The round table "The Image of an Orthodox Priest in Contemporary Cinematography" took place within the framework of the XVIII Christmas Readings. Father Alexy Darashevich needs help

Yesterday, the most important missionary event took place in the USSR - RF since the invention
television. Dozens of Orthodox Russians (viewers of the program "Let them talk" on Channel 1) simultaneously turned to the Lord with the prayer "Our Father", in which they asked
His mercy on the souls of the Russians who died in the "Nevsky Express".

And it was like this. There was a mourning release of the "yellow" show dedicated to the railway tragedy. The hysterical but kind guy Andrei Malakhov, the presenter, could not hold back his tears during the entire program. Following the traditions of carelessness inherent in both the program and the presenter, for some reason they brought an unfortunate granny to her, who lived 20 meters from the scene of the tragedy and was the first to take on the entire burden of the tragedy, giving her "pumpkin house" to the "front hospital" for bleeding. When the presenter, in his pathological-antomic style, tried at all costs to get the old woman talking, to make her remember all the horror of what she had experienced, she really felt bad and she lost consciousness. After that (as follows from the presenter's explanations), the grandmother had to urgently call an ambulance (apparently in the huge television technical center Ostankino there are simply no doctors on duty for a long time) and the show, as they say, is “must go on”.
We talked a lot, cried a lot, it was hard. Everyone. And then the moment came when it was necessary to do SOMETHING. Somehow to express your love and sympathy: both the living and the dead. The guest of the program, priest Aleksey Doroshevich, stood up and offered to commemorate the dead.
And, being a sincere and kind pastor, seeing in front of him the crying eyes of those who have lost those closest to him, not remembering about tolerance, about “multinationality and multi-confessionalism,” he began to pray aloud: “Our Father, Who art in heaven ...”. When Father Alexei read the prayer to the end, the camera showed that almost the entire studio had put the holy Orthodox sign of the cross on itself.
For the first time since the introduction of mass TV into the USSR-RF, a single Orthodox prayer united the whole country, because I am sure that at that time, together with Father Alexei and the people in the studio, all Orthodox TV viewers were praying for the dead.
No, of course, broadcasting of festive services has become commonplace for a long time, and those who wish can somehow prayerfully participate in them while at home. But so that without instructions from above, at once, without fear of reproaches for obscurantism, pray the whole country, and even on the first channel ... Personally, I do not remember this.
I think that in the studio there could well have been several representatives of other Christian confessions and religions, especially at the screen. And I am sure that they also prayed together with the Orthodox priest and people in the studio. In their own way. But this was a common prayer. Prayer of love and compassion. "According to the canons of the Church, he should not have done this, this is a violation of the canons, he had to remove from the studio all unbaptized and non-Orthodox (faithful ones), this is ecumenism" - our Pharisees-canonophiles, opponents of globalism and ecumenism should be indignant. "Immediately ban the priest from the ministry!" "How dare he," the liberal tolerantphiles should be indignant, "to perform a religious ceremony on secular television, and even when it was broadcast throughout the country."
But in the face of God, in the face of a common tragedy, all this idle reasoning turned out to be smoke and dust.
This was just the case when Love rose above laws and nationalities.
More precisely, Love appeared as the main law of being. If this love for the dead and the living, which united everyone in a single prayer impulse, is called ecumenism, not the erosion of faith, but the unity of love and compassion, then, personally, I am in favor of such ecumenism!
Axios! Father Alexy!

Conversation about. Alexy Darashevich, rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Polenovesso, listened to the radio station Radonezh in August 2006, a week after two of his children died in a car accident, and two more were in intensive care.

Today we will talk about death. These days it becomes somehow clear and understandable in a new way what it is. I am grateful to everyone who remembers my children Alyosha and Nastya and prays for them. Pray, pray for them, my dears. Know that when we pray, we connect with them and not only with them. In that world, all relatives, all really brothers and sisters. We call ourselves brothers and sisters here, but in fact we are not them. We somehow do not even really believe that this is possible. But in fact, baptized people can be brothers and sisters, regardless of wealth, occupation, habits, age. But we are not even trying to do this. Even in church we stand alone. And in the other world, all are really brothers and sisters. And when someone is remembered, everyone is remembered. You not only remember strangers, you remember yours with this. So remember ...

I now try to serve every day. In one of them, standing at the liturgy before the crucifixion (and we have a very beautiful crucifixion in our church in Polenovo), I thought: “What a beautiful Lord! What a beautiful Son God the Father had, what a wonderful Son He was! And how did God Himself give Him to us? .. ”. See, this is where this giving is coming from. After all, the Father himself did it.

Many young people came to the funeral service, and everyone said that there was no burden, but amazing joy. You have noticed that when someone dies, we wear black mourning robes. At the funeral service it was somehow striking - everyone was in black, and I was in white. I am alone in some kind of shining church dress. According to church tradition, the first Christians did not wear black clothes, but dressed in white. And this white glow is our real sensation.

The topic of death is difficult and very serious. Even one who in this life does not take anything seriously, he understands death as something significant. Recently, more and more people have become afraid of death. After all, it cuts off all human aspirations. Now people avoid even thinking about death, as if turning away from it. As if, if you pretend that she is not, then she really will not be. If someone died, then the question immediately arises: "Is it worth reporting this, because the person will be worried, why worry?" These are understandable experiences, but they are human, not God's. Death, first of all, is a conversation of God with a person, this is the Word of God to a person, and a person must definitely hear Him. You cannot deprive a person of the Word that the Lord says. We are all one, and when the Lord says something to a person, He says it to his son, daughter, mother, father, all those close to us, because we all live each other.

When the accident happened, the question arose whether or not to inform the daughter's friend that she had died. We decided not to report. This is wrong, absolutely wrong. Why? I happened to do it in a completely different way.
When I came to the intensive care unit, the children were conscious. And then Seraphim opened his eyes and asked: "Has Nastya died?" I replied, "Yes." “Yes, I thought so. And Alyosha? " “And Alyosha,” I said. And the boy accepted it so calmly, so clearly, so simply. Why was it this way? Because it was true. And the truth of God has miraculous power, grace. Real grace that gives life, that gives strength. And when we are afraid, we forget that there is grace behind death. I knew this, and for the first time I faced such a clear manifestation of the power of God.

There is more and more suffering in the world, more and more deaths, some kind of misfortune. My children are in the Morozov hospital, so I go there every day, meet with doctors, and they say that they see a colossal wave of child deaths, and do not know what is happening, they even say: "Every bed is a mystery." But next to these misfortunes there is grace, and it is very close. I didn't realize it right away. First you live, you act, and only then you come to the thought: "Lord, I did not count on such calmness, on such simplicity." And all this is given, given by prayer and trust in the Lord. What a tremendous power we, the Orthodox, and our Russia have! Even the simplest prayer has tremendous meaning. There is nothing simpler than the prayer "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner." We used to say that without even thinking. But the word "have mercy" means not only "forgive", but also "have mercy", that is, "love." In the Polish language, the word "mercy" has survived, that is, "love". So, "have mercy" means "love me, Lord." We ask the Lord for maximum love all the time. And what does "love" mean? True love-mercy will be when the Lord takes us to Himself, and this is death. In this world we see death, but in essence it is the taking of us by the Lord to Himself. What an amazing thing this is, an event that cannot be imagined!

Today I want to talk not about tears, although there are, of course, tears. I want to talk about the joy that the Lord gave me. This joy is people. You, my spiritual children, suddenly found yourself next to me. I know that all of you are working. But many have arrived, some have covered thousands of kilometers. The church is a family. And I saw that I really did have it.

Recently I was traveling with a priest who had lost his wife and son, and sympathized: "Yes, father, now you are the only one left." He replied: "What are you, father, I am not alone, how can I be alone, because the Lord is with me!" We are never alone, never! And I would also like to tell you and those who hear us, and, perhaps, especially those who do not. How they can hear me now, I do not know. But I really want them to feel it somehow! Become, hurry to be Orthodox, real Orthodox! Because in this life you have to be ready for everything, because life is difficult, really difficult. And who knows what awaits you beyond the threshold.

You should not be the one who just comes to church from time to time, lights a candle, crosses himself, fasts, and does not seem to fast; when praying, and when not praying - well, it doesn't work. No, my dears, life is too serious to be cold, to be warm, barely warm. We must be ardent, must be strong Orthodox, so that not only, perhaps, help ourselves, but also those who are next to us. You say that your mother and your friend are baptized and think that they are Orthodox. Most probably. But is this so? ..

Our radio listener Elizaveta shares her misfortune with me: “I also have grief, my son died two years ago. I cry for him day and night and wait for him home. I do not know what to do…".

I'll tell you: mother, mother, no matter how bitter it is for you to say this, but why are you doing this? Do you think that you can help him with something with your tears? What you are doing is done by very many, but ... Now, perhaps, I have the right to tell you something for which another time I could be reproached: it is good for you, well-fed, calm and happy to say so. I want to say that it is godlessness to do so. Just the way you do it. This lack of faith, this disbelief, this, in fact, is not help to him, but just a stone on him. Do you think it is easy for him there? And you still crush with this hopelessness of yours, melancholy and despondency.

Has the Lord commanded us this? Do you think your son is expecting this from you? I have already said, I want to repeat: we are afraid of death. We often refer to the holy fathers: "Remember the hour of death, and you will never sin." Yes, the saint says this, but in his words there is no fear of death, you see - no! Do you remember that there was your son, boy Sasha, God rest his soul. And you clung to him, the past, not today, without thinking about what is with him, with his soul now. So, "remember the hour of death" means "remember what awaits you, remember and strive for it, think about it and get ready for it."

It turns out that we are afraid of real, genuine Christianity, which means that we are afraid of Christ himself. There is no need to be terrified of death, this is usually and natural. It is strange if it were not so, for who is God and who are we? He is great, He is huge, He is inconceivable compared to us. And even the apostles were horrified. Remember Peter? He threw himself at his feet, said: "Lord, get out of me, for I am a sinful man." They were horrified when the Lord revealed himself to them not as a Man, but as God, which is very natural for our sinful nature. We probably need to be afraid, but we need to be afraid as children who are afraid and are drawn to the Lord, you see, they are drawn. And where are we reaching, what are we clinging to? We are not reaching out to the Lord.

If they were drawn to the Lord, they would be looking for light, goodness, joy, because the Lord is Love, Joy and Light. This Light would penetrate us. If we do not unite with Him, if longing is in our soul, then we do not strive towards God. I understand when people cry in anguish and tear their souls, I understand them very much. But a minute of these feelings, and the Lord takes me away from them. Do not think that I have condemned any of you. This is my sympathy for you and my desire to get you out of where you are now. When a person groans, cries, cries, he is afraid and realizes that his fate is hard, bitter, and at least to some extent, unconsciously, perhaps, he is trying to share this fate. This is essentially what we are doing. But it's not right.

Those who were before Christ, perhaps, did it correctly, there was no other way, there was no joy of the Resurrection. But we have something else, after the Nativity of Christ, the Resurrection of Christ, the Lord has given us this different. We can not only be there with the deceased. There people do not feel relief from our torment. He is not relieved from this, moreover, it is even harder, because instead of being with him, like a coiled ball to torment, devour himself, burn himself, you need to drag him out of there. You see, drag. And what are you doing? You don't do that at all. And you will drag him if you yourself strive for God. If you do not drag, you yourself will never be able to do this. The Lord will drag. If you just reach out to Him, grab onto Him: “Lord, Lord, I am Yours, I am with You, Lord,” and then your second hand will reach out to your son and will have something to cling to. For your weak hand, weak, completely weak. But it will be, I do not know how many years it will last, but you will be doing a deed, a holy deed. God's work. What to do, my dears. We still praise ourselves to some extent, look how I feel, how I worry. Someone there is not worried at all, but here I am tearing my soul, crying, crying all my eyes, even blinded, Lord. Is this, the Lord, commanded us?

Another listener of ours says: “The Lord gives children. When they die, they return to their Father, therefore they cannot be “killed”. ”

You are absolutely right. When we kill ourselves in this way, it speaks of our lack of faith: we do not have a concrete feeling in our souls that the world of God exists, it is near and it is beautiful. I took a step, and you are already there, in that world. We are knocked down, we do not immediately understand the surprise. Lesha and his friends went on a pilgrimage along the Golden Ring, to our ancient shrines. He had a second day of vacation, and he had long promised to take the children on a trip. The guys drove, sang, then on the way turned to their friends in another temple, there are also young guys, girls. They were full of joy. And at this joyful moment they fell into the greatest joy. Yes, there was, of course, some terrible moment, a gap, an anguish, but I had to go through it. Life is dense, in order to pass through a wall, it must be broken through. It is very difficult and even painful. But behind her is joy, light.

Everything happens according to the will of God. Even a hair from a person's head cannot fall without His will. If this is the will of God, then what kind of experience can there be? But we do not understand and impute this to ourselves as a dignity: what a good person I am, here is another indifferent mother, she sent, and she does not care, but I am worried!

Dear ones, this is a substitute for spiritual life, it is not spiritual life. This prevents us from living in God's way. Experience is a rudiment of a spiritless life. In that godless life, we could not help but worry, because without this we could become stones, bricks and nothing else. When a person is an unbeliever, he is forced to worry, he simply has no other way to live spiritually. And he takes at least this crutch - excitement. He cries, cries. But God, the Church has given us much more. We have been given clarity, we have been given faith. “Peace be with you,” said the Lord. In the world we must live in clarity, peace, hope, trust in the Lord.

The world should be with us. We hear this word so often. During the service, from time to time, the priest turns to the flock, brothers, sisters, blesses them and says: "Peace be with you." Everything lives in peace. Where the world is, there is the Lord. Where there is confusion (they say "vaguely in the soul"), God is not visible. And why? There is no peace. We must calm down and rely on the will of God. Everything is born in simplicity. There is no need to invent, you just need to do the work that the Lord gives. So it was with my mother. They called me, I immediately understood what my business was: I had to go to my children. I had to somehow get out of Polenov, I didn't even know how to do it, because it was August 2, a normal weekday. It was difficult for me, but I solved this problem. Then the second problem appeared, the third, the fourth, the fifth ... I was surprised how many of them were gathered. At this time I was praying. The Lord found himself in such simplicity.
The blessing of God and the Guardian Angel in your simple and ordinary holy life.

http://www.pravmir.ru/kogda-umirayut-deti/

In 2006, Father Alexy Darashevich's two children died in an accident ... And here again the trouble, of course, is not comparable, but ... The parish house in the church in honor of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity in Polenov, which he takes care of, burned down. Who can help - help, please ...

This is yesterday's program with the participation of Father Alexy on the Soyuz TV channel, where he tells the details about the parish, gives his phone:

This is how he is, always enthusiastic and touching no matter what, father ...

And this is the official information from the Soyuz TV channel:

A regular guest of our live broadcasts, Father Alexy Darashevich, had a disaster. The parish house of the priest burned down, at the church in which he performs his service. The house housed: a Sunday school, a refectory, rooms for pilgrims, the abbot's cell and other premises.

You can provide financial assistance to the priest by sending funds to the specified details:

Tsaritsinskoe branch 7978/01631 of Sberbank of Russia OJSC

К / сч. 30101810400000000225

BIK 044525225 KPP 775003012

INN 7707083893 OGRN 1027700132195

Account number 40817810338064711096

Recipient: Darashevich Alexey Stanislavovich

We ask your holy prayers for the priest of God Alexy.

If you go to my magazine, dear people, repost this information. I do not know how to do it yet, well, it will be fine as it turns out. Thank you!

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Comments (4)

(Deleted comment)

Please remove the ad.

from: darashevich_a_s
date: Dec. 24th, 2013 09:40 pm (UTC)

Dor tansi_ta!
I ask you to remove the ad "Father Alexy Darashevich needs help!"
The account has been closed for more than two years now, but as I discovered (sorry I didn't do this earlier: I'm not a big fan of surfing the web), it still causes resentment in some people.
Unfortunately, this also happens among Christians. It did not begin with us and it will not end with us, but for us there is the saint's bitter advice: do not give a reason to those who are looking for a reason.
To you, I bring my heartfelt gratitude (and in your person to all the good people who remember me). After all, everything will stop and fall silent, there will be only one thing - love. Compassionate and merciful love in our hearts. It only makes sense for us sinners.

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let them talk

from:
date: Feb. 27th, 2016 09:23 pm (UTC)

what are you talking about. I watched the program let them say where you stood up for a mother of many children with 11 children. how did you depict pain for her if only this problem is that she is an alcoholic and the children demand guardianship from her disappeared. yes you church are the first thieves in Russia as soon as you gave power after the collapse of the USSR, you were the first who had expensive clothes sticking out from under your robe, expensive cars, etc. Come to us in Staraya Russa and see how in our neighborhood the priest hangs noodles for old parishioners and rewrites their property on himself and due to this replenishes your treasury and at the same time riding yourself in expensive jeeps, but I will give a bunch of these examples, so close yours mouths yes you should be the first to burn in the so-called hell and boil in pans.

Moscow, January 29, Blagovest-info. The participants of the round table, which took place on January 28 at the Central House of Cinematographers as part of the XVIII Christmas Educational Readings, were looking for a typical image of an Orthodox priest in modern cinema.

The conference hall could not accommodate everyone who wanted to listen to the discussion, in which, as promised in the program, famous directors Pavel Lungin, Vladimir Khotinenko, Alexander Proshkin, actor Sergei Makovetsky were to take part. However, there were no masters at the meeting. The topic was discussed by the organizers of the film festivals "Radonezh" and "Golden Knight", film critics, priests and representatives of public organizations.

More adequately convey information about the modern Russian Orthodox Church, about the life and ministry of priests, documentary films, not fiction films, can. At least, all the participants of the round table agreed on this, including the hero of one of the documentary films “Russian Reserve”, Archpriest Viktor Saltykov, who was present at the meeting. In his opinion, it is necessary to talk about the Church with the help of cinema, but filmmakers "do not need to meddle in the field of communication between man and God - this is a very intimate thing."

“A priest is a hero of our time,” says Evgeny Nikiforov, chairman of the Radonezh fraternity, president of the film festival of the same name. According to him, society needs a film embodiment of the image of such a clergyman, who "can be entrusted with the fate of Russia and his own as a confessor." Few successful examples of this kind were recalled at the round table. Thus, the actor and director, president of the Golden Knight film festival Nikolai Burlyaev named the director Andrei Tarkovsky, who, in his words, “was the first to stage a film that does not defame the image of a priest”. The same film - "Andrei Rublev" - called the best film related to church issues, Lev Karakhan - producer, film critic. Of the recent films, only "The Island", in his opinion, "for all its flaws", gives the viewer the opportunity to touch the "living spiritual experience." Other films: "Love in Russian", "Muslim", "St. George's Day", "Miracle", "Pop" - talk about the "fear" of directors "to approach the priest," the film critic said. Meanwhile, it is cinema that can “remove the distance between the Church and society”, allay the fears of those who see the Church as a “new ideological stranglehold”, and attract those who “could move towards the Church,” L. Karakhan reflected.

"These fears are a myth!" - Evgeny Nikiforov was indignant in response. He stressed that the Church today “does not impose anything on anyone,” and even if it wanted to, it does not have such opportunities. According to the chairman of "Radonezh", high-quality cinema is obtained when there is a worthy customer. The Church today "has no money to order a movie," he said, adding that the only exception is the film "Pop", created by order of the ROC "in the person of the" Orthodox Encyclopedia "- a qualified, intelligent customer."

Who can play a priest in a feature film today? "Who is allowed to do this?" - the actor Yuri Belyaev, who himself played the priest in the television series "Savior under the Birches", paraphrased the question. In his opinion, films on Orthodox issues should be censored by the Church so as not to compromise it. He himself, playing a parish priest, received the blessing of his confessor and constantly consulted with the clergy in the process.

Nikita Astakhov, artistic director of the Russian Spiritual Theater "Glas", who also had to play a priest, is sure that only an actor who "sets spiritual goals" will achieve success - otherwise they will not believe him. But for the preparation of such actors, a completely different methodology is needed: it is necessary to "church the theatrical universities", create a new acting school, etc. take care of the spiritual state of the artist.

As expected, during the discussion, the round table participants expressed polar opinions about Oleg Yankovsky's latest film work - the role of Metropolitan Philip in P. Lungin's film Tsar. Long-term chairman of the jury of the "Radonezh" film festival, writer Vladimir Krupin sharply condemned the idea of ​​the whole film as "criminally showing Russia" and the performance of the role of St. Philip, in particular. “We know that Yankovsky went to the shooting in a taxi and listened to the blues,” the writer said, apparently considering that these manifestations of the actor's life behind the scenes make it impossible to truly penetrate the image. Lev Karakhan stood up for the great actor, thanks to whom the image of the metropolitan turned out to be "alive", in contrast to other, very "static" attempts to portray a priest in modern cinema.

"Let the actor play the priest, but when it is the other way around, this is unacceptable!" - E. Nikiforov's anger was caused by the play of the priest John Okhlobystin, who played the role of the jester in the film "Tsar". In this role, Okhlobystin is “disgusting,” and the blame for this lies not only with himself and the filmmakers, but also with the hierarchy: “why is he still not banned from the ministry or enlisted in the staff,” Nikiforov was indignant. He recognizes Okhlobystin's acting talent, but does not allow the combination of two so different vocations in one person.

Priest Aleksey Doroshevich, artist and filmmaker for secular education, member of the jury of the Radonezh and Golden Knight festivals, noted that he had not yet met such an image of a priest in modern cinema that would be a “image of Christ's love”. However, he sees the features of a certain "prototype" in the play of Pyotr Mamonov in the film "The Island", and not in the entire role, but only in its manifestation, which is associated with a prayer of repentance, with "the desire to be heard by God." The priest expressed the hope that the true image of a minister of the Church in the cinema will be found, and "people will feel that this is the center of all Russian life."

Yulia Zaitseva

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Private history

How should we treat defrocked priests?

Recently, the famous actor in the past, priest Ioann Okhlobystin, asked to be released from the ministry. This story is known to many, as Fr. John wrote about it in detail on his blog. This is not the only case, we have to hear about priests who are prohibited from serving. They are condemned, many even consider them traitors. Is it so? For what reasons the priests stop serving and how they should be treated after that - we asked the head of the Department of Dogmatic Theology of PSTGU Archpriest Boris LEVSHENKO about this.

REFERENCE

Archpriest Boris LEVSHENKO was born in 1936. In 1958 he graduated from the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University. Worked at Moscow State University and Peoples' Friendship University. Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. In 1994 he was ordained a deacon, a year later - a priest. Cleric of the Church of St. Nicholas in Kuznetskaya Sloboda (Moscow). Head of the Department of Dogmatic Theology of PSTGU.

Test of doubt

- Father Boris, if a priest is not prohibited from serving, and he himself asks the hierarchy to release him (not for health reasons), is it still a conflict situation?

- Not always. This often happens to new converts. In the nineties, many were ordained rather quickly - new churches began to open, the number of parishioners increased hundreds of times, and there were not enough priests. And when a person acquires faith in adulthood, he feels such a spiritual upsurge that he burns with the desire to study theology as deeply as possible, to serve the Church more diligently. Some become priests on this ascent. When priests are in short supply, energetic, godly people are quickly and willingly ordained. But then the vivid sensation of grace passes away. In this, I think, there is God's providence - God does not leave a person without His grace, but for spiritual growth a person must work himself to feel this grace. This can be compared to a parent teaching a child to walk. They did not love him less, but until he learns, falls and bruises are inevitable. And in the spiritual life there comes a moment when one has to learn to “walk,” that is, to work in order to feel God's grace. This moment is difficult, so often a person has some inner emptiness.

If he managed to become a priest, then, without abandoning prayer, the Church begins to understand that he has taken on an unbearable burden. And then, of course, he can leave this path. But there is a great temptation here. Every priest has moments of such doubts: am I not devastated, can I give something to people who expect spiritual support from me, pastoral advice? But we are not helping people, but God. Through the ordinances that we perform. And at some point we begin to think that it is ourselves. This is a charm (the wicked one tempts every person), which leads precisely to such doubts: “Did I do well, that I followed this path, am I worthy, am I a real priest? I just need to pray to God, and not perform the sacraments. " But whether you really understood your mistake with God's help or are you faint-hearted, abandoning the cross for the sake of your “I” is a big question. I think that it is always decided between man and God. It is desirable, of course, with the help of an experienced confessor. But it cannot be said that giving up the priesthood is always a sin.

The main thing is not to judge

- Everyone knows a recent example - Father John Okhlobystin asked to be released from the ministry, and was temporarily banned. At the same time, he was left with the right to bless, and he wrote on the Internet that he was still called Father John. Is it correct to refer to a priest forbidden in the ministry in this way, or is it better by name and patronymic? And what is the meaning of the priest's blessing if it is forbidden?

- This is the decision of the ruling bishop, in this case, the Holy Patriarch. Only the bishop can decide what right to leave to a priest who is prohibited from serving. And as for the appeal ... Call me Boris Trifonovich, I will respond, Father Boris too. My classmates in the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at Moscow State University still call me Borey. And in Soviet times, priests were called by name and patronymic in public places - there was a certain conspiracy.

- But, you see, it's one thing when a non-church or little church person addresses you or another respected priest by name and patronymic, because it is more familiar to him, it is more convenient, and it is quite another thing when an Orthodox only addresses a priest who is prohibited from serving in this way. That is, as if making him understand that he does not recognize him as a priest. Does this hurt the “former priest”?

- First of all, he himself does not recognize himself as a priest, and it will be strange to be offended if someone chooses to address him by name and patronymic. But if the priest is not deprived of his dignity, the address "father namerek" is also permissible. It's as convenient as anyone. In any case, you need to treat the person with respect, not condemnation. Then, regardless of the form of appeal, you will not offend him. Otherwise, “father namerek” can be pronounced in such a tone that it will sound more offensive than the most rude familiarity. It may be difficult for us to understand and accept someone's rejection of the priesthood, but only God knows whether a person has sinned or acted according to his conscience. As for Father John Okhlobystin, it seems to me that he is acting wisely - he wants to refrain from serving until he understands his calling. In his case, there is an additional problem: can a priest be an actor? There used to be an unambiguous prohibition, and I believe that it is justified - not every profession is suitable for a priest.

Quite another matter is the priests who have gone into schism. When ordained, they swore an oath to be loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate, but changed the oath. This is a betrayal. I cannot call Father John's act a betrayal. He does not break with the Mother Church, but honestly doubts that the cross that he took upon himself at the ordination is within his power. And he interrupts his ministry not at a critical moment for the Church, so he cannot be equated with a soldier deserting during a battle.

Priesthood is not a profession

- What is the attitude of the Church towards those who refused to serve after the revolution, saving their families from persecution?

- I do not know if there is a conciliarly accepted church opinion about those people, but, of course, when a person refuses to dignity for political reasons, he commits treason. I can't say anything concrete about those who refused after the revolution, but I remember how, during the years of Khrushchev's persecutions, Archpriest Alexander Osipov, a lecturer at the Leningrad Theological Seminary, not only renounced his dignity, but also published an article in Pravda entitled “Renouncing Religion is the Only Right Way”. A few years earlier, even under Stalin, theologian Evgraf Duluman officially broke with religion. Subsequently, he became the head of the department of scientific atheism at the Kiev Institute of Philosophy. I do not know whether they were forced or they voluntarily renounced their faith (their actions are evaluated differently), but in both cases it is a betrayal.

But the famous art critic Sergei Nikolaevich Durylin was ordained shortly after the revolution, but after a few years he realized that his vocation was art history. But he never renounced Christ, the Church, until the end of his life he remained an Orthodox person. Nobody considers him a traitor.

- We have no right to judge. The Lord knows the reasons. For this they are not excommunicated from the Church; people continue to confess, to receive communion. The trouble is that you don't feed us with bread, but let the other person be judged. You can always find a reason for condemnation, especially if the person is in sight. Instead of thinking about our sins, about the salvation of our souls, we arrogantly condemn others. Like a Pharisee who thanked the Lord for being different from the publican praying next to him. Moreover, if we compare us to the Pharisees, the comparison will often not be in our favor. The Pharisees still strove to fulfill the Law of God as they understood it. And among them were many zealous, pious people. For example, the adoptive father of our Lord Jesus Christ is righteous Joseph. But in any spiritual tradition there are temptations, and in the parable of the publican and the Pharisee, the Lord points out to us the main temptation of Pharisaism - the striving for elitism, separating oneself from others, exalting them. It's good to thank God for giving you the opportunity to keep the law. But the Pharisee also thanks God that he is better than the publican praying next to him, that is, he just strives for elitism, separating himself from other people, and this is a sin. Nevertheless, this Pharisee was pious and strove to fulfill the Law of God. Today we often forget about fulfilling the commandments, but we happily condemn other people. In this sense, we are worse than the Pharisees.

- Can you say about a non-serving priest that he just changed his profession?

- No, after all, the priesthood is not a profession, but a ministry. As well as monasticism. And it takes time to understand if this is your path. In monasteries, before the tonsure, there is a period of obedience, which is quite long. And if the ordination is done too hastily, there is a high probability that a person already in dignity will understand the erroneousness of the chosen path. What we often see today.

By the way, about the profession ... Some people ask to be released from the ministry for financial reasons. For example, having become a priest, a person began to receive ten times less than when he taught at a university. And he understands that with such a salary, he is not able to provide for his family. Again, only God knows whether a person is driven by the sin of avarice or responsibility for loved ones. We cannot judge. But the fact is that for this reason some priests return to their secular profession.

- They say that special grace is given at ordination. What happens to her when a priest is banned from ministry or taken out of the state? Is it harder for a priest to survive a ban than for a layman - a dismissal from his job?

- When ordained, the priest is given “grace, which heals feeble and impoverished, replenishing” - to him personally, but also to the needs of the Church, the gift to teach, to minister and to shepherd the Church of God and God. In fullness, this grace helps the priest who leads a prayerful and strict life. For such a priest, being prohibited from serving is a tragedy and a test that requires even more prayer.

How is prohibition in ministry different from ejection from dignity?

Answering the cleric of the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Krasnoe Selo, priest Dimitri PASHKOV.

For clerics, the punishment is to deprive them of the rights they received upon joining the clergy. This deprivation can be temporary and have a corrective character, or irrevocable, then it will have a punitive character. The main types of special punishments for clerics are as follows.

1. Temporary prohibition, that is, the suspension of the right to carry out actions related to dignity. At the same time, all the benefits of the Church available to the laity are also available to the forbidden priests: to confess and partake of the Holy Mysteries, etc. This is a measure of corrective discipline: if the forbidden priest is corrected, the prohibition is lifted. Such a prohibition is imposed for a certain period (with the possibility of its reduction in the case of a clear correction of the sinned priest). The bishop who imposed it has the right to authorize from the ban.

The prohibition can be applied to a clergyman not only as a punishment, but also as a preliminary measure applied during the investigation until the final consideration of the case by the church court, if a serious charge is brought against the priest. In this case, the prohibition is not a punishment (for the guilt has not yet been established), but follows from the requirement of undoubted spiritual purity of the cleric who starts the sacred rites.

In some cases, the prohibition may take on milder forms: the cleric temporarily loses the right to perform sacred rites, but he is allowed to pray and receive communion with the elders and deacons at the altar (rule 70 of Basil the Great). But even in this case, the punished for the time of the ban remains a priest only by name, without having the basic rights associated with his dignity.

2. Rarely: bringing down the cleric in the last place among his companions in dignity (rule 7 of the Council of Trull, rule 5 of the 7th Ecumenical Council), so that his "seniority by the time of ordination" is abolished. In the ancient Church, this punishment was imposed for particularly insolent behavior towards one's fellow servants or senior officers. The presbyter, as a result of the application of this measure, was to occupy the last place among the elders, the deacon among the deacons during joint services and other meetings of the clergy.

3. Deprivation of the right performing any sacred rites, but with the right to bear the clerical title and enjoy the honor associated with this title. This punishment is already significantly more severe than the previous ones. It is imposed for grave crimes that seduce the people, but which were committed either out of ignorance or for some extraordinary reason, despite the fact that those who sinned repented (see rule 36 of the Council of Trull).

4. Eruption from dignity - the most severe of the special (clerical) church punishments. He is subject to clergy who have seriously sinned against the Church and morality by such transgressions, for which the laity are excommunicated from the Church. It is considered unjust to punish a cleric from both sides, that is, to deprive him not only of his dignity, but also of the opportunity to receive communion (see Apostolic Canon 25: “A bishop, presbyter, or deacon convicted of fornication, perjury or theft, may he be thrown out from the priestly order, but may he not be excommunicated from church communion, for the Scripture says: Do not avenge twice for one (Naum. 1: 9). ”In this case, the outcast clergy find themselves in the position of laymen who can receive communion.

The canons stipulate several special cases when a cleric should be punished by both eruption and excommunication (acquisition of dignity for money or with the help of secular power; renunciation of God or of his dignity [for example, when a priest, in a paroxysm of cowardice, answers a direct question that he does not a priest and never was]; attempts to serve as a priest, despite being deposed). In these exceptional cases, those who are overthrown are placed in the position of laymen, excommunicated from the sacrament for a period determined by the bishop.

The eruption has no time limit: the dignity does not return to the ejected cleric(rule 3 of Basil the Great).

An outcast or renounced priest is no longer such, even by name, and lives as a layman, dies as a layman and must be buried in the same way as a layman.

Deprivation of office(removal from the state) is not a punishment. This is an economic measure applied to clergymen who have lost the opportunity to serve in full (for example, due to illness or age). In this case, the priest can, with the blessing of the bishop, enter into an agreement with the rector of a parish and serve in the amount that the parish leadership is ready to yield to him.