Vsevolod Chaplin - priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, archpriest

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

On the priest Chaplin have not heard in recent years except perhaps the laziest. For more than five years, he has not tired of shocking the secular and church communities with his odious statements and provocative statements. Below we will talk about the biography of this person, discuss his career and some other aspects of life.

Birth, childhood and adolescence

Vsevolod Chaplin was born in Moscow in 1968. The family where he was born was by no means religious, and the boy collected information about God and religion himself, from wherever he could. At the age of 13, he already recognized himself as Orthodox and since then has been in the bosom of the Orthodox Church. Even at school, Vsevolod Chaplin decided that he would become a priest, and therefore everyone around - both classmates and teachers - knew about the young man's intention to enter the theological seminary. Oddly enough, this did not cause any special difficulties for Vsevolod at school. This did not have a negative impact on the family of the future priest, who belonged to the Soviet intelligentsia and was a member of the scientific community.

Nationality

Some personalities on the Internet spread the belief that Chaplin is a cross, that is, a baptized Jew. Some even conjecture for him some national Jewish name, surname and patronymic. However, these rumors are false, and Vsevolod Chaplin is the real name of the archpriest. And there is no evidence that he belongs to the Jewish nation, which, by the way, he respects very much. Vsevolod Anatolyevich Chaplin himself directly declares that he is not a Semite.

Career development

The beginning of a career in church structures was laid in 1985 from a position in the publishing department of the ROC MP. At this time, Vsevolod Chaplin declared himself to be a rather liberal person, whose views were distinguished by flexibility and tolerance. He welcomed all sorts of reformist ideas hovering in church circles, spoke out in favor of revising liturgical practice and even replacing the Church Slavonic language. Chaplin was one of those who organized exhibitions of avant-garde artists in church premises, and in the early 90s even became the author of the preface to one of the first albums of Christian rock music in post-perestroika Russia.

Transition to work in the DECR

The key decision that influenced the entire future life of the young man was made in 1990, when Vsevolod Chaplin moved from the publishing department to the department of external church relations. At that time, it was led by the young, ambitious Archbishop Kirill (Gundyaev), now known as Patriarch Kirill. The last one becamepatron and patron of Vsevolod, having performed over him successively a deacon, and a year later a priestly ordination. Thus, in 1992 Chaplin Vsevolod Anatolyevich became a priest. But a year earlier, he took the position of head of the public relations sector of the church in the jurisdiction of the DECR. Actually, one way or another, he subsequently did this all his life and continues to do it at the present time. In 1994, Father Vsevolod Chaplin graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy, thus obtaining a Ph. D. in theology.

Many are interested in the question of his personal life, since the marriage of a priest must take place before his ordination to the dignity. However, nothing is known about who Vsevolod Chaplin's wife is. There is nothing surprising in this, because he is not married. Accordingly, they ordained him as a celibate cleric who took a vow of celibacy, but without taking other monastic vows.

Public Relations Job

Chaplin received his first prominent government position in 1996, during Yeltsin's presidency. For two years he was a member of the Council for Cooperation with Religious Organizations. Being expelled from it in 1997, he headed the DECR secretariat for interaction between church and society. He held this position until 2001. The priest successfully coped with his duties, which led in 1999 to the award that Vsevolod Chaplin received. The Russian Orthodox Church elevated him to the rank of archpriest. Three years later, he was waiting for a promotion: he becameDeputy Head of the DECR - Metropolitan Kirill. He had a chance to occupy this chair until 2009, when Cyril was elected patriarch. Working under the personal guidance of Metropolitan Kirill, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin oversaw two secretariats of the department: for inter-Christian relations and public relations. In addition, he was assigned to monitor Church publications and supervise the work of the communications service.

The priest was a frequent guest at various events, be it conferences, negotiations or meetings. He also took a direct part in the dialogue with the papal throne and the Russian government. His experience led to him being included on the council of the State Duma Committee on Associations and Religious Organizations as soon as it was created, in 1994. Another important fact of the biography of this figure is that he had the honor to be a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches.

Career under Patriarchate of Kirill

In 2008, with the death of Patriarch Alexy II, the life of the archpriest changed and his career took off. The main role in this was played by the fact that Chaplin's patron, Metropolitan Kirill, took the patriarchal throne in 2009. At a forum convened in the same year called the World Russian People's Council, Chaplin was elected his personal deputy. In addition, he got the chair of the head of the newly formed synodal department for relations between the church and society. From then to this day, it is he who is responsible in the patriarchy for everythingofficial contacts of the church and public institutions at the patriarchal level.

With his mediation, an agreement was reached between the Moscow Patriarchate and the ruling United Russia party. Thanks to close contacts between church and government, the role and importance of Chaplin grew immeasurably compared to his previous position. First, he again gained membership in the Council for Interaction with Religious Associations under the government of the Russian Federation. Secondly, as the head of the public relations department, he is directly involved in the discussion of bills proposed and promoted in the State Duma, thus defending the interests of the church, or at least its official political line. Moreover, Chaplin is a member of two important committees in the Public Chamber. The first of them concerns the issues of interaction and development of regions and self-government. And the second is devoted to freedom of conscience and interethnic relations.

Other facts about Vsevolod Chaplin

Besides his administrative activities, Chaplin has the duties of rector of the church of St. Nicholas on the Three Mountains in the Presnensky district of the capital. He also conducts teaching practice, being an assistant professor at St. Tikhon Orthodox University. Periodically publishes his semi-diary entries in the format of a book called "Scraps". To date, two parts of these notes have been published, which in places are ideological in nature. Actually, thanks to the published two-volume Loskutkov, Chaplin acquired membership in the Writers' Union of Russia and inAcademy of Russian literature. It can often also be seen in various programs on radio and television. For example, on one of the radio stations where Vsevolod Chaplin appears with enviable regularity - "Echo of Moscow". At the same time, being most often an invited guest, he conducts some programs as a presenter, however, already on other, purely church venues.

The activity of the archpriest has been marked by many awards: the Order of Prince Daniel II and III degrees, the Order of St. Anna, the Order of Friendship, and the Order of St. Innocent of Moscow.

Views of Vsevolod Chaplin

The official speaker of the Moscow Patriarchate has rather conservative and, in part, radical views. For example, in addition to the quite expected negative assessment of abortion and euthanasia, he advocates the creation of a public dress code that regulates the appearance of citizens in accordance with the moral principles and traditions of the Orthodox Church. In addition, he actively supports the idea of creating the so-called Orthodox squads - power groups that, with the blessing of the church, will monitor public space for insulting the feelings of believers and defend the interests of the church by force. In part, this is already being practiced, as evidenced by the strong friendship between Chaplin and the extremist group led by Enteo, whose activities boil down to the destruction of exhibitions, the disruption of concert and theater performances, the beating of participants in gay pride parades and similar events, the legality and legitimacy of which is ardentlydefends the official speaker of the ROC MP.

Chaplin also stands up for the abolition of the teaching of the theory of evolution in schools and universities, for the introduction of a system of Sharia courts in Russia. Vsevolod Chaplin spoke extremely belligerently about the war that followed the revolution. He condemns the position taken by the believers at that time and insists that it was the moral duty of every Orthodox to enter into hostilities and destroy as many people as possible who had anything to do with the Bolshevik Party. But that's not all. Many were shocked by the performance of Vsevolod Chaplin and the position he took towards the members of the punk band Pussy Riot, to whom neither he nor the official church position showed a drop of mercy and did not demonstrate the spirit of forgiveness, which church functionaries often talk about. Another wave of sharp criticism against the archpriest was caused by his ardent apology for luxury in official and private life, which distinguishes many representatives of the church nomenclature. In his opinion, expensive things, vestments, cars and the generally bohemian lifestyle of the clergy are necessary for the church to ensure and maintain its social prestige.

Criticism of Chaplin

These and many other statements of the archpriest were followed by a severe reaction from representatives of secular society and even from many clerics. They do not hesitate to express outright hostility to Chaplin even in the immediate environment of the patriarch, believing that with his words he undermines the authority of the church organization of the Russian Orthodox Church.