This year the program "The Word" with Archpriest Vladimir Golovin was broadcast on the "Spas" TV channel. In this program, the priest spoke about his life and how he came to the decision to devote himself to the service of the church. This article will also present some facts from the biography of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin.
About father and grandmother
Batiushka says that his destiny in life was predicted long before he was born. And it happened like this: the priest's grandmother wanted to show her son Valentin (the future father of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin) the places where she was from. This village was nearby.
Since the buses went there very rarely, the mother and son decided to get there on foot. Along the way, they passed a well built on the spot where St. Nicholas the Wonderworker appeared several centuries ago. On this day, the feast dedicated to this saint was just celebrated. Therefore, gathered near the wellmany people. People were dispersed by policemen and combatants, but still, many believers did not want to disperse.
Icon on the tree
Mom drank water from the well, and then presented the ladle to her son (the future father of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin). Valentine took a sip and tasted rot. The thing is that in Soviet times, the authorities did not encourage visiting this shrine and praying in the surrounding area. Therefore, when the lid of the well broke, various debris and leaves flying from trees began to get inside.
The local administration was also not going to clean the water. When Valentine drank from the ladle brought to him, then, in order to kill the taste of rot, he threw back his head and began to breathe heavily in fresh air. At that moment, the boy saw that some branches had been cut down on the tree under which they were standing, and the images of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the Mother of God were skillfully carved on the knots.
Prophecy
The child pointed to these icons of his mother. But she could not immediately see them, because the faces of the saints were made in the form of cracks in the tree. Therefore, it was not always possible to distinguish them at a glance. The people standing nearby began to say: "These are the miracles that St. Nicholas shows in our difficult time!" They began to ask the boy to cut down for them the branches on which the images were. The child, who was brought up, like many Soviet people, at a time when scientific atheism was widely promoted by the state, was frightened by such a request and pulled his mother by the hand.
They quickly left the place. Already at a decent distance from the shrine, the mother and son heard a woman's voice behind them, it was an old woman saying: "Are you a boy to whom the Mother of God appeared with Nicholas the Wonderworker?" Valentine said it wasn't him. Then the woman spoke again: "You will live a long life. The son that is born to you will become a priest. And many men from your family will also devote themselves to the church."
Grandma's upbringing
In response to questions about his biography, Archpriest Vladimir Golovin said that his spiritual upbringing in early childhood was mainly done by his grandmother. It was she who first brought him to the temple. Subsequently, Pelageya Ivanovna often took her grandson with her to church services. Each time in the cathedral the boy was very bored, and he thought that next time he would certainly refuse to go there. However, something made him always answer in the affirmative to his grandmother's question: "Granddaughter, will you go to church with me?"
First Reading of the New Testament
It was Pelageya Ivanovna, when her grandson confessed to her that he wanted to attend church regularly, brought him the Gospel so that he could read it aloud. The woman herself was not literate. Therefore, when Valentine said that he wanted to read the contents of the book on his own, silently, she told him to read aloud by all means.
She taught him a lesson in caring for the Holy Scriptures. When the grandson placed the book on his lap, his grandmother made himNote: The Gospel can only be placed on the table. Pelageya Ivanovna made the young man wash his hands before he touched the pages. Only after that did his grandmother allow him to read the Holy Scriptures.
Children's thoughts about the meaning of life
Telling about the early period of his biography, Archpriest Vladimir Golovin says that the death of his uncle made him think about the meaning of life for the first time. His father was so friendly with his brother that he named his son after him. When a relative died of a serious illness at an early age (he was only about 40 years old), his young nephew also grieved. He attended the funeral with all the adult members of the family. After the ceremony, before leaving the territory of the cemetery, the boy heard merry laughter and humorous conversations of adults. He was outraged by such a frivolous attitude to what was happening in his family.
He was also struck by the duplicity of people who, a few minutes before, shed bitter tears over the coffin of the deceased. Before going to bed, the child asked his mother: "Mom, are we all going to die too?" To which she replied: "Yes, son, we are all mortal. But our end will not come soon." This event was a turning point in the life of little Volodya. He set a goal for himself: by all means to find the meaning of life. To do this, the child began to study the literature that was in the bookcase and in the local library. But the books that passed the Soviet censorship did not give an answer to his question. Oddly enough, the literature on scientific atheism turned out to be much more useful at this point, wherecontained quotations from the Old and New Testaments. The boy read only these passages, skipping all the criticism that came after the words from the Bible.
Soon he became so interested in the study of the Holy Scriptures that he decided to devote his life to the church.
Thus, the old woman's prediction to his father and grandmother was confirmed.
Life Troubles
In the biography of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin, like all people, there were unpleasant moments. For example, when he said at one of the class hours that he believed in God, the stunned teacher complained about him to the school principal. The head of the educational institution called the boy into his office and lectured for a long time. The result of this conversation was Golovin's expulsion from school. Only after much persuasion did the teenager manage to recover at the school.
Passing through the commission at the military registration and enlistment office was also not an easy task. When the members of the commission learned about the religious beliefs of the future father Vladimir, they did not want to enlist him in the army. Numerous calls to the offices of various officials followed.
The situation was aggravated by the fact that the pressure was not only on the future Archpriest Vladimir Golovin himself, but his family was also subjected to various humiliations. As a result, doctors deliberately found some mythical illness in the guy, thanks to which he was not taken into the army.
In which church does Archpriest Vladimir Golovin serve?
The answer to this question will be given in this chapter. Batiushka lives in the Republic of Tatarstan. ATcity called Bolgar. Archpriest Vladimir Golovin is the rector of the temple. This cathedral was consecrated in honor of the great martyr of the 13th century Abraham. the saint lived in a locality on the banks of the Volga River, and was a Muslim by birth. He came from a family of we althy merchants and was engaged in trade himself. By the will of fate, he met several Russian merchants who told him about the Orthodox faith.
Abraham realized that this religion is his destiny in life. He was baptized and began to preach his spiritual beliefs among the people to whom he belonged. Since the saint, even before his churching, was actively involved in charity work and helped people in every possible way, at first his fellow tribesmen tried to influence him only by persuasion. They wanted to force him to renounce his religion and convert back to Islam. Abraham answered all their exhortations with a firm refusal. Then he was imprisoned and tortured. But, even enduring terrible suffering, he did not renounce his faith. Then he was executed. A chapel now stands at the site of the death of this great martyr, and one of the churches in the city of Bolgar is dedicated to this saint.
It is in this cathedral that Archpriest Vladimir Golovin serves, whose sermons come to listen not only to local residents, but also to numerous pilgrims who come to venerate the holy places where Abraham of Bulgaria lived. For his many years of diligent priestly activity, the priest was ordained to the rank of archpriest. Socalled the head priest. This title is given not earlier than after 10 years of a person's stay in church service. Before the revolution, those bearing this dignity were called archpriests. During his sermons, Archpriest Vladimir Golovin speaks in simple, understandable language about the most important topics for every Christian. For example, he believes that nowadays people have become too important to give comfort and material we alth. Because of this, the current generation often forgets about the spiritual life and prayer.
Conversations of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin
After the sermons, the priest personally communicates with those in need of advice. He encourages parishioners to start praying regularly, giving numerous examples of how people's lives are changed for the better through the fight against sins and the right spiritual life.
About life after death
In one of the programs devoted to the issues of Christianity, Archpriest Vladimir Golovin expressed the opinion that many people are afraid of the death of their own and loved ones because they feel sinfulness and the retribution that awaits a person in the afterlife. According to him, righteous people, as a rule, say goodbye to life very calmly and meekly. This is how many who lived in the old days died.
For example, it used to be customary to even prepare things in which a person intended to lie in a coffin. Today, people deliberately try to drive away such thoughts from themselves, because they do not want to think about death. This is because they are unwilling to give up their sinful existence, andthoughts of retribution are unpleasant to them. For this reason, many unpleasant phenomena occur in the lives of modern people.
Eternal youth
Archpriest Vladimir, in his sermons and in response to journalists' questions, encourages people to objectively assess their age. According to him, due to the fact that people are not capable of this, they commit various sins. For example, many men over the age of 40 leave their families for young mistresses because they want to prove to themselves that they are still young enough. Or, on the contrary, some people of the age of thirty have not yet found their way in life and "sit on the neck of their parents."
Family
Many are wondering if Archpriest Vladimir Golovin has a family. Batiushka has been married for about 30 years. Archpriest Vladimir Golovin has four children and, as he himself says, the priest is already "a hundred times a grandfather."
Call to Prayer
Vladimir Golovin tells the parishioners of his church and numerous people who gather for his sermons to turn to the Lord God with all pressing questions. He is convinced that prayer and repentance are the main components of the life of any Christian.
Repentance, according to him, should be brought not to the priest, but to the Almighty. He believes that the clergyman who takes confession should, in some cases, even stand further from the altar than the one who confesses. Because in this sacrament a person conducts a dialogue with God.
The wife of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin contributes in every possible way to the activities of her husband. Therefore, in this family there is always peace and mutual understanding. The texts of the sermons of this priest can be found on sites dedicated to Orthodoxy. He is also the author of several books on the Christian life.
