One of the main directions in Christianity is Orthodoxy. It is practiced by millions of people around the world: in Russia, Greece, Armenia, Georgia and other countries. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is considered the guardian of the main shrines in Palestine. Orthodox churches exist even in Alaska and Japan. In the homes of Orthodox believers, icons hang, which are picturesque images of Jesus Christ and all the saints. In the 11th century, the Christian Church split into Orthodox and Catholic. Today, most Orthodox people live in Russia, as one of the oldest churches is the Russian Orthodox Church, headed by a patriarch.
Priest - who is this?
There are three degrees of priesthood: deacon, priest, and bishop. Then the priest - who is this? This is the name of a priest of the lowest rank of the second degree of the Orthodox priesthood, who, with the blessing of the bishop, is allowed to independently conduct six church sacraments, except for the sacrament of ordination.
Many are interested in the origin of the title of priest. Who is this and how does he differ from a hieromonk? It is worth noting that the word itself is translated from Greek as "priest", inThe Russian Church is a priest, who in the monastic rank is called a hieromonk. In an official or solemn speech, it is customary to address priests as "Your Reverend". Priests and hieromonks have the right to lead church life in urban and rural parishes and they are called rectors.
Feats of priests
Priests and hieromonks in the era of great upheavals for the sake of faith sacrificed themselves and everything they had. This is how true Christians held on to saving faith in Christ. The church never forgets their real ascetic feat and honors them with all honors. Not everyone knows how many priests-priests died in the years of terrible trials. Their feat was so great that it is impossible to even imagine.
Priest Martyr Sergius
Priest Sergiy Mechev was born on September 17, 1892 in Moscow in the family of priest Alexei Mechev. After graduating from the gymnasium with a silver medal, he went to study at Moscow University at the Faculty of Medicine, but then transferred to the Faculty of History and Philology and graduated in 1917. During his student years, he attended the theological circle named after John Chrysostom. During the war years of 1914, Mechev worked as a brother of mercy on an ambulance train. In 1917, he often visited Patriarch Tikhon, who treated him with special attention. In 1918 he received a blessing to accept the priesthood from the Optina Elders. After that, being already father Sergius, he never left his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the most difficult times, having gone through camps and exiles, he did not even under torturerefused it, for which he was shot on December 24, 1941 within the walls of the Yaroslavl NKVD. Sergius Mechev was canonized as a holy new martyr in 2000 by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Confessor Alexei
Priest Alexei Usenko was born into the family of the psalmist Dmitry Usenko on March 15, 1873. Having received a seminary education, he was ordained a priest and began to serve in one of the villages of Zaporozhye. So he would have labored in his humble prayers, if not for the revolution of 1917. In the 1920s and 1930s, he was not particularly affected by the persecution of the Soviet authorities. But in 1936, in the village of Timoshovka, Mikhailovsky District, where he lived with his family, the local authorities closed the church. He was already 64 years old then. Then Priest Alexei went to work on the collective farm, but as a priest he continued his sermons, and everywhere there were people who were ready to listen to him. The authorities did not accept this and sent him to distant exiles and prisons. Priest Aleksei Usenko meekly endured all the hardships and humiliations and was faithful to Christ and the Holy Church until the end of his days. He probably died in BAMLAG (Baikal-Amur camp) - the day and place of his death are not known for certain, most likely he was buried in a camp mass grave. The Zaporizhzhya diocese appealed to the Holy Synod of the UOC to consider the issue of classifying Priest Oleksiy Usenko as a locally venerated saint.
Martyr Andrew
Priest Andrey Benediktov was born on October 29, 1885 in the village of Voronino in the Nizhny Novgorod province in the family of priest Nikolai Benediktov.
HisOn August 6, 1937, together with other Orthodox clergy and laity, he was arrested and accused of anti-Soviet conversations and participation in counter-revolutionary church conspiracies. Priest Andrei pleaded not guilty and did not testify against others. It was a real priestly feat, he died for his unshakable faith in Christ. He was canonized as a saint by the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000.
Vasily Gundyaev
He was the grandfather of the Russian Patriarch Kirill and also became one of the brightest examples of real service to the Orthodox Church. Vasily was born on January 18, 1907 in Astrakhan. A little later, his family moved to the Nizhny Novgorod province, to the city of Lukyanov. Vasily worked in a railway depot as a machinist. He was a very religious man, and raised his children in the fear of God. The family lived very modestly. Once, Patriarch Kirill said that, as a child, he asked his grandfather where he had put his money and why he had not saved anything either before or after the revolution. He replied that he sent all the funds to Athos. And so, when the patriarch ended up on Athos, he decided to check this fact, and, which, in principle, is not surprising, it turned out to be true. In the Simonometra monastery there are old archival records from the beginning of the 20th century for the eternal commemoration of Priest Vasily Gundyaev.
During the years of the revolution and cruel trials, the priest defended and kept his faith to the end. He spent about 30 years in persecution and imprisonment, during which time he spent time in 46 prisons and 7 camps. But these years did not break Vasily's faith, he diedan eighty-year old man on October 31, 1969 in the village of Obrochnoye, Mordovian Region. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, being a student of the Leningrad Academy, participated in the funeral of his grandfather together with his father and relatives, who also became priests.
Priest-san
A very interesting feature film was shot by Russian filmmakers in 2014. Its name is "Jerei-san". The audience immediately had a lot of questions. Jerey - who is this? Who will be discussed in the picture? The idea of the film was suggested by Ivan Okhlobystin, who once saw a real Japanese in the temple among the priests. This fact plunged him into deep thought and study.
It turns out that Hieromonk Nikolai Kasatkin (Japanese) came to Japan in 1861, at the time of the persecution of foreigners from the islands, risking his life, on a mission to spread Orthodoxy. He devoted several years to studying Japanese, culture and philosophy in order to translate the Bible into this language. And now, a few years later, or rather in 1868, the priest was waylaid by the samurai Takuma Sawabe, who wanted to kill him for preaching alien things to the Japanese. But the priest did not flinch and said: “How can you kill me if you don’t know why?” He offered to tell about the life of Christ. And imbued with the story of the priest, Takuma, being a Japanese samurai, became an Orthodox priest - Father Paul. He went through many trials, lost his family, his estate and became the right hand of Father Nikolai.
In 1906, the Holy Synod of Nicholas of Japan elevatedarchbishop. In the same year, the Kyoto Vicariate was founded by the Orthodox Church in Japan. He died on February 16, 1912. Equal-to-the-Apostles Nicholas of Japan canonized.
In conclusion, I would like to note that all the people discussed in the article kept their faith like a spark from a big fire and carried it around the world so that people would know that there is no greater truth than Christian Orthodoxy.
