Our spiritual father is Archpriest Vasily Ermakov. Spiritual testament of father Vasily Ermakov. “The pain, if severe, is short...”

About Father Vasily

At all times, the Lord raises up His saint, praying for his people, preserving spiritual continuity from his pious parents. So it is now: at the Seraphim Cemetery, in the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov, the Lord installed His servant, who for more than 50 years taught the disbelieving “Soviet” people how to “contend lawfully” (Apostle Paul), how to follow Christ on all paths of their lives - Father Vasily Ermakov. And it is no coincidence that it is in this place.
Serafimovskoe Memorial Cemetery is the graves of blockade survivors who died of starvation, fallen soldiers of the Afghan and Chechen wars, Kursk sailors, outstanding representatives of the creative and scientific intelligentsia, these are the graves of Vladimir Putin’s parents.
And, just as once upon a time all classes of Russian society flocked to St. Seraphim, so now at the Seraphim Cemetery - businessmen, scientists, military leaders and many people from all over Russia and from abroad, eager to receive instruction in the difficult vicissitudes of their fate, wanting to know the will God about your future life.
For 25 years, the community of the Church of St. Seraphim was headed by Archpriest Vasily Ermakov, who throughout his life demonstrated the feat of service to Christ and Russia. Originally from the ancient Russian city of the Oryol province of Bolkhova, the son of pious, deeply religious parents. While under occupation and then in a concentration camp in Estonia, performing hard physical labor, Fr. Throughout his entire life, Vasily comprehended the law of our existence: “Without God, you can’t reach the threshold.” Coming to the church that opened during the occupation for the first time, Fr. Vasily saw how the people who had suffered and regained the faith of their fathers prayed. Mostly they were women. And one of the main words of Father was a word addressed to a Russian woman-mother. This word is about a mother’s unceasing prayer for her children and husband, about the direct responsibility of a mother to teach her children to pray, and with a firm parental hand to prevent them from going to hot spots, “discotheques,” etc. For our future depends on the education of young people.
“Russia will rise!” - Father often repeated, although times will be very difficult spiritually. Therefore, he taught to pray, not to approach God frivolously, without laboring internally, without realizing the full greatness of the Holy Place that we dared to approach.
Father Vasily, who grew up near the Optina Hermitage, breathed the same air with the Optina elders, in his youth listened to the advice and teachings of the Monk Seraphim Vyritsky, connected by many years of spiritual friendship with Fr. Georgy Chekryakovsky and Fr. John Krestyankin, brought to us, living in the 21st century, the spirit of Russian Orthodoxy, which seemed to be completely lost. But God is merciful, and the prayer of his faithful servant can accomplish much. Father Vasily created, begged for, and rallied his large Seraphim family - a living example of a Russian Orthodox family (but before, all groups in Russia were a kind of family). This means that to preserve it, preserve it and pass on to others what Father taught is the duty of those who knew him not only to himself, but also to Russia. And the entrance to it is not closed to everyone who with their hearts seeks ways to save themselves and their loved ones and serve Russia.

Here is what Father himself tells about himself:
“I was born in the city of Bolkhov, Oryol region, and in my childhood memory were imprinted 25 boarded-up churches without crosses, with broken windows - this was the case here, and everywhere in Russia in the pre-war, thirties. Until I was 14 years old, I lived without a church, but I prayed at home, my parents’ prayer - my father, mother and sisters - they all prayed... The war began. And soon we witnessed a tragic retreat, even a disorderly flight of troops. And on October 9, 1941, the Germans entered the city. What do you remember most vividly about those days? What was happening in Bolkhov then? The establishment of a new government - the election of a burgomaster, that is, some kind of power... We, young people aged 14 and older, were sent to work every day by the Germans. They worked under escort. They gathered on the square at 9 o'clock in the morning. A German comes and chooses who should go where: to clean roads, dig trenches, fill craters after a bombing, build a bridge, etc. This is how we lived... I was 15 years old then.

Soon a rumor spread among the remaining residents that they were going to open a church. On October 16, a church was opened in the name of St. Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow. People walked around the destroyed churches, collecting icons for him that they did not have time to destroy. They found a miraculous icon, Jerusalem - it was nailed to the floor, and people walked on it. And soon a rumor reached that people were going to open a church. But everything was lost, plundered. People began to walk around closed churches, collect surviving icons, and take something abandoned in the museum. Some of the icons were brought to the church by the residents themselves. And so on October 16, 1941, the church opened. This was the former 17th-century monastery church of Metropolitan Alexy (the convent of the Nativity of Christ; now the building of this church has been preserved, but it contains living quarters).

I came to this church for the first time around November. Priest Vasily Verevkin served. From 1932 to 1940 he served time in logging camps in the Arkhangelsk region.
At home, the father said: “Children, let’s go to church - let’s give thanks to God.” I was scared and ashamed to go there. Because I felt the full power of Satanism. What was pressing on me? Just as today it puts pressure on all those who go to the temple of God for the first time. Shame. Shame. A very strong shame that pressed on my soul, on my consciousness... And some voice whispered: “don’t go, they will laugh... Don’t go, you weren’t taught that way...” I walked to church, looking around so that no one would see me . It was a straight kilometer and a half walk to the church. And I walked around, walked about five kilometers across the river... There were about two hundred people in the church, probably... I stood through the entire service, looked, saw people praying, but my soul was still far from the feeling of grace. The first time I didn't feel anything...

The year 1942 came, a very difficult one: the front was 8 kilometers away from us. My family and I went to church on Christmas Eve. And standing in the crowded church - a new one was opened, the Nativity of Christ - it accommodated up to three thousand worshipers - it was amazing for me to see fervent prayer, and tears, and sighs; people, mostly women, were wearing threadbare sweatshirts, patched clothes, old scarves, bast shoes, but it was a prayerful crowd, and the cross - earnest, reverent, with which they were overshadowed, praying for loved ones, for their families, for the Motherland - was shocked. It was a real deep prayer of the Russian people, who were not completely deceived, who came to their senses and again came to God. And the choir also sank into my soul. How they sang. With soul, spiritually. It was the language of prayer and faith. The regent was my singing teacher, who taught me at school.

And then I clearly felt: “Heaven on earth.”

The temple was smoky. The windows are covered with stones. There were no frames, just some bricks... Household candles... And Father Vasily serves. We were family friends, I studied with his son in the 3rd school. This only priest remaining in the city performed divine services. And from that time, from the age of 42, from the Nativity of Christ, it was as if I was born again. And he began to go to church weekly on Saturdays and Sundays...

It was war time, curfew time, when we could leave the house from 7 am to 7 pm. In the spring. And in winter only until 5 pm. You can’t go anywhere after the appointed hour... The service began at three or half past three. And I felt the necessary help of prayer, and when the Germans released us from work at five o’clock in the evening, I ran home, quickly put on some of my clothes and ran to church and stood. My place is to the left in front of the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God. This revered miraculous icon was found in some abandoned temple. There are a lot of people, and I gradually, gradually from week to week, from month to month, got used to going to church. Father Vasily noticed me and said: “Vasek, I’ll take you to church.” On March 30, 1942, he led me into the altar. Showed where you can walk, where you can’t walk, where, what you can take, what you can’t...

I remember Easter 1942, it was on Lydia on April 5th. There was still ice, there was no religious procession then. We prayed. There was some piece of black bread, we broke our fast. And suddenly a terrible shelling began. Explosions were visible from the window; German planes were flying. Tanks... Then two days later our prisoners arrive. Exhausted.

We ask: “Well, how?” They answer: “We jumped out onto the field, the Germans suppressed us with tanks.” I asked, “Well, how are the churches doing there?” - “What kind of churches, and there is no God…” But we already had a church, and people went there. The Germans did not interfere with us. I remember they entered the temple, taking off their headdress. They looked, didn’t make any noise, there were no complaints….

Easter 1943 was somewhere at the end of April. Someone asked the authorities, and we were allowed to take part in a religious procession on Easter night, where I took part in the surplice, like a little clergyman. This 1943 is the year of the turning point in the war. The front approached the city. We lived continuously under the fear of bombing. On that Easter night, our bombers were heading from Tula to Oryol. The next morning we heard that 400 civilians had died.

I also remember this year 1943 because of such an event. In the summer, we carried the miraculous Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God around our homes. How did the people receive her? It all started at 12 noon until five. Father Vasily came, a short prayer service was served, the icon was raised, and we walked under it. This was joy for the entire street where the prayer service was being held. But there were also houses that did not accept the shrine.

But still, the prayer of the Russian people is imprinted in my memory. It was inspiring and supportive. It was as if the Lord was telling me: “Look how many people are believers, and you were embarrassed. What were you thinking in your little head, that faith was lost, that faith was fading, that Russian people are unbelievers.” This faith that was emerging and strengthening in me gave me the strength to withstand when a terrible time came for me.

At the beginning of July 1943, the Battle of Kursk began. The front approached the city and bombing began. And on July 16 I found myself in a German raid together with my sister; The family of Vasily Verevkin’s father fell into the same raid: we were driven under escort to the west.

In the Paldiski camp in Estonia, where we were driven on September 1, there were about one hundred thousand people. There were about ten or twenty thousand of our Orlovskys there, there were also Krasnoselskys, Peterhofskys, Pushkinskys, they were brought earlier. Mortality was high from hunger and disease. We knew perfectly well what awaited us, what would happen. But we were supported by the Tallinn Orthodox clergy: priests came to the camp, brought an altar table, and services were performed. The ever-remembered Archpriest Father Mikhail Ridiger, father of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', came to our camp to visit us. He served with today's Metropolitan of Tallinn and All Estonia, Cornelius. I remember well how they performed liturgies at the naval club; the choir was from the camp. People took communion, there was a solemn service. And here I felt even more that it was not only in our Oryol region that they prayed like this. I looked and saw that everyone who came from Krasnoe Selo, Pushkin, Peterhof - they all prayed, sang, and the grace of God was clearly felt. I had an icon of the Savior, it is still intact, with which my father managed to bless me and my sister Lydia. And in the camp I put her on a stone and prayed like Seraphim of Sarov. Well, how did you pray? I didn't know anything. In your own words: “Lord, help me survive in this terrible time, so that they don’t drive me to Germany. To see my parents.” By the way, I lost my parents for two years. I stayed in the camp until October 1943.

Father Vasily Verevkin was also in the same camp. And the Tallinn Clergy turned to the Germans with a request to release the clergyman and his family. But the Germans were no longer the same Germans as at the beginning of the war, and they agreed to the request of the Clergy. Father Vasily included my sister and me in his family. On October 14, Pokrov, we were released to Tallinn.
We arrived there on a sunny day, and I immediately went to the Church of Simeon and Anna. I was exhausted, hungry, and almost fell from the wind. Entering the Temple, I offered a prayer of Thanksgiving to the Mother of God for my release from the camp. And a new, spiritual way of life began for me. I saw true priests, listened to their heartfelt sermons; Among the parishioners there were many former emigrants from Russia who were forced to leave their homeland after the October Revolution. They prayed fervently.

I gained access to Spiritual literature... And then for the first time I learned that the saint of God, Seraphim of Sarov, was in Rus'. All of us, of course, were interested in what the fate of Russia, our Motherland, would be - what it would be like after the war. And I remember these words from the priest’s sermon that a golden time will come for Russia, when Easter hymns will be sung in the summer - Christ is Risen. And we prayed, believing that the “golden time” would come.

I visited Bryansk, then Uneche, Pochek, churches were opened, which the people were very happy about. Temples lived under occupation. A lot of them were discovered. Why? What was the reason? On September 5, 1943, having received a report from counterintelligence officers, Stalin ordered the NKVDists to open churches on the mainland as a counterbalance to German propaganda. They opened quickly, but not everywhere, in some places. Not within the city limits, but somewhere in cemeteries there are tiny churches. So, in Kuibyshev there were two churches, in Saratov one or two small ones, in Astrakhan. The authorities heard how spiritually uplifting Russian people find in church and decided to show the people that we, fellow communists, are not against religion, look, we are also opening churches. But we know very well that the priests were never released from the camps.

Many temples were opened during the occupation. And the churches that the Pskov Orthodox Mission opened especially shone. It was founded in 1942 in Pskov. It included young priests from distant places who devoted themselves to the cause of enlightening the Russian people. The people treated them with surprise and distrust. People kissed the priests' vestments and hands, touched them, and asked: “Father, are you real?” The temples were filled. There were rumors that those priests had been sent, that they were serving the Germans. But nowhere have I found confirmation of these rumors. The Pskov Orthodox mission enlightened the Russian people. Church schools were opened. There they studied the law of God, the history of the past, read books and sang Russian songs. The Germans only made sure that there was no partisanship. This great cause of spiritual enlightenment was destroyed with the advent of Soviet power in 1944. Some of the clergy went with the Germans beyond the cordon. The rest remained to meet the Soviet army. These martyrs for Orthodoxy were exiled to Siberia. There they died.

After liberation, I was mobilized and sent to the headquarters of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. But in his free time - and he had it - he remained a parishioner of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Talin and performed a variety of duties: as a bell-ringer, as a subdeacon, and as an altar boy. And so on until the end of the war.

I found my parents only in 1945. Only now do I understand the internal connection between parents and children. When I found them, I asked my mother: “How did you believe that we weren’t shot? That we didn’t die?” “I felt with my mother’s heart that you were alive.” The father is a participant in the civil war, a man of strong will. He walked every day along the road along which my sister and I were kidnapped. A parent is a parent, and the uncertainty about our fate undermined his strength. It burned quickly. Died in 46.
With the blessing of my parents, I submitted an application for admission to the Moscow Theological Institute. In the summer of 1946, I was waiting for a call, but it never came. And now it’s August. And suddenly I unexpectedly receive a telegram from Leningrad from my friend Alexei Ridiger. The text is short: “Vasya, come to the seminary.” And I went to Leningrad. It was difficult to get there: I left on August 22 and arrived only on September 1. I was late for the entrance exams. And yet they accepted me... We studied in a dilapidated building; during the war there was a hospital here. The students were mostly from the Baltic states; it seemed like I was the only one from the Russian hinterland. Elderly people, some over forty, also studied with us; some were novices of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. I also remember Pavel Kuzin, a sailor from the battleship Marat.

When I was already serving in the St. Nicholas Cathedral, I read a book called “The Entertainer” by Grigory Petrov, it revealed the appearance of a pre-revolutionary priest who, after graduating from the Academy, set himself the goal of going to factories, plants, on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, there to bring the light of the truths of Christ. And he visited workshops, shacks, artels and preached. But this did not please the revolutionaries, who sought to confuse the people. And the priest who instructs people on the true path was killed.

I also read other pre-revolutionary spiritual publications. And all this helped me a lot when, after graduating from the Academy in 1953, I began serving as a priest in the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral. I moved away from the usual stereotype of a priest, went down from the pulpit to the parishioners, to the people and began to ask: what need, what grief does a person have... What time was it? Less than a decade has passed since the blockade was lifted. Front-line soldiers, blockade survivors and survivors of the siege came to the church, who had to endure all the horrors - God preserved them. And these conversations were needed not only by them, but also by me.

I served in St. Nicholas Cathedral from 1953 to 1976. Then they were transferred to the “Kulich and Easter” church next to the Obukhov plant, and in 1981. - became the rector of the Temple of Seraphim of Sarov in the Primorsky district of the city.”

This is how Father writes - sparingly - about his life. And not a word about what legends now circulate - about the appearance of the Mother of God to him in a German concentration camp, about the unusual circumstances that accompanied his placement in the Church of St. Seraphim...

I knew Father Vasily little, just a few meetings. The small cemetery church on Serafimovsky was one of the spiritual addresses of St. Petersburg, where people with various needs went. The cemetery wooden church is crowded and cramped. The atmosphere is homely, reminiscent of the churches of small towns in Russia: with rugs and towels on the icons - lovely signs of the people’s care for the house of God.

Those to whom the Lord gave a meeting with a real shepherd know what a joy it is

In the years that have passed since the death of the illustrious priest, the winds in church life have subtly changed; independent style came into fashion. It became considered unnecessary to pour out your soul to a priest, to discuss the details of your life. Freedom and the right to choose one's own discretion are jealously guarded. There are frequent complaints about the severity of confessors and their desire to dictate their will. There are probably reasons for this. The unfortunate phenomenon of church reality, known as “young age,” has hit many destinies painfully. But those to whom the Lord gave a meeting with a real shepherd and spiritual mentor know what a joy and what a help it is. Many Orthodox St. Petersburg residents, the spiritual children of Father Vasily Ermakov, will not forget the time in which they had the opportunity to see his fatherly image, hear the word, and ask questions and requests for prayer.

While preparing this article, I read a large number of memoirs. Everywhere there is a sharpness of impressions and an awareness of the rare benefits from the leadership of a priest. The years spent next to Father Vasily were a time of discovery, inspiration, a surge of strength, a change of mind - the absolute peak of all life. “Father Vasily is one of those who does not allow you to rest, does not allow you to calm down. He always disturbs, excites the mind and feelings,” that’s what they say about him.

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It was as if time was becoming denser and the colors were brighter - this is how this simple and open Russian man influenced his surroundings and those around him, lively, appreciating humor, stately in his own way, with an inner core and a touch of nobility. The name of the site, which was started by Father Vasily, is noteworthy: “Russia in Colors.” The most ordinary things, such as a meal with the priest in the parish house or a trip somewhere to Optina, to Bolkhov, to the small homeland of the Ermakovs, acquired significance, provided abundant food for thought, and set the mood to work on one’s heart.

The value of clergy is that it makes it possible to follow a strong and bright Christian personality and move after her. “Spiritual life,” explained Father Vasily, “is a path in a dark dungeon. There are a lot of sharp corners and deep holes here. It’s important here that a highly experienced guide leads you by the hand, otherwise you’ll fall and disappear and won’t get out on your own...”

Petty picking and self-criticism were not inherent in Father Vasily’s confessions. Having grasped the essence, he immediately outlined in broad strokes for a person the prospect of his movement forward. This gift lived in him - to recognize the mental garments of sin, the internal structure of everyone, and act encouragingly.

Dissatisfaction with confession is often stated. Over and over again, a person is forced to admit the same thing, to retell the equally monotonous, hopeless story of the donkey Eeyore. Listening to all this, the priest also gets bored and quickly, with the words “I forgive and authorize,” sends off the formal debt. But a true confessor has the gift of awakening repentance. He not only accepts confession, but helps to repent. With God's gift, he guesses a person's internal difficulties, his weak points and God's Providence for him. Starting with some insignificant detail, he unfolds before the confessor a picture of a distortion of truth and meaning. Ardent repentance catches the person at the lectern, and he departs, touched and trembling, then partaking of the Holy Mysteries. This is the gift of Father Vasily. His developed intuition and knowledge of his life made his confessions a revelation. After all, it’s one thing when a person unknown to you accepts confession, and it’s completely different when a priest empathizes and prays for you, having the experience, in the words of the psalmist David, to “cleanse” you “from your secret”, that is, from not fully realized sins .

Servant of God, father to parishioners

It is no coincidence that the Orthodox faith is called the fatherly faith

“Russian people are like children,” the priest liked to repeat. “We need a father.” This paternal intonation of communication between the clergy and the flock is increasingly forgotten in our time, replaced by democracy, accessibility, humor, and a pragmatic business style. In the special dignity of the shepherd, in the reverence and reverence that traditionally surrounded the priestly office, one finds only negative aspects - exaltation and desire for honors and praise. But immeasurably more important than this is discipleship and the trust of the flock in mentors, in the image of trust in their father.

It is no coincidence that the Orthodox faith is called the fatherly faith, and the saints are called “fathers” and “mothers.” Saint Father Nicholas, Venerable Mother Mary... These are not metaphors, but an exact formula, the key to understanding the connections within Orthodoxy. A believer in the Church takes the place of a disciple, and his position is somewhat reminiscent of a child’s. Father Vasily: “When I am asked the question of what the laity should do for the church, I say: you must go to church every Saturday and Sunday and on holidays, without missing, in order to learn faith, hope, and patience. Study like in school."

Today people will mock the childishness of the mind. The ability to “think relevantly” is in use, express one’s opinion, give assessments, criticize... The person himself, without realizing it, deprives himself of prayer and trust in the church word, what, as we know from the Gospel, God hid from the wise and opened to babies.

The image of fatherhood is broken. Once during a Sunday school lesson, the teacher talked a lot about the fact that the Lord is our Father, that He treats us in a completely parental way, as His children. And when I graduated, I realized that the children did not understand her. Many grew up without fathers or their fathers did not behave in the best way in life. Because of this, the role of the spiritual father becomes doubly important. It is more difficult than ever for our contemporary people to tune in to spiritual life. Meeting with a pastor and mentor who has a fatherly attitude towards parishioners is an almost exceptional opportunity to throw off the burden of painful psychology, heal spiritual wounds, and find a lost thread of connection with the Heavenly Father.

The motto that Father Vasily repeated many times: “you need to heal people with your heart”

Father Vasily was a born teacher and spiritual healer. His motto, which he repeated many times: “You need to heal people with your heart.” Serving the altar and meeting people occupied a central place in his life. He was constantly passionate about his pastoral mission and created it with inspiration and freedom, just as an artist or writer creates the reality of his works. Those who heard and did the word of God were his family, friends and associates. It’s hard to believe that a person can do this: every day, every hour, live not for oneself, but for others.

Missionary work of Father Vasily

In one interview, the priest complains about priests “running home.” He cites historical examples, such as the life and ministry of the clergyman Georgiy Kosov. “This is who modern priests could learn from, what it means to be a “people’s priest”! - said Father Vasily. - He was a simple rural priest, but he was honored by the fact that writers wrote about him, people came to him not only from nearby places, but from far away. Why? Because he loved the people. He arrived at an abandoned church, there were almost no parishioners, but he began to pray every day, and then, when people came, he talked with everyone, served prayers almost continuously, anointed them with oil - and so every day for decades. Why did he alone become a truly “people's priest”? “Because his temple was open all day, and sometimes half the night, and his heart was just as open.”

Father Vasily thought of missionary work simply: “If every priest sat with the people, talked, asked what needs they had, and helped, then our churches would be full.” The teaching of Father Vasily is the most practical and visual. One must speak carefully about “smart and abstruse” things, as he put it; It was precisely “abstruse and clever” reasoning that always led to schisms and heresies. “Down with abstruse things! - he proclaimed with a spark of humor. - We need to learn simple things. And when you learn to understand the importance of following simple rules, then you will understand spiritual depth.”

There are those who retreat into intellectualism, into formal theology, cling to some specific intellectual theories and disputes, and thirst for external changes and reforms. Father Vasily was far from this. “I didn’t learn life from textbooks,” he said. His experience is taken from constant observation of destinies. As a person with a very, very extensive life experience, who remembered the pre-war period, then the war, the occupation, the post-war revival of the Church, the persecution of the Khrushchev era, who survived the “stagnation”, the collapse of the USSR and the “dashing 1990s”, the priest had the right to generalizations and parallels, to know the essence of things. He was convinced that the Law of God was given to humanity for all time, and he who acts according to the commandments is protected from above, while he who deviates from the truth hates his soul and will have a bitter reward already in this life. There are no workarounds, adaptation of morality to the times, imaginary “adequacy” and “civilization” replacing virtues and spiritual work on oneself, but self-restraint, patience, work, mutual assistance, prayer and the Sacraments as a single recipe for arranging the affairs of this world and entering into eternity. “They tell us: there are few educated Christians. What is Christian education? This is not at all like education in institutes or academies. This is when, after the labors of fasting, humility and prayer, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in the human heart and forms a new being.”

Even in the Soviet years, under the gaze of the “authorities,” the priest preached one thing: the need to honor the Divine law, to be a servant of truth despite fashions and circumstances. “I was taught by Father Konstantin Bystrievsky in St. Nicholas (Cathedral - A.R.): “When you serve a prayer service, you ask: what happened to this person? Especially if you see prisoners or sick people on the list.” And I heeded his fatherly advice and began to question the people.” Father Vasily's view of the Soviet period is sharply negative: the Bolsheviks, in his opinion, became a huge disaster for the country. At the same time, his love for people and his knowledge of people’s life suggested that his captivity to communist ideology was temporary. Just as the Russian people did not fit into either the Tatar clothes or the Polish kuntush, one day they had to give up the commissar’s jacket.

This is the difference between the views of Father Vasily Ermakov and the anti-Soviet people - connoisseurs of a certain “real Russia” and “white cause”, adherents of theories about the radical degeneration and death of the people’s soul. From Father Vasily, these figures borrowed the rejection of lies as the basis of Bolshevism, but they shied away from the main thing that the priest had and that is in the Law of God: mercy and sacrifice for one’s neighbors - the country and compatriots.

Russian at heart

Saving the souls that came to him meant for Father Vasily the same as saving Russia; loving Russia meant loving and caring for everyone who came to him. Father did not understand and did not accept religious arrogance and individualism, in which a Christian presents himself as separate from the destinies of the country and people, a bearer of unearthly interests, “Christianity without nations and borders.” “We must love Russia,” he exhorted as best he could. However, Father Vasily would never take part in rallies in squares and in congresses of political parties. The most patriotic projects for saving the country mean nothing without the internal transformation and enlightenment of a person.

“We must love Russia...” Simple words. However, for those who remember Father Vasily, they are tantamount to a testament, a moral compass regarding events and opinions. In the 1990s, the priest was acutely worried about the confusion that covered society with an avalanche of examples of low-quality Western mass culture. For him, who for decades dreamed of living to see the liberation of his homeland from communism, it was painful to see Russia in collapse. The priest spoke approvingly of Yeltsin’s departure and the start of the activities of the then young President Putin. According to the memoirs of Muscovite Alexander Erokhin, he pinned certain hopes on Putin, expecting the rapid strengthening of Russia. “And when suddenly everything unfolded,” the narrator sums up, “and the president started talking about national dignity, Orthodoxy, and the fact that our history did not begin in 1917, I was happy: “Father, dear, how right you were.” , you believed!”

Father saw his goal as raising, as he said, “sharpened Christians.”

Father saw his goal as raising, as he said, “sharpened Christians,” people who would not become toys in the games of outside forces. Father Vasily’s understanding of the Gospel virtues is not sentimental. Least of all would he approve of the behavior of a melancholic believer and a weakling believer. Father Vasily believed that it is possible to give in in personal matters, but where it concerns the truths of faith handed down to us, a Christian can and should be firm. His commandment to spiritual children: “If you are insulted, you do not need to bow your head. You need to defend your faith with a sense of inner righteousness, without anger.”

The same applies to the benefit of the Fatherland: a true Christian conscience and Christian responsibility, of course, do not accept any ultimatums from Russia to “pay and repent” or attempts to put pressure on feelings from the outside.

Message to the future

The priest lived a difficult life, full of difficulties. But he considered the coming period even more spiritually difficult. His experience suggested that the new tests would surpass those of the Soviet era. “I do not envy those who have come to the Church these days,” he directly admitted, “there are a lot of temptations and very few experienced confessors, and they are becoming fewer and fewer. Look, in Pechory: Father John, Father Theophan, and other elders will leave, who will replace them?”

His soul ached for the children - for the generation of future parishioners and clergy that should come to replace him. He considered oversight and lack of determination to be one of the main reasons for the failure of upbringing in families: “Why are children bad? Parents allow their children everything, they send their children to the streets.” Father preferred traditional, proven methods to any newfangled theories. “There is no need to update anything,” he said, “to at least learn to educate in the old way.”

The priest foresaw the coming crisis. He prepared, strengthened those around him, convincing them not to be embarrassed by global events. “When hard times come,” he said, “don’t let it scare us. We must firmly know, like the “Our Father,” that our Lord Jesus Christ will not leave us in difficult times. Being closer to the temple is our duty, Orthodox people.”

“A priest has one privilege - to be a servant to everyone he meets”

Until the end of time, despite external changes and difficulties, this rule will remain unchanged. Whatever the circumstances, everyone must continue to do their job: the priest - to teach and instruct, parishioners, community members - to take care of the temple and love worship, spouses - to build their home on the foundations of faith, parents - to fight for the correction and moral development of their children. Anyone who saw and remembers the priest knows that he carried out his service as a confessor and performer of the Sacraments like a sentry at a strategically important post. “If you don’t have such an attitude - to dedicate your whole life to serving people - then do something else, don’t dare to take on the yoke of Christ,” he warned those thinking about accepting holy orders.

He passed on his constancy and courage to everyone around him. “Father Vasily was an example for all of us,” recalls Mikhail Shishkov. - In faith, in love, in service, in sacrifice, etc. He taught by example how this can be achieved. And we, as students, absorbed and tried and are trying to bring it to life, each to the best of our ability.” This is his main message to the laity and fellow priests: “Many people think that a priest has some kind of privilege or special grace over the laity. I will say this: a priest has one privilege - to be a servant to everyone he meets 24 hours a day for the rest of his life. This is what the Lord and the Gospel require of us.”

Each of us has a certain circle in common with each other. There is no personal meeting; we avoid it. The meeting of person with person is always mysterious. It happens when we see some depth in another. We distinguish in it the play of inner light. The ability to see this light in your neighbor is a special gift.

The work of pastoral ministry requires attention to many, many. The more a person approaches God, the more clearly he sees God in all parts of the universe. A spiritual person can acquire the property of “magnanimity” - expansion of the volume of the soul, the ability to accept into it the spiritual images of other people. One of the famous elders of our time was the mitred archpriest Vasily Ermakov, whose tenth anniversary falls on February 3, 2017.

The meeting with him became unforgettable for many of our contemporaries. The meeting occurs already when the light of holiness blinds. But Father Vasily also possessed the gift of foresight. Many memories tell about this. It turns out that all our actions, words, thoughts are imprinted in spiritual space and can be read by a spirit-bearing person. – We exist in the spiritual dimension. Having encountered a miracle with his own eyes, a person realized the spiritual meaning of his existence. And he found a meeting with the only Father. And the priest found a meeting with a host of “only” spiritual children, the orbits of whose lives were corrected under the influence of the spiritual power of the mentor. Among the parishioners of the churches where Father Vasily served were artists, writers, painters, musicians, and military men. But ordinary people remember the great old man with a simple heart.

For five years, from 1976 to 1981, Father Vasily served in “Kulich and Easter”. Then for the residents of Pontonnaya, Otradny, Kirovsk it was the nearest temple. There there was a meeting with the priest, the main meeting in her life for Anna Vasilievna. They turned out to be not only contemporaries, but also fellow countrymen.

Often we do not realize that we are next to not just a person, but the history of the fatherland, with its most sorrowful and majestic events, imprinted in a living heart. And so that we do not miss the main thing, and our reader’s meeting with the real history of the Russian people takes place, we will talk about two destinies.

Father Vasily Ermakov

Don't forget God!

Vasily Ermakov was born in 1927 in Bolokhov, Oryol province, into a pious peasant family. It was a troubled time. The centuries-old foundations of people's life were crumbling. Entire classes were declared enemies. Nobles, intelligentsia, kulaks, clergy... And the main enemy of the atheistic government was the Creator himself. But no matter what happens in the universe, in a family, parents are responsible for peace to their children. The father instructed: “children, you must pray.” And they obeyed the order. All 28 churches in the city were closed by the end of the 30s. The family prayed at home. Home education and impressions of the outside world varied significantly.

In 1933-35, I experienced a famine. In winter, when it was cold, we had to be on duty in bread lines. A one and a half kilogram loaf of bread was divided among five people at home. However, it was not always possible to buy bread. Homemade potatoes and vegetables saved us, but the feeling of hunger did not go away. The temples of the city were turned into warehouses and filled with rye and wheat, but the population was not given bread.

All around we saw “closed churches, broken windows, rickety crosses.” But the child’s spiritual peace was preserved thanks to his family. Vasya felt godlessness in all his rage when he went to study. The school was faced with the task: “to educate a Soviet person who is infinitely devoted to the idea of ​​socialism.” All training was accompanied by blasphemous poems by Demyan Bedny, Bagritsky about a pioneer woman tearing off her cross, and the “heroism” of Pavka Morozov, who betrayed his father into the hands of the NKVD. Evil corrupted fragile hearts, and passed from book examples into life. One day, a classmate of the younger sister came to visit and, seeing that the girl was praying, told about it. Varya Ermakova was disgraced throughout the school, the children persecuted her with terrible ridicule and bullying.

All these educational means caused bewilderment. The boy asked his father what to do? “Son, you study, but don’t act on their deeds. ... I beg you, don’t forget God!”

Gotta go to church

In 1941 Vasily graduated from the seven-year school. But the war began and brought new challenges.

The Germans occupied Bolokhov on October 9, 1941. And already on October 16, a small monastery church in the name of Metropolitan Alexy was opened. Residents collected surviving icons from closed churches and brought them from home. There was a cup, they took out an antimension, they took vestments from the museum, and they found books. The only priest remaining in the city, Vasily Veryovkin, came to perform the service. He had just returned from exile, having served 8 years in a logging camp in the Arkhangelsk region, from 1932 to 1940. There was no work for him in the city, except for uprooting trees. Vasya was friends with his son at school. At the family table, the father said: “Children, we need to go to church. We must thank God that the house did not burn down during the fighting, none of us were injured.” Soviet school education did its job: Vasya was attacked by a demonic fear that his neighbors would see him. But it was impossible to disobey my father. “I defended my service and didn’t understand anything, but I fulfilled my father’s duty. Went home. And again, afraid that someone might see it, that someone might “grab it.”

Since December, all young people aged 14 and older began to be escorted to work every day, from 9 am to 5 pm. The winter was very cold and snowy, and it was necessary to clear the snow from the roads and fill up shell craters.

Soon the Church of the Nativity of Christ was opened, which could accommodate up to three thousand people. At Christmas the whole Ermakov family was there. This service shocked Vasya. The temple was packed. People, mostly women, in threadbare sweatshirts, patched clothes, old scarves, bast shoes, prayed fervently, “in tears and sighs.” Devotedly, reverently making the sign of the cross. Praying for loved ones, for their families, for their homeland. “It was a real deep prayer of the Russian people, who were not completely deceived, who came to their senses and again came to God.” “And the choir was wonderful, and I even felt the incomprehensible Slavic language in my heart.” “I looked with a different inner gaze,” “...I felt with all clarity: “Heaven on earth” is a prayer.” The soulful prayerful grace of grieving people touched the hearts.

“I came to Church and from that day on I strictly did not miss services.” Father Vasily noticed such zeal and called the young man to help at the altar. Participation in divine services caused ridicule and insults from his comrades. But fortitude helped me to follow the chosen path. “Each time I visited the Church of God, I grew stronger in faith, strengthened in piety.”

Lord, save my life!

The war began to be felt in all its terrible force in July 1943 during the Battle of Kursk-Oryol. The front was nearby. Our shells exploded. Armadas of 300-400 German planes flew to bomb the front lines of the Soviet troops. The Germans began to take all the young people to Germany. They organized raids. Vasily and his sister took the icon of the Savior, their father’s blessing, and the Gospel and, seizing an opportune moment, tried to escape. But it didn't work. And in a column of prisoners they were driven under escort to the west... I had a chance to meet my parents only after the end of the war.

In September they ended up in the Pylyukyuva concentration camp, a hundred kilometers from Tallinn. There were about one hundred thousand prisoners here. The food was bad. The lice got eaten. The mortality rate was very high. Tallinn Orthodox priests supported the prisoners spiritually. Divine services were held regularly in the camp. There was a wonderful choir of refugees from Leningrad. Mikhail Ridiger, the father of the future Patriarch Alexy II, served. The psalmist was Vyacheslav Yakobs, the current Metropolitan Cornelius. Here Vasily again felt the power of joint prayer. “The Orthodox faith did not perish in the hearts of Soviet people; it shone brightly in the camps.” He prayed himself. He took the icon of the Savior—his father’s blessing—and asked: “Lord, save my life. Lord, don’t let me be sent to Germany. Lord, save me and my parents so that I can see them!”

Great human interaction

Father Vasily Verevkin and his family were also in the same camp. At the request of the Tallinn clergy, the Germans ordered their release from the camp. The priest, at his own peril and risk, included Vasya Ermakov and his sister among his family.

And on Intercession, October 14, former prisoners offered prayers of thanks for liberation in the Church of Simeon and Anna in Tallinn. From that day on, Vasily learned a “new spiritual way of life.” He found himself among bearers of pre-revolutionary spiritual traditions. “I saw true priests and listened to their heartfelt sermons. Among the parishioners there were many emigrants from Russia.” Their prayer was fervent.

Vasily became friends with Alyosha Ridiger. “He and I were sextons together, we rang the bells together, we served as subdeacons together with Vladyka Pavel Dmitriev.” “We had a very strong friendship of brothers in faith, brothers in spirit. I deeply felt the great joy of spiritual communication with the family of Father Mikhail, Mother Elena Iosifovna and Alexy. They taught me spiritual life, gave me spiritual literature.” “I read the German newspapers that were published at that time. There were very interesting articles about the destruction of all churches in Russia.” “I met with emigrants, read their literature, the memoirs of Krasnov and Denikin. It was all there. They all raised me, and I have a great memory of that wonderful human interaction with this wonderful family.” Vasily heard new points of view on the historical paths and fate of the fatherland, thoughts about the future of Russia after the war. “And we prayed, believing that the golden time would come.”

On September 22, 1944, Soviet troops entered Tallinn. The church greeted them with the ringing of bells. Russian speech was heard everywhere. Vasily was mobilized and sent to the headquarters of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. But in his free time he continued to perform a variety of duties at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn: bell ringer, subdeacon, altar boy. During the days of victory in 1945, the Easter message rang out over the city. “And we believed that a new era would begin in the life of Russia - an era of revival of national self-awareness.”

In June 1945, after the end of the war, Vasily left to look for his parents. “With tears in my eyes I said goodbye to the Ridiger family. Father Mikhail and mother Elena Iosifovna saw me off, and quite naturally I remember Lyosha and our other friends. And I thought that I would never meet them again.”

I learned to understand the soul of the people

In 1946, Vasily Ermakov, with the blessing of his parents, applied for admission to the Moscow Theological Institute. I've been waiting for a call all summer. And in August, I unexpectedly received a telegram from Leningrad from Alexei Ridiger: “Vasya, come to the seminary.” “.. and at the call of Alexei, “according to his heart,” Vasily came to enroll. They became “the pioneers of our theological schools – seminaries and academies.”

“I studied at the seminary for three years, and then another four years at the Theological Academy. What could I take away from this theological school in 7 years? We were instilled with a love for the Temple. ... My faith was deepened by the knowledge of the spiritual riches that the Orthodox Church has accumulated over its centuries-old history; we also studied languages, learned singing, and also the ability to preach, etc. And so that they don’t talk to God on “you”. And since the Lord has called us to serve God and people, then we must devote ourselves to this spiritual field with faith and diligence.”

“I became stronger in my intention to become a priest. But I was looking for what I should be. That was not easy. The older priests felt the mark of past persecutions. In conversations with us, they avoided talking about what happened in the past, perhaps they didn’t want to scare us young people away.” Books helped me think about the image of a real priest. “I read pre-revolutionary spiritual publications that revealed the essence of spiritual achievement. This helped a lot when, after graduating from the Academy in 1953, he began to serve in St. Nicholas Cathedral. I moved away from the usual stereotype of a priest, went down from the pulpit to the parishioners, to the people and began to ask: what need, what grief does a person have... " "What time was it? Less than a decade has passed since the blockade was lifted. Front-line soldiers, blockade survivors who had experienced all the horrors of the war came to the church. God preserved them. And these conversations were needed not only by them, but also by me.” “I learned to understand the soul of the people, to feel their grief, suffering, and as best I could, through the prayer of God, I helped people in solving everyday issues and especially spiritual issues. How to believe. How to follow Christ. How to fulfill your spiritual duties."

Need a miracle

Father Vasily served in St. Nicholas Cathedral from 1953 to 1976. Then he was transferred to the “Kulich and Easter” church in the Nevsky district. And in 1981 he became rector of the Church of Seraphim of Sarov at the Seraphim Cemetery.

The Lord lifted Vasily Ermakov up, as if up the steps of a ladder. He tested me with sorrows, warmed my faith and raised me to greater spiritual strength. Vasily Ermakov was in confessional opposition to the outside world, creating the inner, spiritual. As fate would have it, Vasily found himself in the thick of history. Being quite young, he did not actively intervene in events, but absorbed impressions with a pure childish soul. He, like a boat, was carried along by the rapids of history. And the Lord, through prayers, saved his life. He was protected and wised by parental guidance, church care, the spiritual environment of emigration and later theological schools. Entering theological schools, Vasily had extensive practical life spiritual experience. He had already learned the power of prayer and acquired the spiritual strength necessary for the feat of shepherding.

In his sermons, he constantly reflected on the spiritual meanings of Russian history, its past and future. “In the forties there was a plan for the final destruction of faith in the hearts of the Russian people. But man proposes, but God disposes. We got a war, and the communist leaders were forced to recognize both Orthodoxy and the church; a Patriarch was elected, some of the surviving bishops were released from prison, churches and seminaries began to be opened, and for the first time in 1943, the Theological Institute was opened in the Novodevichy Convent.”

During his service in St. Nicholas Cathedral, the priest showed the gift of clairvoyance. “We need a miracle. The people are waiting for a miracle; they are exhausted by the vulgarity of a thoughtless existence. And this is the task of the priest: in the work of prayer, a vision is revealed to him that is inaccessible to an ordinary person. I repeat, such a vision is given not only by ordination, but also by daily long prayers. Both experience and knowledge of life.”

A local, small, meeting with a spirit-bearing person is proof of a future big meeting with the Lord. The saint has the ability, like a magnifying glass, to collect divine energy in his heart, and with this spiritual ray kindle the fire of faith in the hearts of others. And many, many of our contemporaries keep a grateful memory of Elder Vasily Ermakov.

Lyudmila Moskovskaya,
member of the Russian Writers' Union.

Materials from the website “Russia in Colors” were used

One of the last interviews with Archpriest Vasily Ermakov, rector of the Church of Seraphim of Sarov at the Seraphim Cemetery in St. Petersburg.

This Monday, February 5, all of Orthodox St. Petersburg said goodbye to its beloved shepherd, one of the most famous and revered priests in Russia, Archpriest Vasily Ermakov. In his small wooden church at the Seraphimovsky cemetery, he created a real spiritual center, where people from all over Russia sought advice and consolation. It seemed that at eighty years old, Father Vasily possessed inexhaustible spiritual strength and vital energy. His death came as a surprise to many, even to those who knew about Father Vasily’s serious illness.

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, who knew Father Vasily Ermakov closely for more than half a century, was one of the first to express his condolences: “May Christ the Savior accept his soul into the villages of the righteous, “where there is no sickness, no sorrow, no sighing, but endless life.” The Kingdom of Heaven and Eternal memory to the newly departed shepherd, devout clergyman, Archpriest Vasily."

We talked with Father Vasily quite recently, and planned to visit him again in the coming days. But it turned out that this interview was the last.

photo: www.serafim-kupchino.ru

Father Vasily, you are one of the few who can talk about your personal meeting with Elder Seraphim Vyritsky. When it was?

This was in the first post-war years, when we, Soviet people, were forbidden to know anything about faith, and even to communicate with believers. I came to Leningrad in 1946 to enter the theological seminary. Women in headscarves told me that there is such an elder Seraphim, and it would be nice to go to him and be blessed. In the first spring days of 1946, my friends and I went from the Vitebsk station to Vyritsa. Well-wishers showed the way to Father Seraphim’s house. I still remember this spring street along which I walked then. About ten people crowded around the house. The nun told the elder that future seminarians had arrived, and we were shown in without a queue.

What I saw was forever imprinted in my memory: a sick old man was lying on the bed, looking at us piercingly. We sat down by his bed. I don’t remember what I told him then. He probably asked for blessings on his future spiritual path in life. And I asked for his prayers so that in my future life everything would go according to the will of God. I received this blessing, and I have been bringing spiritual joy for 60 years.

I visited him twice more, but never asked about what awaited me in the future, I only asked for his blessing. And the elder’s blessing is a great force that helped me endure all the hardships of post-war life. I still live with this blessing.

Father Vasily, what was St. Seraphim like in life? How was he different from the legends that are now told about him?

Yes, they say a lot about the elder. What stood for a thousand days on a stone. That the Germans came to him, and much more. But he was a sick man, a truly sick man, lying there. We must not forget that there was a time when the authorities hunted down all those who disagreed with the regime. And the old man was surrounded by informers who reported on all the visitors. And if he were alive and well, and stood up to pray on a stone, he would not have stood for a minute.

And he lived under occupation, like all of us during that terrible time of invasion. And he prayed for his Russian people, suffering from war and occupation. Perhaps the Germans also visited him. But neither Father Livery Voronov nor Father John of Preobrazhensky, who were with him at that terrible time, told me about this.

Those who had been in the camps or whose relatives had been shot came to Father Seraphim. Those who lost loved ones in the war came. People came to him with grief. It was necessary to help the person with a smile, a kind word, to console him. I judge by myself: I have been under occupation since 1942. And I always turned to the priests, and they consoled me. Imagine this terrible time: bombings, German raids, the front is next to us, and other horrors of war. And the priests always found the right words. And Father Seraphim also understood how to console people. After all, he went through the horrors of the civil war, when the Bolsheviks destroyed the Lavra and shot priests and monks.

Father Vasily, you took part in the elder’s funeral service. Tell me how it was?

God judged me, and through the prayers of Seraphim Vyritsky in 1949, on the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation, our fourth year of the seminary took part in the funeral service for this great elder of our land. His funeral service was performed by his father Vasily Raevsky - he was then the dean. And two more priests.

In the books about the elder they write an obvious lie: as if the Vitebsk station was crowded with people trying to take part in the burial of Father Seraphim. This was not the case. People simply didn't know what happened. The authorities forbade reporting about his death, and the news that he had passed on to the Lord was passed on from mouth to mouth only by those who were especially close to him. They were the only ones who came to see off the elder of the Vyritsa land. I only now understand what a strict ban the Leningrad authorities imposed to ensure that nothing spiritual was spread.

Although, if there had been real freedom of conscience back then, as they sometimes try to prove to us now, they could have sent both archimandrites and mitred priests to the funeral service, but not a single one came. And only seminarians came to pray. The living Patriarch Alexy II was among us then. When we meet with him, we often remember this day.

And then, after the elder’s burial, we came to his holy grave more than once. The priest Mikhail Ivanov, rector of the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, lived nearby, and we always went to bow to Father Seraphim. They also came in 1953, after graduating from the Theological Academy. And through his prayers, our entire graduation went along the line of spiritual service to our Motherland and the Russian people.

The temple in which you serve is named after another great Seraphim - it was built a hundred years ago in honor of Seraphim of Sarov. This is the first Russian temple whose throne was consecrated in his honor. But your temple is remarkable not only for this. In my opinion, this is one of the centers of spiritual life in Russia, and one of the most numerous parishes in our country. On holidays, one and a half to two thousand people receive communion here. And many more people are being spiritually nourished by you. Father Vasily, in Soviet times, when you came here, what did you find here?

I came here a quarter of a century ago. Then it was a kind of “spiritual prison”, a place of exile, where priests disliked by the authorities were sent, starting in the 50s. The headman here was former partisan Pavel Kuzmich. Although he was a priest, he took a “different path.” He had a very close relationship with the Commissioner for Religious Affairs, Georgy Semenovich Zharinov, who did a lot of evil. The priests “flew” from this temple under ban, and they were not given a place.

When I was appointed here in 1981, I saw the spirit of dictatorship and fear of the commissioner, parishioners wrote slander against each other to the commissioner and the metropolitan. There was confusion and discord. I came and said to the headman: Give me only wine, prosphora and candles, the rest does not concern me.

I preached sermons, calling for faith, for the temple of God, for prayer. My sermons were met with hostility. The headman jumped up with the words: Father Superior, anti-Soviet again! Father Superior, this cannot be done! The Commissioner will not be happy!

Gradually, people began to come to the temple, for whom it was important that here, in the first half of the 80s, they could talk to the priest without fear. They were amazed that they could consult with Father Vasily and get answers to all everyday questions.

Father, you have enormous pastoral experience, more than half a century. What do you think is most important for spiritual salvation in our difficult times?

Today the battle for the soul of the Russian people is very difficult. Once upon a time, we, the priests of the post-war period, were crushed by the Soviet regime. Now we are being crushed by the Young Saints, about whom His Holiness Patriarch Alexy warns so much. But, alas, they do not heed the voice of conscience, the voice of the high priest, the voice of our bishops. They have no obedience. I know about the harm this infancy brings, because I travel around Russia a lot.

First and foremost: they don’t want to deal with the people. Second: they are far from the practice of life. They don’t know what to say to a grieving person, referring to the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers. Today we need to respond to the evil of our time with personal experience and experience.

The third point: now there is no one to consult with. You won't find advisers in monasteries. Sometimes they say things there that lead even me into a dead end from which I don’t know how to get out. They confuse you with penances, services, and advice. The man is in grief, and he should be reprimanded. Does reprimanding help? I haven't seen anyone I've helped yet. They also say - go to holy places. Does he have the opportunity, the money? These are very difficult times. How to leave your family and go to the ends of the world? Is it really impossible to resolve the issue at your parish, with your priest? They all push people away rather than help them.

And we, those who came to serve God and people in the post-war years, are considered a relic of the past. But I tell them: If you, the Young Saints, had been assigned to our service for even a week in those years, you would have immediately raised a cry and even left.

I'll give you one example. When I served in St. Nicholas Cathedral, somewhere in 1954 I went to confession, the priestess said to me: Again today I sold three hundred crosses, probably Father Vasily confessed. They walked without crosses. Our post-war generation was afraid to even talk about crosses. And I came down from the pulpit and told people that without a cross you will not go to confession or receive communion. And the rest of the priests were silent. They are still silent now. Money has crushed everything.

You need to approach a person subtly. Ask him what grief and melancholy visited him. And now they anointed me with oil, and that’s it. As if the sacrament of unction is not intended for those who are seriously ill. Remember "War and Peace"? There they administered unction to a bedridden patient, as the rite says, “on the bed of one lying.” And here they perform unction on those sitting, standing, and screaming - three hundred people at a time. They don't even hear prayers. And besides, how can people who live in enmity be given unction? Those who live “as partners”?

After all, the Russian Church has always treated this sacrament very sensitively. Optina did not know spontaneous unction. Both in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and on Valaam there were no such crowds. The first such unction took place during cholera in Odessa in the middle of the 19th century, when St. Innokenty (Borisov) administered unction to all the sick.

So I approach confession very strictly. I teach that everyone should understand why and why they are going. And what should happen to them in their spiritual life. And we must also take the sacrament seriously. You cannot think that communion is a pill. Every time we read: “I will not give you a kiss like Judas.” And you took communion, and then where did you go? Seraphim of Sarov said: “Here you received communion, but there you were not received.”

The trouble with the Young Saints is that they have nothing but form. They do not teach the people either the Fear of God or faith. And in this difficult time, the main thing is to preserve the spiritual traditions of Russia.

Interviewed Sergey Kanev

Copyright 2004

We met Vera Ivanovna Tretyakova, nee Khvoshch, in Ustyug, where she came to visit her parents. I wanted to ask about the recently deceased Archpriest Vasily Ermakov - her spiritual father. Vera Ivanovna did not immediately decide to meet, but the desire to honor the memory of her father overpowered her. And so we sit down at the table in her parents’ house. Another fate into which you plunge headlong, living another life.

"All priests and all people"

Verochka remembers: the swing is flying - joy! and two foreign priests approach - they have come to see the pope. They ask: “Verochka, who do you love more?” “I love all the priests and all the people,” said the child.

The fathers laughed. However, only one of the guests was a priest - Father Gennady Yablonsky. The second turned out to be Bishop Melchizedek - we have already written about this wonderful archpastor more than once (for example, about how in Soviet times he secretly smuggled books about the Royal Martyrs through customs). And then, many, many years ago, he came to Ustyug to visit his protege, Vera’s parent, Father John Khvoshch.

The baby spoke to Lord Melchizedek! - the father admires his daughter.

Father John had just returned from service and sat down for a minute to listen to us. He is over eighty. The smile never leaves his face.

“What have you done?”

Father John talked a little about himself, about the fact that he has been a believer since childhood:

I went to church with my mom. Mom, of course, was more diligent. And at school they laughed at me: “A monk in blue pants.”

They lived in Ukraine, in Yenakievo, where they moved from Belarus. They lived modestly, and then the Germans came and the large family began to starve. One day, when Vanya was carrying grain, the horse stopped at the crossing. Some Nazi grabbed the whip. He could have screwed him to death, but, fortunately, next to the fascist stood a translator from our Soviets. Saving the boy, he whipped him for show, and everything turned out okay. Vanya once saw how the Nazis whipped our tractor driver. A child couldn't stand this.

One day our people drove the Nazis out of the village, but then they were surrounded by German tanks and shells rained down. The Red Army soldiers ran, Vanya with them, across the field. One shell exploded nearby, but did not hit the boy. Our Katyushas fired in response. Vanya saw German tanks burning, but the Nazis still prevailed that time. The boy buried the Red Army soldiers, and then went to their mass grave, cried and scolded his enemies: “What have you done!”

In the Caucasus

The next memorable event in the life of the future priest was the beginning of his studies at the Odessa Seminary. Soon, however, his health began to deteriorate and he had to give up his studies. He bought a ticket for the ship and went to Abkhazia to pray. The fact is that at that time there were legends about Caucasian elders hiding in the mountains, and many seminarians wanted to be their novices.

In the Caucasus, local Christians helped find the hermitage of Father Seraphim. Ivan wandered along the slopes in search of firewood, then he and the elder sawed it with a two-handed saw. And they also prayed together. It was scary - the authorities did not favor the elders, but the Lord did not give them away. Father John did not even tell his family about the most amazing event of that time...

“I always knew that dad was very kind to the righteous John of Kronstadt,” recalls Vera Ivanovna. - He never left his tomb when he was in St. Petersburg, and we guessed that there was something behind it. And everything opened unexpectedly. Once in the Ioannovsky Monastery, the pope wanted to serve a prayer service in front of the relics. I knew the troparion, but I didn’t remember the kontakion. I asked one nun to help, and she brought a book about St. John. In the evening I open it again, and suddenly, among other miracles performed through the prayers of the Kronstadt shepherd, I find my father’s testimony!

It was about how Righteous John saved the life of Father John Horsetail. It turns out that in Abkhazia, among these heavenly bushes, he became very ill - something was wrong with his stomach. The young man crawled out onto the balcony, thinking that he was dying, and began to pray. At that moment the saint appeared to him, promising healing. Ivan then asked people: “Where is Father John, where did he go?” But no one could understand what this young Russian was talking about.

Many years later, he told Mother Seraphim, the abbess of the St. John’s Monastery in St. Petersburg, about what happened. And it turned out that she wrote down this story - that’s how everything was revealed. After the miraculous healing, the priest was able to continue his studies. After graduating from the seminary, he served as a deacon in Murmansk, and after becoming a priest, he labored first in Belozersk, then was transferred to Ustyug. I've been here since then, about forty years ago.

He leaves the room, shuffling a little with his shoes, then returns:

Do you want kvass? - asks.

“I won’t refuse,” I answer.

He laughs and brings kvass. Either he tries to cheer us up, then he talks about the illnesses that visited him, and suddenly he says:

I have a stopover. I've been through a lot of years, I've been through everything, but the end is already...

And he smiles so well, well and a little guiltily, as if apologizing.

Caught up with

- Did you have difficulties as a priest’s daughter, Vera Ivanovna? - I ask my interlocutor.

Yes, ridicule and everything else... The history teacher liked to ask the question: “So, children, raise your hands: which of you believes in God?” I didn't pick it up. And she came home empty-handed, recognizing herself as a traitor. Now we sometimes see that teacher and say hello.

In high school, Vera became a Komsomol member. First, she asked God to appear and explain to everyone, and first of all to her, that He exists and that they were persecuting her in vain. But it’s hard to go against everyone, especially a child, and Vera said to herself: “Maybe they’re right.” But my father was always in front of my eyes. He meekly endured her reproaches, her darkness, representing the ideal of a person to which the Soviet school seemed to suggest striving. He was above everything personal. He had no days off or vacations. Two to three hours at home, the rest of the time in the temple. Vera did not know when her father slept or whether he slept at all. Mom used to buy paint for the house and the next day ask her father: “Where is it?” And the priest has already updated something with it in the church. “Where are the brushes?” Right there.

While my daughter was little, I taught her to pray. And then I just waited, grieving and believing that the Lord would arrange everything. Already a man of the kindest soul, he loved his daughter to the point of self-forgetfulness.

There was such a case. Vera Ivanovna remembers how she went to Leningrad to go to college. There was nowhere to live as an applicant, but friends of some friends said that it was possible to live for a while in the dormitory of the Pediatric Institute. It turned out, however, that without permanent registration there was nothing to do there. There was another address - my mother's friends, with whom contact had long been lost. I went there, called - silence in response.

Stachek wandered along Avenue to the metro, completely unhappy. A tram passed by, ascending the viaduct. A few minutes later, a voice was heard in the distance: “Vera!” “It’s amazing how many Veras there are here,” the girl thought, “and how familiar the voice is, but I don’t know anyone in Leningrad.” And again the voice, closer: “Faith!” I turned around - my father was in a hurry, exhausted.

It turns out that when I saw off my daughter, my heart was not in the right place - how is she? I took a plane ticket and flew to a large unfamiliar city, having in my hands the same addresses as Vera. I went looking. When I was riding on the tram, I saw that there she was, my daughter, walking not herself. And the next stop is right behind the viaduct, it’s impossible to catch up. He alarmed the passengers with his plea: “Stop it!..” The tram stopped where it was not supposed to, and Father John ran after Vera across the lawn, across a huge avenue, not paying attention to the traffic lights. Caught up with. And through him the Lord overtook Vera Ivanovna. So she returned through her own father - to the Heavenly One, begging for forgiveness. She clarifies, however: “I didn’t leave God right away and I didn’t return right away.”

"Come to me"

Vera Ivanovna did not come to Father Vasily’s community immediately after moving to St. Petersburg. I went to different temples. Then she and her husband became parishioners of the Church of Demetrius of Thessaloniki in Kolomyagi, not far from which they lived. The rector there was Father Ippolit Kowalski.

Once I went to the Seraphim Church and was surprised that half of the people stayed after the service for a prayer service. And another time I attended the service of Father Vasily. Then she came again... The abbot looked at her, but did not say anything. She first came up when one of Vera Ivanovna’s acquaintances had difficulties. Father Vasily offered to bring him, but for now submit a note. When she held it out, he asked, looking into her eyes: “Did you write about everyone?” Vera Ivanovna thought about it. It seems to be about everyone, or maybe not, but it doesn’t matter what conclusions she came to, the main thing is that the thread was stretched. Vera Ivanovna was used to experiencing everything within herself, but then she suddenly opened up...

Listening to her, I myself tried to understand why? Perhaps the fact is that we often fulfill each other’s requests, only patiently providing services because it is necessary. But to go beyond this “must”, to ask a question beyond it - there is neither strength nor participation for this. But this is very important. Only by discovering genuine interest in oneself does a person awaken. This ability to lift people above the ordinary is a rare gift, almost invisible from the outside. Imagine being a hair's breadth off the ground. Even if a television camera is aimed at you at this moment, the film will not capture anything. Meanwhile, a miracle happened. It’s the same in relationships between people: often nothing happens, even if you ate a pound of salt together, and sometimes a word or a look, or even something ephemeral, is enough for a sharp turn of fate.

Vera Ivanovna began to look into the Seraphim Church more and more often. Sometimes he will write down some questions to ask the priest, and then crumple the paper, asking about something completely different. About what really matters. Father Vasily knew how to tune people without even touching - with his breath, with a smile. Gradually, Vera Ivanovna began to be torn between two churches, Dimitrievskaya and Serafimovskaya, unable to make a choice. But one day, when she approached the elder after the liturgy to venerate the cross, she heard a gentle answer to a question that she never dared to ask: “Come to me!”

For Vladimir Tretyakov, Vera Ivanovna’s husband, the decision to move to another parish was also not easy. They talked with Father Vasily, their hearts immediately reached out to the priest, but even in the Demetrius Church he and Father Hippolytus were no strangers. Father Hippolyte, having learned about his parishioner’s doubts, sighed and said: “I won’t be able to care for you like Father Vasily.” As a farewell gift, he gave me the image of “Consolation and Consolation” along with the life of St. Seraphim. But it was hard for him to lose Vladimir, one of his first assistants.

Above, I said, as an example, about a miracle when you take off from the ground, but no one sees. But some live like this, like Father John Khvoshch or Father Hippolytus. Having fulfilled the will of the Father, they carefully brought Vera Ivanovna to the man who transformed her - to Elder Vasily Ermakov.

Handkerchief

Vera Ivanovna thinks about my question whether Father Vasily was perspicacious:

For some reason, he did not remember the names of the priests out loud when he read the notes - only to himself, with the exception of those who were sick. And if he suddenly uttered my father’s name, it meant that something was wrong.

Or here’s a case: Vera Ivanovna once couldn’t sit still at work - she was drawn to church. He comes running: there is an evening service in the church, not many people. I asked one woman for a handkerchief. Father, when he saw Vera Ivanovna, exclaimed joyfully, turning to her husband: “Volodya, who came to us! Faith has come! But then he asked her in amazement: “Why did you pull this on yourself? You look good even without a scarf.” The spiritual daughter, blushing, pulled off her scarf.

Some parishioners in Serafimovskoe wrapped themselves almost in monastic clothes, but the priest did not like it, and not at all out of freethinking - quite the opposite. There was hardly another temple in the city where the requirements for clothing were so strict. “What is it,” Father Vasily was indignant in spirit, “he came in jeans and a T-shirt. Are you going to go to a little boss like that? And then you came to the Chief of all chiefs.” Father Vasily taught men to go to church in a suit, put on a fresh shirt and tie. And it doesn’t matter that it’s summer, it’s hot. “I,” he consoled, “sweat too.” He also exhorted women: “You need to have a decent appearance in the temple. Sew yourself a dress in which you can stand with dignity at the service and receive the Mysteries.” That’s why he ordered Vera Ivanovna to take off her scarf, because it was better without it at all, like Mary, the sister of Lazarus, who washed the Savior’s feet with her hair, than in something shapeless and tasteless.

For him, neatness in clothing was a continuation of spiritual rigor. He firmly defended the Patriarch from attacks, whom it was then almost a rule of good manners among “zealots” to judge; he defended the clergy, even when they were in some way wrong. And the point is not at all that he was lenient towards misdeeds or was afraid to wash dirty linen in public. Simply washing the bones of the shepherds was for him something akin to coming to church in pants that looked like underwear - a morally ugly gesture, evidence of a lack of core and self-respect.

And it’s amazing how this attracted people to him - you won’t find this among any “zealots” in the temple. The people at the liturgy stood so densely that it was not always possible to cross themselves.

But this time it was a weekday, and there weren’t many people in the church. Taking off her scarf, Vera Ivanovna went to the choir.

Say hello to Old Man,” Father Vasily told her after the service.

Then he repeated it. And he reminded me again. Soon after this, Father John Khvoshch began to have big troubles in his life. It has always been this way. If the elder became especially affectionate and attentive, then expect trials. Was he insightful? When you ask this question, his spiritual children are lost. That it was, there is no doubt. But he knew how to frame it in such a way that it seemed like nothing special: “Say hello to Dad!”

"Always noticed me"

How many of his spiritual children repeat these words: “He always noticed me!” But there were hundreds of them. I can't explain it. It was some kind of breakthrough of another world into our lives - a world where there is no time, where love has no boundaries. This is the most amazing thing you discover when you encounter the righteous. We don’t have enough time to bestow our attention on those closest and dearest, and these are just a few people. But when God breathes in a person, he begins to be enough for everyone, in abundance.

And he always noticed me,” continues Vera Ivanovna. He says and cries: - Since he wrapped himself in my jacket, he laughs. And another time he put on my winter hat on one side and asked: “How do you like me?” And your heart melts, and it’s like you’ve returned to childhood - such love, such simplicity. I run past it once. Father was talking with one woman, and I was in a hurry, I wanted to slip by unnoticed. And he suddenly stops me, smiling mischievously. He pulled the scarf over my face and somehow funny changed my maiden name. I laugh, and he changes it in a new way, and his eyes laugh. I come to my senses: “Father, how do you know my former last name? I didn’t tell her to you, did I?” And he: “Don’t I read newspapers?” And indeed, in the Vologda diocesan newspaper there was something about my father. But how did Father Vasily know about this? I don't understand.

You write a note and put in ten rubles (you can’t take it anymore, things are really bad). Father will see it and will certainly return it, saying: “Take it, it will come in handy.” And I’ll bring mushrooms from Ustyug - he becomes deliberately angry, hiding a smile: “Vera, why so little?” It's getting funny like that. And the priest laughs: “It won’t rust behind me.” She gave him some help - suspenders, that is. It was so embarrassing, because it was a trivial thing. I babble something in defense, and he says admiringly: “Faith! You always give me what I need!” It was so...

I think, standing in the church: “How can the priest put up with me - such a nonentity?” Then he comes out and, turning to someone, says, nodding at me: “What are you asking me? She’ll tell you everything, she’s good.” So he set the bar. If he scolded me, I would have started to resist. But what he praised set the bar, although he scolded others. Each had their own approach. The goal is one - to save, but the approach is different. He loved my sister Olga very much. More than me, because she has more difficulties. He never gave me such a welcome as she did. Once every three years he sees it - and it’s as if he doesn’t feel like himself: “Olga! - shouts. - Olya, hello!” And immediately - go to yourself, ask about everything that happened. In St. Isaac's Cathedral they were waiting for the metropolitan, there was no way to get through, and Father Vasily: “Olga! Take pictures!” - and walked us through, then looked for a gift for her: “Olga, I don’t know what to give you.”

Vera Ivanovna covers her face. Then he continues:

Father kept repeating: “Remember, Lord, Leah and the children.” Leah is my mother, and the children are Olga and me. I remember my mother had an angel day, but I couldn’t get to the priest, there were too many people. And so he goes to the altar, and I didn’t even give him a note - nothing. Suddenly the priest looks around and says so well, well: “I know. Today is Liinka’s angel day.”

His love united us all. If you read his sermons with your eyes, you may even experience rejection. People won't agree with everything. This had to be heard live, when there was pain and feeling in the voice. He became dignified before saying the pastoral word, we smiled. Father always said the same thing, but in different ways.

The sermon ends, then a prayer service, reading notes - don’t come up. He goes out to the car and we accompany him. One day I thought: “How his legs must hurt!” I regretted it from the bottom of my heart. Suddenly the priest stops as he passes me, whispers: “Ver, my legs hurt.”

"With the Saints..."

He died on the day of the celebration of the icon of the Mother of God “Consolation and Consolation”.

That evening Vera Ivanovna’s mood was gloomy. It was the eve of the anniversary of the day when she was illegally fired from her position as an accountant at the Red Triangle association. A friend came to whom Vera Ivanovna said: “Tomorrow is a tragic day in my life - I was thrown overboard like a naughty puppy.” If only she had known that a real tragedy was ahead... At midnight, she and her husband were standing in prayer when the phone rang:

Father died...

No, this can't be true. I remember for your health.

Call again:

Father died...

The husband began to cry. Vladimir grew up without a father, and the priest became more than his confessor. When was the last time he visited Fr. Vasily in confession, he listened and absolved his sins, almost losing consciousness. I just believed that the disease would go away...

The Tretyakovs turned off their landline and cell phones and went to bed. They didn’t want to talk or think, they just wanted to forget themselves, to run away from the terrible news.

In the morning, an acquaintance ran in and said: “Father is being taken to his homeland, to Bolkhov” - this is in the Oryol region. We ran to the temple. It was full, but there was an extraordinary silence that will never be forgotten. They sang, “Rest with the saints...” There was confusion, tension because they wanted to take the priest away, but then one of the priests came out with the words: “They will bury you here,” and there was a sigh of relief. The day has passed, night has come. Those who spent it in the temple recalled: “This night was Easter! We sang “Christ is Risen...”

Morning, long funeral service in the cold.

Vera Ivanovna’s story about these days is extremely laconic. “Why do you remember so little?” - I thought. At that moment she began to cry.

In the evening after the funeral, she and her husband tuned in to an Orthodox radio station, where Father Vasily talked about Xenia of Petersburg. As if he had never died, he continued to preach the gospel. And it’s not that the pain began to go away, it’s just that an understanding has come, which comes to some earlier, to others later, that there really is no death.

Cherubimskaya

My father had a stroke... - recalls Vera Ivanovna. - What to do? Where to run? Of course, to Father Vasily’s grave, to ask for dad. Of course, to righteous John on Karpovka.

In the monastery she met a schema-monastery: “Let him get up, he’s very tired, but he’ll get up,” she said so simply, as if about something already decided.

I went down to the tomb of St. John of Kronstadt, began to read the akathist, and then the phone rang. Vera Ivanovna, looking at the poster with a crossed out mobile phone, guiltily took it out.

Dad spoke and started moving! - the brother said worriedly from afar, from Ustyug.

The Kronstadt shepherd continued to smile from the icon.

And after some time, Archpriest John Khvoshch himself came to thank him. The autumn rain was falling, and the priest tirelessly swept across the city kilometer after kilometer. He cried with his heavenly patron and served a prayer service. Then he went to the Seraphim Cemetery to thank his other prayer book.

How I would like to be there,” he said one day, standing at the grave of Father Vasily.

What are you saying, dad, it’s very expensive here... - the daughter began to explain, then she caught herself.

Her friend Natalya Glukhikh told me how they once served together - Fathers John and Vasily: “...The liturgy is underway. And suddenly, at the beginning of “Kherubimskaya,” birds began to sing, flying through the open window in the dome. This amazed us. “Cherubimskaya” ended and the birds fell silent.”