Description of the Church of the Intercession in Marienburg in the city of Gatchina. Intercession Church in Marienburg Intercession Church in Marienburg

The Church of the Intercession in Marienburg, remarkable for its beauty, was built in 1885-1888. in the Moscow style of the 17th century, designed by academician D.I. Grimm and architect I.A. Stefanits. Before the revolution, the church belonged to the court department, as it was intended for the rangers of the imperial hunt. The fairly dilapidated houses of the former Jaeger settlement still stand not far from the temple. Design and construction were carried out under the direct supervision of Emperor Alexander III, who made Gatchina his favorite residence. Approving the project in 1885, the emperor himself indicated the location of the future church and paid for its construction and decoration. In December of the same year, excavation work began. Six months later, the foundation was ready, and on May 25, 1886, the ceremonial laying of the Intercession Church took place.

Construction proceeded very quickly. 46 thousand red, 20.5 thousand facing and 6.6 thousand patterned bricks were used on the walls. The St. Petersburg workshop of K. O. Guidi made carved decorative elements from local Chernets slabs. In just one year, the temple was roughly built and roofed. In the summer of 1887, plasterers began work on the interior, and masons began building the tent. The capital's San Galli factory supplied the frames for the domes, cast iron columns for the interior and 7 gilded iron crosses. The bells for the belfry were cast by the Marienburg copper foundry of A. S. Lavrov, the floor was covered with slabs brought from the cement-concrete production of V. V. Gurtler. For preservation, all external stone parts were plastered, and the walls were painted to match the color of the brick. In the fall of 1887, workers from the furniture and carpentry factory of E. Schrader installed a high carved three-tiered iconostasis in the church under the “old oak” look, gilded in places. The image for the iconostasis was painted on zinc by the talented Moscow icon painter N. M. Safonov, who in the fall of 1888 personally installed 24 icons in the iconostasis, painted on a gold background with oil paints. The same artist executed two altar images. The interior painting was done in the Byzantine style by the painter P. Fischer. Expensive utensils made of gilded silver and bronze were purchased from the store of V. E. Sytov’s factory and V. A. Myasoedov’s workshop. A bronze chandelier was delivered from the Gatchina Palace - a gift from the emperor. ...And so - November 20, 1888. A month after the miraculous rescue of the imperial family during a train crash near the station. Borki near Kharkov, which shook the whole of Russia, the consecration took place in the Highest presence of the “Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Imperial Hunt in Yegerskaya Sloboda”. An interesting report about it was published then by the capital’s newspaper “Government Bulletin”, where it was noted that “the church has a very beautiful appearance " The consecration of the temple, as well as its foundation, was carried out “in a meeting with the court Gatchina clergy by Protopresbyter I. L. Yanyshev in the presence of the imperial family and retinue.” Before the revolution, the rectors of the Church of the Intercession were Archpriests Nikolai Kedrinsky, Vasily Levitsky, Ioann Orlov, Vasily Brenev and Alexei Livansky. Archpriest Vasily Levitsky had the opportunity to work especially hard here, who served for 20 years in the Gatchina Cathedral and almost the same amount in the Church of the Intercession in Marienburg, behind whose altar he was buried. The great righteous man of the Russian land, Fr. John of Kronstadt knew and loved Fr. Vasily and, according to some information, served with him on the patronal feast day in the Marienburg Church.

Internal view of the church in the 1950-1960s The Church of the Intercession in the 20th century passed through times of prosperity and turmoil, joy and tragedy. With the closure of the temple in 1932, all its rich decoration was looted and destroyed. It seemed that the bell ringing, which had been ringing over the settlement for almost half a century, had ceased forever. The Great Patriotic War broke out... As you know, the Germans themselves did not open churches, but they did not object if residents approached them with such a request. Such a request was made to the occupation authorities of Gatchina in 1942, and the Intercession Church was opened. An iconostasis was temporarily built in it, and believers collected icons and utensils from different places. The people of Marienburg begged Fr. Vasily Apraksin, who worked after six years of exile in the secular service in Pushkin. After the liberation of Marienburg from the Germans, Fr. Vasily served quietly for another year in the Intercession Church. In 1945, on the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation, he was arrested again. Returning from prison at the age of 70, he was rehabilitated, but was able to work only as regent in Marienburg, and from 1956 - in St. Paul's Cathedral in Gatchina. After the Great Patriotic War, Archpriest Peter Belavsky (died in 1983), who was ordained a priest by Metropolitan Veniamin of Petrograd in 1920, worked the most in the revived church. Father Peter served here for more than 30 years. After the arrest of Fr. Vasily Apraksin, the parishioners again began to look for the priest, who turned out to be Fr. Nikolai Telyatnikov, also ordained before the revolution. They found him in Krasnoe Selo, where he worked as a watchman. Then, until 1955, the church was replaced by several more priests, about whom, alas, very little is known: Archpriest Vyacheslav Verigin, Archpriest Anatoly Kamenev (who was a deacon in the Church of the St. George Community of the Red Cross in Petrograd before the revolution and served until 1935 in Russko -Estonian Church of Gatchina), Fr. John Andreev. When Fr. Anatolia, the temporary iconostasis was replaced by a permanent one, transferred from the church of the Leningrad Theological Academy. Many residents remember Fr. well. Peter Belavsky. Archpriest Peter Belavsky was awarded many church awards, including the miter and patriarchal cross, and was awarded the Order of St. book Vladimir and Rev. Sergius II degree. Fr. passed away. Peter on March 30, 1983, three months after his 90th birthday. The priest, respected by the Marienburg residents, is buried in the church fence near the altar. Further, the rectors of the Intercession Church were Archimandrite Kirill (Nachis) (1976-1988), Hegumen Alexy (Makrinov) (1988-1991), Hieromonk Nikita (Markov) - now the dean of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Since 1996, the rector of the temple has been Archpriest Anatoly Pavlenko. He talks with pleasure about the temple, about the shrines of the church - the miraculous icon of the Mother of God "Seeking the Lost", about Golgotha, on which he himself and many parishioners observed the flow of myrrh, about the icon of the Savior donated from Kronstadt (Fr. John of Kronstadt served in St. Andrew's Cathedral of the city ), about Sunday school for children and adults, about burials on the territory of the church, about the unrealized project of Emperor Paul - the monastery of St. Charalampios, the foundations of which are located nearby on the banks of the Kolpanka River... Every year the number of parishioners of the Church of the Intercession increases, it is joyful that they come Young people come to the church, so the parish has a future.

Marienburg. Church of the Intercession

Gatchina. Intercession Cathedral

Gatchina. Pavlovsk Cathedral

Gatchina - Marienburg - Kurkovitsy

Cost - 1500 rub.

The trip price includes:

Transport service
. accompanied by an Orthodox guide

Since time immemorial, the Russian people, sacredly believing in the all-powerful help of the Most Holy God, have adopted or She has the name “Calling for the lost”, as the next-to-be-re-living, the-after-her-de-de-de- gi-ba-yu-shih people. In Marienburg, in the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God, a copy of the Samara image “Recovery of the Dead” is kept. This icon was created in 1888 by the nuns of the Rakovsky convent. On the eve of the celebration of the day of remembrance of the image in February 1994, this icon began to stream myrrh.

Trip program:

Departure from Moskovsky pr. 189

Marienburg. Church of the Intercession. The church was built at the end of the 19th century in Yegerskaya Sloboda. In 1888, the church was solemnly consecrated by the confessor of the Imperial Gor family, Protopresbyter John (Yanyshev), in the presence of Emperor Alexander III. The venerated image of the Mother of God “Deliverer” is kept in the temple.

Festive Divine Liturgy

The rite of forgiveness

Tea party

Gatchina. Intercession Cathedral. The largest temple in the Leningrad region, consecrated in honor of the Mother of God. The cathedral was built at the beginning of the 20th century on the courtyard of the Pyatogorsk Bogorditsky Convent. Here Lydia Lelyanova, now known throughout the Orthodox world as Saint Maria of Gatchina, took monastic vows. After Soviet closure and desolation, the cathedral was consecrated in 2012.

Kurkovitsy. Pyatogorsk Bogoroditsky Monastery. The monastery was founded at the end of the 19th century. The holy martyr Maria of Gatchina took monastic vows at her courtyard. In 2015, the main shrine returned to the monastery - the miraculous icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow".

Return to St. Petersburg

This necropolis is located in the fence of the Church of the Intercession, built according to the design of the architect D.I. Grimm and consecrated in 1888 in the presence of the royal family. In the pre-revolutionary period, the temple was part of a single complex of the Yegerskaya Settlement of the Imperial Hunt, transferred to Gatchina from Peterhof in 1858. The history of the necropolis dates back to the appearance of the first burial - the grave of the tragically deceased son of the main Hunter Emperor Alexander III B.P. Dits - Sergei Dits, who died in 1892. The boy was torn to pieces by a pack of hunting dogs that attacked him. Later, already in the 20th century, local old-timers talked about this terrible story for a long time. His grave has not survived to this day.

Among the especially revered burials, it is worth noting the graves of the former abbots of the temple, Fr. Vasily Levitsky and Fr. Peter Belavsky. About the death of V.A. Levitsky, which followed in 1914, was reported by the local newspaper “Life of Tsarskoye Selo District”:

“On the morning of May 18, the priest of the Jaeger Church, Fr. Vasily Levitsky. Lately the deceased had been constantly unwell, complaining of heart weakness. The late Fr. Vasily is known throughout Gatchina as a deeply religious person. By the way, he was a friend of Fr. John of Kronstadt. Arriving in Gatchina, Fr. John stayed with Fr. Vasily. The deceased left behind a large family. On the day the body was removed, Fr. Vasily on the 21st, a huge crowd of people gathered at the Jaeger Church to see off the deceased. They buried Fr. Vasily in the fence of the Jaeger Church, as its first independent rector".

In the post-war period, at the grave of Fr. Vasily Levitsky a new cross was installed. According to the testimony of the former altar attendant of the Church of the Intercession, Alexandra Ivanovna Slavina, born in 1913, some of the ancient burials were lost during the closure of the temple from 1932 to 1942. The graves of the local clergy were especially damaged then. A number of unnamed burials that have survived to this day date back to the pre- and post-war periods. Some of the burials are in unsatisfactory condition. The current clergyman of the Church of the Intercession needs to take urgent measures to improve the territory of the historical necropolis and identify the forgotten names of people who found their last refuge in the church fence.

Memorable burials in the fence of the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary

1. Afanasyev Alexey Mikhailovich (? -? gg.). Teacher of the primary school for boys of huntsmen and ministers of the Imperial Hunt in Gatchina since 1888, psalm-reader at the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Yegerskaya Sloboda since 1896.
2. Belavsky Petr Ioannovich (1892-1983). A native of the village of Aleksandrovskoye, Tsarskoye Selo district, St. Petersburg province. The son of the priest of the Church of the Holy and Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky in the village of Aleksandrovskoye, John Belavsky. Graduate of the St. Petersburg Theological School. Priest, priest, rector of the Church of the Holy and Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky in the village of Alexandrovskoye, rector of the Church of St. Alexy Metropolitan of Moscow in the village of Taitsy from 1920 to 1929. Arrested in 1929 for political and religious reasons, he received five years in forced labor camps, served time in the Solovetsky camp and during the construction of the White Sea Canal. Since 1932 he lived in Novgorod, was arrested in 1938, and imprisoned for nine months. After his release he worked as an accountant. Priest of St. Paul's Cathedral in Gatchina, archpriest since 1945, rector of St. Paul's Cathedral from 1949 to 1955, rector of the Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin in Marienburg from 1955 to 1976. Since 1976 he has been out of state. His wife Ksenia Vasilievna Belavskaya (1900-1979) is buried nearby.
3. Dits Sergei (born in 1890). Son of Baron von Dietz Vladimir Romanovich, hunter of His Majesty Emperor Alexander III, later Emperor Nicholas II. He lived in his own house in Yegerskaya Sloboda. Died tragically. The tombstone was located at the altar of the church.
4. Kondrashov Ioann Ioannovich (1945-2007). A native of the village of Levder, Istra region, Latvian SSR, the son of a priest, later rector of St. Paul's Cathedral in the city of Gatchina, mitred archpriest Ioann Kondrashov. Graduate of the Leningrad Theological Seminary. Full-time deacon of St. Paul's Cathedral in Gatchina (since 1973), St. Nicholas Cathedral in Leningrad (since 1974), Dimitrievskaya Kolomyazhskaya Church (since 1979). From 1990 to 2007 - deacon, protodeacon of the Gatchina St. Paul Cathedral. Candidate of Theology. Awarded the Patriarchal Certificate. His mother is buried nearby.
5. Levitsky Vasily Andreevich (1851 -1914). The son of a psalm-reader, a native of the city of Borovichi, Novgorod province. Graduate of the Novgorod Theological Seminary, since 1875 - deacon. Priest, rector of the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Yegerskaya Sloboda from 1896 to 1914. Law teacher at the primary school for boys of huntsmen and servants of the Imperial Hunt in Gatchina. His widow Maria Alexandrovna (?-?) was buried nearby.
6. Preobrazhensky Ioann Georgievich (1915-1991). A native of the city of Oranienbaum, St. Petersburg province, the son of a priest. Graduate of the Leningrad Medical Institute. Since 1945 - deacon of the Riga St. John's Church, priest, rector of the Pskov Barlaam Church, rector of the Pskov Kazan Church from 1946 to 1948, served as rector of the Pskov Holy Trinity Cathedral and dean of the Pskov district. Rector of the Peter and Paul Church in the city of Valdai, Novgorod region from 1953 to 1959, dean of the Borovichi and Starorussky districts of the Novgorod diocese. Rector of the St. Nicholas Bolsheokhtinskaya Church in Leningrad, rector of St. Paul's Cathedral in Gatchina from 1974 to 1976, full-time priest of the St. Nicholas Cathedral and the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in Leningrad, member of the Diocesan Council of the Leningrad Metropolis. Awarded church awards of the Russian Orthodox Church. Lived in the village of Marienburg.
7. Shestov Nil Ermilovich (1878-1949). Priest, archpriest of the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

November 2018 marks the 130th anniversary of the consecration of the Marienburg Intercession Church in Gatchina, built by order and under the special supervision of Alexander III. This church has a special destiny connected with the history of one of the most interesting areas of Gatchina, the ancient Yegerskaya Sloboda.

You can get to the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Marienburg by car by turning onto Komsomoltsev-Podpolshchikov Street from Krasnoarmeysky Avenue. But it’s better to walk, because the current Komsomoltsev-Underground Street is nothing more than one of the main streets of the ancient Yegerskaya Sloboda. And these old wooden huts with carved frames, stretching along its right side, are the famous huntsman houses, built back in the middle XIX century.

One more turn to the left, onto Krugovaya Street, and a small, very slender, white and red stone temple will open. The Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Marienburg belongs to the Gatchina city deanery, but its location away from the city center, among the private houses of the Yegerskaya Sloboda, gives it the cozy, calm features of a rural church. In summer, it rapidly grows out of the greenery surrounding it, and it seems that only five golden crosses separate its blue domes from the heavenly blue.

Behind the church there is a wooden priest's house and a small well-kept cemetery. There is peace and quiet here, and it seems as if the last hundred years with its all-crushing events never happened... To the left of the temple, under the trees, there is a comfortable bench where you can sit quietly, detached from the bustle and thinking about the main thing. There is no better place to have a leisurely conversation with the rector of the Intercession Church, Archpriest Anthony Antipov.

Yegerskaya Sloboda

The construction of the Yegerskaya settlement near Gatchina began in 1857, under Emperor Alexander

Dre II , when the imperial court hunt was transferred to Gatchina from Peterhof. The design of the settlement was drawn up by the architect of the Palace Department, Georg Gross. Not far from the Pavlovsk Palace on the southern bank of the Kolpanka River, they uprooted the forest, building a complex of buildings with a large farm in which there were at least sixty buildings for various needs.

The entrance to the Yegerskaya Sloboda was guarded by the Red Gate, from which the main street of the settlement, the Yegerskaya Road, began. On it, one-story residential buildings for the families of the royal rangers were lined up (the first and last houses were two-story). Made in the old Russian style, these houses were similar to each other, like twin brothers - five-walled log huts on a stone basement made of Pudozh stone, with through carvings and elk antlers on the pediment.

In addition to residential buildings for family rangers (and barracks for singles), the complex included a hunting department building, an office, a school, a blacksmith shop, a water pump, and a bathhouse with a kitchen. Subsequently, these buildings were supplemented by a widow's house, a tea house, a greenhouse, a pheasant farm, stone stables, enclosures for dogs and menageries for predators, workshops and other auxiliary services.

Unfortunately, at present, little remains of the Jaegerskaya Sloboda itself, but most of the houses of the court rangers have been preserved, although in a fairly dilapidated state.

Imperial Temple

In 1881, Gatchina became the official residence of Emperor Alexander III , who lived here for a long time with his family. For the royal rangers, who were parishioners of the house church of the Gatchina Palace, it was decided to build a separate temple.

A famous architect and academician worked on the design and construction of the new templeDI. Grimm and architect I.A. Stefanitz. The work was carried out under the direct supervision of Alexander III . The ceremonial laying of the Church of the Intercession took place on May 25, 1886, and the first brick in the foundation was laid by the emperor himself. In the construction of the church, rubble stone was used from the Chernitsky quarries and from the Gatchina obelisk “Connetable,” which was completely destroyed in 1881 by a lightning strike.

Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built in Moscow style XVII century, it turned out very beautiful. This is how the decoration of this temple is described in the “Petersburg Leaflet” for 1889: “Inside there is an artistically executed mosaic floor, the walls of the temple painted with ornaments in the Byzantine style... and a marvelous, carved oak iconostasis in the Russian style - all this enchants the eye. And above all this hung a dome-shaped blue sky strewn with golden stars...”

The icons for the temple were painted by the talented Moscow icon painter Nikolai Safonov. In total, the iconostasis included twenty-four images.

All the love of the royal family was invested in this temple,” says Father Anthony. – In the lost iconostasis there were icons with images of the patron saints of the imperial family - both the emperor himself and his relatives.

The painter P. Fischer painted the walls of the temple: above the iconostasis he depicted the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, filling the remaining vaults and walls with “Byzantine” ornaments.

The consecration of the church was supposed to take place in the fall of 1888, on the Feast of the Intercession of the Mother of God. However, Alexander III , who visited the church shortly before this event, was dissatisfied with its cramped conditions and ordered its urgent expansion. As a result, the solemn consecration of the church took place on November 20, 1888, a month after the rescue of the imperial family during a train crash at the Borki station, near Kharkov (October 17, 1888). The entire imperial family was present at the consecration of the church.

“We are here - and with life, and with death..."

From the priest's house, behind the church, begins the parish cemetery, where for the second hundred years believers and, above all, priests who served not only in this church, but also in other Gatchina parishes have been buried. Immediately behind the altar part of the temple is the grave of the first rector of the church, Archpriest Vasily Levitsky (1851-1914), who worked a lot for this church. Vasily Andreevich Levitsky became a priest of the Church of the Intercession in 1896, serving here until his death.

This temple has seen many great people,” says Father Anthony. – He was visited by Father John of Kronstadt, who was a friend of the rector of the church, Presbyter Vasily Levitsky. Father John came here and, according to some information, served with Father Vasily on the patronal feast day in the Marienburg Church. In the altar of our church there is an icon of the Savior from the cathedral in Kronstadt, where Father John served.

The Church of the Intercession closed in 1932, after which all its rich decoration was looted and destroyed. It opened only in 1942, during the German occupation. They invited a priest from Pushkin, Father Vasily Apraksin, to the church, built a temporary iconostasis here, and collected icons and utensils from different places. In the post-war years, thanks to the tireless efforts of Archpriest Peter Belavsky, the temporary iconostasis was replaced by a permanent one, transferred from the church of the Leningrad Theological Academy. And just recently, wonderful news came: in 2018, with the blessing of Bishop Mitrofan of Gatchina and Luga, work began on recreating an exact copy of the iconostasis that was originally in the church. The Royal Doors have already been installed and icons have been ordered to be painted.

Much in the Marienburg Church is connected with the name of Archpriest Peter Belavsky (1892-1983). An ascetic who went through prison and exile during the years of persecution of the faith of Christ, Father Peter possessed the great gift of prayer and love. He came from a hereditary priestly family living in the village of Aleksandrovka near the village of Taitsy, where his father served in the parish. In 1922, Father Peter became rector of the Church of St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow in Taitsy. At the end of the twenties, he joined the Josephite movement, becoming the confessor of the Venerable Martyr Maria of Gatchina. In November 1929, he was arrested and exiled to Solovki, then to the White Sea Canal. After his release in 1933, he lived with his family in Novgorod, where five years later he was arrested again, spending several months in prison.

Since 1945, Archpriest Peter Belavsky served in the St. Paul Cathedral of Gatchina, which was restored with his participation from the destruction of the war years. In 1955, Father Peter was transferred to the Marienburg Church of the Intercession, where he served until 1976, devoting a lot of time and effort to the repair and restoration of the temple. The beloved priest died in 1983. He was buried in the church fence near the altar.

Archpriest Peter Belavsky was awarded many church awards, including the miter and the patriarchal cross, and was awarded the orders of St. Prince Vladimir and St. Sergius. Next to the church there still stands a small wooden house, which was built in 1959 for the Belavsky family. There are still parishioners in the Church of the Intercession who remember Father Peter and his wife, Mother Ksenia. One of their daughters, Alexandra Petrovna Belavskaya, lives in St. Petersburg and often visits the Marienburg Church.

Buried in this cemetery are members of the family of the Preobrazhensky clergy, well known in Gatchina, and the beloved rector of the Church of the Intercession, Father Anatoly Pavlenko, who served here from 1996 until his death in 2013.

Shrines of the Intercession Church

Among the especially revered shrines of the Marienburg Church of the Intercession is the miraculous image of the Mother of God “Seeking the Lost.” This icon was found in the fifties XX century in the Marienburg area by women who crossed the Kolpanka River on a wooden pedestrian bridge. The icon was part of the decking of this bridge.

The inscription on the icon says that it was “built” on October 31, 1888 by the zeal of the abbess of the Holy Trinity Rakovsky Monastery of the Samara province, Abbess Anatolia and her sisters - in memory of the miraculous deliverance of Emperor Alexander III and his family “from danger in a train crash” near Borki station. Since 1994 and to this day, this image flows myrrh.

Other shrines of the temple are the icon of the Savior in the altar, supposedly donated by John of Kronstadt, icons of the Holy Blessed Princess Anna of Kashin, the Great Martyr Catherine with particles of their relics, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the Kazan Mother of God. In the Church of the Intercession there is also a rare icon with a particle of the relics of the patron of all hunters, the martyr Tryphon the Falconer, on which the saint is depicted with a falcon. Painted on a cypress board with a gilded chased background, this icon appeared in the church in November 1914.

Parish and parishioners

Archpriest Anthony Antipov has been serving as rector of the Marienburg Intercession Church not so long ago - since January 2017. In 2003, while still a very young priest, he was sent from St. Petersburg to the Arctic, to the Arkhangelsk diocese, where he served for more than ten years. He served in the city of Naryan-Mar since 2004, becoming the rector of the Holy Epiphany Cathedral there. During this time, he accomplished a lot: he built a new beautiful church in Naryan-Mar, creating a large infrastructure around it, restored several other churches, visited many villages and islands of the Russian Arctic on missionary trips, organized pilgrimage trips, and hosted an Orthodox program on local television.

Father Anthony is the only priest in the Marienburg Church of the Intercession, but, in addition to church services and sacraments, he tries to provide spiritual assistance to his parishioners to the best of his ability. There is a Sunday school for children at the temple.

We have many regular parishioners, from whom I have a lot to learn,” says the priest. “Many women have been going to this church for fifty years and remember Father Peter Belavsky well. Many were baptized here, got married, and saw off their loved ones on their last journey. Therefore, this temple is dear to everyone...

The gift of human freedom

As Father Anthony says, now, as a hundred years ago, as probably will be a hundred years later, the same questions are asked to the priest.

A person cares, first of all, about his life,” he says. - It is important for him to know whether he is doing the right thing, whether he is following the right path, or whether he is making mistakes. How can he do good, how can he forgive evil? Many questions relate to excessive religiosity, the amount of fasting, prayer, attending services... When people come to me with questions, I always remember the priceless gift of human freedom that the Lord has endowed us with. I try not to limit people, giving them choices and emphasizing their personal freedom. We should not feel under some harsh law, asking the priest about our every step. It would be wrong for a priest to decide for a person what to do. We ourselves must make decisions, bear responsibility for them and receive the results of these decisions...

Someone is looking for their temple, someone is looking for their priest. Sometimes this process drags on and people retreat back and become disappointed...

Of course, clergy is very important - as leadership and spiritual mentoring, says Father Anthony. – By himself, being alone, a believer can make a mistake, stumble, or go the wrong way. Therefore, it is important for him to have a spiritually experienced person nearby who could advise him, guide him, console him, and simply be there.

How to find “your” confessor? Perhaps, in the same way as they are looking for “their” doctor: after all, the same doctor may suit one person, but not suit another. Probably, the main criterion of spiritual “coincidence” is the benefit that arises from communication. If forward movement is felt, spiritual development occurs, problems are resolved, passions go away, sins are reduced, if life is filled with joy, then such communication is useful. But if a person, in the spiritual sense, is marking time in one place, such communication is unlikely to be beneficial. .

Many people are concerned that our sins and mistakes often cannot be corrected. How can you cope with something in yourself that you don’t want to put up with?

Unfortunately, among the variety of our mistakes and sins, there are so-called “neighbor” sins with which we have lived for many years, says Father Anthony. “We put up with them as neighbors, we tolerate them and are not going to part with them, because we are already accustomed to them. These are, as a rule, sins not of action, but sins of our thoughts, our feelings. But sin is forgiven only when it is abandoned, so you need to stock up on spiritual patience and try to eradicate and pull out these “splinters,” even if they have become “family.” Sometimes it may take your whole life to say goodbye to our spiritual filth.

And, of course, there is no need to despair when you fall again. You need to get up, find the strength to dust yourself off and move on. The Lord still loves us all and desires our salvation.

If a person came to me and said: “I am looking for God,” I would probably answer him that the Lord is among us, that He is everywhere - in the beauty of nature, in those small joys of life that we receive every day and with which we are strengthened. Probably, there is no need to tune in to some kind of supernatural religiosity, waiting for the miraculous appearance of the Lord. The Lord is in our midst and speaks to us very quietly. We need to look for Him in this quiet wind and the joys that surround us...

Yulia Lysanyuk