Pervozvansky Maxim Valerievich

1966

Russian Orthodox Church

Third generation of modernists

San: archpriest

Graduated: MEPhI, MDS

Organizations: Department for Youth Affairs of the Moscow City Diocese

Press: Orthodox Youth Newspaper, Heir (magazine), Father Online, Orthodoxy and the World (Internet portal), Neskuchny Garden (magazine)

Direction: false missionary

,
Orthodox entertainment
Modernism

(December 16, 1966) - representative of mass religion, one of the pioneers of false missionaryism in the Russian Orthodox Church.

education

In 1989 he graduated from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (Department No. 1 - modern name: Department of Radiation Physics and Safety of Nuclear Technologies). He received his second education at MEPhI as an “atheist lecturer” (1985)[1].

In 1989-1992, he worked on assignment at SNIIP (Union Research Institute of Instrument Making). I didn’t defend myself and dropped out of graduate school[2].

In 1993-1995 - teacher-organizer in Orthodox schools, executive secretary of advanced training courses for Orthodox teachers.

From 1993 to 2001, he was the director of the Sunday school of the Novospassky Monastery.

In 2000 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary in absentia.

An excerpt characterizing Pervozvansky, Maxim Valerievich

Along a wide, tree-lined, highwayless road, a tall blue Viennese carriage rode in a row at a brisk trot, its springs slightly rattling. Behind the carriage galloped a retinue and a convoy of Croats. Next to Kutuzov sat an Austrian general in a strange white uniform among the black Russians. The carriage stopped at the shelf. Kutuzov and the Austrian general were talking quietly about something, and Kutuzov smiled slightly, while, stepping heavily, he lowered his foot from the footrest, as if these 2,000 people were not there, who were looking at him and the regimental commander without breathing . A shout of command was heard, and again the regiment trembled with a ringing sound, putting itself on guard. In the dead silence the weak voice of the commander-in-chief was heard. The regiment barked: “We wish you good health, yours!” And again everything froze. At first, Kutuzov stood in one place while the regiment moved; then Kutuzov, next to the white general, on foot, accompanied by his retinue, began to walk along the ranks. By the way the regimental commander saluted the commander-in-chief, glaring at him with his eyes, stretching out and getting closer, how he leaned forward and followed the generals along the ranks, barely maintaining a trembling movement, how he jumped at every word and movement of the commander-in-chief, it was clear that he was fulfilling his duties subordinate with even greater pleasure than the duties of a superior. The regiment, thanks to the rigor and diligence of the regimental commander, was in excellent condition compared to others who came to Braunau at the same time. There were only 217 people who were retarded and sick. And everything was fine, except for the shoes. Kutuzov walked through the ranks, occasionally stopping and speaking a few kind words to the officers whom he knew from the Turkish war, and sometimes to the soldiers. Looking at the shoes, he sadly shook his head several times and pointed them out to the Austrian general with such an expression that he didn’t seem to blame anyone for it, but he couldn’t help but see how bad it was. Each time the regimental commander ran ahead, afraid to miss the commander-in-chief's word regarding the regiment. Behind Kutuzov, at such a distance that any faintly spoken word could be heard, walked about 20 people in his retinue. The gentlemen of the retinue talked among themselves and sometimes laughed. The handsome adjutant walked closest to the commander-in-chief. It was Prince Bolkonsky. Next to him walked his comrade Nesvitsky, a tall staff officer, extremely fat, with a kind and smiling handsome face and moist eyes; Nesvitsky could hardly restrain himself from laughing, excited by the blackish hussar officer walking next to him. The hussar officer, without smiling, without changing the expression of his fixed eyes, looked with a serious face at the back of the regimental commander and imitated his every movement. Every time the regimental commander flinched and bent forward, in exactly the same way, in exactly the same way, the hussar officer flinched and bent forward. Nesvitsky laughed and pushed others to look at the funny man. Kutuzov walked slowly and sluggishly past thousands of eyes that rolled out of their sockets, watching their boss. Having caught up with the 3rd company, he suddenly stopped. The retinue, not anticipating this stop, involuntarily moved towards him. - Ah, Timokhin! - said the commander-in-chief, recognizing the captain with the red nose, who suffered for his blue overcoat. It seemed that it was impossible to stretch out more than Timokhin stretched out, while the regimental commander reprimanded him. But at that moment the commander-in-chief addressed him, the captain stood up straight so that it seemed that if the commander-in-chief had looked at him for a little longer, the captain would not have been able to stand it; and therefore Kutuzov, apparently understanding his position and wishing, on the contrary, all the best for the captain, hastily turned away. A barely noticeable smile ran across Kutuzov’s plump, wound-disfigured face. “Another Izmailovo comrade,” he said. - Brave officer! Are you happy with it? – Kutuzov asked the regimental commander. And the regimental commander, reflected as in a mirror, invisibly to himself, in a hussar officer, shuddered, came forward and answered: “Very pleased, Your Excellency.” “We are all not without weaknesses,” said Kutuzov, smiling and moving away from him. “He had a devotion to Bacchus. The regimental commander was afraid that he was to blame for this, and did not answer anything. The officer at that moment noticed the captain’s face with a red nose and a tucked belly and imitated his face and pose so closely that Nesvitsky could not stop laughing. Kutuzov turned around. It was clear that the officer could control his face as he wanted: the minute Kutuzov turned around, the officer managed to make a grimace, and after that take on the most serious, respectful and innocent expression. The third company was the last, and Kutuzov thought about it, apparently remembering something. Prince Andrei stepped out from his retinue and said quietly in French: “You ordered a reminder of the demoted Dolokhov in this regiment.” -Where is Dolokhov? – asked Kutuzov. Dolokhov, already dressed in a soldier’s gray overcoat, did not wait to be called. The slender figure of a blond soldier with clear blue eyes stepped out from the front. He approached the commander-in-chief and put him on guard. - Claim? – Kutuzov asked, frowning slightly. “This is Dolokhov,” said Prince Andrei. - A! - said Kutuzov. “I hope this lesson will correct you, serve well.” The Lord is merciful. And I will not forget you if you deserve it. Blue, clear eyes looked at the commander-in-chief as defiantly as at the regimental commander, as if with their expression they were tearing apart the veil of convention that so far separated the commander-in-chief from the soldier. “I ask one thing, Your Excellency,” he said in his sonorous, firm, unhurried voice. “Please give me a chance to make amends for my guilt and prove my devotion to the Emperor and Russia.” Kutuzov turned away. The same smile in his eyes flashed across his face as when he turned away from Captain Timokhin. He turned away and winced, as if he wanted to express that everything that Dolokhov told him, and everything that he could tell him, he had known for a long, long time, that all this had already bored him and that all this was not at all what he needed . He turned away and headed towards the stroller.

Blasphemy February 21, 2012

Regarding the blasphemy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in 2012, Fr. Maxim Pervozvansky stated:

It’s not the Church’s place to judge these girls, but, knowing about the upcoming antics, we must try to protect churches from them... I’m not at all close to the position when church people call for punishing someone for a completely secular crime. We must forgive people who do not know what they are doing. I personally forgive them, and on the first day after this incident, in my blog I called for dialogue on both sides. And, by the way, Marat Gelman responded to the statement of the Orthodox youth movement “Georgievtsy”, which called for dialogue between these girls, but the dialogue has not yet taken place.[9].

sources

Priest Maxim Pervozvansky in the magazine “Heir”. — Date of access: 08/18/2017.
Pervozvansky Maxim Valerievich. — Date of access: 08/18/2017.
Least favorite job - a cross or a challenge? — Date of access: 08/18/2017.
O. Maxim Pervozvansky in MK Blogs. — Date of access: 08/18/2017.

Footnotes

VKontakte page of Archpriest Maxim Pervozvansky. — Date of access: 08/18/2017.
M. Pervozvansky. // "Encyclopedia of MEPhI". — Date of access: 08/18/2017.
Information about the parish of the Church of the Forty Sebastian Martyrs in Spasskaya Sloboda (Patriarchal Compound). // Official website of the Central and Southern Vicariates of Moscow (temples of the Intercession Deanery). — Date of access: 08/18/2017.
News and documents of the Russian Orthodox Church. — Date of access: 08/18/2017.
The composition of the commissions under the Diocesan Council of Moscow has been approved // Patriarchia.ru. — 2010. — December 22. — Date of access: 08/18/2017.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill met with the leaders of Orthodox print media // Patriarchy.ru. - 2009. - September 16. — Date of access: 08/18/2017.
The “Father-Online” project was launched on the social network “Vkontakte” // Interfax-Religion. — 2011. — September 6. — Date of access: 08/18/2017.
The first meeting of the Commission on Youth Affairs under the Diocesan Council of Moscow took place in the Moscow Patriarchate. // Patriarchia.ru. - 2008. - February 9. — Date of access: 08/18/2017.
Clergy about a letter in defense of “punk prayer books” // Regions.ru. – 2012. – March 11. – Date of access: 15.5.2017.
“There is no need to ban”: a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church commented on Patriarch Kirill’s statement on abortion // Vadim Radionov’s blog. — 2021. — June 7. – Date of access: 15.6.2019.
The art of the wife: to nag or to inspire? // Orthodoxy and peace. – 2010. – July 23. – Date of access: 13.2.2018.
Choose life // Heir. - 2014. - No. 3. - P. 10.
The awarding of the laureates of the III festival “Faith and Word” took place at the New Jerusalem Monastery. // Patriarchia.ru. / News. - 2008. - November 27. — Date of access: 08/18/2017.

Archpriest Maxim Pervozvansky: “A person is formed in response to difficulties”

Full name: Pervozvansky Maxim Valerievich
Position, regalia: priest, cleric of the Church of the 40 Martyrs in Spasskaya Sloboda; editor-in-chief of the Orthodox youth magazine “Naslednik”; confessor of the youth association “Young Rus'”.
Life credo: “Any or almost any profession can be changed, but the priesthood cannot.”

“I have 9 children, the traditions and rules are the same for everyone, but in the end the children are completely different. And all because different circumstances happen to them in life. It is not holidays and traditions that shape children, but the difficulties that one way or another happen to them in life - their soul reacts in a certain way, and it is through this that a person matures and is formed,” the priest and cleric shares with us his family history and pedagogical secrets Church of the 40 Martyrs in Spasskaya Sloboda; editor-in-chief of the Orthodox youth magazine “Naslednik”; confessor of the youth association “Young Rus'”; master of sports, twice champion of Russia, twice champion of the Armed Forces, coach-teacher at the Rostov Regional School of the Olympic Reserve, Archpriest Maxim Pervozvansky. About how a physicist, an employee of a defense research institute, an “atheist lecturer” came to faith and became a clergyman; how loved ones reacted to the change; about the joys and difficulties of priesthood; about the joys and difficulties of having many children; about the principles of education and the terrible concept of “pedagogical marriage”, about the bias of pedagogy and the uniqueness of everyone’s path - in our material.

— What do you remember most vividly from your childhood?

— I remember my childhood poorly. My childhood was quite simple, Soviet: nursery, kindergarten, school, pioneer camps.

But I was very lucky - my parents were young, I was born when my father was still serving in the army.

— What, in your opinion, are the advantages of young parenthood?

— A lot of strength, enthusiasm, optimism, energy. For example, it’s one thing to play football with your sons at 30, and quite another at 60. A person perceives and behaves completely differently, and feels this world differently.

I remember one of my friends had a brother older than my father: the friend was the youngest child in the family, and his older brother was already 40 years old. This was a shock to me because my father turned 40 while I was in college and getting married.

By the way, my youngest daughter is now 9 years old, and I am over 50. This is a completely different stage of parenthood.

— Do you remember any interesting moments of family leisure?

— Dad was 29 years old when he entered the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia. My childhood memories are full, first of all, of interesting student meetings, when my father’s friends and their children came to visit him.

In addition, my parents and I went on hikes and rented a dacha in the summer in the New Jerusalem area - there we fished and picked mushrooms. My father is an avid mushroom picker (by the way, he still loves to go for mushrooms and then store them for the winter in various ways).

— What did you dream of becoming as a child?

— As a child, I didn’t dream of becoming anyone, and in my adolescence, I dreamed of becoming an astrophysicist, a physicist. Actually, this dream came true.

Physics was a fairly strong hobby of mine: I spent days on end in the library reading popular science and science fiction literature - domestic and foreign.

At the same time, my mother has said all my life that I am a humanitarian. That’s what I eventually became, but 15 years of my life were devoted to natural sciences.

— How did your interest in physics develop into an interest in Christianity?

— This happened in the late 80s - early 90s. I have always had an interest in religion, although I grew up in a non-religious family: this topic was not touched upon in any way in our family - neither positively nor negatively. As in most families of those times, there was no ardent atheism, but neither was religion.

In Soviet times, natural science universities provided the opportunity to receive additional humanitarian education in a wide variety of fields. While studying at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI), I received a second education at the Department of Social Professions, which was formulated as an “atheist lecturer.” True, at that time I was most interested in Zen, since most of the bright pop artists and youth idols - Tsoi, Grebenshchikov, Naumenko - were fond of Zen, so this topic was also very interesting to me.

At the department, we simultaneously studied Christianity, Islam, and much more. By the way, at that time there was very good reference literature on all issues - without ideological bias it was possible to obtain comprehensive information. I still use some Soviet reference books.

When I graduated from university, already in my 5th year, I met believers. An internal process has begun. Previously, I had only external information about Christianity, but suddenly it was superimposed on the lives of real people - physicists just like me, only more experienced and older (candidates, doctors of science), whom I treated with deep respect. Then I realized that Orthodoxy is not just culture and history.

And then the collapse of the Soviet Union happened, a crisis. By that time I was already working at a defense research institute. This institute, fortunately, still exists, and there are many Orthodox people there with whom I maintain relationships.

I then met amazing people who created the Radonezh society - now it combines a radio station, three gymnasiums, a printed publication, and a television and film festival. And it was one of my senior religious colleagues at the research institute who introduced me to the organizers of Radonezh.

I was suddenly offered to do something useful for the Orthodox Church, and, first of all, in the field of religious education. We began to create an Orthodox school and a classical gymnasium "Radonezh", then schools in Krylatskoye and Saburovo.

At the same time, the abbot of the Novospassky Monastery, Archimandrite Alexy (Frolov), who later became the Archbishop of Kostroma and Galich, offered to help me with the work of the Sunday school of the Novospassky Monastery, and then, after taking a closer look, he invited me to become a priest.

— How did you feel when you heard this proposal?

“I, like most people who were not raised in the Church from childhood, was deeply convinced that priests “eat pollen” and that ordinary people do not become priests. Since I considered myself and still consider myself an ordinary person, the offer to become a priest came as a big surprise to me. But after living with this thought for a while, I realized that this proposal completely corresponds to my heart's desires.

— How did your loved ones react to this news?

— They reacted normally: the wife was great, the parents were calm.

In general, it’s worth saying that my parents are amazing people in this regard: they always respected my choice and my aspirations. Any. Well, if I came up with something completely life-threatening, then yes... Although, it seems to me that even in these cases my parents supported me, but they simply tried to minimize the risks. This is perhaps the most important thing that I remember from childhood and for which I am grateful to my parents: a sense of freedom, on the one hand, and a sense of responsibility for decisions made, on the other.

I try to raise my children in the same way. For example, my five older children, who have already graduated from school and decided on a profession, have chosen completely different areas of activity; there is not a single similar direction. Everyone went where their soul lay, and my wife and I only supported them in this.

In this sense, we have no dynastic succession or pre-planned plans for what our children should become.

“Your heart turned to the priesthood.” Tell me, what do you think: are priests born or made?

— As one of the first saints said, Christians are not born, but become. And the priests...

Of course, the word “vocation” exists both in a secular sense and in an ecclesiastical sense: as a person’s dispensation and as a call.

The Holy Scriptures directly say: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). The Lord spoke these words to His disciples, and then through the Apostles to the clergy. Therefore, of course, the Lord calls in the literal sense of the word.

It also happens that a person makes a mistake in his calling and recognizes it incorrectly. But the problem is that any or almost any other profession can be changed, but the priesthood cannot.

— How would you formulate the joys and difficulties of priesthood?

— There are very few professions that directly bring joy to a person. These are the professions of a doctor, a teacher, perhaps a military man, a firefighter or a builder - people who directly see the work of their hands, the result. It is no coincidence that the Lord was a carpenter.

These people also include priests who really see that they can help people.

But the difficulty is that we are not always able to help. In pedagogy, there is a concept that is terrible in its content - “pedagogical marriage.” Unfortunately, even the most talented teacher has this marriage. His percentage is certainly lower than that of an average or poor teacher, but there are still students with whom it did not work out. It’s the same with a priest - it doesn’t always work out, and sometimes it turns out quite the opposite, as in that song about a wizard: “I wanted to make a thunderstorm, but I got a goat.” The priest is also, in a sense, a magician.

I quite often remember the words that I heard from Fr. Peter, abbot of the Kostroma and Galchesk monastery - he was then a monk of the Novospassky Monastery, and I was a priest of the Church of the 40 Martyrs. When he was asked to pray, he humbly said: “My prayers are causing the cows on the neighboring collective farm to die.”

— At the time of your ordination, you were already a father, did you have children?

- Yes, two.

— Did your views on education change in any way after your ordination?

“Nothing changed at that moment, it only changed with age. It seems to me that this is the same transformation that occurs over time and about which they say that a child is raised first by parents, and then by grandparents - there is such a great difference between the methods of raising children, first by young and then by mature parents.

After all, grandparents tend to pamper the child more, they are less strict, because they become increasingly aware of their own powerlessness. You know, there is a joke: “The doctors fought for a long time for the patient’s life, and despite this, he remained alive.” In raising children, this rule also applies very clearly: you often spend colossal efforts on raising children, but as a result, something comes out of them contrary to these efforts - something very good or bad.

With the acquisition of such experience comes the understanding that there is still no direct connection between your upbringing and the final result - i.e. Of course, it exists, but it is very indirect, so you approach education differently.

Well, and, of course, I don’t have so much strength anymore. Not so much physical (even now I can easily run in football!), but emotional.

Now, for example, I often walk my youngest daughter, a second-grader, to school in the morning. Before that, I braid her hair. And I understand that now my eldest daughter already has three children, and I have been braiding these braids for almost 30 years. Of course I'm tired. Braids are still nonsense. It’s hard - it’s the same thing every day. Braids in themselves are not difficult, but when you braid them for 30 years... And again and again forcing the children to get up in the morning, make the bed, brush their teeth, do homework, go to bed on time, etc. All together this is difficult.

I like the example: no matter how much you love cleanliness, but when you don’t have enough strength to maintain it at your favorite level, you quickly come to terms with the fact that the level of cleanliness is decreasing - well, it won’t be so clean, because it’s pointless to grind everything , when half an hour later it will be dirty again.

My youngest daughter is in second grade, but our preschool grandchildren regularly come to visit us, and I understand how our apartment is no longer suitable for them, how much is already in the public domain that they can grab, break, dirty - although it seemed Our house, after so many decades of raising children, should have been completely adapted. Yes, it was so, but after several years without preschoolers, we have already relaxed.

Therefore, our children now, on the one hand, receive something more, but, on the other hand, something less. They already have other parents.

— You have six daughters and three sons. How do you and your mother approach their upbringing? Is there a difference between raising boys and girls?

“I raise girls, mother raises boys, everything is as it should be.” Who do we love if we are traditionally gendered? I love daughters, mother loves boys. Kidding. Naturally, we raise children together.

Of course, dad takes on the male component of upbringing. It’s not the mother who teaches how to saw, plan, hammer nails, endure bruises, react correctly to falls, let girls go ahead, etc. But it is no coincidence that they say that a boy’s first love is his mother, and girls’ first love is their father.

I am convinced that one father or one mother cannot raise children correctly and harmoniously, because it is not so much the person who raises them, but rather the relationship. I believe that children are raised precisely by relationships: between parents, parents to children, to others. Education occurs precisely in joint activity and creativity, when these forms and norms are transmitted and perceived. Not words, but images.

— What other factors, in your opinion, globally influence the formation of a child’s personality?

— They say that culture is a pearl that arises around a grain of sand - some kind of trauma to a shell. Likewise, a person is formed in response to certain mental challenges that happen to him in childhood.

I have 9 children, traditions and rules, of course, are the same for everyone, but in the end the children are completely different. And all because different circumstances happen to them in life. It is not holidays and traditions that shape them, but precisely the difficulties that one way or another happen to them in life - their soul reacts in a certain way, and it is through this that a person matures and is formed.

— Do you manage to pay fatherly attention to children? What is your family leisure time like?

— We ski – regular and mountain skiing, and in the warm season we use bicycles and roller skates. We try to spend all our holidays together - at the dacha or in the south. It so happened that we don’t rest apart. I’m not saying that this is good or bad, I have friends - wonderful families with many children - who, on every possible weekend, try to “place” their children - with grandmothers, with friends, in camps. With us it’s different.

I never rested without my mother, and she never rested without me. Although, again, I know a lot of families who vacation separately too. But our children are always with us.

— Do your children help at worship services? How did the process of churching children go?

— For our children, church life is an integral part of life. We go to church every Sunday, all fasts in the family are observed, we pray in the morning and evening - this does not raise any questions.

— Didn’t situations of stubbornness arise in your adolescence?

— Now one of our daughters, who is 15 years old, goes to another temple, not the one we go to. This expresses her independence - she is not with us, but herself. We travel quite far - to the temple where I serve, and she goes to the one next door to the house and prays alone - not with us. I take it calmly - why not.

In our family, until adolescence, when a person can show his personal responsible will, parents decide everything, and this is not discussed. And since it is not discussed, then the child has no complaints - it’s just a way of life, the norm.

But upon reaching adolescence, options are already possible. But my children did not experience any direct rejection of the Church. What will happen next when they are old, I don’t know.

— Would you like your sons to follow in your footsteps?

— The eldest son studies at the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after Kliment Arkadyevich Timiryazev, goes to church every Sunday, but at the same time he has never shown and does not show a desire to even serve as an altar boy, his maximum is to carry a banner or an icon at the Easter procession.

The second son is in the 9th grade and has been serving as an altar boy for several years now, but it is too early to talk about what his calling is.

— And if he says that he wants to become a priest, will you be happy or will your heart tremble in alarm?

- That's a very difficult question. The reality of life and Church canons are sometimes in conflict. For example, according to the canons, the age of a clergyman is 30 years. It is impossible to become a priest before this age. At 30 years old, he is an independent adult man. But in practice it happens differently, so I will be worried about my son... I understand perfectly well that 20-year-old boys who sometimes become priests are not yet formed people and it is unknown what will come of it.

My path was different. I first received a secular education. However, I was ordained at 28 years old, and not at 30. But at that time I already had two children (a few months later a third was born), experience of secular education, secular work, etc. - quite a long way to go.

But I remember the words of the great Russian teacher - Konstantin Dmitrievich Ushinsky, who at one time said that one of the main internal mistakes of educators is the thought: I was raised / taught this way, and it turned out well, therefore I will be raised this way / teach. And Ushinsky, let me remind you, was one of the first teachers who said that pedagogy is an objective science that needs to be specially studied, and not acted on, focusing on personal experience.

In any case, the ministry of a priest is very responsible and serious. It's better to be safe than sorry. It is no coincidence that pre-revolutionary manuals on how a priest should treat altar servers say that the rector should be strict rather than kind towards them. The same goes for monks. A young man comes to the elder and says that he wants to become a monk. What should an elder or simply an experienced leader say to him? “Get out of here, you fool!” - This is from experienced practice. It is necessary to check how strong the young man’s inner aspiration is.

So I do with my sons: I rather dissuade than persuade.

— What are the joys and difficulties of a large family for you?

— The joy is that there are many of us. I refer your readers to an article by my daughter, Maria Medvedeva, published on the Naslednik.online website - LINK to the material. Reading this material was a great consolation for me. I’m not doing advertising now, I just can’t repeat it. Her feelings from the fact that she was raised in a large family, amazingly, completely coincide with the feelings that arise from a large family for me.

And the difficulty is that there are many of us. Coordinate everything and achieve harmony... Although I never tire of repeating that a large family is to a large extent a self-organizing system, and it is much easier to raise children in a large family.

Interviewed by Yulia Gashchenko

education

An excerpt characterizing Pervozvansky, Maxim Valerievich

Blasphemy February 21, 2012

Links

sources

Archpriest Maxim Pervozvansky: “A person is formed in response to difficulties”