All childhood and youth St. Athanasius Sakharov, the future Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church and a leader of the catacomb movements, and in the world - Sergei Grigorievich, spent in the holy city of Vladimir. Difficulties and trials have been raining down on him since childhood. But it was in such a difficult life environment that he gradually matured and received his grace-filled strength for future preaching.
Very early in their family, their father died, and Afanasy Sakharov found everything that was useful to him for a worthy entry into Orthodox life in his own mother. After all, it was she who wanted to see her son as a monk, and for this Sergius was very grateful to her all his life.
He loved to study at the parish church and was not burdened by long and exhausting church services. The future bishop in divine services saw that highest degree of prayer to the Lord, which he loved with all his heart and soul. While still very young, he foresaw that he would be a minister of the church, and even to his peers he boldly, in a boyish way, boasted that he would become a bishop.
Afanasy Sakharov: Life
Sergey was born on July 2 (old style) in 1887 in the village of Parevka, Tambov province. His father's name was Gregory, he was a native of Suzdal and worked as a court adviser, and his mother, Matrona, came from peasants. They lived then in the city of Vladimir.
Their family was respected for their kindness and pious morals. It was on this fertile soil that they nurtured the rare spiritual gifts of their only son, whom they named in honor of the Reverend Elder Sergius of Radonezh. Sergei, like his heavenly patron, the mourner of the Russian land, was distinguished by selfless love for the Church and the Fatherland.
In the meantime, his life went on as usual. The youth learned needlework and even began to sew and embroider priestly vestments. These unpretentious talents were very useful to him later during exiles and camps, when he made chasubles for icons. Once he even had to prepare a special antimension platter himself to serve the liturgy for prisoners in prison.
Study
It was not easy for young Sergius to study, but he did not despair and worked hard. Soon the Vladimir Theological Seminary was waiting for him, then the Moscow Theological Academy, from which he graduated quite successfully. However, the young man did not become proud, as he was modest and humble by nature, as it should be for a real monk-prayer for all people. In 1912, he was tonsured with the name Athanasius, and soon he became a priest.
Vladyka Afanasy Sakharov studied the questions ofliturgy and hagiology. He was very attentive to the texts of liturgical books and always tried to understand the meaning of especially difficult words, noting them in the margins of books for clarification.
First works
While still a student of the Shuya school, he wrote a troparion to the holy Shuya-Smolensk Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. It was the first liturgical hymn he composed. And the academic essay he wrote under the title "The mood of the believing soul according to the Lenten Triodion" already indicated that the author had a great awareness in matters of church hymnology.
His first spiritual mentor and teacher was Archbishop Nikolay (Nalimov) of Vladimir, of whom he always had a reverent memory. Then Athanasius Sakharov adopted spiritual experience from the rector of the Moscow Theological Academy - a strict ascetic and famous theologian, Bishop Theodore (Pozdeevsky), who later tonsured him a monk and ordained him a hierodeacon and then a hieromonk.
Revolution
Vladyka Athanasius Sakharov began his church obediences from the Poltava Theological Seminary, where he proved himself to be a talented teacher. But he acquired the strength of a learned theologian at the Vladimir Seminary, where he showed himself as a convinced and inspired evangelist of the word of God. And then in the Diocesan Council he was responsible for the state of preaching in the parishes.
When the revolution thundered in Russia, Hieromonk Athanasius was 30 years old. At the so-called "diocesan congresses" people began to raise their heads who were hostile tobelonged to Russian Orthodoxy.
In 1917, the main representatives of all male monasteries gathered in the Lavra of St. Sergius. This Local Council of the Russian Church (1917-18) was also attended by Hieromonk Athanasius, who was chosen to work in the department for liturgical issues. Around the same time, St. Athanasius Sakharov was working on his famous “Service to All the Saints Who Resplendent in the Russian Land.
Hatred and mockery
The revolution, like a terrible hurricane, shed oceans of Christian blood. The newly minted people's government began to destroy churches, exterminate the clergy and mock the relics of the saints. The terrible prophecies of St. John of Kronstadt came true, and the destruction of the Russian Tsardom came. From now on, it has turned into a rabble of infidels, hating and exterminating each other.
In 1919, in Vladimir, as in many Russian cities, demonstrative openings of holy relics began in front of the people, which they paraded and ridiculed. To stop these wild outrages, Hieromonk Athanasius, who headed the Vladimir clergy, set up guards at the Assumption Cathedral.
In the temple, holy relics lay on the tables, and hieromonk Athanasius and psalmist Potapov Alexander, when the doors opened before the crowd, proclaimed: "Blessed is our God!", And in response they heard: "Amen!". The prayer service to the saints of Vladimir began. This is how the desecration of shrines desired by the crowd turned into a solemn glorification. People entered the temple and began to reverently pray, put candles near the relics andbow.
Vicarage
Soon, Sakharov, already in the rank of archimandrite, was appointed abbot of the ancient monasteries of Bogolyubsky and Vladimir Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. One of the turning points in Vladyka's life at that time was his appointment as Bishop of Kovrov Vicar of the Vladimir Diocese. The future Patriarch of All Russia, Metropolitan Sergius of Vladimir (Starogorodsky) led the consecration.
But then another terrible problem appeared and great pain for the hierarchical feat of Bishop Athanasius, which became more terrible than the struggle against the opposition of the unbelieving authorities with their purposeful destruction and the closure of churches - the schismatic movement "Renovation", which called for the reform of the Russian Orthodox Church.
These seeds were sown before the revolution. Even then, careful preparatory work was carried out within the walls of theological schools and religious-philosophical societies, which were the lot of a certain part of the clergy, who emerged from the environment of the then intelligentsia. But the leaders of the Renovationists relied mainly on conformists and those of little faith.
St. Afanasy Sakharov zealously fought the Renovationists and not so much for their heretical beliefs, but for apostasy from the Church of Christ, for the Judas sin - betrayal into the hands of the executioners of saints, pastors and laity.
Great preacher and prisoner
Vladyka explained to his flock that schismatics opposing the canonical episcopate headed by Patriarch Tikhon had no right to celebrate Church Sacraments, and churches whereservices, graceless.
Priest confessor Athanasius Sakharov re-consecrated churches defiled by apostates. He rebuked those who did not repent and exhorted them to repent. He forbade his flock to communicate with the Renovationists, but not to bear malice towards them for seizing shrines, since the saints always remain in spirit only with Orthodox believers.
Such violent activity could not go unnoticed by the workers of the new government, and on March 30, 1922, the fighter-priest was arrested for the first time. Bishop Afanasy Sakharov did not consider his position in prison a heavy burden and called it “an insulator from the renewal epidemic.”
Most of all, he was worried about those who remained at liberty and endured countless bullying and harassment from the Renovationists. His long prison road ran through prisons: Vladimirskaya (Vladimir region), Taganskaya and Butyrskaya (Moscow), Turukhanskaya (Krasnoyarsk Territory) and camps: Solovetsky and Onega (Arkhangelsk region), Belomoro-B altiysky (Karelia), Mariinsky (Kemerovo region), Temnikovsky (Mordovia), etc.
His last term ended only on November 9, 1951, when he was sixty-four years old. But even then, his whereabouts and fate were kept in absolute secret. After his release, the already very sick old man was placed in a nursing home in the village of Potma (Mordovia) under strict supervision, no different from the camp.
Conclusions
In the late 30s, he was repeatedly arrested and sentenced to capital punishment, but he miraculously escaped death. At the beginning of the war with the Nazishe was sent to the Onega camps. The prisoners walked along the stage, carrying things on themselves, the road was hard and hungry. The saint became so weak that he almost died, but again the Lord saved him.
After the Onega camps, the saint was sent into permanent exile in the Tyumen region. In one of the state farms near the working settlement of Golyshmanovo, he worked in the gardens as a night watchman, then he was sent to the city of Ishim, where he barely survived, thanks to the funds of his friends and spiritual children.
In the winter of 1942, on a false denunciation, the bishop was urgently sent to Moscow, where he was interrogated for six months (as usual, at night). The interrogations were long and exhausting, once lasting nine hours. But the bishop did not give out a single name and did not sign the self-incrimination. He was given a term of 8 years in the Mariinsky camps (Kemerovo region). In those places, the ideological enemies of the Soviet regime were treated with particular cruelty. Such people were assigned the dirtiest and hardest jobs.
In the summer of 1946, Vladyka was again denounced, and he was again transferred to Moscow, but soon the informer changed his testimony, and the bishop was sent to the Temnikov camps (Mordovia). There he served time to the end. His he alth was undermined and he could not engage in any physical labor, however, he skillfully wove bast shoes. A year later he was sent to Dubrovlag (the same Mordovia), where St. Athanasius no longer worked due to age and he alth.
Saving faith
Saint Athanasius Sakharov never lost faith in the Lord and always thanked Him for His great mercy to suffer a little for Him. Work in the camp has always been exhausting andoften dangerous due to cruel and thieving criminals. Once, when he was acting as a collector, he was robbed, and the authorities imposed heavy pen alties on him, and then added a year to the term.
On Solovki, Afanasy Sakharov, Bishop of Kovrov, fell ill with typhus, and again inevitable death awaited him, but by the great mercy of God, he again remained alive.
In prisons and camps, he invariably adhered to the church charter. He even managed to keep strict fasts, he found some opportunity to cook lenten food for himself.
For those around him, he became a confessor who simply and sincerely consoled those who turned to him for help and support. It was impossible to find him in idleness, he was constantly working on liturgical notes, decorating paper icons with beads and looking after the sick.
Will
March 7, 1955 St. Athanasius was finally released from the Zubovo-Polyansky invalid home. And he first went to the city of Tutaev (Yaroslavl region), and then moved to the village of Petushki, Vladimir region.
It seemed that he was technically at large, but the authorities constantly fettered his actions. In the village, he was allowed to serve in the church only behind closed doors and without bishop's vestments. But Afanasy Sakharov was not afraid of anything. Prayers to the Lord gave him consolation and, most importantly, hope for salvation.
In 1957, the prosecutor's office of the Vladimir region again began investigating his case from 1936. The saint was again awaited by interrogation. His defensive arguments did not bring the desired results and were unconvincing for the investigators, so he was notrehabilitated.
Holiness and new persecution
In his last years, Vladyka found great joy in worship services at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where he had once been tonsured. Several times he co-served with Patriarch Alexy (Simansky). Once, at one of the divine services, all the worshipers noticed that during the Eucharistic canon, the elder seemed to be smoothly carried by some kind of force - his legs did not touch the floor.
Then came the years of the so-called Khrushchev thaw, but a new stage of liberal persecution of the Orthodox Church began.
Vladyka at this time multiplied his prayers to all Russian saints and the Patroness of Russia, the Most Holy Theotokos. He did not want to deviate from the fight against the approaching evil, and immediately tried to ask to be appointed vicar bishop. However, his failing he alth did not allow him to continue his public service. But he did not lose heart. On the contrary, in the camps and prisons he was filled with God's saving grace and energy and always found saving activities for his soul.
It was in the dark and gray dungeons that he created an unusual liturgical service for all Russian saints. She found her completeness after a discussion with fellow inmates-hierarchs who sat with him in the dungeons. One of these hierarchs was Archbishop Thaddeus of Tver, who was glorified by the church as a holy martyr.
Afanasy Sakharov: Commemoration of the Dead and other works
When Vladyka's mother died, he was inspired to write fervent prayers for her, and so he was bornfundamental work "On the commemoration of the departed according to the Charter of the HRC". This work was highly appreciated by Metropolitan Kirill (Smirnov).
In August 1941, St. Athanasius composed the "Prayer Singing for the Fatherland", which was filled with extraordinary prayer power and deep repentance.
During the long periods of imprisonment, he worked a lot on such prayer chants as “On those who are in sorrow and various circumstances”, “On enemies who hate and offend us”, “On those in prisons and imprisonment”, “On the cessation of wars and about the peace of the whole world”, “Thanksgiving for receiving alms”. These were the main works of Afanasy Sakharov. The saint sang his prayers to God even at the gates of death, and the Lord saved the life of a servant for the Church and Fatherland.
In the dashing years of trials, he did not lose faith, but only gained it even more. Confessing day and night about Christ, the saint acquired with his humble soul the light of the divine spirit, which the world so lacks. People from all sides reached out to this light.
Everyone was looking for comfort and peace in the soul. They met with a man filled with unceasing prayer for every person. He did not grumble about the prison past and for everyone he found words of consolation, love and kindness. Vladyko shared his experience, revealing the meaning of the Gospel and the life of the saints. Books by Afanasy Sakharov have become desktop textbooks for clergy and Orthodox people.
After the conclusions, and he spent a total of 22 years in captivity, the saint received up to several hundred letters a year. By the Great Holidays of Christmas and Easter, he sent parcels and consolatory letters to those in need. SpiritualVladyka's children told about him that he was very simple and very attentive in communication, for any, even a small service, he tried, as best he could, to thank.
He lived modestly, and human appearance was not the main thing for him. Glory and honor were also not important for him, he taught to live according to the Gospel and do good in order to receive the fruits of retribution in Heaven.
Death and canonization
In August 1962, Vladyka began to prepare for death. A few days later, Archimandrite Pimen the Viceroy, Archimandrite Feodorit, Dean Archimandrite Theodorit, and Abbot and Confessor Kirill came to the Blessed One from the Lavra to celebrate the date of the fiftieth anniversary of monastic tonsure. On this day, and it was Thursday, the saint was in a blessed state and blessed those present. On Friday, death approached him, and he could no longer talk, only prayed to himself. By evening, he quietly uttered the words: “Prayer will save you all!”, Then with his hand he wrote on the blanket: “Save, Lord!”.
In 1962, on October 28, Sunday on the day of memory of St. John of Suzdal, the pious elder peacefully departed to the Lord. He knew the hour and day of death in advance. Bishop Afanasy Sakharov hid his clairvoyance and revealed it only in the rarest cases, and then only for the sake of helping others.
In 2000, his name was canonized by the Council of Bishops as New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. Today in Petushki there is a church where Afanasy Sakharov prayed. His holy and incorruptible relics are also stored there, they help people get help and protection through their prayer.from the Lord.
Detailed information about the life of the saint can be found in the book “What a great consolation is our faith”, it contains frank letters from the great confessor Saint Athanasius.
