Be perfect - Archimandrite Tikhon (Secretary)

Tikhon (Secretaryov)
(1955 - 2018), archimandrite, b. abbot of the Pskov-Pechersky Dormition Monastery In the world Sekretarev Alexey Nikolaevich, was born on January 24, 1955 in the village of Tugoles, Krivandinsky district, Moscow region [1] in the family of Deacon Nikolai (1931 - 2012, later a priest) and Nadezhda Vasilievna (nee Teterina) Sekretarev. Alexei was one of their ten children (nine boys and one girl). His great-grandfather, at the end of his life, lived in the St. Nicholas Monastery on Belaya Gora in the Perm province, where he took monastic vows with the name Vasily. Both grandfathers were priests; they died during the Stalinist repressions. Archpriest Pyotr Sekretarev died in a camp in 1944, near Saratov, and priest Vasily Teterin was shot on the Assumption in 1937. Both were later rehabilitated. The elder brother (for a year) is Archpriest Alexander Sekretaryov [2], the younger brother is Archpriest Grigory (born 1956) [3]; another brother is Archpriest Leonid [4].

The family did not live long in the Moscow region and moved to the Urals, to the city of Votkinsk, where Alexey graduated from a secondary school, after which he entered the Izhevsk Mechanical Institute, but already in his first year, after listening to several lectures on scientific atheism, he decided that he, a deeply religious person, , this is not suitable, and left it. He worked at a machine-building plant. From 1973 to 1975, he served in the army in the signal corps, then worked for a year in construction at the same plant.

In March 1976 he entered the brethren of the Pskov-Pechersk Dormition Monastery.

On August 23 of the same year he was tonsured a monk and named in honor of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk [5], on August 28 he was ordained a hierodeacon, and on September 19 - a hieromonk.

He consistently performed the obediences of an assistant cellarer and an assistant dean. Then, from 1982 to 1991, he served as dean of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery [3].

In 1985 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary in the correspondence sector.

He was elevated to the rank of abbot.

Since 1992, he passed obedience as a catechist and teacher at the Pskov Theological School.

On August 17, 1995, he was appointed acting abbot of the Assumption Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. He was subsequently confirmed in this position.

He was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

In June 2005, he graduated in absentia from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy with a candidate of theology degree for his course work: “Church-historical essay on the Pskov-Pechersk Holy Dormition Monastery in the 20th century.”

In January 2009, he participated in the work of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.

On May 21, 2021, he submitted a request for dismissal from the post of abbot of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery for health reasons. The next day the request was granted [6]. He was left among the brethren of the monastery.

He died on September 12 of the same year in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery after a serious and long illness at the age of 64. The funeral service was scheduled for September 14 in St. Michael's Cathedral of the same monastery [7].

Awards

Church:

• Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh III Art. (2000)
• the right to serve the Divine Liturgy with the Royal Doors open until the Cherubic Song (2005, for the holiday of Holy Easter [8])
• certificate of gratitude from the foundation for prizes in memory of Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow and Kolomna (Bulgakov) (November 6, 2007, for high achievements (in connection with the publication of the book “The Gates of Heaven”) in the competition of works for the Makariev Prize)
• Order of the Orthodox Church of the Holy Hieromartyr Isidore Yuryevsky, III degree (March 4, 2008, for the preservation of spiritual traditions between the Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery and the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate)
• pectoral cross with decorations and the right to serve the Divine Liturgy with the Royal Doors open until “Our Father” (August 18, 2010)
• Order of the BOC St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk (December 14, 2013, for the development of pilgrimage)

Secular:

• Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree (2000, for his great contribution to the strengthening of civil peace and the revival of spiritual and moral traditions)
• badge of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation - “For mercy and charity” (August 2005)
• Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st class (August 7, 2006, for services in the development of spiritual culture)
• silver medal “For Useful” (March 20, 2007, in the nomination “for working with children”)
• laureate of the III All-Russian Prize “Keepers of the Heritage” in the category “Personality” (October 8, 2011)

“IF WE PRAY, WE ARE ALIVE” Archimandrite Tikhon (Secretary)

For almost a quarter of a century, Archimandrite Tikhon (Secretaryov; † September 12, 2021) bore the obedience of the abbot of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery. This prominent and tall monk was very modest. Even after becoming the governor of the famous monastery, he tried to remain in the shadow of its great elders. He often quoted one of the Optina monks that, given the current cunning of morals, it is necessary for the brethren to have a confessor to whom they can frankly entrust all their thoughts, including the commander, who himself always has something to consult with his confessors about. “Just as it is important in the Church to preserve apostolic succession,” he liked to quote the words of St. Silouan of Athos, “so it is important in monasteries to preserve life according to advice.”

And what did Archimandrite Tikhon advise the pilgrims, whose reception at the monastery he worked so hard for? We bring to the attention of readers of the Pravoslavie.Ru portal his previously unpublished reflection on salvation in the monastery and in the world.

Archimandrite Tikhon (Secretary)

About what is already felt now and will be revealed at the Last Judgment

Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery... This is both a spiritual coordinate, where the presence of the Most Holy Theotokos, who did not leave the world, is immediately indicated after the Dormition, and a geographical point where rivers of Orthodox pilgrims from all over the Christian world flock from century to century, from decade to decade.

More than half a thousand years have passed since the consecration of the Assumption Church of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery (2021 marks 545 years - Ed.). And the first monks from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra came to this holy mountain a century earlier. Spiritual life and prayer have not been interrupted here since then. Even during the atheistic years of the Soviet regime, this is the only monastery in Russia that did not close. Monastic foundations, simplicity, prayerfulness, and purity of Orthodoxy are especially preserved here.

That is why the church people strive here.

As you know, the first pilgrim of the Christian race was our Intercessor herself - the Blessed Virgin Mary. After the Annunciation, she hurried to her relative Elizabeth in the city of Judah (see: Luke 1:39). Likewise, the apostles, even having already received the promised Holy Spirit, returned at a certain time to Jerusalem.

But for what purpose do pilgrims now flock to the monastery?

I remember being surprised when, about 15 years ago, the secular magazine “World Pathfinder”, in collaboration with the country’s leading print, television and radio media, collected the main attractions to reveal the seven wonders of Russia. According to the results of an open vote, the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery suddenly took second place! Most people, perhaps, do not think about what draws them here, but they feel: here the soul is at peace! Peace and joy, says Scripture, in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). No amount of landscape beauty or architectural masterpieces will give you the same intensity of experience of these inner blessings as a leisurely introduction to the life of a holy monastery.

The meaning of the pilgrimage, as the elders explained to us, is also to visit the places of exploits of the holy saints of God, to enlist their prayers in this life and intercession for one’s soul at the Last Judgment. Not everyone probably knows about such a stunning prospect, but people feel in their hearts that they are receiving enormous spiritual benefits - so they go.

Saint Theophan the Recluse wrote that pilgrims come to the monastery for the sake of the “sacrament of renewal,” which is what he generally called confession and Communion.

Others, I remember, entered the holy gates for the first time after the publication of the book by then Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) “Unholy Saints” about the elders of the monastery.

Ascetics usually say in relation to those living today:

“No one should be called saints, and no one should be called sinners. At the Last Judgment everything will be revealed, let’s wait a little.”

We ourselves called the book published in the monastery about its exemplary inhabitants “Be Perfect.”

The elders are the incarnate gospel of our days

The elders are the embodiment of the Gospel of our days. The New Testament Light is so bright that it can blind a habituated reptile. This is why the Lord sends the elders; they represent the soft reflected radiance of the Truth, which allows any person in the Light of God to see themselves and repent.

The elders of the Pskov-Pechersk monastery also have heirs: this is the current vicar, Metropolitan Tikhon of Pskov and Porkhov, raised from the first years of novitiate by Father John (Krestyankin), and Schema-Archimandrite Nikon (Antonov), also nurtured by Father John from the years of his service in the city of Kasimov of the Ryazan diocese. ; this is also the successor of Schema-Archimandrite Agapit (Agapov), fraternal confessor Archimandrite Tavrion (Balov); this is also a student of the long-term leader of the fraternal choir, Hierodeacon Anatoly (Semyonov), the current confessor and director of the monastery, Archimandrite Methodius (Leontyev); this is also the cell attendant of the recently deceased Elder Adrian (Kirsanov), Abbot Chrysanthus (Lipilin); and hieromonk Jonah (Samara), who consoles many with his abundance of love and inherits the very spirit of the Pskov-Pechersk eldership.

While the Last Judgment has not yet arrived and the existence of this world continues, the number of saints and those being saved is replenished.

So much for the monastic rule...

In the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery there are nine now glorified saints: the venerable ancestors of the monastery Mark, Jonah and Vassa, the abbots the venerable martyr Cornelius and the hieromartyr Alexander, the monks Vassian, Dorotheus, Lazarus the seer, Simeon.

Even with the impoverishment of spiritual life among the people, which became a harbinger of the revolution, such luminaries of faith labored in the Pskov-Pechersk monastery as Hieroschemamonk Theodosius, who on August 5 (old style) 1903 met here the holy Royal Passion-Bearers Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna; Archimandrite Methodius (Kholmsky), rector of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery at the beginning of the century before last, twice in his time received the Holy Mysteries of Christ from the hands of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt, and then predicted his death in St. Petersburg; these are the Valaam elders - the schema-monks Luka, Nikolai and many, many others.

The shameful intention to close the last churches in Moscow on June 22, 1941 is widely known; less is known that after the city of Pechory re-entered Russia (then RSFSR) in 1940, they tried to abolish the monastery, but nothing worked: again prevented by the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War.

Archimandrite Feofan (Molyavko)

Among those who came to the monastery almost in tunics, like Father Kirill (Pavlov) at the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, participants in the hostilities can also be named later His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Pimen (Izvekov), who headed the Pskov region in the post-war years 1949–1954. Pechersky Monastery; and Archimandrite Alypiy (Voronov), the “great governor” of the monastery from 1959 to 1975; and his assistant Archimandrite Nathanael (Pospelov); as well as Schema-Archimandrite Agapius (Agapov), Archimandrite Feofan (Molyavko), Hierodeacon Anatoly (Semenov), and others.

We once heard about what they had to endure before and during the war, for example, from Archimandrite Feofan (Molyavko). He was tonsured a monk and ordained a deacon in what is remembered as the bloody year of 1937 in the Tver diocese, whose bishop, Bishop Thaddeus (Uspensky), as we know, suffered a terrible martyrdom on the very last day of that year. Father Theophan recalled that the hieromonk who tonsured him did not give him a prayer rule, which embarrassed him very much, and in order to fill this “gap” he went to one elder who labored on the shore of Lake Seliger... And he, as soon as he realized that he had decided to ask him was already approaching his cell, he suddenly loudly ordered his cell attendant:

The elder ordered: “Put him in the boat, take the oars and push it away from the shore!” It was a prophecy

– Hierodeacon Feofan is coming to us. Put him in the boat, take the oars and push it away from the shore!

Father Theophan, who could not swim, did not have time to flinch as the cell attendant had already fulfilled his punishment... It was a prophecy: a few days later, Hierodeacon Theophan, who desired to observe the formalities of monastic residence, was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in the camps.

Soon the war began, and in 1942, famine broke out in the camp near Yaroslavl, where Father Feofan was imprisoned. It was then that the tonsured man truly prayed to the Most Holy Theotokos to save him! Suddenly a criminal authority calls him and, out of the blue, assigns him to guard the bread reserves:

– Eat as much as you want, but don’t give a crumb to anyone without instructions!

But neither his prayers to the Most Holy One nor the miracles of Her intercession ended there. At the end of 1943, the official head of the camp called him:

- Malyavko, are you a priest?

“No,” admitted Father Feofan, “I am a deacon.”

- You are free.

“And I feel good here too,” he insisted.

- In 24 hours so that you are not in the camp! – the NKVD officer hit the table.

Then Father Feofan ended up in Tashkent, where he worked in an evacuated military hospital, and in the spring of 1944 he was called up to the front, and to the infantry, where rarely anyone survived: a maximum of two battles - and you are either dead or disabled for the rest of your life. When Father Feofan, having already reached Budapest, suddenly heard that Victory was ours, the first thought that overtook him was this: “I can’t believe that I’m still alive!”

This brethren who had gone through prisons, camps and war later said to themselves: “We are not scientists, we are crushed.” Although they testified about spiritual life: “This is the science of sciences and the art of arts.”

However, in the last century, representatives of learned monasticism also labored in the Pskov-Pechersk monastery. Here Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov), a famous spiritual writer and preacher, ended his days and was buried in the God-created caves. He especially complained about the impoverishment of faith and holiness in Russia.

The brightest representative of the elders of the Pskov-Pechersk monastery today, Archimandrite John (Krestyankin), later exhorted the brethren:

– Nowadays we need to get out of the desert in order to maintain faith among the people.

“School of Prayer” by Father John (Krestyankin)

Archimandrite John (Peasant)

It is known that Father John (Krestyankin) from birth was definitely chosen by the host of Pskov-Pechersk saints. He was born on the day of remembrance of the Venerable Mark and Jonah of Pskov-Pechersk - April 11, 1910. Not in the neighborhood of our northern abode - in the city of Orel. In the pious family of Mikhail Dmitrievich Krestyankin, who died two years after the birth of his son, and Elizaveta Illarionovna (nee Kasheverova), who died in 1936.

Baptized literally two days after the birth of the prophet Elijah in the temple, Vanya later carried out choir and sexton obedience in the same temple from childhood. Here he received a wonderful, in strong traditions, church education. I personally communicated and received the blessing of some of the new martyrs.

When he grew up, he mastered accounting and finance, worked for a couple of years in various institutions in Orel, and then moved to Moscow, where he also worked in a secular profession for another 12 years, until he was finally ordained a deacon on January 14, 1945, and at the end of the same year, October 25, - to the presbyter.

After five years of diligent service, on the night of April 29-30, 1950, Father John was arrested. About his five-year confessional imprisonment, he himself recalled that it was a real “School of Prayer” - that, by the way, is the name of one of his magnificent books, for some reason little read by the modern reader. Nowhere - neither before imprisonment, nor after - as the priest assured, did he have such a prayer! How was it when he buried himself, as he recalled, “under a blanket with lice”...

The prison dungeons of Lubyanka, Lefortovo and Butyrka, Arkhangelsk and Samara camps became for Father John the desert from which he had to go out to serve the people, wasting the fruits of prayer, purity of heart, reasoning, and patience collected there. Then his cell in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery will become a “school of prayer” for many who come to him.

Father John was enrolled among the Pskov-Pechersk brethren by decree of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy I (Simansky) immediately after his early release from the camp a couple of days before his 45th birthday - April 9, 1955. He served only a year in the monastery and in the Trinity Cathedral of Pskov. And then, due to the threat of a new arrest, with the blessing of his confessor, he went to the Ryazan diocese, where he was a parish priest for more than 10 years.

In 1967, Father John returned to the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. And no matter how physically weak he was, the Lord strengthened his strength for another 40 years of senile service. The priest himself was amazed: his heart was failing, and when he settled back into the monastery, suddenly “my youth was renewed like an eagle” (cf. Ps. 103:5)! On what a colossal scale he developed his meticulous practice of counseling!

Everything in the monastery was arranged so that the priest had the opportunity to receive people. Observing what is happening from within the monastic life, you understand that the Lord Himself made sure that the talent He invested in His servant was fully revealed.

Father was also a fraternal confessor, he also carried out weekly obediences, and traveled to parishes with Metropolitan John (Razumov). After Bishop John retired in 1987, Father John also stopped traveling to parishes, but concentrated on serving and caring for those who came to the monastery.

He acquired, as he said, a “spiritual pharmacy” - he had a small bag from which he would take out whatever anyone needed on the go: a prayer for one, admonition for another, or a penitential canon. And since each of us at different times was blessed with all kinds of “plasters” and these prayer “potions,” we turned to the priest so that he would put together a “complete set” for our spiritual children. Then all this was compiled in the volume “Handbook for monastics and laity.”

Also, at our request, the collection of letters from Father John began. He himself was embarrassed and denied: why? And we insisted with conviction:

- Father, this is in demand! It is necessary for people, it is of great benefit to them!

So little by little they began to publish letters, and then collections of priest’s sermons. She worked a lot and, thank God, even after the death of the priest, his assistant Tatyana Sergeevna Smirnova works.

There are also amazing notes made public by Tatyana Sergeevna in the last years of Father John’s life:

“February 28, 2001. Recorded from the words of Father John:

“At night at 4 o’clock, time stopped, and the Mytnik-demons began to torture me. They beat me to death. I don’t know how long I resisted them with prayer. Time stood still. At dawn they retreated."

Father lay broken all that day, feeling the consequences of the night attack.”

But even what saw the light of day during his lifetime already set very serious spiritual guidelines.

Personally, I also asked Father John questions:

– Father, what is the main thing in spiritual life? - you sit down with him on the famous sofa in his cell and let’s pester him.

To the question: what is most important in spiritual life? - Father John answered: “Faith in God’s Providence and reasoning with advice.”

And he prays for a second, looks at the icons and gives the answer:

“Faith in God’s Providence and reasoning with advice,” and after a short pause for you to understand, he explains: “God rules the world, all our trust is in Him.” But it is also impossible to live recklessly at the present time. However, you also need to check your reasoning with the conscience of a loved one or confessor. When these three conditions are met, then we make the right decision, through which the will of God is revealed to us - the wisest and kindest, which, through the Providence of God, leads every person into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now we can already testify to many miracles that happen when we pray to Father John. Fulfilled petitions concern both spiritual life and everyday affairs. You're amazed! People who did not know him even during his lifetime, coming and praying in the caves near the tomb, received both consolation and a solution to their problems.

Because Father John still prays to God.

Acquire the spirit of prayer yourself

Saint John brings orphans to the orphanage

The Holy Fathers say that we all emerge from the baptismal font as saints. And where did we lose this holiness? Every sin, it turns out, ruins the soul. Thus, a devastated person begins to again seek opportunities to partake of the grace of the Holy Spirit. I would like to taste these heavenly fruits again: “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness” (cf. Gal. 5:22). So that you can depart into eternity in peace with everyone and in love for God. But how?!

You know, there is a wonderful episode in the life of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt. He served a prayer service in one house, and then the head of the family, his mother and a little girl approached him. Father John asks the baby, calling her by name:

-What prayer do you know?

- Fi, how boring! – she turned away.

“What are you doing, child,” the saint leaned towards her, “I wish you to acquire the spirit of prayer!”

After the revolution, finding herself in a foreign land, this girl, having matured, remembered the words of Father John of Kronstadt. She began, as soon as the opportunity was given, to go to church, learn to pray, and the inner expanse of the grace of the Holy Spirit opened up for her, when even in the most cramped circumstances of exile and disorder, her soul was light and clear.

By the way, the first patristic book that I consciously read, already as a resident of the monastery, was “My Life in Christ” by the holy righteous John of Kronstadt. I was so shocked then that even today there are miracles associated with the Sacrament of Communion! People are healed and resurrected! I was so inspired by this that I even went to Karpovka, where Father John was buried. I prayed there. Believers were then tracked down, so they had to go to the park next door. I’m sitting, I remember, there on the bench, next to me the domino players are hacking away, and I know I’m praying to myself!

So you’re standing in church, what’s stopping you from repeating to yourself: “Lord, have mercy!”? It is said: “My house will be called a house of prayer” (Mark 11:17). Whether with rosary or without rosary, cry out! In the same way, if you do something, gather your mind: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”!

Venerable Seraphim of Sarov and Nikolai Motovilov

We all know the words of St. Seraphim of Sarov about the acquisition of the Holy Spirit as the goal of Christian life. But if we carefully read his conversation with Nikolai Motovilov, we will dwell on these key words: “Note that only for the sake of Christ does a good deed bring us the fruits of the Holy Spirit.” How will you dedicate each of your deeds to Christ if not through prayer?!

If there is prayer, then no matter what you do, the grace of the Holy Spirit will not leave your heart. Thus, Bishop Alexander (Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky) writes that motherhood is the ability to spiritualize matter and it is expressed not only in the gift of giving birth to children. Let's say the hostess is preparing a meal. How does she feel about this? For one, this is an obligatory curse (and this is a deadly message)... And for another, gathering relatives at the table is like the Eucharist, joint thanksgiving to God; and she cooks with prayer, and before eating food in such a family they pray and at the end of the meal they thank God.

This life is given to us so that we can learn to pray.

If we pray, we are alive. This life is given to us to learn to pray.

The new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church, even in the most inhumane conditions, were saved by prayer. “Our trouble is that we have not taught people to pray,” one of the sufferers, tortured to death, lamented about those remaining in this godless bacchanalia.

Do you know how the elders used to teach how to pray? Here Abba brings his disciple to a huge field overgrown with weeds:

- My brother! Please work hard. I'll come check the work in the evening.

He comes at sunset, and he is sleeping. A dream, by the way, is an image of death given to us already in this life.

- Child, wake up! - the old man wakes him up. - Why didn’t you pull out a single root?!

- Ava! When I saw this field of weeds, to be honest, I became despondent: I lay down and fell asleep. I woke up from the scorching sun, looked again at this monstrously vast field and decided to take a little more sleep...

- My friend! If you had weeded at least the place where you slept, you would have already done a lot.

This whole world is just a visual aid to the processes taking place in our soul. Start praying - and with God’s help, little by little you will master everything.

When a person arrives at the monastery, grace touches the heart - and frees at least a small part of his soul from the power of sin, and then, you see, he himself gets down to business: he speaks, confesses, takes communion.

...And so from Communion to Communion the unstoppable Light will come out to the Lord into His Heavenly Kingdom.

Mikhail Vedernikov about Archimandrite Tikhon (Secretary)

Governor of the Pskov Region Mikhail Vedernikov expressed condolences in connection with the untimely death of Archimandrite Tikhon (Secretaryov). The Pskov Information Agency was informed about this by the press service of the regional administration.

Mikhail Vedernikov noted that Archimandrite Tikhon did a lot for the Pskov region. According to the head of the region, the abbot of the monastery, associate professor of the department of theology at Pskov State University, educator, preacher, writer - in all his guises, he proved himself to be “a faithful servant of his Fatherland and faith, possessing enormous wisdom and life experience.”

“In recent years, struggling with a serious illness, he showed himself to be a courageous and selfless person who, until the last moment, while he had strength left, helped the monastery, did good deeds and continued to take care of his flock. I express my sincere condolences to everyone who knew Father Tikhon, the brethren and parishioners. His good deeds for the benefit of the Pskov land will always live in his memory, along with sadness and sorrow. Eternal memory to him,” added Mikhail Vedernikov.

Biography

Born on January 24, 1955 in the family of a priest in the Moscow region. Father - Archpriest Nikolai Sekretarev. Mother - Nadezhda Vasilievna Sekretareva-Teterina. Both grandfathers of the future archimandrite were priests.

Soon a large family (there were 10 children) moved to the Urals, where he graduated from secondary school.

Entered the Izhevsk Mechanical Institute. But already in his first year, after listening to several lectures on scientific atheism, he decided that this was not suitable for him, a deeply religious person, after which he served in the army from 1973 to 1975.

Since 1976 - in the brethren of the Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. On August 23 of the same year he was tonsured a monk, then on August 28 he was ordained a hierodeacon and on September 19 a hieromonk. He performed successively the obediences of an assistant cellarer and an assistant dean.

In 1985 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary in the correspondence sector.

For about ten years he performed obedience to the dean of the monastery. Since 1992, he passed obedience as a catechist and teacher at the Pskov Theological School.

Since August 17, 1995 - abbot of the Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersky Monastery.

In 2005, he graduated as an external student from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy with a candidate of theology degree for his course work: “Church historical essay on the Pskov-Pechersk Holy Dormition Monastery in the 20th century.”

In January 2009, he participated in the work of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.

On May 21, 2021, after visiting the Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery, Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) submitted a petition in his name to resign as rector of the Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery “for health reasons.”