief Apostles Peter and Paul in Lefortovo (here he later served as an altar boy).
Graduated from 7-year high school. In 1957 he completed three courses at the Electromechanical College in Moscow.
In the same year [2] he entered the 2nd grade of the Moscow Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1960.
In 1960 he entered the Moscow Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1964 with a candidate of theology degree. While studying in theological schools, he served as a subdeacon in the Epiphany Patriarchal Cathedral in Yelokhov, Moscow, under Metropolitan Nikolai (Yarushevich) of Krutitsky and Kolomna and Archbishop Leonid (Polyakov).
Married in 1961; in 1962, a son, Nikolai, was born, and in 1969, a daughter.
On November 18, 1962 he was ordained to the rank of deacon.
On December 19, 1963, he was ordained to the priesthood by Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow and All Rus' at the Epiphany Cathedral in Yelokhov.
| Priest Vladimir Divakov, candidate of theology |
From April 1964 to March 6, 1967, he served in the Moscow Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Lefortovo.
On March 6, 1967, it was moved to the Church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki, Moscow. Through his efforts, the area around the temple was returned, and the church fence was moved to its original location. The facade of the temple was restored, ancient frescoes, previously hidden under later paintings, were restored, and new paintings were made.
From December 10, 1979, he served in the church of St. Pimen the Great in Novye Vorotniki, where he was also involved in beautifying the church and expanding its land holdings.
Since October 23, 1987 - rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity at the Pyatnitskoye cemetery in Moscow, where he established the economic life of the parish.
On December 8, 1988, at the first Diocesan meeting of the Moscow clergy, he was elected to the Diocesan Council, and in 1991 he became its secretary.
Since July 26, 1990 - Dean of the Northern District of Moscow.
Since August 31, 1990 - rector of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord at the Nikitsky Gate (Great Ascension).
Since May 10, 1991 - Dean of the Central District of Moscow.
From December 10, 1991 to April 1, 2009 - head of the office of the Moscow Patriarchate.
From March 4, 1996 to May 14, 1997 - member of the Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations under the President of the Russian Federation.
From December 2008 to January 2009 - member of the commission for the preparation of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church (in January 2009 he participated in the work of this Council as a member of this commission).
On April 1, 2009, he was appointed secretary of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' for the city of Moscow [3].
Since July 27 of the same year - a member of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church. From January 29, 2010 to January 30, 2021 - member of the commission on issues of parish life and parish practice of the Inter-Council Presence [4], from January 30, 2021 - member of the commission on the implementation of conciliarity and church administration of the Inter-Council Presence [5].
On May 24, 2021, he was elevated to the rank of protopresbyter by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' in the Cathedral Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow in recognition of his hard work for the benefit of the Holy Church and in connection with his 80th birthday.
Name day - July 15/28.
Awards
Church:
- Order of the Blessed Prince Daniil of Moscow, II degree
- Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh II and III degrees
- Order of St. Seraphim of Sarov II degree
- Order of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, III degree
- service of the Divine Liturgy with the royal doors open until the Lord's Prayer (1997)
- patriarchal (second) pectoral cross with decorations (April 15, 2012, in connection with the 50th anniversary of service in the priesthood, the 20th anniversary of work in the Moscow Patriarchate and the 75th anniversary of his birth [6])
- Order of St. Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna II degree (June 9, 2021, in recognition of hard work in the Moscow Patriarchate [7])
Secular:
- Order of Honor
- Order of Friendship
- national award “Person of the Year - 2006” nomination “Religion” (2006, for outstanding contribution to the spiritual revival of Russia)
Protopresbyter Vladimir Divakov: “The Battle of Sretensky. Moscow is behind us"
From the editor: Almost two years ago, in February 2019, the website Pravoslavie.Ru published materials for the 25th anniversary of the revival of monastic life in the Sretensky Monastery. One of the Moscow priests who shared his memories was Protopresbyter Vladimir Divakov, secretary of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' for the city of Moscow, rector of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord at the Nikitsky Gate (“Great Ascension”).
At that time, only two parts of Father Vladimir’s memoirs were published on the website (Part 1: Shall we fight?, Part 2: “We in Moscow did not give a single church to schismatics or sectarians”). From the publication of the third part - “The Battle of Sretensky. Moscow is behind us” – the editors abstained. The reason was a personal request from Metropolitan Tikhon. Having familiarized himself with the material, the bishop expressed the opinion that it is not worth publishing now these, although extremely interesting, but very unpleasant memoirs of Father Vladimir. As Bishop believed, priest Georgy Kochetkov, who was discussed in this part of the memoirs, could have changed since then, perhaps he overestimated something, and therefore there is no point in stirring up the past.
But on October 29 of this year, a video interview with priest Georgy Kochetkov was released on the YouTube channel “Eshchenepozner”, in which he again allowed himself to make gross distortions of facts related to the church events of 1993–1994. Protopresbyter Vladimir Divakov talks about them in his memoirs.
In this regard, the editors consider it necessary to reconsider their decision made almost two years ago and present to readers the final part of the memoirs of Protopresbyter Vladimir Divakov, recorded in February 2021.
***
Why does he need to multiply by twenties?
One of the last redoubts of the capital, where something strange happened, until 1994, was the then not yet recreated Church of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, which is on Lubyanka. The Kochetkovites were in charge there.
Moreover, this temple was by no means the only one that priest Georgy Kochetkov tried to capture in the very center of the capital.
He also intended to take over the Trinity Church in Listy on Sukharevka. His community also had the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pechatniki. I once had the imprudence to ask him at one of the parish meetings:
– Father Georgy, is this “twenty” from the Vladimir Church or from this one, the Assumption Church?
“No,” he explained, “it’s our own.”
“So we need to unite them...” I said again naively.
- Eh, noooo, Father Vladimir! – he turns to me. “We’ll also demand a temple for that twenty!” And the corresponding one is a big temple!
“There are no big temples left,” I try to somehow moderate his appetites.
- And we will demand it!
Antimonopoly measures
Father Georgy Kochetkov and the current convent of the Mother of God of the Nativity have already been taken away. At first, I remember, young men from the Moscow Architectural Institute organized a parish there. I myself consecrated the throne in a small manner. And then I look: the Kochetkovites have already climbed in there! They took a dominant position... And immediately they began to push out the former ones.
This was repeatedly reported to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II. He appointed mitred archpriest Gerasim Ivanov from the Elokhovsky Cathedral there. The priest began to gather nuns into the church community, who later became nuns of the convent recreated here.
Four months later, the former headman, Father George, and his activists, although reluctantly, left the temple. Either because Kochetkov’s people really don’t take root anywhere else, or because the work of restoring the shrine was in full swing at the parish, even with hard work and the presence of mostly female hands, which Kochetkov usually did not observe in the churches he captured...
The churches remained in a depressing state, which was only worsened by the neo-renovation innovations of Father George.
The appearance of Father Georgy Kochetkov in Sretenskoye
Under Soviet rule, in the monastery cemetery of the Sretensky Monastery, right on the bones of the heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812 buried there, as if as a mockery, a school with in-depth study of the French language was built.
It was here that priest Georgy Kochetkov began to visit in the early 1990s. He held conversations there on the Law of God, gradually looking closely at the monastery Vladimir Church.
At that time, one of the branches of the restoration workshops named after I.E. was located in the temple itself. Grabar.
Having entered into a trusting relationship with the leadership of the restorers, Father George was able to agree to hold services there on Sundays, when the workshops were not open.
The entire space of the temple was then divided by partitions approximately two meters high into separate cells. Inside each, icons and wood carvings were restored. In the middle, from the entrance to the pulpit, there was a corridor. At the end of this corridor, on the pulpit, Father George installed the throne.
The parish was registered. The process of transferring the building to the Church began (at that time this could be done without the consent of the tenants).
When everything was legally re-registered, Father Georgy, together with his parishioners, threw Grabar’s workshops out. They simply took all their belongings, including the most valuable artifacts, outside. An unprecedented scandal broke out. Moreover, Kochetkov himself, having entered into a heated debate, also inflated all this to the whole world through the Western press.
This then extremely complicated our further relations with I.E.’s workshops. Grabar, who occupied other churches in Moscow.
- You will still deceive! – this is what the then head of the workshops, A. Vladimirov, later declared in response to all attempts to establish relations with him. This, unfortunately, was his experience after communicating with Father Kochetkov.
What was there before the invasion of the “barbarians”?
Father George himself, having settled in the Vladimir Church, built himself a living room in the right, now St. John the Baptist, altar, where he settled. It was possible to get to his reception only through the right door of the main altar - that is, both men and women had to go through the altar. Since some women were still depressed by this, a curtain was hung at the entrance to the main altar. A toilet was built next to the altar.
– Father George, doesn’t this bother you? – I tried to put this circumstance into perspective.
“No,” he admitted.
When the monks appeared in the temple, they smashed this toilet near the altar, since the sound of water being flushed into the toilet from time to time “accompanied” the service of the liturgy.
- Barbarians! Barbarians! - the Kochetkovites were indignant when pieces of the outhouse were taken out of the temple.
Guru
Father George loved to present himself beautifully. He appeared at parish meetings from the royal doors. Subdued light... The gates swing open, a spotlight flashes, and he comes out... In a white cassock. And he blesses everyone effectively.
I remember, I tell His Holiness.
“Like a guru,” the Patriarch responded bitterly.
In my time I have heard and seen enough at their parish meetings. Judging by the general mood of the Kochetkov community, I felt that this was a foreign body in the Church.
“If they do and say this in front of me, then what about in my absence...”
The Kochetkovites even rewrote the Creed! And it was drawn up against heresies by the holy fathers at the Ecumenical Councils. But as soon as they referred to the canonical rules of the Church or the Holy Fathers at their meetings, their leader explained that all these church institutions were already outdated and inapplicable in our time... And he is an indisputable authority in his community.
I once remarked to Kochetkova:
– Your activities resemble the activities of renovationists.
– And the renovationists had a lot of good things! – he suddenly began to assure me. – Things are not as bad for them as they say.
Difficult conversation in Chistoe
The conversation between His Holiness Alexy and Father Georgy Kochetkov took place in December 1992, at the Patriarchal residence in Chisty Lane.
– How to evaluate your publications? – His Holiness asked him. – In your opinion, are all the canonical rules outdated? And all bishops are abnormal people for you?
This His Holiness was referring to the last sensational interview with Father Georgy Kochetkov.
- I was misunderstood! – without blinking an eye, he begins to dodge.
– Are you canceling the resolutions of the Ecumenical Councils?
“And that’s not how they conveyed it to you!”
His Holiness began to write down something during the conversation, and Kochetkov, you see, regarded this as disrespect for his person - and said irritably:
– I see that you, Your Holiness, have no time?!
“No, no, continue,” the Holy One calmly answered, not paying attention to his tone, while he himself wrote down something from time to time.
– Why do you need to translate the divine service into Russian? – His Holiness asks his next question.
He again avoids answering and fusses.
I tried to tell him:
– You answer the questions of His Holiness, otherwise they ask you about one thing, and you start talking about something completely different...
– Don’t stop me from talking to my ruling bishop!! - Kochetkov yelled.
I fell silent. His Holiness is also silent and looks in amazement.
Two and a half hours passed, and His Holiness was forced to interrupt this tedious debate:
“Let’s stop this conversation for now; I can no longer continue it now.” Someone is waiting for me. But what I felt from our conversation with you: exorbitant pride, refusal to admit any of my mistakes - and just then the Patriarch began to whip Kochetkov with the words he had just spoken.
It was these that His Holiness was forced to write down, since he constantly refused even his words just spoken in conversation.
His Holiness worked until the last to admonish Father George. At the end of this difficult conversation, he told me:
“We’ll try to meet again after Christmas.”
“But he’s also lying!”
After Epiphany I meet His Holiness there, in Chisty Lane. He gets out of the car and says somewhat excitedly:
“I don’t intend to talk to this Kochetkov anymore!”
- What's happened?
– I turn on the TV now (the Holy One had to turn on the TV, which was rare, at that very moment!) – and he’s broadcasting that he had a meeting with the Patriarch, but he presents everything in such a way that he almost hosted me! And he further lies that His Holiness recognized the correctness of all his judgments about the need to translate the service into Russian and other innovations. Father Vladimir, you were present! Was that really the case?
- Of course not, Your Holiness.
– Please, call him to the Diocesan Council, there, in the presence of everyone, deal with him. I don't intend to take it anymore. Even if he weren’t lying, the Archpastor’s conversation with the priest is like Confession, not meant to be shown on screen... But he’s also lying!
The Kochetkovites are like Jesuits: they say one thing and do another - I’ve suffered enough myself. You agree to hold a parish meeting with them, you come, and they are already sitting there with all their might.
- Why are you holding the meeting without me? - I ask.
“Father Vladimir, we are solving other issues here,” don’t interfere, they say, Kochetkov waves him off.
There was no point in talking to him, he doesn’t hear anyone and doesn’t want to hear. Then he falsely passes off his own unauthorized fabrications as “blessings from the hierarchy.”
Kochetkov was invited to a meeting of the Diocesan Council. There they put a microphone in front of him:
“Father George,” I warn him, “here is the microphone.” Everything you say will be written down verbatim so that you don’t later say that we misunderstood you.
This meeting lasted about three hours, the protocol was huge, in it everything that was said was stated to the Patriarch.
The Holy One revered...
“Yeah... Apparently,” he says, “it’s useless to talk to him further.”
First service
In the book of Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov) it is written about how Father John (Krestyankin) blessed him to ask His Holiness to open the courtyard of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery.
Shortly before the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, I invite Father Tikhon to my place:
“In the Sretensky Monastery, one of the destroyed churches was once dedicated to the Presentation of the Lord,” I say. - It was a patronal holiday! It would be nice to start monastic services on it. Can you?
He replied:
- I can.
“But it’s quite possible that they won’t let you into the temple.” Are you ready to serve on the street?
- Ready.
- But this is to serve you, and the singers will have to sing in the cold and in the dark...
“Father, we will perform the entire service,” Father Tikhon assured me.
They were indeed not allowed into the temple, and on February 14, 1994, they solemnly performed a full all-night vigil on the street, in the bitter cold, in front of the entrance to the Church of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.
Since then, in memory of these events, the Sretensky Monastery has established the tradition of holding litia for the Presentation not in the vestibule, but on the street. They are freezing, but they don’t want to forget about these events. And rightly so!
In the evening, Father Tikhon and I phoned:
“They didn’t let us in, but we weren’t eager,” he said somehow cheerfully.
In the evening I call Kochetkov:
– Father George, have you decided to finally break with the Russian Orthodox Church?
- Why?
- Why didn’t you let Father Tikhon into the church?
- We don't have room!
- Yes, there can fit 100 people in the altar...
“And if he comes, the people will follow him.”
– You had to let the new abbot and people into the temple. If this happens again, I will be forced to submit a corresponding report to the Patriarch. (In an interview on October 29, 2021, priest Georgy Kochetkov claimed that on the eve of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord he did not allow Hieromonk Tikhon and his parishioners into the church only because he did not have official documents appointing him as the new rector. This is not true. The relevant documents were handed over, as expected , in advance – Editorial Pravoslavie.Ru)
I saw that the next day he finally let in the abbot appointed there by the hierarchy. But what kind of war did he then wage against Father Tikhon...
One at the right hand, the other at the left
On the eve of the festive service for the feast of the Presentation of the Lord itself, Father Tikhon asked me:
– Who should lead the service: him or me?
- For you, of course! - I answer. - This is already a monastery courtyard. You are the abbot, you are the leader!
During the joint liturgy, Father Tikhon administered communion at one end of the solea, and Kochetkov at the other. They spoke the same way in the sermon. One on the right hand, the other on the left...
Later, the presence of Father Tikhon in the altar somehow began to greatly strain Father George. In his presence, he no longer dared to carry out his experiments...
And then he completely ran away from there. However, in the right altar and chapel of the Vladimir Church, its employees, trying to retain the premises, set up a headquarters to confront the invading monks.
Lord is merciful
I have long wanted the pre-revolutionary Sretensky Monastery to be revived.
Once, when Father George was abbot in Sretenskoye, I told him:
– I hope that the monastery will still be revived on this site.
“I want to assure you, father, not in our lifetime,” he retorted, grinning and condescendingly.
- The Lord is merciful. Maybe even earlier...
How I wanted to be with him later in the already restored Sretensky Monastery and ask:
- Well, what’s it like?!! And in our lifetime, right?!
They also built a new Church of the Resurrection of Christ and the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church - show it with your hand: look!
Moving from Sretensky to their second Church of the Assumption in Pechatniki, the Kochetkovites made a prophecy: now in Sretensky there will be only old women, young people will never come here! I am glad that this “prophecy” did not come true. Sretensky today is one of the youngest parishes in Moscow, not to mention the seminary.
How the monastery began to transform
When Father Tikhon had already begun to restore the Sretensky Monastery, everything there began to transform before our eyes. The temple was soon unrecognizable.
In the monastery, from the very beginning, the Statutory monastic life was approved. Young people flocked to the monastery - literally from the first months, novices began to appear - now they are already abbots and hieromonks.
Father Tikhon soon built a wall separating the monastery from Bolshaya Lubyanka Street. They decided not to restore the gate temple, since it previously faced the modern roadway. But the wall was rebuilt, however, without any numerous and lengthy approvals. Apparently, Father Tikhon did not even know about their necessity at that time.
I remember attending a meeting with A.I. Muzykantsky, he was then the prefect of the Central Administrative District of Moscow. And so, Father Tikhon somehow, casually, tells him that he built a wall...
– What wall?!
“So modest... Such a good wall,” Father Tikhon nods, pleased with his creation.
– Who allowed it?!!
– Yes, you see, it suggested itself! Otherwise there was some kind of failure... There was a hole!
- Father Tikhon, wait! Don't go anywhere. Now let's go together!
He arrived, took a look, and was completely stunned:
- And it turned out well! They really didn’t know what to do with this place. Some banners were constantly being pulled up. It was necessary to come up with slogans corresponding to Lubyanka... And now everything is fine... Coordination will be required - I will be completely in favor!
But Father Tikhon, as a rule, did not require any approval. Many tried to imitate, but they stumbled somewhere, didn’t take something into account and ended up burning out. And he flew over all the abysses without blinking.
Then he rebuilt the gallery around the Vladimir Church, since at that time the people could no longer fit into the temple. People stood in the cold weather listening to the service on the street. As they say, again the decision came naturally...
Father Tikhon erected a bell tower there. Then, too, the FSB immediately came to him:
-What is this here?
They supposedly have some cables running underground...
– Who gave you permission?! Yes we will now...
And when they began to look into it, it turned out that nothing had been installed on any cables. The supports were correctly installed, the ceiling was placed on them, and the bell tower began to be raised on it.
There later, during the construction of the new Church of the Resurrection of Christ, the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church were miraculously managed during the construction of communications, which simply dotted the bowels of the secret Lubyanka, not to be touched.
We always managed to find a way out. Think through everything in advance, consult with specialists, so as not to cause harm to either the monastery or the Church.
Then there is also the famous Sretensky Seminary, a publishing house, new buildings for the brethren...
I don’t even know who else could bring it all up like that. Bishop Tikhon did a lot at Sretensky Monastery. And the people around him are all so active. He never stops. Movement-movement-movement. Always at work.
Help, Lord, Bishop Tikhon and the current brethren of the Sretensky Monastery, who remained after him!
The last Moscow church of Father George
After Sretensky, Father George retained his last temple - the Assumption in Pechatniki, right across the road from the Sretensky Monastery. I remember I came there as a dean, and there was a three-story ceiling inside. Well, it’s clear that under Soviet rule there was a Navy Museum there, but now, I think, whose honor and glory should be demonstrated on these floors?!
“Father Georgy, these interfloor partitions should already be demolished...”, looking at all this, I said.
- For what? – he got nervous.
I look, and he has an altar built right in the center of the first floor.
“There is an altar in the temple...” I also can’t understand anything.
- It is small!
I walked by and looked: the altar was just like an altar. Only it’s all littered with boxes, some kind of junk, candles... He set up a warehouse in a real, historical altar! And there the female employees, one after another, go back and forth about their business, right through the altar!
Father George had some kind of illness: everyone, including women, had to walk through the altar. The same thing happened in the Vladimir Church of the present Sretensky Monastery, when the Kochetkovites were still in charge there...
When I went up to the second floor, I couldn’t believe my eyes: there were several back doors leading from Kochetkov’s office. You go there, and he goes through one of the doors - along the stairs and into the street. It was impossible to find him there. I remember that.
“Father George,” I tell him, “you have a room there, in the bell tower, that is just suitable for an office...
- No, no, that’s not good! – he snapped.
Even constant deception is difficult to get used to
One day Father Tikhon comes to me, looking all upset and completely bewildered. It turned out that the Kochetkovites assured him in a crowd that Father George had sent a petition to Patriarch Alexy to allow him to hold services in Russian, and supposedly His Holiness gave such a blessing to Father George. Bishop Arseny and I found the very resolution of His Holiness Alexy on the petition of priest Georgy Kochetkov, which actually existed. And what? The resolution stated in black and white that the Patriarch DOES NOT BLESS services in Russian. When Father Tikhon showed this to them, they still did not believe it, religiously continuing to trust only their “guru”... No matter how many times we encountered such lies, we could not get used to it.
The same story, but with Bishop Vasily (Rodzianko)
This story also happened during the service of Father George in the Church of the Assumption in Pechatniki. There have long been rumors in church Moscow that Father Georgy Kochetkov blesses his sextons to consume the Holy Gifts. Those around Father George, of course, unanimously and indignantly denied this. Frankly, I didn’t believe in it either: it was too wild and scary, I thought it was a slander.
And everything was revealed when Bishop Vasily (Rodzianko), an Orthodox bishop from America, came to Moscow. He had heard a lot in the West about what a wonderful, unique, persecuted and honest priest Father George was. Vladyka Vasily decided to serve with Father George in the Church of the Assumption in Pechatniki.
After the service, for some reason, Vladyka returned to the altar. And then he saw that Georgy Kochetkov’s father’s assistant A.M. Kopirovsky at the altar, with a spoon in his hands, calmly consumes the Holy Gifts from the Chalice. Layman!
Then the Vladyka, amazed, said:
– How is it possible that a person who is not endowed with the grace of the holy order buries Christ within himself?!
From that moment on, Vladyka Vasily completely broke off communication with Kochetkov.
Reprisal of Kochetkovites against dissidents
Anyone who was not ready to participate in the constantly pumped-up heated worship of the personality of Father Georgy Kochetkov was subjected to real persecution among them. Thus, Kochetkov, having unlawfully conspired with a psychiatrist, forcibly sent the priest assigned to him at the Church of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pechatniki to a psychiatric hospital.
Father Mikhail Dubovitsky did not agree with the gross distortions of Orthodox worship introduced by these “non-renovationists,” which were pompously called “reforms,” and they decided to deal with him. They forcibly gave me injections with strong psychotropic drugs.
A number of clergy, together with Father Tikhon, then contacted the chief psychiatrist of the city of Moscow to find out what was happening. Councils of doctors gathered on the same and the next days twice confirmed the mistake of hospitalization, and Father Mikhail was released.
But there could be no doubt about the adequacy of Kochetkov himself, after he introduced punitive psychiatry into his pastoral practice.
Then a Commission of authoritative clergy was created to consider this egregious case and the situation in the Kochetkov community.
Vladyka Alexy (Frolov), then still Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, vicar of His Holiness, told me:
- Father, thank you for taking the first blow upon yourself. We will support you now.
“If we don’t ruin this terrible movement, they will ruin the Church!”
In the Novospassky Monastery, which was then headed by Bishop Alexy, interviews were held at which the Kochetkovites’ endless claims to the Hierarchy and to the Patriarchate in general were heard.
The Commission, convened by Bishop Alexy (Frolov), delved into all this casuistry in detail, spending more than one week on this. All data on the results of this trial were published not only in local but also in foreign media. Kochetkov had an extremely wide front of support in the West. To the point that even US Secretary of State Magdalena Albright stood up for him.
Vladyka Alexy had to show incredible wisdom when communicating with this organized structure, repainting itself like a chameleon. For all the resourcefulness of Kochetkov and his followers, Bishop Alexy managed to prove that the ban was necessary.
There was no need to lift the ban from Kochetkov even after that. Once we got into a conversation with Bishop Alexy (Frolov):
“I completely agree, the ban cannot be lifted,” said the bishop. – But, apparently, there are some other forces...
Father John (Krestyankin) spoke about the Kochetkovites:
– If we don’t ruin this terrible movement, they will ruin the Church!
What are they doing in Orthodox churches?
His Holiness Alexy II was worried after the ban was lifted:
“Well, he still won’t calm down, he’ll stir up something,” he said about Kochetkov.
And then he somehow turned to Metropolitan Juvenaly (Poyarkov) of Krutitsky and Kolomenkoy.
- Vladyka Yuvenaly, you ordained him, maybe you will take him to your place.
Vladyka Yuvenaly agreed that he should serve him at the liturgies he performed in the Assumption Church of the Novodevichy Monastery.
Sometimes later I heard reviews that Kochetkov’s flock was imposing their own customs there, either picked up from somewhere or simply invented by them.
One parishioner I know also told me:
“I was standing in the church, and suddenly some guy came up to me to hug and kiss me on “I Believe...” I turned him away.
How I handed over the Decree on the ban on serving Kochetkov
The decree on the ban on serving in the ministry was given to Kochetkov, after the beating and forced placement in a mental hospital of priest Mikhail Dubovitsky, they blessed me. Remembering the system of back doors in his office and knowing his evasiveness, I could not imagine how this could be done. But chance helped.
I suddenly find out that he will now come to Bishop Sergius (Fomin), now Voronezh and Liskinsky, and then the manager of the Moscow Patriarchate.
“Vladyka Sergius,” I rush to him, “please hand Kochetkov the Decree banning him!” - and, encountering a frankly sour expression on his face, all I have time to say is: “You’ll have him anyway...” as the door swings open and he walks in.
Here I am in front of a witness, thank God, and I present the Decree banning it.
“Vladyka, look at this man,” he theatrically points at me with his hand, “this is enemy number one of the Russian Orthodox Church!”
“You have enemy number one - Father Tikhon (Shevkunov), - I remind you.
- He is your protege! You are enemy number one,” I watch as he gracefully, as if lowering a ballot into a ballot box, with two fingers, has already put the Decree into his briefcase out of sight.
- Save me, God! – I answer, catching my breath. I kept wondering if he would leave the Decree right there, in the office of the Administrative Director, as one might ironically say, “for reconsideration.” – I take it as a compliment and as a congratulations on the anniversary (I just had some kind of round date there)!
Vladyka Sergius could not stand it - and Kochetkov’s further tirade almost broke out:
- Stop it!
Protopresbyter Vladimir Divakov Recorded by Olga Orlova
November 2, 2021
Pravoslavie.ru
Notes
- ↑ 1234567
Divakov // Orthodox Encyclopedia. - M.: Tserkovno-nauchny, 2007. - T. XIV: “Daniel - Dimitri.” - pp. 639-640. — 752 p. — 39,000 copies. — ISBN 978-5-89572-024-0. - JOURNALS of the meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on December 10, 2008. Patriarchy.ru.
- Journals of the meeting of the Holy Synod of May 27, 2009. Patriarchia.Ru.
- Archpriest Vladimir Divakov was awarded the Patriarchal Cross. Website "Tatiana's Day".
- Archived copy (unspecified)
(inaccessible link). Date accessed: September 8, 2021. Archived September 8, 2021. - On the day of remembrance of Saints Methodius and Kirill, Equal-to-the-Apostles, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrated the Liturgy at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Patriarchia.Ru.
- Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of August 11, 2000 No. 1491 “On awarding state awards of the Russian Federation” (unspecified)
. // Official website of the President of Russia. Date accessed: August 4, 2021. - Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of December 28, 1995 No. 1324 “On awarding state awards of the Russian Federation”
