Metropolitan Ignatius (Pologrudov): “I wanted to be just a monk”

Ignatius (Pologrudov)
(born 1956), Metropolitan b. Argentine and South American In the world Sergei Gennadievich Pologrudov, born on March 25, 1956 in the city of Irkutsk.

In 1978 he graduated from the Faculty of Physics of Irkutsk State University, from 1978 to 1980 he served in the ranks of the Soviet Army. In 1980-1983 he worked as an engineer at the East Siberian Energy Institute, and since 1983 he headed the laboratory of medical cybernetics at the All-Union Scientific Center for Surgery.

In 1988 he received holy baptism. In March 1990, he joined the brethren of the Holy Spiritual Monastery in the city of Vilnius. He served as librarian, dean, trustee and confessor of a boarding school in Vilnius.

On April 13, 1992, he was tonsured a monk, and on May 10, he was ordained a hieromonk. In 1992 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary in absentia. In September 1992, he was appointed dean of the Holy Spiritual Monastery.

On November 2, 1997, he was elevated to the rank of abbot.

On March 1, 1998, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

On March 29, 1998, he was consecrated Bishop of Petropavlovsk and Kamchatka.

On February 25, 2007, he was elevated to the rank of archbishop by decree of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy.
In February 2008, the first of the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church started a public online diary (blog):

On March 22, 2011, he was moved to the Khabarovsk and Amur Departments [1].

On May 30 of the same year he was appointed rector of the Khabarovsk Theological Seminary.

On October 6, 2011, he was appointed head of the Amur Metropolis [2].

On October 8, 2011, he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan by Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) of Moscow and All Rus' in the Assumption Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra [3].

On June 3, 2021, he was transferred to the Argentine department [4].

On June 13 of the same year, he was relieved of his post as rector of the Khabarovsk Theological Seminary [5].

On March 11, 2021, he was retired with his residence in Moscow [6].

The future ruler was born in the city of Irkutsk, where he later graduated from the physics department at the university.

Ignatius was born into an ordinary family and had no intention of devoting his life to serving God.

March 25, 1956

on this day the future Bishop Ignatius was born in the city of Irkutsk

Bishop was born on March 25, 1956 in the city of Irkutsk. After graduating from school, he entered Irkutsk State University at the Faculty of Physics.

Graduated in 1978, he began to serve with the rank of lieutenant in the Armed Forces in the Baltic Military District.

From 1980 to 1983, he worked as an engineer at the electronic computing center of the East Siberian Energy Institute.

From 1983 to 1990, he became the head of the laboratory of medical cybernetics at the All-Union Scientific Center for Surgery.

In 1998, Ignatius decided to accept the Sacrament of Baptism in Lake Baikal

In 1998, he decided to be baptized in Lake Baikal. He came to the Orthodox faith under the influence of Archbishop Chrysostomos.

At that time, Ignatius was 32 years old, he remembers under whose influence he then decided to accept the Sacrament of Baptism.

“...This was the beginning of perestroika. Many flocked to the Church, including me. Then the Irkutsk diocese was headed by Archbishop - now Metropolitan - Chrysostomos...” “Hearing his sermons, I was amazed...”

Chrysostom is a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, currently retired.
It was he who influenced Bishop Ignatius to accept baptism and devote his life to the Lord. Following him, Ignatius left Siberia for the Holy Spirit Monastery.

In 1990, Ignatius moved to Lithuania and entered the brethren of the Holy Spirit Monastery in the city of Vilnius. There he served as a librarian, as well as a trustee and confessor of a boarding school.

This is what the Holy Spirit Monastery looks like in Vilnius. It was here that the future Bishop Ignatius moved after Irkutsk, here he performed his obediences and was elevated to the rank of deacon for the first time

Notes

1. [www.pravoslavie.ru/news/8271.htm The submarine "St. George the Victorious" returned from repair].
2. [www.rusk.ru/st.php?idar=320741 Appeal of the Far Eastern Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church to the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin]
3. [taday.ru/text/122851.html Mission at the end of the world]
4. [www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/1434932.html The Holy Synod appointed new ruling bishops to a number of departments of the Russian Orthodox Church]
5. [www.nvksakha.info/news/2547/ A new administrator of the Peter and Paul and Kamchatka Orthodox Diocese has been appointed]
6. [www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/1641775.html His Holiness Patriarch Kirill elevated a number of bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church to the rank of metropolitan]
7. Information department of the Khabarovsk diocese.
   [pravostok.ru/blog/mitropolit-ignatijj-stal-kandidatom-psikhologicheskikh-nauk/ “The Most Eastern”, portal of the Khabarovsk diocese]. Information Department of the Khabarovsk Diocese (November 28, 2014).
8. [www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/4486294.html JOURNALS of the meeting of the Holy Synod of June 3, 2021]
9. mission-southamerica.rf/news/buenos-aires-met-new-metropolitan.html
10. [archive.is/20120906173230/www.pravoteka.ru/pst/1058/528912.html Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of December 28, 2000 No. 2104]
11. [www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/107850.html Patriarchal congratulations to Bishop Ignatius of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka on his 50th birthday]
12. [www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/1278653.html His Holiness Patriarch Kirill performed the rite of great consecration of the Trinity Cathedral in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky]

In 2008, Bishop Ignatius was the first of the bishops to create his own blog

On February 8, 2008, he became one of the bishops who created his own blog.

Personal blog of Metropolitan Ignatius of Argentina and South America

On April 5 of the same year, he celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the North Pole. Also, a little later, he joined a polar expedition, the route of which passed through Murmansk.

After 9 years of ministry, Ignatius returned to his homeland to begin ministry in the Far East.

But, on March 22, 2011, he was appointed Archbishop of Khabarovsk and Amur. In many interviews about his transfer to Khabarovsk, Ignatius said how unexpected the move was for him.

Then he said that he was very sorry to leave Kamchatka, but, apparently, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill knew better. He also noted that for him Kamchatka is a territory where constant earthquakes and magnetic storms, scale winds and snow up to the windows of the second floors occur.

But he trusted in the will of the Lord and went.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' is a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2011, he transferred Bishop Ignatius to Kamchatka, which came as a big surprise to him

In the same year he was elevated to metropolitan.

In November 2014, Metropolitan Ignatius of Khabarovsk and Amur Region defended his dissertation for the degree of candidate of psychological sciences.

On June 3, 2021, Ignatius of Amur was appointed Metropolitan of Argentina and South America.

He was awarded the secular medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, second degree, which he received for his great contribution to strengthening civil peace and the revival of spiritual and moral traditions.

As well as the Church Order of St. Innocent of the second degree and the Order of the Holy Blessed Prince Daniel of Moscow of the second degree.

Archpastor. With Metropolitan Ignatius

In the Moscow studio of our TV channel, Metropolitan Ignatius of Argentina and South America answers questions from viewers. – Vladyka, today we have an unusual topic: on the one hand, the feast of the Entry of the Mother of God into the temple, on the other hand, the birthday of the border troops.
Tell me, what is the connection between these two topics? – The connection is direct, because in the 18th century it was on this day that the Emperor signed a decree on the creation of the first border guard corps. This is how our border troops officially came into being. But they existed before. It all started, perhaps, even with the famous heroes depicted in Vasnetsov’s painting. Officially, the border troops began to exist precisely after the signing of the decree. I learned about this not by chance, but from the border guards themselves. All my dioceses, before the Argentine one, were border ones. Kamchatka in the south has a maritime border with Japan, Khabarovsk Territory has a huge border with China.

To my joy, I had to spend a lot of time and effort on establishing relationships with the border guards: with the leadership, with the officers, and with the enlisted personnel - warrant officers, midshipmen. Because border guards are both sea and land borders. So they just told me that December 4 is their professional military holiday, and they told me why. These troops honor this holiday in a special way. The tradition that began then continues today. The exception is the seventy years of the Soviet period. Border guards always come to church from the very early morning and attend the Divine Liturgy. Then, in agreement with me and the priests in Khabarovsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, they serve a prayer service, and the bishop or clergy sings a prayer service for our border troops.

“And, probably, they honor the Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple in a special way.”

- Yes. Well, judge for yourself. In the morning they are not at the unit, not at the table, in the morning they do not indulge in other activities, festive events, ceremonial sessions, meetings, but go to the temple. Then, of course, everything is as it should be in military terms, according to the military regulations, but first of all - to the temple. In general, I can testify to how internally border guards are inclined to believe. This is probably correct, because a border guard is a person who is on the border of two states, and even two peoples, and even two civilizations. Behind him is what he protects, protects: his country, his people, his history. Ahead are completely different people, different relationships, another civilization. Perhaps such a position and such service internally make a demand for the border guard to be stronger in his love, faith, and commitment to the Motherland. You know, before the revolution, a non-commissioned officer of the border troops had to pass twelve exams before he was awarded this rank. The first in importance and number was the exam on the Law of God. It's clear why.

– There must be strong faith.

– So that there is strong faith, a strong spirit, a solid spiritual core, which only faith can give. This is the connection that arose in that distant time and which, as soon as the opportunity arose after the fall of the Soviet system, its disappearance, they instantly revived, no one forced them. They told me that they have a tradition of spending the morning of this holiday in the temple; I didn’t impose it on them.

– Your service is also borderline.

- Yes, two departments, two dioceses - these are border dioceses, here and there we collaborated a lot with the border guards, and, I’ll say right away, it was their initiative. These were a variety of forms of cooperation. For example, in Kamchatka we created the first ship temple. This is a temple on a ship, which was called “Kamchatka”. It was a huge ship, and a temple was created on it. In the Khabarovsk Territory, a detachment of our Khabarovsk border guards invited me to Makhachkala so that I could see how they live, get to know these guys more closely, and spiritually contribute to their strengthening. Then the guys had a meeting, they gathered to talk, and one of them said: “You know, I’m not baptized. Can I be baptized?” I replied: “Please. Who else wants to be baptized?” They wanted sixty more people. Where to baptize such a large number? Two days later, after undergoing catechesis and the announcement (they came to classes and listened attentively), we went to the shore of the Caspian Sea. The weather was beautiful, the water was warm. We performed the rite of Baptism of our soldiers standing on the borders of the Russian Fatherland, and first I consecrated the Caspian Sea. That's where they were baptized. This is the connection, this is the tradition that they honor. And they do it right.

– Another event is connected with the holiday in time - this is the Council of Bishops, which recently ended. Could you tell us about him, his decisions?

– Imagine that the Councils of Bishops are held in a very tense working atmosphere. Every day we leave the hotel at seven o'clock in the morning. Every day we return there at eight o'clock in the evening. Every day is a Cathedral. This is despite the fact that during the inter-council period, commissions of the Inter-Council Presence work, which send questions to all dioceses, work is underway in the dioceses to create documents, clergy gather in the dioceses, and lay people who understand this or that issue gather. Some proposals are formulated clearly and sent to the Council Presence Commission. She collects proposals, she works on them, she continues her activities. Then all this is brought to the Council - and at the Council the work is still completed. Imagine how, with a conciliar mind, the entire Church, not just the Council of Bishops, but the entire Church clearly formulates certain provisions, certain directions. They create certain documents by which we will live. And it is right. Such responsibility lies with the Church for its own life. She lives up to this responsibility.

So, hard work as always; As always, the documents are perfectly prepared. A very, I would say, interesting and vibrant discussion of almost every document. Therefore, a lot could be said about each. Each could be discussed even longer than it was discussed at the Council. There is a very interesting discussion going on, not like in the Communist Party - everyone is in favor. No. There are discussions, disputes, proposals are made, proposals are rejected. Intensive work is underway. If this could be done, it would be interesting to see at least a fragment of a discussion of some document, how this all happens. It is very interesting.

I would probably draw your attention to two documents, and there were many of them. Let's say the first document is about monasticism. The document was prepared over seven years of continuous work. This is correct, because monasticism is the spiritual vanguard of our Church. A very correct proverb: “The light of the laity is monks, the light of monks are angels.” Russian people have always had a great interest in monasticism. A monk is a person who has always had enormous internal authority among Russian Orthodox believers. Where did people go first to receive instruction and edification? To the monastery, of course. Where were our brightest spiritual personalities? In monasteries. Seraphim of Sarov, the Optina elders, Sergius of Radonezh - all were monks.

On the other hand, seventy years of godless regime interrupted this tradition. Education is not enough for it to recover. Something else is needed, you need to live in a monastery and again and again, through your labors, prayer, obedience, humility, and patience, create and recreate the monastic image within yourself. It is impossible to do this without the right leadership – both spiritual and church-wide. That is why the Church worked for seven long years on a document on monasticism. It says a lot: what the monastic leadership of the monastery should be like, what the abbot should do, what the dean should do, what the housekeeper should do, how relationships should be built. Particular attention was paid to female monasticism. Before this, works, statutes, some instructions, edifications were written, but those who wrote them had in mind primarily male monasticism. They also wrote about female monasticism, but mainly in connection with famous abbess, for example Abbess Taisia ​​(we had one); Arsenia is also a wonderful abbess. They wrote about them - and at the same time about female monasticism. This document talks about him too.

Interesting document, bright. It was created by the monks themselves. For example, it was discussed: to appoint an abbot or to choose. There were compelling arguments here and there. The Council came to a very specific conclusion. I won’t say which one, you can read for yourself.

– What about the laity in accordance with the Council? What decisions, documents?

– The laity is the basis of our Church, therefore at each Council a large number of documents concerning the laity are and have been adopted. For example, a document on how to prepare people for baptism. Document "The Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church." There are the main provisions of various aspects of church life, they are mainly addressed to the laity. Well, and much more. The life of a layman differs from the life of a monk primarily in that a monk is alone, a layman has a family. At this Council, a document was adopted that directly concerns the Orthodox family: the relationship between husband and wife, attitude towards children, in which case a marriage can be considered non-existent, what are the signs that a marriage no longer exists.

I was struck by its correctness, as always, by the remark of His Holiness the Patriarch, who said: “My friends, brothers, you and I sometimes use the expression “church divorce,” and people come to us in order to get a divorce. But “what God has joined together, let no man separate.” Man cannot undo what God has done. Therefore, pay attention to the correct formulation of the question.”

We do not divorce in church marriages. With very careful consideration and prayers, the bishop may come to the conclusion that marriage no longer exists: the people themselves, through their efforts or lack of efforts to strengthen the marriage, have destroyed this marriage. We can only state this fact. But for this, the bishop who is doing this needs to work hard (the only person in the diocese who can tell this to people: no, you are no longer husband and wife; what the Lord gave you in the sacrament of the Wedding, you have destroyed, destroyed). It’s hard, it’s sad, but sometimes you have to say it. There is a whole document dedicated to this, you should read it.

– Where can I read it?

– All the documents that were adopted at the Council have already been published on the website of the Moscow Patriarchate. I recommend to read.

– I think our TV viewers are interested.

- Hope.

– Question from a TV viewer from the Moscow region: “Every Saturday and Sunday I go to church and take communion every Sunday. Some parishioners in the church tell me that it is impossible to receive communion so often. But I can’t do that, because if I didn’t take communion, it’s as if I wasn’t even in church. Second question: now is Lent, I fast, read morning prayers, the Gospel, the Apostle, and read kathismas in the afternoon. Am I doing the right thing or wrong?”

– You said that you often go to church, that every Sunday you strive for Communion, and if you haven’t received Communion, you feel like you’ve lost something. This is a good feeling - your soul, your spirit says that you need to take communion, that it attracts you there. But I was a little confused by your words: “some parishioners in the church say that there is no need to take communion so often.” Churchgoers can say whatever they want, they can say the right things and they can be wrong. Therefore, the Lord gave us in the church for leadership not parishioners, but spiritual mentors, who are the clergy. Therefore, I would sincerely advise you to approach the priest with this bewilderment, to whom you confess before each Communion, and ask him about it.

Of course, you can ask me about this. And they did the right thing by asking. But how much and how often to receive Communion, as well as how to prepare for Communion and how to then spend the day after Communion are very important questions. As the Apostle Paul says, he who receives communion unworthily, without preparation, receives communion to his own judgment. Not for salvation, but for judgment. I could answer your question, but I won’t do this because I don’t know you. In order to answer your question correctly, I need to get to know you better. Not just to hear your question and listen to your voice, but to get to know you, talk to you, confess you, look you in the eyes, see what you were like before Communion and what you were like after leaving Communion. This is very important to me as a pastor. Therefore, all this can be done by a clergyman - your priest. Go to the one who confesses you and ask him this question. If you confess often, he knows you very well and will give you real, wise advice.

I think the same should be done regarding prayer. What is prayer? Prayer is, of course, a conversation with God. I communicate with the Lord. I can communicate without opening my lips, mentally. I can open my heart before the Lord and stand before Him - this is also prayer. “I stand before You, my heart is open,” we read these words in one prayer. I can use the texts that the Bible gives us, the Psalter. I can read morning and evening prayers. But, as you and I know, this is also always a rule, some specific skills, certain tips, recommendations that we follow when performing prayer. For example, you should never start a prayer without preparing: concentrate, wait until “your feelings come to silence” - this phrase is in the prayer book. Remember who you are standing in front of now, what you will say. The second rule is never rush when praying, immerse your mind in the words of prayer, give all your attention to prayer. And one more rule - never leave your home iconostasis immediately after finishing the prayer. Wait a few minutes and let the prayer take root. These are the rules.

But how much, what and when to read – these questions can be most correctly answered by your clergyman, your priest. That’s why he is a father, and you are his child. Why does the father exist? In order to educate. And the priest is there to educate spiritually. Therefore, do not hesitate, ask and you will receive a comprehensive answer, I have no doubt.

– Thank you, sir, for your detailed answer. Please tell us about your ministry in South America. What are the main directions of your activity?

– South America has its own specifics, and very large ones – these are continental specifics, national specifics, ecclesiological specifics, that is, church specifics. The church there is in completely different conditions than here. Let’s say we don’t have such a phenomenon - we hardly deal with the issue of teaching “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” in schools. Here it is said and discussed everywhere, it is already being introduced in schools. We practically don't have this.

Here our army and the Church work together in order to strengthen the military spirit. There, the Russian Orthodox Church is unlikely to be able to work in the Argentine army, and so on. There are specific features, but there are also directions that are developing both here and in Argentina, as I believe, equally successfully and which are commanded to us by our hierarchy - the Councils of Bishops, the Holy Synod and the Most Holy Patriarch himself. Let's say our activities in the Internet space. Just like in Russia, the youth of South America are all on the Internet, all on social networks. What is it like to spend time on social networks? There can be great benefit from this, but there can also be great harm, and our pastoral task is to ensure that as many young people as possible benefit from this. For this we will be responsible before God. After all, when the Lord said “go and teach all nations,” He did not say: go anywhere, but not to the Internet. He didn’t say that, which means we have to go anywhere and everywhere. “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them.” And on the Internet there are not two or three, but entire continents, countries, all young people. Therefore, we must work there too.

Most recently, we managed to complete the formation of the Internet structure of our diocese - we have a powerful portal that is the heart of this structure. It is Russian-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and now we are finishing the Portuguese-speaking one for Brazil. First of all, this is a huge library in Spanish that you can read or download. This is our YouTube channel - once a month each parish makes its own video and puts it on YouTube. The priests make interesting videos. Moreover, when we started, many were afraid of it and didn’t want to, but now they’ve gotten the hang of it, and some people do it professionally. And most importantly, they began to get carried away by this - talking about the parish, about the temple, talking about themselves, why not? The video is filmed via the phone and a little formatted: captions; maybe a couple of pictures, drawings; title, beginning, end.

Our TV channel offers our compatriots abroad what they are accustomed to here - personal communication with a priest. Our Orthodox Church has this peculiarity. I would say that Protestants practically do not have such personal communication eye to eye: priest and spiritual child. They are all speakers, they love to speak in stadiums and address large crowds, but for us it’s individual. How can we communicate in person if there are only a few of us there, and our diaspora is large? You won't meet everyone. And we made a large section on the portal called “Talk to the priest” (like we have “Conversations with the priest”). There we collect questions that are most often asked to the priest, post the answers to them, and this is one of the most visited parts of our portal. We collect questions that come to us and post answers to them.

We also have a whole photo archive, there is a section where articles on modern Orthodox topics are collected, even like this: “The Church on modern challenges.” And I would say: calls. A library is books, some fundamental knowledge: the history of the Church, the New Testament, the Old Testament, their interpretations, and so on. And these are topical articles. This is the center.

As I already said, we have two channels: Instagram and YouTube. These are very popular channels, where there are also a lot of people. We have already formed YouTube, we are forming Instagram. We have an extensive network of pages on Facebook. Facebook is the most visited and popular network in Latin America. Both our priests and our parishes maintain their own pages. I also have my own page, and somewhere around 700 friends, despite the fact that I don’t accept everyone as friends, only those who really have a great desire. I also lead two groups, and our parishioners also lead groups; we have about 250 pages on Facebook: both personal and parish; some have their own groups.

I formed two of my own groups, one “La iglesia ortodoxa”, where we talk about Orthodox spirituality. It turns out that many Protestants in Latin America are interested in our spirituality, believing that they do not have it. There are reasoning, reflection, there is analysis, that is, rationalization of spiritual life, but there is no spiritual life itself - I often hear such statements. And the second group is “La vida espiritual”, where people can learn about the basics of Orthodox spirituality. And do you know what they ask me? How to pray the Jesus Prayer. This is what Protestants ask. I made several videos, posted them, and they listened. They ask what pride is. After all, among Protestants, the concept of pride is practically absent: I am baptized, which means I am saved... This is one hundred percent pride. How is it that I am saved? I am a saint unmistakably. But people understand that this is not so. We read somewhere: “pride” - “I feel it in myself, but I don’t know anything about it, our Protestant literature says nothing about it.” I have to explain what pride is, and I do it with pleasure.

– So people experience spiritual thirst?

– A thirst that does not receive satisfaction in their image and likeness of God, so they turn to us.

– Question from a TV viewer: “Hello, dear Bishop Ignatius! Sergey Vasilievich Yarkin speaks. I am very glad to see you".

- ABOUT! Sergey Vasilevich! And I’m so glad! Not expected.

“Thank you very much for everything you have done and for what you are doing, for all your wonderful thoughts, wonderful radiance. I watch you on television with great pleasure, and I remember “our transition”: all the things you did completely changed the crew, the sailors were drawn to you. I remember one more moment - visiting the temple in Kamchatka that you built. You left such a wonderful mark behind you!”

– Sergey Vasilyevich, first of all, God bless you for calling, I’m happy to hear your voice. Don't get lost, please. Find my page on Facebook, which is called “Metropolitan Ignatius”, there is my phone number and email address, write, let’s get in touch. Blessings to you and your family.

This was Sergei Vasilyevich Yarkin - captain 1st rank, commander of the nuclear submarine "Tomsk", which made an unprecedented transition from the shores of Western Litsa to the shores of Kamchatka; they walked for a month. I was also accepted into their crew, I was there too. Sergei Vasilyevich, since we are great friends, praised me excessively, even overpraised me. It was a most interesting transition. Sergei Vasilyevich is a wonderful, amazing person, a supreme professional who knows how to control himself perfectly; when necessary, he knows how to joke. The crew fell in love with him due to his human qualities. This transition - autonomous navigation under ice - went off without a hitch, although it was dangerous. There are two places there called trenches, where the boat goes with its bottom along the ocean floor, and at this time the wheelhouse almost touches the ice, that is, the boat goes in such a narrow corridor. In general, submariners are amazing people who know how to make friends, how to help and support, who, while on an autonomous voyage, become family.

– Vladyka, tell us about the online seminary.

– That’s what we called our courses on studying the foundations of the Orthodox faith. When we began to expand into the Internet space, of course, we received a huge number of questions. Moreover, some questions repeated each other, and some were in development, and we noticed that there are quite a lot of people who, coming to our pages, are already beginning to ask questions that indicate their internal development: they have already learned something, something... then I'm more and more interested. And our priests and I came to the conclusion that we need to create such courses.

We made an announcement on Facebook that there would be such courses, and 30 people signed up for the first group. Classes have started. A short time passes - another 30 people. We created a second group. We took four main subjects - Holy Scripture, catechism, Church history and a discipline that I called “Fundamentals of Spiritual Life”: we talked about prayer, confession, and human life in the Church. Literally before I left for Moscow, we completed the first year of these classes. All participants expressed a desire to continue. Now we are preparing the second course.

We are currently preparing a fairly large separate portal. We have a distance learning system, we meet twice a week and talk for two hours on Skype.

- In Spanish?

- Yes, in Spanish. Unfortunately, we can't speak Portuguese because most of the listeners are Spanish speakers, but the Portuguese understand Spanish very well.

On the other hand, why “unfortunately, in Spanish”? Because most of our listeners are our compatriots, children of our compatriots who live in South America and no longer speak Russian. That's why we teach classes in Spanish.

– You started talking about youth. Could you tell us more about the youth of South America, how they differ from Russian youth? What are the similarities and what are the differences?

– First of all, these are, as everywhere else, young people who are searching: they are looking for themselves, their place in life, they are looking for those people with whom they could make their life’s journey. Our guys have the same problems, and thank God they exist. On the other hand, they also have their differences - they are people who are much more temperamental, more explosive, that’s their mentality.

They differ from our youth in that in almost no Latin American country there was a period when people lived outside the Church or without it. Therefore, deep down, these are deeply religious people. They may not be church members, but they are believers. This soil, which the Catholic Church has been preparing for many, many centuries, makes itself felt by respect for the priest, respect for the Church. I see. A young man enters a church, and he immediately changes internally, something very important happens in him.

I would also say that Latinos are more free to communicate with each other. Both between young people and older people. Here’s an example: a young man met an older man for the first time, they started talking about some topic, and after five minutes they were already on first-name terms. This is considered natural and normal, and they do not see any familiarity in this. This is fine. This distance, the psychological barrier, disappears quite quickly. They don't have a barrier, I've never seen anything like that.

Another difference is the degree of confidence in one's future life. They are much less confident about this than our youth. What exactly do I want to say? Governments have recently changed in a number of South American countries. Some of them adopted a pro-American position. Let's say, in Brazil, as far as I know, several large companies were sold to other countries, and big internal changes took place: job loss and so on... And many young people, knowing this - some Latin American countries have been in an economic crisis for a long time - still act study. You can study everywhere: in each city there are several universities; and the level of education is quite high. For example, in Brazil, in Sao Paulo, in Rio de Janeiro (I was there and gave lectures), universities are of a fairly high level. But people don’t know where they will work and whether they will be in demand by society. They don't know if they can support themselves and their family.

– That is, we do not value the confidence that we have.

– Yes, we look into the future much more confidently. Our Fatherland provides us with such opportunities.

“We probably don’t yet appreciate the fact that we can freely go to church without any barriers.” You say that the Russians there have already forgotten the Russian language and speak Spanish, but we can feel much freer.

– Yes, in churches services are held in our native language.

– What is the main difficulty of your ministry in South America and what is the main joy?

– The difficulty, probably, lies in the fact that the diocese is huge in territory - it is an entire continent, we have few churches, only 26, they are distributed throughout South America and are located at enormous distances from each other and in different countries. Therefore, as a pastor, I have to make great efforts to constantly communicate with my fellow clergy, our parishioners. Of course, we hold Skype meetings every week, but communicating in person is much better and more useful. Therefore, the pastoral trips that I carry out throughout South America require a lot of effort. This is quite difficult, since I am already in my seventies.

There are not many of us, we work mainly with our Russian diaspora, which came from Russia. There are not only Russians there, but also Ukrainians and Belarusians. It’s difficult for us, because the specificity of the diaspora is that each subsequent generation denied the previous one and, conversely, each previous one denied the subsequent one. Let's say, for those who came there after the revolution, all those who came after were “red”, because they came from Soviet Russia, it was such a cliche. Now this is being smoothed out, but it happened. People were forced to flee Russia after the war, because, having returned to the Stalinist regime, at best they would have ended up in Chukotka or Magadan, at worst they would have been shot as enemies of the people: they were treated like Vlasovites, ROA. This feature of our diaspora still prevents us from living unitedly, feeling like compatriots abroad, and being a united family.

However, my fellow bishops who worked before me, and I, to the best of our abilities, are trying to do everything to ensure that Russians in South America remain Russian and feel like they are in their homeland. And for this you need to be internally disposed towards each other, have an internal connection; There must be love between us Christians. But this is perhaps difficult.

And there is a lot of joy, every day there is joy. First, because I have the opportunity to do what the Lord has called me to do, which is my pastoral ministry. We have churches, we have believers. We can serve the Divine Liturgy every day. Every day we are with the Lord. Every day in our Church. This is happiness that is difficult to describe and overestimate; only a person who lives in the Church can understand it.

– Thank you very much, Vladyka, for the conversation. Our broadcast time has come to an end, bless our viewers.

– Thank you, dear TV viewers, for being with us today. It was very pleasant for me, albeit through video cameras, to feel your presence and contact you. Thank you for your questions. Thank you, Denis, for our joint conversation. And the blessing of God in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Presenter Denis Beresnev

Recorded by Ksenia Sosnovskaya