The news came as a shock to the entire Orthodox world of Tatarstan: yesterday the 57-year-old abbot of the Raifa Monastery, Father Vsevolod (Vyacheslav Zakharov), died. He died "at a military post" in his office, doing business at the monastery's orphanage.
"Come in, come in, our viceroy has died"
Events on the territory of the Raifa Monastery today developed almost like in the plot of the British film “Four Weddings and a Funeral”. While happy couples wandered around the complex, wedding corteges drove up one after another and tourists walked peacefully, next to the Trinity Cathedral in the small building of the governor's residence with his office and office, where they found the body, preparations were underway for the burial of Father Vsevolod. Police officers, guards, novices, clergymen fussily came out of the building every now and then. Their faces were calm, but gestures, body movements and actions indicated that, of course, no one was ready for such a turn of events.
“He was normal, he didn’t complain about anything until today. Services were held yesterday and before, but this morning it became bad, ”said a parishioner named Vladimir. When asked what exactly happened, he replied that there was no information yet. “No one says anything yet, but apparently the heart,” Vladimir suggested. Others knew no more than him. “We don’t know anything yet, they don’t say anything,” everyone gave such an answer.
Details could not be obtained from the clergy. When asked to provide at least some information, they only briefly refused. "Not. Now it is unlikely that they will tell you something. ” Someone from those present recommended to turn to Father Siluan, the abbot of the Sviyazhsky Mother of God-Assumption Monastery. However, he also refused. The situation was clarified a little by a forensic expert of the police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Tatarstan, who said that the death of 57-year-old father Vsevolod, in her opinion, was not of a criminal nature: “I did not notice any traces of violent death. Forensic experts continue to work there now, and it is better to ask them about the exact reasons for what happened.” At that moment, a police officer came out of the building of the abbot of the monastery, who, when asked what had happened, briefly answered: “A stroke. Thrombosis of the pulmonary artery, ”and hastened to leave. Note that it was decided not to perform autopsies to establish the exact causes of death.
Closer to 2 p.m., the bustle at the building of the abbot of the monastery intensified. "Where are our brothers?" - leaving the room, exclaimed one of the clergy. It was a kind of call to get together to move the body.
“Come in, come in, our viceroy has died,” a woman in a black headscarf asked a group of tourists gaping at the entrance to the office, wiping her tears. They nodded their heads in understanding and hurried away. "What will happen now?" - crying and hugging her, asked another attendant. The answer was only a quiet, "I don't know."
“Suddenly, suddenly. Like snow on your head, ”the man exclaimed loudly. Without commenting on his remark and hushed up, everyone prepared to see what they were completely unprepared for.
At two o'clock, the body of Father Vsevolod, dressed in clothes corresponding to his rank, and, as expected, with a closed air (that is, a cover) face as a sign of honor, was taken out of the building, there was a candle in the hands of the deceased. While a small procession, rounding the Trinity Monastery, was dragging along the street, people who obviously did not expect that, in addition to the excursion, they would also see a funeral procession, began to be baptized, someone immediately raised the children in their arms, preventing them from seeing the body, someone he couldn't hold back his tears.
The body of Father Vsevolod was placed in the Cathedral of the Georgian Icon Mother of God, where tomorrow the funeral will be led by Metropolitan Feofan of Kazan and Tatarstan.
"I would never trade Raifa for Paris"
It can be said that the abbot of the Raifa Bogoroditsky Monastery, Archimandrite Vsevolod, was to a large extent its founder. Of course, in encyclopedias, the hermit Filaret, who wandered around the cities of the Volga region at the beginning of the 17th century and finally decided to cut down his cell on the shore of the local lake, will always be indicated in this capacity. But when the wanderer Filaret, one of the "God's people", of whom there were many then in Russia, came to these places with his light feet, untouched forests stretched to the sky and pagan Cheremis lived, who treated the new anchorite with respect. But when in 1990 a young priest from Zelenodolsk Father Vsevolod first looked here (in the world - Vyacheslav Zakharov), there was no longer any former splendor: rusty barbed wire curled along the former monastery walls, like poison ivy, the belfry was empty, the cathedrals were dilapidated. The Trinity Church housed a production workshop, machine tools worked. On the site of the monastery cemetery there are four toilets, in the fraternal building there are death row chambers, preserved from the Gulag times. The Mari pagans have long been dissolved in history, but they were replaced by atheists who set up on the territory former monastery first a prison, and then a juvenile colony. Of course, they did not feel any special reverence for the hermits, so if Filaret came here four centuries later, he would hardly have decided to save his soul here. Father Vsevolod, by that time still only raised to the rank of abbot, acted differently: he decided to revive the monastery. And this is despite the fact that experts have already pronounced a verdict on Raifa (as the monastery is called in Kazan colloquially): it cannot be restored.
“When I saw this desecrated beauty, my heart sank. As if a person is in intensive care. He’s about to die,” Father Vsevolod later recalled. It took him five years to do the impossible: to rebuild the monastery almost anew and revive the monastic life.
Quite a lot has been written about how the restoration work took place. Not without the ubiquitous Mintimer Shaimiev- at that time the president of Tatarstan, who donated his funds for five crosses for the domes of the Trinity Church. Later, the abbot of the Raifa monastery would call Shaimiev the “main benefactor” of the monastery: without his participation, the main monastery cathedral would hardly have been raised from ruins in one Orthodox “five-year plan”. However, even the director of the colony, Vladimir Chernov, turned out to be not an opponent, but an ally of the young monk: he agreed to liberate the defiled territory and undertook to help in the revival of the holy place.
Further, at a superficial glance, it was a continuous fairy tale: the monastery grew and rapidly gained popularity. After the completion of the work, it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. And in August 1991, a miraculous copy of the Georgian Icon of the Mother of God returned here (the 25th anniversary of its return passed unnoticed last week). Instead of a juvenile colony, an orphanage for orphans appeared on the territory of the monastery. The organizers of the shelter and its educators - a nun Anastasia (Khomenkova) and director of the "children's corps" father Vladimir (Kondratiev)- they always repeated that they were not going to make monks out of their difficult pets, but simply educate them in Christian traditions. “We are raising normal, believing people,” employees of the shelter told the Orthodox magazine Neskuchny Sad five years ago. - Ordinary citizens of society. People come to monks according to their faith, it must be a rush of the soul. But to squeeze out Pinocchio, and here is a ready-made monk for you - you can’t do that. ”
By the way, in Raif there is still a legend how, during a trip to Paris, the pupils of the monastery shelter offered one of them to adopt grand duchess Leonida Romanova(wife of Vladimir Kirillovich Romanov, died in Madrid at the age of 96 - ed.), but he suddenly burst into tears and said: “I will never exchange Raifa for your Paris!” “The new Romanov never came out of him,” concludes nun Anastasia.
"Here BAB mourned, Boos crossed himself and zealously prayed Pochinok"
Thanks to the efforts of Father Vsevolod, the Raifa Monastery gradually became exemplary, distinguished guests often came here. There were so many of them that they even composed a ditty on this occasion: “Here BAB mourned, Boos was baptized and Pochinok prayed zealously.” Under the exotic abbreviation BAB, the now half-forgotten disgraced oligarch, the “Godfather of the Kremlin,” was hiding. Boris Berezovsky who died under mysterious circumstances in England in 2013. However, in Raif he is remembered alive and well, who once visited the monastery as either a benefactor or a pilgrim. The naive monks of the monastery, believing that Boris Abramovich is a Jew and longs for conversations about the Talmud and the Torah, had a conversation with him about the intricacies of Judaism, but BAB indignantly rejected these attempts to please him. It is said that at the same time he even stated that he was convinced Orthodox Christian, after which, going up to the Georgian Icon of the Mother of God, he devoutly crossed himself and lit a candle.
As for the former Kaliningrad governor Georgy Boos, he was generally considered a great friend of Father Vsevolod and repeatedly flew to visit him, especially on the holidays of Epiphany, when believers gathered in line to plunge into an ice font (this is also one of the famous local attractions). From Boos and Berezovsky to Raifa monastery there was a computer class for the orphanage, created and equipped with their direct participation.
In 2002, the then minister of labor got married in the monastery Alexander Pochinok(died in 2014). The wedding was luxurious, as a wedding gift, Father Vsevolod presented the minister with a list of the Georgian icon, after which the newlyweds went for a ride along the Volga.
Those whose names did not fall into the ditty are so many that no poetic size is enough to accommodate them. In the photographs in the monastery corridors you can see Vladimir Putin And Dmitry Medvedev. The first Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, was also in Raifa - they say he took a "swim" in the lake. communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, faithful to his principles of "Orthodox communism", also lit candles in the monastery churches and offered, as they say, the governor to sing the song "I will not part with the Komsomol, I will be forever young!" The reformer and "nano-official" Anatoly Chubais left a significant entry in his guest book: "The Russian future is a powerful economy plus a soul." There are in the same book and records of other famous guests: the actor Vasily Lanovoy, singer Yuri Shevchuk , director Stanislav Govorukhin etc. By the way, in addition to Boos, an actor got married in the Mother of God monastery Alexander Kalyagin, previously baptized in Raifa.
It is clear that all this made the Raifa Monastery the glory of the “showcase” of Orthodox Tatarstan and automatically made the abbot of the monastery a very significant figure in the republican establishment. In this capacity, Father Vsevolod was considered especially close to the former Metropolitan Anastassy of Kazan and Tatarstan, who, at the very dawn of his ascetic path, tonsured the future abbot as a monk. However, even with the change of the ruling bishop of the diocese and the appearance of Metropolitan Feofan in Kazan, Father Vsevolod did not lose his position in anything, remaining just as active and hospitable. In fact, Metropolitan Theophan also treats Raifa as the main center of Orthodoxy: it was here that he performed Epiphany and Easter services, and in the latter case it was the first time in the entire 400 years of the monastery’s existence. It is too early to talk about who will become the governor now, but for sure it will be a confidant of the head of the Tatarstan metropolis - Raifa has acquired too much importance. In the meantime, according to him, the metropolitan himself will be someone like an acting one, so to speak.
By the way, a month ago, the Raifa Monastery became one of the points of Patriarch Kirill's landmark visit to Tatarstan. Initially, he was not included in the program, but His Holiness, already in flight on the way to Kazan, asked to be included in the program. “The patriarch has arrived - this is already important for all of us, because this is our prayer book, this is our primate. We waited, we prepared. And his prayer is very important to us, believe me. Because it is very difficult for a monk,” Father Vsevolod said then, perhaps in his last interview. By the way, according to eyewitnesses, Patriarch Kirill patted the abbot of the Raifa Monastery on the shoulder and said: “I will come to you to drink tea.”
"There are no personalities of this magnitude on the horizon among religious figures"
BUSINESS Online asked people who knew the abbot of the Raifa monastery closely to tell what they think about his unexpected death and what they remember about this amazing person.
Feofan - Metropolitan of Kazan and Tatarstan:
The Orthodox Church and the Raifa Bogoroditsky Monastery suffered a great loss with the death of Archimandrite Vsevolod. This man created a lot, and what he did for the Raifa monastery cannot be expressed in a nutshell. Just yesterday I spoke with Father Vsevolod on the phone on the way to Naberezhnye Chelny, he just celebrated the Divine Liturgy on the occasion of the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
Father Vsevolod died at a military post, in his office, where he, apparently, was engaged in the affairs of an orphanage. Therefore, it can be said that with the death of the Raifa archimandrite, not only the inhabitants of the monastery and his many spiritual children were orphaned, but also the pupils of the orphanage for boys, which he himself created on the site of the Soviet juvenile colony and fed for many years.
Yes, recently the abbot of the Raifa monastery complained about his health and even filed a petition for treatment. This was due, in particular, to the fact that Father Vsevolod was treated by a dentist and inserted dental implants. It was painful for him. But the cause of the unexpected death, judging by the conversations with the doctors, was a cardiovascular disease, possibly a blockage of the aorta. Archimandrite Vsevolod was honored with a painless, shameless and peaceful death on the first day after the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. The day before, he served a festive liturgy in the monastery, and the very next day he “transformed” himself, that is, he went to the Lord.
It should be said that over the years of his rule, the Raifa monastery has become one of the most important spiritual centers of the Tatarstan Metropolis, attracting many pilgrims and everyone who wants to get acquainted with Orthodox monasticism. Today, together with the Orthodox believers, our Muslim brethren mourn, for the deceased's merit is great in strengthening interfaith peace in Tatarstan, in establishing good and constructive relations with the Muslim community of the republic.
I myself am at a loss from what happened, I do not know who I will put in this place. Looks like I'll be looking at it myself...
Alexander Tygin - head of the Zelenodolsk region of the Republic of Tatarstan:
This was unexpected news for us. For Zelenodolsk, this person is very bright, well-known and authoritative. He is also an honorary citizen of the Zelenodolsk region. I've known him for quite some time. In front of all the townspeople, people who know him very well, he restored the temple from the ruins. And in the temple itself, he not only paid attention to faith, but also introduced all his parishioners to it. He had an orphanage in his courtyard, he always paid great attention to children who found themselves in difficult conditions, orphans. Recently, a landmark object was commissioned - the pilgrim's house. It was very comprehensive loving people human. Such a heavy loss for Zelenodolsk residents. I am sure that he will remain a very bright person in our memory. We will meet with prominent figures of the region and decide how to properly consolidate the memory of all this economy.
This is a huge loss for us, there is no person of this magnitude on the horizon among religious figures.
Natalya Pochinok - Rector of the Russian State Social University, widow of ex-Minister of Labor and former Senator Alexander Pochinok:
Father Vsevolod, with all his ex-Komsomol energy, tried to make real people out of boys and hooligans. He was concerned about everything that happens in the world: politics and life. It seemed that he explained Orthodox truths too secularly, but all in order to find his key to everyone's heart. People came to him from everywhere. He told why the frogs in the lake near the monastery do not croak, why the Raifa Hermitage is a unique place in the world, why the Georgian Icon of the Mother of God is miraculous and much more. A wonderful man, bright memory to him!
My husband and I chose the place for the wedding consciously, because here is miraculous icon protecting the fertility of the family. We just fell in love with this place, then we helped organize the painting in the temple. As my husband, Alexander Petrovich Pochinok, said, the Georgian icon of the Mother of God is the most festive, and therefore the canons make it possible to make the decoration of the temple festive and bright.
Gabdelkhamit Zinnatullin- imam-muhtasib of the Zelenodolsk region:
Vsevolod and I began to engage in religious activities at about the same time. I met him in the 80s. He then worked in the church of the village of Gary Zelenodolsk. It was in communist times, a period of certain trials. A little later, we participated in republican events together. I am from the side of the Muslims, he is from the Orthodox. I was also a guest at the Raifa Monastery, I saw what work was being done there. Vsevolod received me very well. He was a very good-natured, open, delicate, well-mannered person. He managed to create a spiritual atmosphere inside the monastery. He was a good organizer.
Ramilya Akhmetzyanova- ex-director of TNV:
I have known Father Vsevolod since childhood, when he was still Vyacheslav. We lived in the same house, their apartment was through the wall. Slava was a Komsomol leader at school No. 1 on Bulak. We did not even imagine that he would become a priest. Burned with the Komsomol idea. Apparently, his organizational skills helped him restore the Raifa Monastery.
Pavel Pavlov - dean of the Kryashensky parishes of the Kazan diocese:
We studied together at the Moscow Theological Seminary. He entered a year earlier, I - a year later. We went through the fourth course together. He was very active, performed in the choir, religiously he was very diligent. I visited his monastery, but not so often. Lay people are more common. A man goes to repent, but we have our own service, he had his own. We will pray for the repose of the soul of the deceased.
Today, thousands of people came to the Raifa Bogoroditsky Monastery to say goodbye to the abbot of the monastery, its builder, Archimandrite Vsevolod. The correspondent of Realnoe Vremya attended the funeral service.
"There are no spaces in the parking lot!"
At the turn from the highway towards the Raifa Monastery - a traffic police patrol. An endless line of cars goes towards the monastery, when they reach the alley leading to the bell tower, another patrol shows signs that it is necessary to drive ahead and park along the road leading to the village of Belo-Bezvodnoye.
“Drive on, there are no parking spaces!”, the traffic police officer shouts to the drivers. People get out of the cars and walk for about a kilometer in the direction of the monastery. Here are priests, and old nuns, and just parishioners with flowers, these people may not have personally known Archimandrite Vsevolod, but Raifa, revived by him, became for them a symbol of their own spiritual rebirth.
In the middle of the road to the monastery bell tower there is another patrol, there is no frame with a metal detector, but the policemen check the bags. Nearby are two police officers with dogs. People walk, talking quietly, united by a common sorrow.
Near the bell tower, to the right of the entrance, there is a portrait of Archimandrite Vsevolod, the photo is covered with white roses. He, as always, slyly smiles, friendly looks. The governor and builder of Raifa never distanced himself from people: everyone who came to Raifa was dear to him, and for everyone, even for the first time he met, Father Vsevolod had a few kind words.
“Raifa is a joyful path to God,” she wrote on her Facebook page these days. mournful days one of the pilgrims. Archimandrite Vsevolod built this path for thousands of people.
"He was cheerful and ready to work"
Yesterday at two o'clock in the afternoon the body of Archimandrite Vsevolod was transferred from his office in the office, where he died, to the Georgian Cathedral. There the archimandrite spent his last earthly night. The coffin with the body was placed a few meters from the miraculous Georgian image of the Mother of God, the main shrine and intercessor of Raifa. The image before which Archimandrite Vsevolod prayed almost every day.
The Georgian cathedral is full, and although the stuffiness is unbearable, people do not leave. At about ten in the morning, the liturgy ends, and the Metropolitan of Kazan and Tatarstan Feofan, who performed it, comes out to the pulpit.
“Just recently, on the way to Naberezhnye Chelny, I spoke on the phone with Father Vsevolod. He, as always, was cheerful, full of strength and desire to work, monastically meek,” Vladyka Feofan addressed the flock.
The Metropolitan spoke for a long time. He recalled the path of Archimandrite Vsevolod, his youth, when making the decision to go to the seminary was equal to a civil feat. He recalled his maturity when, without a penny of funding, in the "dashing nineties", the future archimandrite decided to restore Raifa. He was driven by one thing - the desire to serve God and people. And Raifa has become the place without which neither believers nor atheists can live.
The monastic funeral rite lasted a long time - almost two hours. The funeral service was performed by Vladyka himself, co-served by the priests of the Metropolis. Hundreds of candles flickered, the hot air mixed with the smell of incense, thousands of fresh flowers, the monastery choir sang lightly and solemnly. Father Vsevolod was escorted into eternal life.
Then the priest of the metropolis, the brethren of the monastery and the parishioners said goodbye to Father Vsevolod. His face, as is customary for priests, was covered. Among the clergy was Bishop Methodius of Almetyevsk and Bugulma, who began serving God as a teenager in the Raifa monastery and whom Archimandrite Vsevolod helped to choose the path of serving God. One of the first to say goodbye to Father Vsevolod was Asgat Safarov, Chief of Staff of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, and Yury Kamaltynov, Vice Speaker of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan, deputies of the State Council.
The mourning chime in the bell tower announced that the funeral service had come to an end, the coffin with the body of Father Vsevolod floated over the heads of the people, those thousands of parishioners who came to say goodbye to the builder Raifa. He found his shelter in the monastery cemetery, a few meters from the Georgian Cathedral, next to the cross, which was erected on his initiative in memory of those martyred in Raif during the years of repression.
... Archimandrite Vsevolod several times during his life was made proposals to head any department of the Russian Orthodox Church, to become a bishop. He resolutely refused, saying that he wanted to stay in Raif. Now he has remained in it forever - in a place dear to him, where he has invested so much strength, love and his pure soul.
Father Vsevolod was buried without waiting three days - according to the "Athos traditions", next to the memorial cross to the martyrs of the "Red Terror"
More than 1.5 thousand people came last Sunday to say goodbye to the abbot of the Raifa monastery. About what Metropolitan Feofan said from the pulpit, which of the VIPs attended the funeral ceremony, what was whispered in the crowd, how the vicar was remembered by the parishioners and her cousin, who loved to sing the song “What are you dreaming about, cruiser Aurora” with him, - in the material "BUSINESS Online".
More than 1.5 thousand people came to say goodbye to the abbot of the Raifa monastery, Archimandrite Vsevolod
“THE MAN WAS POWERFUL. I CALLED HIM ABOUT MYSELF A Komsomol Member"
When, early in the morning of August 21, a funeral service for the newly appointed abbot of the monastery began at the Raifa Monastery, cars and buses with pilgrims were already gathering here with might and main. Many of them did not yet know what had happened, and therefore, when they were met at the entrance by the police checking the bags, they were perplexed: “What happened? Has someone important arrived? Or what holiday? "The abbot is being buried!" - briefly answered them. And the crowd of parishioners and guests kept arriving and arriving, filling the Cathedral of the Georgian Icon of the Mother of God, crowding to the fence of the monastery cemetery, where a carefully laid carpet path already led to the prepared open grave. They talked little, were more silent with pursed lips, some were crying. Occasionally broken lines flowed through the crowd. “They say the ambulance drove for 40 minutes,” someone said accusingly. - Didn't save.
Rector of the Raifa Bogoroditsky Monastery Archimandrite Vsevolod(in the world Vyacheslav Zakharov) died on the morning of August 20 in his office at the age of 57. Being engaged in the affairs of the orphanage, working at the monastery, he suddenly felt very ill - the doctors, that a blood clot had come off. The ambulance crew that arrived at the scene was unable to do anything. Already at two o'clock in the afternoon the body of the archimandrite was transferred to the Cathedral of the Georgian Icon and left there until the very funeral. However, at night the temple was not closed and was not empty: here they read the Gospel, changing each other in turn, the inhabitants of the monastery. And already in the morning in the cathedral they began to prepare for the divine liturgy, which the Metropolitan of Kazan and Tatarstan decided to lead Feofan. Arriving at the monastery, Vladyka first went to the open grave, where the workers were still working, and then, distributing blessings, went to the Georgian Cathedral.
Bearing in mind that VIPs were very fond of Raifa, they expected that a certain number of well-known people in the republic, and even in the country, would come to the service. However, the “main benefactor” of the monastery Mintimer Shaimiev if he appeared, it was almost imperceptible: that he was here, having learned about the tragedy, one of the representatives of the monastic brethren told the correspondent of BUSINESS Online. President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov he himself could not arrive, but sent from himself a magnificent wreath, painted in the red and green colors of the Tatarstan flag. Another notable wreath laid on the grave Radik Khasanov, head of the enterprise "Plant im. Sergo" from neighboring Zelenodolsk.
A conspicuous wreath was laid on the grave by Radik Khasanov, the head of the enterprise “Plant im. Sergo" from neighboring Zelenodolsk
There were also those who came to the funeral practically officially and whose names were immediately included in all the press releases that appeared on the website of the Tatarstan Metropolis. Among them is the head of the presidential staff Asgat Safarov, Deputy Chairman of the Republican State Council Yuri Kamaltynov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan Alexey Pesoshin, Chief of Staff of the Cabinet of Ministers Shamil Gafarov, former head of the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations Valery Vlasov and other persons. Correspondents of BUSINESS Online met Kamaltynov near the cathedral, where the funeral was held, he did not talk in detail (“Not that case, colleagues”), but nevertheless dropped on the go: “He was a powerful man. I called him a Komsomol member to myself.
The fierce heat that had been standing all these days in Tatarstan did not weaken this time either: the sun hung in the burning sky like a red-hot iron that had not been turned off by someone absent-mindedly. It hurt to look at him. It turned out to be no cooler in the temple: people were covered in sticky sweat and fanned themselves with whatever they could: newspapers, ladies' fans, bags. One young mother, for lack of a better way, fanned herself with her baby, who, apparently, believed that they were playing with him, and gurgled happily. The service was long and took about four hours together with the farewell, but the parishioners behaved courageously, crossed themselves, kissed the misted glasses of the icons and sang along to the "Symbol of Faith" and "Our Father". Everyone breathed heavily, exhausted from the hot bath air, and somehow involuntarily thought that at that hour in this cathedral, among this intermittently sighing crowd, only one person was not breathing and only he was cold - this is the one who created this whole magnificent monastery with its gardens, domes and cells, Archimandrite Vsevolod.
There were also those who came to the funeral almost officially and whose names were immediately included in all press releases.
"AND GOD, LIKE A RIPE FRUIT, GAVE INSTRUCTIONS TO THE ANGELS TO TAKE YOU"
Almost everyone remembers the vicegerent of the Raifa monastery as human lung, witty and "festive" in its spiritual mood. Perhaps that is why his unexpected death and commemoration fell on a whole series of holidays: starting from the Transfiguration of the Lord and ending with the day of the Georgian Icon of the Mother of God and the Assumption of the Virgin. Father Vsevolod died on August 20 on the first day of the afterfeast ( so called 7 days following immediately after the Apple Savior - approx. ed.), was buried on the second day. And already the third day after his death, on August 22, fell on the celebration of the Georgian icon according to the old style, traditionally revered in Raifa as the main shrine of the monastery. As for the 9th day, which is so important for the commemoration of the dead, it, as Metropolitan Theophan noted in his speech, coincides with the Dormition of the Mother of God on August 28th. Perhaps, if Father Vsevolod had been allowed to choose the day for his death, he would not have been able to choose a better one, so suitable both for his character and for his daily energetic asceticism. It's just a shame it happened so early.
When the main part of the liturgy was over, Metropolitan Theophan went out to the parishioners, stood face down in the half-open coffin, in which only the rector's wax hands were visible, clutching the icon and the crucifix, and delivered a short sermon - a requiem for the rector. He spoke to all those gathered and at the same time seemed to be talking with only one newly introduced archimandrite, calling him on you and assuring him that, despite the border between life and death, he is "here with us."
“Not long ago I spoke with Father Vsevolod on the phone on the way to Naberezhnye Chelny,” Vladyka recalled. “He was, as always, cheerful and, as always, ready for any obedience.” He then spoke about life path viceroy of the Raifa monastery, noting that he embarked on the path of Orthodoxy "in those days when it was not only not fashionable, but also condemned" ( implied later Soviet time - approx. ed.). “But with your inherent optimism, firmness of will, resilient cheerful character and having a talent that was given to you by nature from God, you were not afraid to take the path of the Church,” said the metropolitan, turning to the man resting in the tomb. - And you sent your steps to the Moscow theological school, where you received not only theological education, but also an inoculation to monastic life. Years spent in a large cell St. Sergius Radonezh ( refers to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, where the Moscow Theological Seminary and Academy are located - approx. ed.), became your best teacher.”
The eventful life of Father Vsevolod was broken down by the ruling Kazan bishop by milestones: studying in the Moscow region, then serving in Kursk, where the future rector of the glorified monastery was ordained a priest and sent to serve in the Exaltation of the Cross Church in a certain village of Cherkasskoye-Porechnoye. “The land of Kursk is my homeland too,” Vladyka continued, “and I know firsthand how the people of God loved you. How could you, talented, young, capable, having an education, not consider it shameful to go to the most remote village, to a neglected temple, where almost no one goes. But you went. And for a short time managed to create a community that lived with one heart and one soul with its shepherd. Thanks to your labors, the village was resurrected, and the temple came to life.”
What Father Vsevolod managed to do in the early 1980s in the Kursk region, he later repeated in Raif on a different scale. “The queen of heaven and the fathers of the Raifa monastery, the martyrs of the saints were with you,” Feofan said confidently. - You managed to find the right words for the parishioners, gather brotherhood around you, managed through your ministry to sow faith in the powers that be and among the leadership of the republic. I know how highly the heads of the republic spoke of you and still speak highly of you. Mintimer Sharipovich has repeatedly told me about you ( Mintimer Shaimiev - approx. ed.). And the current president of Tatarstan, he was here, loved the monastery, loved you, supported your initiatives... It is impossible to list them who loved you, not only in the republic, but also in the leadership of our large country. Almost all the leaders of the Russian state have been here. And they brought love, warmth and understanding out of this monastery.
Metropolitan Feofan also included Muslims among those who loved Father Vsevolod, remembering that yesterday, while in Nizhnekamsk on the anniversary of the city, he received condolences from the Supreme Mufti of Russia, who was also there Talgat Tajuddin. As for the unexpected death of the abbot of the Raifa monastery, she was, according to Vladyka, "truly Christian." “After all, we are praying for a shameless, painless and peaceful death,” the Metropolitan reminded the Orthodox flock and priests. That's exactly what your death was like. Obviously, the Lord so ordered to take you from this sinful earth at the moment when you were in glory. You were loved, respected, appreciated. And God, like a ripe fruit, gave instructions to the angels to take you away. We believe that the Lord, for your good deeds, for your sincere service, for your love, of course, will take you to his abode. We will pray for you, and you pray there for us, for you are already closer to God,” concluded the Kazan archpastor.
“ON ATHO, WHERE IT IS TOO HOT, THE MONKS ARE BURNED THE SAME DAY. AND WE HERE NOW READ ALMOST GREECE »
By the time the monastery clock passed past noon, according to various estimates, from 1.5 to 2 thousand parishioners and pilgrims gathered in the monastery. Everyone already knew about the mourning significance of this day, so they patiently waited for the coffin with the body of the rector to be taken out of the cathedral. Among the crowd and police patrols, one could distinguish several ambulance doctors - they were on duty here so that the farewell to Father Vsevolod would not be overshadowed by some other tragedy.
Met by BUSINESS Online correspondents at the entrance to the temple, a guide from the Chuvash city of Shumerlya, who arrived in Raifa with her pilgrimage group, said that she also knew Father Vsevolod, who “in a few words could explain the most complex things, so that everything immediately became clear” . The story of this woman is remarkable: according to her, she became an Orthodox guide after her husband was healed of a serious illness in 1991 by touching the newly found relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov. “I realized that I needed to work out this miracle, and I began to travel to monasteries and cloisters,” she explained.
We also managed to talk with a relative of the late archimandrite, his cousin Elena Gennadieva. “I have known him for a very long time,” Elena Nikolaevna told BUSINESS Online, not hiding her tears. - How he restored this monastery - brick by brick, stone by stone, and all with such love and reverence. He loved it so much - it was his brainchild. And, apparently, this was how it was destined: to restore the monastery, after which his life here ended.”
The rector's cousin recalled how she came here with her brother in the 1990s: "There were ruins, the lake was all in mud, everything was terrible." To raise the monastery from Soviet non-existence, remarkable organizational skills were required, and those of Father Vsevolod were found thanks to his Komsomol past. “He was on the Komsomol committee at the first school where he studied,” recalled Gennadiyeva. - And then he changed dramatically, went to Moscow and entered the seminary. And with such enthusiasm, returning to Kazan, he spoke about this seminary! He really enjoyed studying."
The coffin was slowly lowered into the ground - not far from the cross erected here in memory of the martyrs of the "Red Terror" era
Elena Nikolaevna also told about something that is not in the official biography of Father Vsevolod: how, approximately in the early 90s, he traveled on horseback to Orthodox parishes in Mari El, how, together with his cousin, he sang his favorite Soviet songs like “What are you dreaming about, cruiser Aurora?” (“His hearing was very good,” our interlocutor added). However, recently Elena Gennadieva rarely met with her brother. “He had no time. If we were going to come to him, he always asked: “You call in advance, because maybe there won’t be a free minute.” Either someone came, then some delegation - all the time. Either busy with reports, or extracting something. About the character of the abbot, his relative responded in the same way as many: “Good-natured, funny, he will never offend anyone. What has always attracted me? After all, I thought that the priests were so dry, strict, and he could present the same thing to you in such a way that you understood it in a completely different way, easier, simpler ... "
By the way, of the six children of the Zakharov family, to which the late archimandrite belonged, after his death, three remained alive: a brother and two sisters. One of his sisters was met by BUSINESS Online correspondents in the editorial office of the Raifa Bulletin published in the monastery: she was holding a portrait of her brother in her hands - smiling, with a chuckle in her eyes. “That's how he always was,” she said with some (as it seemed) even a touch of pride, peering at her dear photo.
And then there was a funeral, the bells on the belfry restored by the rector often rang, the coffin was slowly lowered into the ground - not far from the cross, erected here in memory of the martyrs of the "Red Terror" era. “Why was it buried so quickly? - the correspondent of "BUSINESS Online" asked the man who helped in the funeral ceremony (as it turned out, one of the artists of the monastery). “He just died yesterday. Why didn't they wait three days? “Where in this heat? he objected. - Over there on Athos, where it is also hot, the monks are buried on the same day. And now we have almost Greece here.”
Meanwhile, people lined up at the still unburied grave: each tried to throw his handful of earth. Coming out of the fence of the cemetery, many were crying. The monastery in the bright sun shone with all the helmets of its domes and said goodbye to the rector with an unceasing chime, in which, surprisingly, there was nothing funeral, as if Father Vsevolod's light disposition was transmitted after the death of his monastery.
Holy Archimandrite Vsevolod(in the world Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Zakharov) was born on January 23, 1959 in Kazan in a large family, where the mother alone raised six children. He went to church from childhood, carried the obediences of an altar boy and subdeacon.
After graduating from Kazan secondary school No. 1 in 1977, he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary.
In 1981 he was ordained a priest in Kursk.He began his pastoral ministry in the Kursk diocese as rector of the Exaltation of the Cross Church in the village of Cherkasskoye-Porechnoye, Sudzhansky district.
In 1985 he was transferred to the Kazan and Mari diocese, and was appointed rector of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Zelenodolsk. He actively began to restore spiritual life, created one of the first children's Sunday schools in the USSR, under him the bells rang again in the church.
In 1989 he took monastic vows with the name Vsevolod and was elevated to the rank of abbot.
In 1991, for the first time, he visited the ruined Raifa Monastery, where at that time there was a special school for juvenile delinquents. He began the restoration of the monastery in 1992.
In 1993 he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.
Archimandrite Vsevolod (Zakharov)
23.01.1959 - 20.08.2016
On the morning of August 20, 2016, at the age of 58, the abbot of the Raifa Bogoroditsky Monastery, Archimandrite Vsevolod (Zakharov), died suddenly.
Archimandrite Vsevolod (in the world Vyacheslav Alexandrovich Zakharov) was born on January 23, 1959 in the city of Kazan. He grew up in a large family - his mother alone raised six children. From childhood, he carried the obediences of an altar boy and subdeacon. After graduating from high school, in 1977 Vyacheslav entered the Moscow Theological Seminary. In 1981 he was ordained a priest. He began his pastoral ministry in the Kursk diocese as rector of the Exaltation of the Cross Church in the village of Cherkassky-Porechny, Sudzhansky district. “A young, talented, educated person did not consider it shameful to go to serve in a remote village. In a very short time, he managed to create a real community, living with one heart and one soul with his shepherd. Thanks to his hard work, the provincial village was resurrected, and the church came to life,” Metropolitan Feofan of Kazan and Tatarstan tells about the beginning of Fr. Vsevolod’s pastoral ministry.
In 1985, Father Vsevolod moved to the Kazan and Mari diocese, where he was appointed rector of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in the city of Zelenodolsk. He began to actively restore the spiritual life, created a children's Sunday school. In 1989 he took monastic vows with the name Vsevolod, then was elevated to the rank of hegumen.
In 1991, the priest first visited the ruined Raifa Monastery, where at that time there was a special school for minors. Seeing the ruined monastery, he turned to ruling bishop Kazan diocese with a request to send him to revive the monastery. Metropolitan Feofan once again recalled this desperate act for those times: “Many were surprised at this and are still amazed. What boldness one had to have, what love for the Church, what deep faith, in order to set out so firmly to restore this monastery from the ruins!” The very next year, 1992, Father Vsevolod began restoration work.
During the years of management of the Raifa monastery by Archimandrite Vsevolod, it has become one of the most important spiritual centers of the Tatarstan Metropolis, attracting many pilgrims. With his energy, combined with love and works of mercy, he attracted the hearts of many people, including those who professed another faith. In Tatarstan, many recognize his merit in strengthening interfaith peace in the republic, in establishing good and constructive relations with the local Muslim community. In this regard, in his farewell speech, Metropolitan Feofan mentioned that "together with the Orthodox believers, our Muslim brethren also grieve."
In 1993 Father Vsevolod was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. In 2007 he graduated from the Moscow Academy of State and Municipal Administration under the President of the Russian Federation.
The deceased father, the governor, was honored with a painless, shameless and peaceful death in his office in the Raifa monastery, which he ruled for a quarter of a century.
On August 21, they said goodbye to the newly deceased at the monastery. The Divine Liturgy and the funeral service in the cathedral in honor of the Georgian Icon of the Mother of God was led by Metropolitan Feofan of Kazan and Tatarstan.
Bishop Methodius of Almetyevsk and Bugulma, who began his monastic career in this monastery under the guidance of Fr. Behind Divine Liturgy the archpastors were co-served by the abbots and abbots of the monasteries of the Kazan diocese, the clergy of the Tatarstan metropolis and the brethren of the Raifa monastery, offering prayers for the repose of the newly deceased brother. Eternal memory to the late Archimandrite Vsevolod.
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