Alexander Priest: Scholias. Priest Alexander Dyachenko

"Scholias" - this is the ancient word Archpriest Alexander Dyachenko called his first novel, which he presented to Petersburg readers on February 18 in the "Bukvoed" store. "Scholia" translated from Greek means "a small commentary in the margins or between the lines of an ancient or medieval manuscript."

The literary work of Father Alexander Dyachenko is familiar to readers from the books published by the Nikaia publishing house, the priest's stories are known to users of social networks on the Internet, but few people know that Dyachenko is the literary pseudonym of Archpriest Alexander Bragar, rector of the Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Ivanovo in the Alexander Diocese. At a meeting at Bukvoed, Father Alexander said that in fact, Dyachenko is the old surname of his family in the male line, and Bragar is a kind of pseudonym. Once upon a time, his ancestors, who lived in Western Ukraine, fled from persecution of the Orthodox, and the landowner Bragar gave them a shelter, endowing the family with his surname. When Father Alexander began to publish his stories, he used his generic name in order, in his words, to “disguise” himself in the everyday parish environment, thus dividing the priestly ministry and the literary passion.

Earlier, Nicaea published three collections of stories by Archpriest Alexander Dyachenko. According to the priest, “ the small story format is good because it attracts those who do not like "a lot of beeches". Writing them down, I just recorded real events, meetings with people - everything that captured the heart».

Father Alexander admitted that Scholias is his first and perhaps only novel.... When asked why, he answered like this: “ Because I am not a writer, I am a priest, writing a large and truly literary work requires special knowledge, skills that I do not possess. My stories are sketches of real events, there is nothing invented in them, and in the novel one cannot do without a certain amount of fantasy. Scholias is a rich, beautiful, ancient word. I write my notes-impressions in the fields of people's lives. Everyone who reads with me leaves their scholias in the margin of the book».

The novel was written in the collaboration of five authors, not all of whom were personally acquainted with each other. It began with the manuscript of the woman, the altar girl of the temple, where the author of the book serves. " I could not even imagine that a man lives so close to me, whose grandfather is a real asceticXX century!"- said the priest. This woman is very wise and strong. She survived the tragedy played out in the family, and being on the verge of life and death, she found the strength to write about her grandfather in order to leave a mark in the history of the family, in the memory of her grandson.

Her grandfather, a simple peasant endowed with an ardent love for God, had a tremendous influence on the spiritual image of not only the family, but also the entire neighborhood. When the Bolsheviks smashed the churches, the God-lovers, the common people, went to him for consolation and fortification. " I kept thinking, - said Father Alexander at a meeting in Bukvoed, - how different we are from them - pure, deep, sincere, people of the Russian hinterland of the middle of the last century - our grandfathers and fathers. I think their sincerity is what we lack!»

On the memories of the ascetic of the 20th century, the father superimposed the story of his friends, whose daughter had an accident, and through this ordeal the whole family came to God. As Father Alexander said, according to the readers' reviews, it is clear that the roll call of the fate of people who walked different paths, but who gained one priceless treasure - faith, is perceived organically, like a roll call of generations, reminding that everyone is alive with God. In this sense, he really likes the tradition of Orthodox Serbs to write single memorial notes "dead-alive."

At the presentation, Father Alexander was asked questions about how did he become a clergyman, what did he like to read?

« In life, it is very important not to take someone else's place. Having read the books of the marine painter V.V. Konetsky, since childhood I wanted to be a military sailor, but did not pass the medical examination at the school. I decided, so as not to waste time in vain, to study at some university, but one with a smaller competition - I’m only going to hold out until spring, and then I’ll go to the naval school again. I went to an agricultural institute (due to the minimal competition), and, having started to study, I became seriously interested in applied biology. It was so interesting to study it that I forgot about the officer's dream. On March 8 he defended his diploma, went on assignment. On the day of my arrival, a young conscript soldier brought from the Afghan war with "cargo-200" was buried in that town. He was wounded in the stomach just on March 8, and at one time he entered the same faculty where, out of nothing to do, I entered. That is, it should have been the other way around, and I took the place of that soldier.

The memory of this remained for life. For 16 years now I have been a priest, and I am still not at ease, am I not taking someone else's place? Do I have the right to the priesthood? The older you get, the more you understand which shrine you come into contact with while serving the Liturgy. This, in my opinion, is a good feeling - the test of your conscience gives rise to reverence for the saint.».

One of the readers asked to answer, how to relate to aggression, anger, which is becoming more and more around?

« Irritation is the background of being human. Moreover, we live normally, there are no hungry people, but we are so envious and insatiable, and even spurred from the screen: "Live in high! Demand! You deserve it!" Our life is a boomerang: what you start will return. An example of selfless love for neighbors is Doctor Fyodor Petrovich Gaaz, a Catholic, for whose funeral all the St. Petersburg Orthodox clergy gathered! There is a monument on his grave - shackles designed by him in order to minimize the pain caused to the prisoners. To love as he does, the image of God in every shackle is an example for any Christian. Hatred eats away, in spite of it one must do good».

« Father Alexander Dyachenko is a wonderful priest, because a real priest always preaches, and he answered every question from the audience with a full-fledged sermon... Today we have heard about a dozen short sermons - balanced, edifying and very interesting. God grant that people who heard them receive the benefit that is within their power.

With the work of Father Alexander, I got acquainted with the book "In the Circle of Light", which I read on the fly, admired, found on the Internet all the possible stories of Father, his "Live Journal", read it and admired it even more.

What attracted me so much to the work of Father Alexander? Much that he writes about is native, even some facts from his life are akin to me, because I was baptized at about 30 years old, like him, and ordained at the age of 40. Everything is the same, only with a difference of 15 years. Even the fact that he has a friend - a priest, a former special forces soldier - coincides, because I am a former hand-to-hand combat instructor. Everything native, and even written in good Russian, with cordiality - what better to wish for?

The works written by the priest are read in different ways by the laity and his colleagues in the priestly ministry. The layman looks at the events described in the book from the outside. The priest sees in them stories from his practice, only well written. Yes, indeed, for some reason, one grandmother manages to wait for the priest, hurrying to her last confession, and the other does not. A man came to confession for the first time, and even in an incomprehensible state, but brought his own pain, and how to deal with him, how to help? This professional exchange of experience in parish practice, which is not taught in the seminary, is very useful.

“Pop's Prose” is a unique genre that is interesting not only for believers. In our time, the so-called "big literature" usually creates aesthetic nonsense, playing with words, describing, as a rule, nasty passions. Fiction, fiction are immersed in a too fictional world. The priest, on the other hand, almost does not invent, his soul does not turn to write a frank invention. As a rule, a priest describes reality in such a way that it becomes alive, and this is now just not in popular culture.» .

Anna Barkhatova , correspondent of the "Russian Narodnaya Line"

(Here, in the stories, all - Vera, biography and personal life of Alexander Dyachenko,
priest (priest) of God Almighty )

Tell about God, Faith and salvation in such a way that he may never even mention Him,
and everything becomes clear to readers, listeners and viewers, and there is joy in their souls ...
I once wanted to save the world, then my diocese, then my village ...
And now I remember the words of the Monk Seraphimushka:
"save yourself, and thousands around you will be saved"!
So simple, and so unattainable ...

Father Alexander Dyachenko(Born 1960) - in the photo below,
Russian man, married, simple, without a / p

And I answered the Lord my God that I would go to the Goal by means of suffering ...

Priest Alexander Dyachenko,
photo from the meeting-deanonymization of the network blogger

Contents of the collection of stories "Crying angel"... Read online!

1. Wonders ( Miracles # 1: Healing Cancer Patients) (with the addition of the story "Sacrifice")
2. Present (simulator for priests)
3. New Year ( with the addition of stories: Funeral , Image and eternal music)
4. My Universities (10 years on a piece of iron # 1)
5. (with the addition of a story)
6. Crying angel (with the addition of a story)
7. Best Love Song (The German turned out to be married to a Russian - found Love and death)
8. Kuzmich ( with the addition of a story)
9. Shreds (full version, including the history of Tamara's meeting with I.V. Stalin )
10. Dedication (God, ordination-1)
11. Intersections (with the addition of a story)
12. Wonders (Wonders # 2: The Smell of the Abyss and the Talking Cat)
13. The flesh is one ( Wife priest - how to become a mother? With addition:)

Outside the Weeping Angel storybook: 50 thousand dollars
Joke
Be like children (with the addition of a story)
In a circle of light (with the addition of a story)
Valya, Valentina, what's wrong with you now ...
Crown (Island Pavel-3)
love thy neighbour
Climbing
Time is running out (Bogolyubovsky Religious Procession + Grodno-4) (with additional story "I love Grodno" - Grodno-6)
Time has gone!
The all-conquering power of love
A meeting(with Sergei Fudel) ( with the addition of the story "Means Makropulos")
Every breath ... (with the addition of a story)
Heroes and deeds
Gehazi's curse (with the addition of a story)
Father Frost (with the addition of a micro-story)
Deja vu
Children's prayer (Ordination-3, with the addition of a story)
Good deeds
Soul Guardian (Father Victor, special forces-dad, story number 1)
For a life
Boomerang law ( with the addition of a story)
Hollywood star
Icon
And the eternal battle ... (with the addition of a story)
(10 years on a piece of iron # 2)
From the experience of railway theology
Mason (with the addition of a story)
Quasimodo
Princes ( with the addition of a story)
Lullaby (Gypsies-3)
Foundation stone(Grodno-1) ( with the addition of a story - Grodno-2)
Red poppies of Issyk-Kul
You can't see a face face to face ...
Small man

Metamorphosis
A world where dreams come to life
Mirages
Bear and Marishka
My first teacher (Island Pavel-1)
My friend Vitka
Men (with the addition of a story)
War like war (Father Victor, special forces-dad, story no. 6)
Our dreams (with the addition of a story)
Don't bend over, little head ...
Scampish notes (Bulgaria)
New Year's story
Nostalgia
About two meetings with Father Alexander "in real life"
(Island Pavel-2)
(Father Victor, special forces-dad, story number 2)
Disconnect mobile phones
Fathers and Sons ( with the addition of the story "Grandfather")
Web
The first love
Letter to Zorica
Letter from childhood (with the addition of the story "The Jewish Question")
Present (about happiness as a gift)
Bow (Grodno-3) (with the addition of the story "Hercules' disease" - Grodno-5)
The position obliges (with the addition of a story - about Victor, no. 4 and 8)
Epistle to Philemon
(Wolf Messing)
Offer
Overcoming (with the addition of a story - about Victor, special forces-dad, no. 3 and 7)
About Adam
Road checks (with the addition of a story)
Clearance ( Čiurlionis)
Radonitsa
The happiest day
Fairy tale
(10 years on piece of iron # 3)
Neighbors (Gypsies-1)
Old things (with the addition of a story)
Old nags (with the addition of stories and)
Passion-face (Gypsies-2)
Three meetings
Hard question
Wretched
Lesson (Ordination-2)
Feng Shui, or heart disease
Chechen syndrome (Father Victor, special forces-dad, story number 5)
What to do? (Old Believers)
These eyes are opposite (with the addition of stories and)
I did not participate in the war ...
My tongue ... my friend? ...

Even if you read stories and essays father Alexander Dyachenko on the Internet (online), it will be a good thing if you buy the corresponding offline editions (paper books) of Father Alexander and give it to all your friends who do not read anything on the Internet (sequentially, first to one, then to another). This is a good thing!

A little about simple stories Russian priest Alexander Dyachenko

Father Alexander is a simple Russian priest with the usual biography of a simple Russian man:
- was born, studied, served, married, worked (working on a "piece of iron" for 10 years), .. remained a man.

Father Alexander came to the Christian faith as an adult. He was very much hooked by Christ. And somehow little by little ( siga-siga - as the Greeks say, because they love such a solid approach), unnoticed, unexpectedly - turned out to be a Priest, a Servant of the Lord at His Throne.

So suddenly he suddenly became a "spontaneous" writer. I just saw so many things around the significant, providential and miraculous that I began to record the life observations of a simple Russian person in the style of "akyn". And being a wonderful storyteller and a real Russian person with a mysteriously deep, broad Russian soul, who also knew the Light of Christ in His Church, he began to reveal in his stories the Russian and Christian view of our beautiful life in this world, as a place of Love , labor, sorrows and victories, in order to benefit all people from their humble unworthiness.

Here is an abstract from the book "Crying angel" father Alexander Dyachenko about the same:

Fr Alexander's bright, modern and unusually deep stories fascinate readers from the very first lines. What is the author's secret? In truth. In the truth of life. He clearly sees what we have learned not to notice - what gives us inconvenience and disturbs our conscience. But here, in the shadow of our attention, not only pain and suffering. It is here - and unspeakable joy, leading us to the Light.

A bit of biography Priest Alexander Dyachenko

"The advantage of a simple worker is a free head!"

At a meeting with readers Father Alexander Dyachenko told a little about himself, about his path to faith.
- The dream of becoming a military sailor did not come true - Father Alexander graduated from an agricultural institute in Belarus. For almost 10 years on the railroad, he departed as a train builder, has the highest qualification category. "The main advantage of a simple worker is a free head", - Father Alexander Dyachenko shared his experience. At that time, he was already a believer, and after the "railway stage" of his life he entered the St. Tikhon's Theological Institute in Moscow, after which he was ordained a priest. Today, Father Alexander Dyachenko has 11 years of priesthood behind him, a great experience of communicating with people, a lot of stories.

"The truth of life as it is"

Conversation with priest Alexander Dyachenko, blogger and writer

"Live Journal", LJ alex_the_priest, Father Alexander Dyachenko, who serves in one of the churches of the "distant" Moscow region, does not look like ordinary network blogs. Readers in Father's notes are attracted and conquered by something that certainly should not be looked for on the Internet - the truth of life as it is, and not as it is presented in the virtual space or political debates.

Father Alexander became a priest only at the age of 40, as a child he dreamed of being a military sailor, graduated from an agricultural institute in Belarus. For more than ten years he worked on the railway as a simple worker. Then he went to study at the Orthodox St. Tikhon University for the Humanities, 11 years ago he was ordained.

Father Alexander's works - apt life sketches - are popular on the Internet and are also published in the weekly "My Family". In 2010, the publishers of "Nicaea" selected 24 essays from the priest's LJ and released the collection "Weeping Angel". A second book is also being prepared - this time the writer himself will choose the stories that will be included in it. Father Alexander told about his work and plans for the future to the portal "Pravoslavie.ru"

- Judging by your stories in LiveJournal, your path to the priesthood was long and difficult. What was the path to writing? Why did you decide to publish everything on the Internet right away?

By chance. I must confess that I am not a "technical" person at all. But my children somehow decided that I was too behind the times, and showed me that there is a "Live Journal" on the Internet, where you can write down some notes.

Still, nothing is accidental in life. I recently turned 50 and it has been 10 years since I became a priest. And I had a need to summarize, to comprehend somehow my life. Everyone has such a turning point in their lives, someone - at 40 years old, for me - at 50, when it's time to decide what you are. And so all this gradually poured into writing: some memories came, at first I wrote small notes, and then whole stories began to come out. And when the same youth taught me to take the text in LJ "under the cut", then I could not limit my thought ...

Recently I calculated that over the past two years I have written about 130 stories, that is, it turns out that all this time I wrote even more often than once a week. This surprised me - I myself did not expect this from myself; something, apparently, moved me, and if I, despite the usual lack of time for a priest, still managed to write something, then it was necessary ... Now I plan to take a break before Easter - and then we'll see. I honestly never know if I'll write the next story or not. If I don’t have a need, a need to tell a story, I’ll abandon it all at once.

- All your stories are written in the first person. Are they autobiographical?

Priest Alexander Dyachenko: The events that are described are all real. But as for the form of presentation, it was somehow closer to me to write in the first person, I can’t do it differently, I guess. After all, I am not a writer, but a village priest.

Some plots are really biographical, but since this did not all happen specifically to me, I write under a pseudonym, but on behalf of the priest. For me, each plot is very important, even if it did not happen to me personally - after all, we also learn from our parishioners, and all our lives ...

And at the end of the stories, I always specifically write a conclusion (the morality of the composition), such as to put everything in its place. It is still important to show: look, you cannot go to the red light, but you can go to the green one. My stories are primarily a sermon ...

- Why did you choose such a direct form of entertaining everyday stories for preaching?

Priest Alexander Dyachenko: So that the one who reads the Internet or opens the book, still read it to the end. So that some simple situation, which he is used to not noticing in ordinary life, would be agitated, awakened a little. And maybe the next time, having faced similar events himself, he will look in the direction of the temple ...

Many readers later confessed to me that they began to perceive the priests and the Church differently. After all, a priest is often like a monument to people. It is impossible to address him, it is scary to approach him. And if they see in my story a living preacher who also feels, worries, who tells them about the secret, then maybe it will be easier later to come to the realization of the need for a confessor in their life ...

I do not see in front of me any specific group of people from the flock ... But I have a lot of hope for the young, so that they also understand.

Young people perceive the world differently than people of my generation. They have different habits, different language. Of course, we will not copy their behavior or expressions in the temple sermon. But at the sermon in the world, I believe, you can speak a little in their language!

- Have you seen the fruits of your missionary message?

Priest Alexander Dyachenko: I had no idea, to be honest, that there would be so many readers. But now there are modern means of communication, they write me comments on the blog, more often no-talk, and I also receive letters to the newspaper "My family", where my stories are published. It would seem that the newspaper, as they say, is "for housewives", it is read by ordinary people busy with everyday life, children, household problems - and from them I was especially happy to receive feedback that the stories made me think about what the Church is and what she.

- However, on the Internet, no matter what you write about, you can get comments that are not too blissful ...
Fr. Alexander: Still, the response is important to me. Otherwise, I would not be interested in writing ...
- And from your regular parishioners in the church, have you ever heard gratitude for your writing?
Fr. Alexander: They, I hope, do not know that I am also writing stories - in fact, in many ways, the everyday stories heard from them make me write something down again!

- And if you run out of interesting stories from life experience, run out?

Priest Alexander Dyachenko: Some quite ordinary situations are very penetrating - and then I write them down. I do not write, my main task is priestly. While this is in line with my activity as a priest, I am writing. I don’t know if I’ll write another story tomorrow.

It's like having an honest conversation with your interlocutor. It is often at the parish that the community gathers after the Liturgy, and at the meal each one in turn tells something, shares problems, or impressions, or joy - such a sermon after the sermon is obtained.

- Do you confess to the reader yourself? Does writing strengthen you spiritually?

Priest Alexander Dyachenko: Yes, it turns out that you open yourself up. If you write while closing, no one will believe you. Each story carries the presence of a person on whose behalf the story is told. If it's funny, then the author himself laughs, if it's sad, then he cries.

For me, my notes are an analysis of myself, an opportunity to summarize and say to myself: here you are right, but here you were wrong. Somewhere it is an opportunity to ask for forgiveness from those whom you offended, but in reality it is no longer possible to ask for forgiveness. Maybe the reader will see how bitter it is later, and will not repeat some of the mistakes that we make every day, or at least think about it. Let him not immediately, let him remember in years - and go to church. Although in life it happens in different ways, because how many people all gather, but they never come to the temple. And my stories are also addressed to them.

Priest Alexander Dyachenko: Holy Bible... If we don't read it daily, we end up as Christians right away. If we live with our own mind and do not eat, like bread, the Holy Scripture, then all our other books lose their meaning!

If it is difficult to read, let him not be too lazy to come to the church-talks about the Holy Scriptures, which, I hope, every parish conducts ... Seraphim Sarovsky read every day Gospel, although he knew by heart, what should we say?

That's all that we, priests, write - all this should push such a person to start reading the Holy Scriptures. This is the main task of all near-church fiction and journalism.

Priest Alexander Dyachenko: Well, first of all, we collect our parish library at the church, in which everyone who turns can get both something necessary and something modern, which is not only useful, but interesting to read. So for advice, including about literature, do not hesitate to turn to a priest.

In general, there is no need to be afraid to have a confessor: it is imperative to choose a specific person, even if he is often busy and sometimes will “brush off” you, but it’s better if you go to the same priest, and gradually a personal one will be established. contact with him.

father Konstantin Parkhomenko,

father Alexander Avdyugin,

Priest Alexander Dyachenko: It is difficult to choose one thing. In general, with age, I began to read less fiction, and you begin to appreciate the reading of spiritual books. But recently, for example, I again opened Remark "Love your neighbor"- and saw that it was the same Gospel, only stated in everyday life ...

With priest Alexander Dyachenko
talked Antonina Maga- February 23, 2011 - pravoslavie.ru/guest/44912.htm

The first book, a collection of stories, by the priest Alexander Dyachenko "Crying angel" published in the publishing house "Nika", Moscow, 2011, 256s., m / o, pocket format.
Father Alexandra Dyachenko has a hospitable LJ blog- alex-the-priest.livejournal.com on the Internet.

What is this book about?

And in the 90s, together with his beloved and loving husband, he helped the priest restore the temple from the ruins. All the memories of Nadezhda Ivanovna are written down in notebooks and are practically intact, placed in the book. And further on these records, as if "strung" other stories - parishioners and Father Alexander himself. Joyful and terribly sad, ...

Read completely

What is this book about?
In the center of the story is the fate of one of the parishioners of the temple in the Vladimir region, where Father Alexander serves. Much hard and tragic things fell to her lot: a hungry childhood in a distant post-revolutionary village, war, devastation, persecution of the Church, the loss of her only daughter, then a grandson ...

But despite all the hardships, you can't say about the heroine of the story, Nadezhda Ivanovna, that her life was tragic and that she is an unhappy person. Raised in a poor but very friendly believing family, from childhood she carried in her heart that joy of being and gratitude to the Lord for every day she lived, which gave her the strength to endure everything.

And in the 90s, together with his beloved and loving husband, he helped the priest restore the temple from the ruins. All the memories of Nadezhda Ivanovna are written down in notebooks and are practically intact, placed in the book. And further on these records, as if "strung" other stories - parishioners and Father Alexander himself. Joyful and terribly sad, funny and creepy, they form the second line of the book - scholias - i.e. marginal notes.

Who is this book for?
For those who appreciate the author's sincere intonation, who expect genuine human stories from prose, warmth, consolation and, most importantly, love for people.

Why did we decide to publish this book?
Firstly, because it was written by father Alexander Dyachenko. And this is always a joy for readers, because a meeting, even just on the pages of a book, with a real priest, who deeply and compassionately loves his parishioners, is for many a strengthening of faith and consolation. Secondly, because, despite the abundance of literature on the bookshelves, a truly lively, warm, close to everyone word is still a great rarity. Father Alexander knows how to carry such a word.

The "highlight" of the book
"Scholias" is an unusual story: in it, independent and integral, in fact, stories, the stories of the priest about his parishioners, friends, himself and his loved ones are a kind of comprehension, a detailed commentary on another narrative line - the diary of Nadezhda Ivanovna, a believing woman with a very difficult fate. The lines are woven, like threads, into a single whole, revealing the amazing connections that exist between people, it would seem, are completely alien - not connected by family ties, even living at different times - but "in eternal memory there will be a righteous man."

about the author
Archpriest Alexander Dyachenko - priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, rector of the church in honor of the icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God in the village of Ivanovo, Vladimir region. Graduated from the Orthodox St. Tikhon Institute. Bachelor of Theology. He is actively involved in missionary and educational work. Published in the All-Russian weekly "My family". Author of several books, including "Weeping Angel" and "In the Circle of Light", previously published by Nicaea.
Approved for distribution by the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church IS R15-507-0385.

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I dedicate this book to my dear granddaughter Elizabeth and to everyone who was born in the first years of the twenty-first century - with hope and love.

© Dyachenko Alexander, priest, 2011

© Publishing house "Nika", 2011

All rights reserved. No part of the electronic version of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet and corporate networks, for private and public use without the written permission of the copyright holder.

© The electronic version of the book was prepared by Litres (www.litres.ru)

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Road checks

Shortly before the New Year, sad news came to my good friend. In one of the small towns of the neighboring region, his friend was killed. As I found out, so immediately and rushed there. It turned out nothing personal. A large, strong man of about fifty, returning home late at night, saw four young guys trying to rape a girl. He was a warrior, a real warrior who had gone through many hot spots.

He stalked without hesitation, rushed into battle on the move. He beat off the girl, but someone contrived and stabbed him in the back. The blow was fatal. The girl decided that now they would kill her too, but they did not. Said:

- Live for now. Enough and one for the night - and left.

When my friend returned, I tried as best I could to express my condolences to him, but he replied:

“Don’t console me. Such a death for my friend is a reward. It would have been difficult for him to even dream of a better end. I knew him well, we fought together. There is a lot of blood on his hands, maybe not always justified. After the war, he did not live very well. You yourself understand what time it was. It took me a long time to convince him to be baptized, and, thank God, not so long ago he was baptized. The Lord took him to the most glorious death for a warrior: on the battlefield, protecting the weak. A wonderful Christian demise.

I listened to my friend and recalled the incident that happened to me.

Then there was a war in Afghanistan. In the active army, due to losses, it was necessary to make urgent replacements. Cadre officers from the units were transferred there, and in their places were called up for a period of two years in store. Shortly before that, I returned from the army and found myself among these "lucky ones." Thus, I had to pay my debt to the Motherland twice.

But since the military unit in which I served was not very far from my house, everything went well for us. On weekends, I often came home. My daughter was a little over a year old, my wife did not work, and the pay of the officers was then good.

I had to go home by electric trains. Sometimes in military uniform, sometimes in civilian clothes. Once, it was in the fall, I was returning to the unit. I arrived at the station thirty minutes before the arrival of the electric train. It was getting dark, it was cool. Most of the passengers sat in the premises of the station. Someone was dozing, someone was talking quietly. There were many men and young people.

All of a sudden, quite suddenly, the door of the station swung open and a young girl ran to us. She pressed her back against the wall near the cash register and, stretching out her hands to us, shouted:

- Help, they want to kill us!

Immediately after her, at least four young people rush in and shout: “You will not leave! The end is for you! " - they squeeze this little girl into a corner and begin to choke. Then another guy literally by the scruff of the neck cloaks another one of the same kind into the waiting room, and she yells in a heartbreaking voice: "Help!" Imagine this picture.

Then a policeman was still on duty at the station, but that day, as if on purpose, he was not there. The people sat and stared at all this horror.

Among everyone who was in the waiting room, I was the only one in the military uniform of a senior lieutenant of the aviation. If I had been in civilian life then, I would hardly have stood up, but I was in uniform.

I get up and hear the sitting next to my grandmother exhaled:

- Son! Don't go, they'll kill!

But I already got up and could not sit back. I still ask myself the question: how did I decide? Why? If it had happened today, I probably would not have got up. But I am such a wise gudgeon today, and then? After all, he himself had a small child. Who would feed him then? And what could I do? One could fight with another bully, but I can't stand a minute against five, they would just smear me.

I went up to them and stood between the guys and girls. I remember getting up and standing, but what else could I? And I also remember that none of the men supported me anymore.

Luckily for me, the guys stopped and fell silent. They didn't say anything to me, and no one hit me once, they just looked with some kind of respect, or surprise.

Then they, as if on command, turned their backs on me and left the station building. The people were silent. The little girls disappeared imperceptibly. Silence fell, and I was in the center of everyone's attention. Having learned the moment of glory, he was embarrassed and also tried to quickly leave.

I walk along the platform and - imagine my surprise - I see this whole company of young people, but no longer fighting, but walking in an embrace!

It dawned on me - they were playing us! Maybe they had nothing to do, and, while waiting for the train, they had so much fun, or maybe they argued that no one would intercede. Do not know.

Then I went to the unit and thought: "But I didn't know that the guys were joking at us, I really got up." Then I was still far from the faith, from the Church. I haven't even been baptized yet. But I realized that I was tested. Someone was looking at me then. As if asking: how will you behave in such circumstances? They simulated the situation, while completely protecting me from any risk, and watched.

They are constantly peering at us. When I ask myself why I became a priest, I cannot find the answer. In my opinion, a candidate for the priesthood should still be a person of a very high moral condition. He must meet all the conditions and canons historically set by the Church to the future priest. But if you consider that I was only baptized at thirty, and until that time I lived like everyone else, then like it or not, I came to the conclusion that He simply has no one to choose from.

He looks at us like a hostess, sorting out a badly affected cereal, hoping to cook something, or like a carpenter who needs to nail a few more planks, but the nails are out. Then he takes the bent, rusty ones, rules them and tries: will they go into business? Here I am, probably, such a rusty carnation, and many of my brothers who came to the Church in the wake of the early nineties. We are a generation of church builders. Our task is to restore churches, open seminaries, teach the new generation of believing boys and girls who will come to replace us. We cannot be saints, our ceiling is sincerity in our relationship with God, our parishioner is most often a suffering person. And more often than not, we cannot help him with our prayers, the strength is not enough, the most that we can is only to share his pain with him.

We put the beginning of a new state of the Church, emerging from persecution and getting used to living in the period of creative creation. Those for whom we work must come to the soil we prepare and grow in holiness. Therefore, when I give communion to infants, I look at their faces with such interest. Which will you choose, baby, cross or bread?

The series "Priestly Prose", which has recently been published by the Publishing House of Nicaea, publishes the best works of art by authors whose work is inextricably linked with the Orthodox worldview. These are novels, stories and stories about the fate of believers, about tests of faith, hope and love. The stories - funny and sad, touching and poignant - are based on real events or are inspired by meetings with amazing people. They reveal to the reader the world seen through the eyes of a priest, without edifying teachings and common truths. “My dear reader! In your hands is a book whose genre is difficult for me to define. Whether it is a story, a novel or a story, I don’t know. Rather, this is our conversation with you. I don’t know you yet, and you don’t know me, but this is fixable. When you read this book and turn the last page, we will already be friends. Otherwise, why write so much and take up your time? " With these words, the priest Alexander Dyachenko, the author of the book with the unusual title "Scholia", addresses the readers. The author of the book "Scholia", priest Alexander Dyachenko, is the rector of the church in honor of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God in the village. Ivanovo, Vladimir region. Born in 1960 in Moscow, in a military family, but considers Belarus, the city of Grodno, where he spent his childhood and youth, his homeland. Graduated from the Orthodox St. Tikhon Institute. Bachelor of Theology. He is actively involved in missionary and educational work. Published in the all-Russian weekly "My family". Author of several books, including "Weeping Angel" and "In the Circle of Light", previously published by the publishing house "Nicaea". All the books of this priest, according to Natalia Vinogradova, the leading editor of the Nikaia publishing house, are full of “love for their parishioners. He mainly writes about his parishioners, about his friends, about his fellow villagers ”. So the book "Scholias" is an unusual story: in it, independent and integral, in fact, stories, the stories of priests about their parishioners, friends, about themselves and their loved ones are a kind of comprehension, a detailed commentary on another lines of narration - to the diary of Nadezhda Ivanovna, a simple believing woman with a very difficult fate. The lines are intertwined like threads into a single whole, revealing the amazing connections that exist between people, it would seem, are absolutely strangers - not connected by family ties, even living at different times, but "in eternal memory there will be a righteous man." “I’m at a loss,” writes Father Alexander, “to precisely define the genre of this book, let it be a story written in the footsteps of real events. One of the central in the story is the personality of Loginov Andrey Kuzmich, a resident of the village of Staraya Racheyka, Syzran District, Samara Region. A simple, illiterate peasant, he became one of those whom today we call ascetics of faith and piety of the 20th century. If you set yourself a goal and rummage on the Internet, you can find some information about Andrei Kuzmich, however, there are not many of them, and you cannot judge from them how he asceticised, how he prayed, why he took upon himself the feat of a hermit life ... It is completely incomprehensible how the terrible persecution of the Christian faith in our country bypassed him. These questions are answered by the diaries of Vera Ivanovna Shalugina (in the text of the story by Nadezhda Ivanovna), the granddaughter of Elder Andrei Kuzmich. Vera Ivanovna, - says the priest, - I have known for many years, the last ten of them she has been helping me in the altar. Once I heard about her grandfather and, impressed by what I heard, I wrote a short story called "What will the sun say?" As the priest notes, “Reading the history of this family, you dissolve in the events of that time. They were written in the late 1990s with the sole purpose of preserving memory. Pass on to grandchildren what they will never learn from other sources. Having experienced the loss of the people closest and dearest to her, Vera Ivanovna herself found herself on the verge of life and death. Her condition was such that no one hoped for a successful outcome. It was in those days that she began to write her memoirs about things that should not be forgotten. Maybe thanks to her diary, she survived. In many ways, these are very personal notes, so I allowed myself to include in the book only that part of them that can be read by any outside person. First of all, these are memories of childhood spent in the village, stories about grandfather and grandmother, about mother and father, as well as about the many godly lovers who flocked to the revered elder. Included were a book and instructions from grandfather Andrei Kuzmich, addressed primarily to his children and grandchildren. They reveal the personality of the ascetic, the rootedness of his spiritual worldview in the Holy Scriptures and the heritage of the holy fathers. Reading them, the author says, I could not help imagining that time. The temples in the area have been destroyed or adapted for clubs, baths, schools. The overwhelming majority of priests have been repressed, even talking about faith is unsafe. For the Gospel found during the search, one could go to a concentration camp. But the God-lovers remained and needed spiritual nourishment. Many of those who learned about Elder Andrei Kuzmich went to him for advice and prayer support. The notebooks, written by Andrey Kuzmich during his retreat in the forest wilderness, have survived. They contain many quotes from the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers. All his life this man continued to study the Orthodox faith. The Bible is his most important book. Another characteristic aspect of Vera Ivanovna's diaries, according to the author, is that Elder Andrei, his family and the people who took care of him, never considered themselves enemies of the existing government. They took everything that happened to them for granted, as God's permission, humbled themselves and continued to be saved. We know about the exploits of the martyrs and confessors of modern times. But we hardly know about the life of ordinary believers, those who lived in the years of persecution. I just lived, worked, studied, and created families. And at the same time he kept his faith - he prayed, participated in the Sacraments, raised children in faith. They did not, like the martyrs and confessors, perform open, obvious feats of faith, but when their time came, they came to the ruins and became the first builders of the restored temples. We became the ones who explained to us, people far from faith, that these walls with broken windows and remnants of frescoes on wasp-falling plaster will become the place where we will begin to find ourselves. As the author notes, “almost all the events described in the book are real. Even the amazing wedding, described at the very beginning of the story, was in fact. The story of the heroes of the book - Gleb, his wife Elena and their daughter Katya - is also a true story. These people, says Father Alexander, are praying in the church with us today. The author tried to preserve the style of presentation that is inherent in every member of this family. Their life is a real feat. A feat of love, self-denial - call it what you want. It's just that these three took and conquered death. But since this book is still fiction, the author allowed himself some deviations from the chronology of events, the convergence or, on the contrary, the distance from each other of some plot lines, some selectivity of the narrative and even an experiment. “This is my vision,” says Father Alexander. "I have the right to do so, as the author and participant of the described events." In the preface of the book, the author writes: “In my youth it seemed to me that the life that I was living had not yet begun, that it would come one day tomorrow, somewhere out there, in wonderful distant worlds unknown to me. I did not understand that I was already living and that my life was happening here, surrounded by people I knew well. Over time, I learned to look around myself and notice those who live nearby. This book is about those whom I loved and continue to love, even if they are no longer with us. There is not a single loser in it, despite the seeming tragedy of the situation at first, everyone here is only winners. First of all, those who have overcome themselves. Dear reader, I do not promise you that by opening this book, you will get an easy entertaining reading. No. Because I want to talk to you. Together we will laugh and cry together. Because there is no other way, if people want to become friends, they must be honest with each other. Otherwise why ... " Another collection of stories by Priest Alexander Dyachenko is called "Time is running out" ... This is a new collection of priest stories. From the pages of this book, Father Alexander, as always, shares with the reader poignant stories from the life of one of the parishes of the Russian hinterland. We are faced with a series of images, tragic and funny, a whole string of human destinies with their joys, troubles, adversities, the most difficult falls and all-conquering enlightenments. On the other hand, every story of Father Alexander is a heart-to-heart conversation. It happens when a random traveler, after a few minutes of conversation, suddenly becomes a loved one and the heroes of his stories come to life in front of you, as if you had known them for a long time, and now you listen attentively and eagerly to the news about them. This is the unconditional gift of the narrator and the interlocutor - to revive their heroes, to make them alien. According to the author of the preface, Alexander Logunov, father, as an experienced and tactful interlocutor, invites the reader to reflect on his narration and draw conclusions himself, saving his main words for last, so that they will ring out at the moment when we are ready to hear them. The collection opens with stories that raise the topic of human freedom, which has again become relevant. The Soviet past of our country is a polemical question. It is now fashionable to idealize him. However, after a distance of a quarter of a century, it is easy not to notice, to forget what the very stability cost, which causes nostalgia in many. She was worth her freedom. Of course, not in the sense of permissiveness and lawlessness, its dark sides, with which the era of the 90s is habitually associated with us. No, it's about the freedom to be yourself. We live in a difficult and alarming time for our country. Quietly, tactfully, the author reminds us of the need to be sober, to keep vigil, because it depends on each of us what the future of Russia will be - we make history. And time is running out. It is fleeting. Awareness of this fact makes you turn to your memories. The reason for this can be a trip to your hometown, a meeting with high school students or a Sunday Gospel reading. "Memory" is generally one of the key words of the collection. In memory of people, he performs acts and donates to churches. In memory of the homeland, they keep a leaflet with poems, in memory of children's friendship - a postcard. The collection ends with important words about memory. "There you begin to forget a lot," says the heroine of the story "On the River Bank," who survived clinical death, "and suddenly memory suddenly wakes up. Memory is a big deal, it obliges you to hurry to those you love." - the author comes back many times. As he himself admits in one of his interviews, “death is a kind of Rubicon, a certain moment of truth, so I often write on this topic”. Death is an exam. “It was wrong to tell you that time inexorably brings us closer to death, - reflects the lyrical hero of the story“ Time does not wait. ”- No, it brings us closer not to death, but to Heaven. There the power of astronomical time, minutes and seconds disappears, and no one dies there. ”These stories are not about death, but about life, or rather, about Eternal Life and preparation for it. everything does not have time, endlessly postponing preparation ... All this becomes food for thought, first for the author's, and then for the reader's. And now, together with the priest, we go to Radonitsa through the cemetery, recalling the dead and continuing to pray for them, and they pray for us, because “love, if it is, of course, does not disappear after death.” Often readers become witnesses of a miracle that happened to this or that hero of the book in the face of death. become possible thanks to the love of heroes capable of sacrifice. "Life for life", height Christ's feat - this is the condition for the accomplishment of a miracle. This happens with many heroes of the book of Father Alexander, and each such story is proof of the existence of God, Who acts here and now. The author tells about this, and his stories flow into one another, and the reader suddenly ceases to notice the time. Time, as Logunov says, is one of the main characters of the book. Perhaps partly because the stories of Father Alexander are, in fact, diary entries, woven from everyday observations, heard stories and parish chronicles. These are photographs of our time in the optics of personal aesthetic and, more importantly, spiritual experience. Actually, after all, the test of the pen of Father Alexander took place in LiveJournal - a diary in its modern format. And any diary is a mirror that fully reflects the time with its questions and problems. In the story “Time Does Not Wait” the author, reflecting on time, writes: “Each age relates to time in its own way. As a child, we really want to become adults as soon as possible, and then time drags on slowly, slowly. But at last we grow up and are in no hurry, and time on purpose is accelerating faster and faster. It no longer goes and does not even run, it flies, and you fly with it. At first it scares you, and you record with horror every year you have lived, and you take congratulations on your next birthday as a mockery. And then you resign yourself and stop paying any attention to it, and only sometimes with distrust you ask: “What, is it New Year again?” collection: “I don’t know,” writes the author, “that in 50 years historians will tell about us something that we don’t guess today. The funny thing is, they will write with the confidence that they know us better than we knew ourselves. " But, as Father Alexander asserts, “the court of historians is not the main thing. The main thing is happening now. History is going on at the moment, and each of us is a participant in this process. And everyone has to give an account for him. And yet, - says the priest, - invite me now to become young again and start all over again. I will refuse. I do not need anything else, and let my time stay with me, because this is my life and this is my calling card. " Again and again, in his stories about people, Father Alexander Dyachenko returns to eternal themes: sinfulness and repentance, cruelty and mercy, acquisitiveness and non-acquisitiveness, gratitude and indifference. Revealing to us another story of an epiphany or a fall, with the sensitivity and depth of an experienced loving spiritual shepherd, he shows the reader how the Lord acts in the arrangement of human destinies. At the same time, there is no moralizing or condemnation in his stories. Only sorrow and regret about our foolishness and deafness. And one more thing: the motivation for choice and spiritual cheerfulness sounds more and more confidently in the stories of Father Alexander. As if the priest says, addressing all of us: "Decide to follow Christ, carry your cross - time is running out!"