Despite the fact that the Soviet era is perceived as the heyday of atheism in the country, Orthodoxy continued to be for many of its citizens the only religion and way to turn to God. The huge potential of the power of faith forced the government of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War to significantly weaken the influence on the multiple manifestations of the religious sentiments of soldiers and civilians, but still did not lead to the full acceptance of church organizations. Nevertheless, many people continued to be believers and visited temples and lived according to God's laws. Some even devoted their entire lives to this, thanks to which the Russian Orthodox Church today is rightfully considered the representative of a strong, pure and sincere faith throughout the world.
Childhood of Ivan Ashurkov
The city of Dmitrov has become a small homeland for six children from a simple working-class family. The sixth child was born to the Ashurkovs in 1947, on May 25. Ivan, following family traditions, from early childhood absorbed the foundations of faith, love for God and the foundations of Orthodox life. It was customary in the family to read prayers before a meal, observe discipline, and work hard.
Naturally, it was not easy for the children of the Ashurkovs at school, especially in the older grades. Ivan, his brothers and sister from the fifth grade went to lessons in a neighboring village. There, their family was not known and they immediately began to closely observe, noticing their commitment to Christianity. Some teachers, as Feofan, Metropolitan of Kazan, recalls today, even showed visible aggression. They were especially intolerant of the fact that sometimes Vanya missed lessons for the sake of service.
Since the children were believers, they were not accepted as pioneers, and their father did not give permission for this. He himself was a carpenter and kept himself apart, avoiding the need to join the collective farm.
Although it is believed that children are sometimes more cruel than adults, Ivan's childhood cannot be said to have passed without friends. The children were friends, played together, and if there were disagreements, the Ashurkov brothers always stood up for each other.
Today's Metropolitan Feofan of Tatarstan probably would never have become who he is, without this family unity, firm faith and strong Orthodox fathers who served in the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in the village of Romanovka. It is about this temple and Father Vasily that Ivan Andreevich remembers with special trepidation and warmth.
How Ivan Andreevich came to the ministry
After graduating from school and having mastered the profession of an electrician at the Novotroitsk School, the guy who much later became known as Feofan (Metropolitan), like all young people of the Soviet Union, went to serve in the army.
Special military environment with its dailybluster of recruits, smutty conversations, manifestations of hazing and sometimes an excessive penchant for drunken gatherings further influenced Ivan's determination not to deviate from the faith. It must be said that, according to Feofan himself, the army still did not become a difficult test for him, and he speaks with gratitude about the life experience gained there.
Paying tribute to the state, Ashurkov tuned in to enter the seminary of the Moscow Theological Academy. For the first time, it was not possible to do so: the authorities intervened. But after a year of service under Metropolitan Gideon in Smolensk (1969), he was able to overcome the program of two courses at once. As a result of diligent teaching and the support of Vladyka Philaret and Metropolitan Gideon, the seminary was completed in a couple of years. Then followed the academy, a period of novitiate and tonsure as a monk.
Since then, Ivan Ashurkov has received the name Feofan. The metropolitan, or rather this rank, was still far ahead for the young monk. The monastic path of the future famous church figure began in 1973 at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The following year, Theophanes became a hierodeacon, and two years later, a hieromonk.
The life path of the future metropolitan
Being already a graduate student of the theological academy, Feofan was sent to novitiate in Jerusalem. He spent almost five years there. Although at that time there was a very difficult situation in international relations and trips abroad, Metropolitan Feofan voices only positive reviews about this time. Recognizing the miraculous opportunity at the beginning of each day to contemplate the saints for allChristians of the place, he talks about it in such a way that his breath stops. The places where the Christian faith was born greatly influenced the spiritual development of the clergyman. Here he learned the art of negotiation, loy alty to other faiths, felt the full power of love for his Motherland and the importance of serving God even at the cost of parting with it.
Returning to the USSR in 1982, the future Metropolitan Feofan (Simbirsky), served for two years in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and then he was sent until 1987 to South America to the post of secretary of the exarchate. In this area, there was a large number of parishes, which were provided by people with a very difficult fate - economic migrants from Ukraine, former prisoners of war, native Argentines who created mixed families. They all needed support, which Orthodox churches provided.
Two years after South America passed in the department of the Moscow Patriarchate, which was responsible for foreign relations. Since 1989, not yet Metropolitan Theophan, whose biography includes serving the church in various countries, has been exarch in Africa. When he returned to his homeland in 1993, the Soviet Union was gone.
Replacing until 1999 the chairman of the department for external church relations, Feofan witnessed the formation of a new system of relations between the state and the church. After a short novitiate in the East, by decision of the Synod, the archimandrite was consecrated to the episcopal rank.
Theophan's episcopal activity
Becoming Bishop of Magadan and Sinegorsk in October 2000year, he was faced with the need to develop missionary activities. Feofan, the metropolitan of the region that today bears the name of the leader of the revolution, especially acutely realized how important it is to build new churches, interact with young people, and hold Orthodox events. The ROC had a lot to oppose to Protestant prayer houses and sectarian organizations. Orthodox tabs began to appear in Magadan newspapers, church TV channels were launched, and the magnificent Cathedral of the Holy Trinity was built.
Since 2003, Feofan was appointed to the Stavropol diocese, where he became the successor to the aforementioned Metropolitan Gideon. The diocese was very large, it included very turbulent regions: Chechnya, North Ossetia, Ingushetia and others. The North Caucasus taught the bishop to find a common language even with followers of another religion. He believed and believes that the common cause of restoring the spirituality of the people should unite followers of all faiths.
The Beslan tragedy and the military conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia became terrible, but very important pages in the biography of Feofan (Ashurkov). He did his best to help the refugees: the Russian Orthodox Church collected food and medicine for them, provided shelter in monasteries and churches.
Archbishop Feofan (Ivan Ashurkov)
The vast experience of church activities in a variety of conditions and countries allowed Feofan to become a contender for the rank of archbishop. The future Metropolitan of Kazan Feofan took another step forward - in 2008 he received a new rank. In 2012he headed the Chelyabinsk metropolis, and also ruled the Trinity diocese. In the Southern Urals, he again had to face the multinationality that our vast country is famous for. Feofan here clearly adhered to the line of good-neighborly relations both with power structures and with the common population. They began to build churches here, since the number of Orthodox parishes is too small, resumed the restoration of old churches, and even opened a theological speci alty at the Department of History at South Ural State University.
Theophan's activities as metropolitan
In 2012 Feofan became a metropolitan. Two years later, he was entrusted with the Simbirsk Metropolis, where he did a lot to strengthen the Orthodox faith among the population of the region. Although Metropolitan Feofan spent a little time in the homeland of V. I. Lenin, the Simbirsk people are grateful to him for his desire to return the historical name to Ulyanovsk, for increasing the number of churches, for tolerant attitude towards representatives of other religions.
Less than a year later, the metropolitan was appointed to a new place of service - to the Tatarstan Metropolis. It happened in July 2015. The activities here are distinguished from others by the closest contact with Muslims. Contrary to the opinion of many spiteful critics, while representing the Russian Orthodox Church, Feofan still strives for confessional peace. He is clearly aware that all religions worship the One God, but each in its own way. And this is not a reason to start bloody disputes and litigation. The main goal of all church organizations is to achieve thatthat people strive for spirituality and moral integrity. Feofan speaks very harshly about nationalism, calling it a road to nowhere.
In our very difficult time with the flourishing of a wide variety of international conflicts, people like Metropolitan Feofan are doing a lot to preserve peace.
