St. Athanasius Sakharov, future Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church and leader of the catacomb movements, and in the world - Sergey Grigoryevich, spent all his childhood and youth in the holy city of Vladimir. Difficulties and trials from childhood have rained down on him. But it was in such a difficult life environment that he gradually matured and received his gracious powers for future preaching.
Father died very early in their family, and Afanasy Sakharov found everything that was useful to him for a worthy entry into the Orthodox life in his 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 lord in worship 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 brazenly boasted in a boyish manner that he would become a bishop.
Afanasy Sakharov: life
Sergei was born on July 2 (in the old style) in 1887 in the village of Parevka, Tambov province. His father was called Gregory, he was a native of Suzdal and worked as a court adviser, and his mother, Matron, came from peasants. They then lived in the city of Vladimir.
Their family was respected for kindness and pious mores. It was on this fertile ground that they raised rare spiritual gifts of their only son, who was named in honor of the Monk Elder Sergius of Radonezh. Sergey, as well as his heavenly patron, the sadder of the Russian land, was distinguished by a selfless love for the Church and for the Fatherland.
In the meantime, his life went on as usual. The lad learned needlework and even began to sew and embroider priestly vestments. These unpretentious talents were then very useful to him during exile and camps, when he made robes for icons. Once, he even had to prepare a special anti-mens board for serving the liturgy for prisoners in prison.
Study
Learning the youth Sergius was not easy, but he did not despair and worked hard. Soon he was waiting for the Vladimir Theological Seminary, then the Moscow Theological Academy, which he graduated quite successfully. However, the young man was not proud, as he was modest and humble by nature, as it should be a real prayer monk for all people. In 1912 he was tonsured with the name Athanasius, and he soon became a priest.
Vladyka Afanasy Sakharov studied the questions of liturgics and hagiology with particular care. He was very attentive to the texts of liturgical books and always tried to understand the meaning of particularly difficult words, noting them in the margins of books for clarification.
First works
While still a student of the Shuysky school, he wrote the troparion of the holy Shuisko-Smolensk icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was the first liturgical hymn composed by him. And the academic essay, written by him under the title “The Mood of a Believer Soul by the Triodine Lent,” already said that the author had a great knowledge of church hymnology.
His first spiritual mentor and teacher was the Archbishop of Vladimir, Nikolai (Nalimov), of whom he remained forever awed. Then Afanasy Sakharov borrowed spiritual experience from the rector of the Moscow Theological Academy - a strict ascetic and famous theologian, Bishop Theodore (Pozdeevsky), who later tonsured him as a monk and ordained him hierodeacon and then hieromonk.
Revolution
Vladyka Afanasy Sakharov began his obedience to the church with the Poltava Theological Seminary, where he proved to be a talented teacher. But he gained the power of a learned theologian in Vladimir Seminary, where he showed himself as a convinced and inspired evangelist of the word of God. And then in the Diocesan Council, responsibility was laid upon him 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 who were hostile to Russian Orthodoxy began to raise their heads.
In 1917, the main representatives of all the monasteries gathered in the monastery of St. Sergius. At this Local Council of the Russian Church (1917-18), hieromonk Athanasius was also present, who was elected to work in the department of liturgical issues. At about the same time, St. Athanasius Sakharov worked on his famous “Service to All Saints, who shone in the land of Russia.
Hatred and mockery
The revolution, like a terrible hurricane, spilled the oceans of Christian blood. The newly minted people's government began to ruin the temples, exterminate the clergy and mock the relics of the saints. The terrible prophecies of St. John of Kronstadt came true, and the death of the Russian Kingdom came. From now on, it has become a rabble of Gentiles who hate and exterminate each other.
In 1919, in Vladimir, as in many Russian cities, demonstrative autopsies of holy relics before the people began, which were paraded and ridiculed. To stop these savage abuse, Hieromonk Athanasius, who headed the Vladimir clergy, established a guard in the Assumption Cathedral.
Holy relics lay on the tables in the church, and hieromonk Athanasius and the psalmist Potapov Alexander, when the doors opened in front of the crowd, proclaimed: “Blessed be our God!”, And in response they heard: “Amen!” A prayer service began for the saints of Vladimir. This is how the desecration of holy places desired by the crowd turned into solemn glorification. People entered the temple and began to reverently pray, put candles near the relics and give obeisances.
Viceroy
Soon Sakharov, already in the rank of archimandrite, was appointed governor of the ancient monasteries of the Bogolyubsky and Vladimir Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. One of the turning points in the life of Vladyka at that time was his appointment as bishop of the Kovrovsky vicar of the Vladimir diocese. The future Patriarch of All Russia, Metropolitan Sergius of Vladimir (Starogorodsky), headed the consecration.
But then another terrible problem arose and great pain for the holy feat of Bishop Athanasius, which became worse than the struggle against the opposition of unbelieving authorities with their targeted destruction and the closure of churches - the schismatic Renewal movement, which called for reform of the Russian Orthodox Church.
These seeds were sown before the revolution. Already then, thorough preparatory work was being carried out within the walls of theological schools and religious and philosophical societies, which were the lot of a certain part of the clergy that emerged from the environment of the then intelligentsia. But the leaders of the Renovationists relied mainly on conformists and little believers.
St. Afanasy Sakharov zealously fought against the Renovationists, and not so much for their heretical convictions as for apostasy from the Church of Christ, for Judah's sin - betrayal in the hands of executioners of the saints, pastors and laity.
Great preacher and prisoner
Vladyka explained to his flock that schismatics opposing the canonical episcopate, headed by Patriarch Tikhon, did not have the right to perform the Church Sacraments, and the churches in which the services take place are thankless.
Priest Athanasius Sakharov re-consecrated churches defiled by apostates. He convicted those who did not repent and exhorted them to repent. He forbade his flock to communicate with the Renovationists, but not to incur malice towards them for the capture of shrines, since 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, a fighter priest was arrested for the first time. Bishop Afanasy Sakharov did not consider his position in prison to be a heavy burden and called it “an isolator from the renovation epidemic.”
Most of all he was worried about those who remained free and suffered countless bullying and oppression from the Renovationists. Its long arrest route ran through prisons: Vladimirskaya (Vladimir Region), Taganskaya and Butyrskaya (Moscow), Turukhanskaya (Krasnoyarsk Territory) and camps: Solovetsky and Onega (Arkhangelsk Region), Belomoro-Baltic (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 location and fate were kept in absolute secrecy. After the release of the already very sick old man, they were placed in a house of invalids in the village of Potma (Mordovia) under strict supervision, which did not differ from the camp.
Conclusions
In the late 30s he was repeatedly arrested and sentenced to capital punishment, but he miraculously was able to avoid death. At the beginning of the war with the Nazis, he was sent to Onega camps. The prisoners walked along the stage, they carried things on themselves, the road was hard and hungry. The saint was so weak that he nearly died, but again the Lord saved him.
After the Onega camps, the saint was sent to indefinite exile in the Tyumen region. In one of the state farms near the working village of Golyshmanovo, he worked in the kitchen gardens as a night watchman, then he was sent to the city of Ishim, where he barely survived, thanks to the means of his friends and spiritual children.
In the winter of 1942, on a false denunciation, the bishop was immediately sent to Moscow, where he was interrogated for six months (as usual, at night). The interrogations were long and grueling; once he lasted nine hours. But the bishop did not give a single name and did not sign a self-incrimination. He was given a term of 8 years at the Mariinsky camps (Kemerovo region). In those places, they were especially cruel to the ideological enemies of Soviet power. Such people were assigned the most dirty and hard work.
In the summer of 1946, the lord was again denounced, and he was again transferred to Moscow, but soon the scammer changed his testimony, and the bishop was sent to the Temnikov camps (Mordovia). There he served time until the end. His health was undermined and he could not engage in any physical labor, though he skillfully wove bast shoes. A year later, he was sent to Dubrovlag (the same Mordovia), where St. Athanasius no longer worked due to his age and state of health.
Saving faith
Saint Athanasius Sakharov never lost faith in the Lord and always thanked Him for great mercy to suffer a little for Him. Work in the camp has always been debilitating and often dangerous due to cruel and thieving criminals. Once, when he served as a collector, he was robbed, and the authorities imposed heavy penalties on him, and then added a year to the term.
At Solovki, Athanasius Sakharov, bishop of Kovrovsky, fell ill with typhus, and again imminent death awaited him, but by the great mercy of God he again remained to live.
In prisons and camps, he invariably kept to church regulations. He even managed to keep strict posts; he found some opportunity to cook lean meat for himself.
For those around him, he became a confessor, who simply and sincerely comforted those who turned to him for help and support. In idleness, he could not be found, he constantly worked on liturgical notes, decorated paper icons with beads and looked after the sick.
Will
March 7, 1955 Athanasius was finally released from the Zubovo-Polyansky invalid house. And he first went to the city of Tutaev (Yaroslavl region), and then he moved to the village of Petushki, Vladimir region.
It seemed that formally he was free, 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 comfort and most importantly - the hope of salvation.
In 1957, the prosecutor's office of the Vladimir region again began investigating his case from 1936. The saint again awaited interrogation. His defensive arguments did not bring proper results and were inconclusive for investigators, so he was not rehabilitated.
Holiness and New Persecution
During his last years, Vladyka found great joy in the services at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where he was once tonsured. Several times he served Patriarch Alexy (Simansky). Once, at one of the divine services, all the worshipers noticed that during the Eucharistic canon of the elder, it seemed as if some kind of strength wore smoothly - 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 that time increased his prayers to all Russian saints and the Patroness of Russia, the Most Holy Theotokos. He did not want to deviate from the struggle with the approaching evil, and immediately tried to ask to be appointed vicar bishop. However, his shaky health did not allow him to continue his public ministry. 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 service in the liturgical sense to all Russian saints. She found her completeness after a discussion with cellmates-hierarchs who sat in his dungeons with him. One of these hierarchs was the Archbishop of Tver Thaddeus, who was glorified by the church as a holy martyr.
Afanasy Sakharov: the commemoration of the dead and other works
When the mother of the lord died, he was prompted to write fervent prayers for her, and so his fundamental work “On the commemoration of the dead according to the Charter of the Human Rights Center” was born. This work was highly praised by Metropolitan Kirill (Smirnov).
In August 1941, Saint Athanasius composed “Prayer Singing for the Fatherland,” which was filled with extraordinary prayer power and deep repentance.
During long periods of imprisonment, he worked a lot on such prayer songs as “On those who live in sorrows and various situations”, “On enemies who hate and offend us”, “On those who live in dungeons and imprisonment”, “On the end of wars and on world peace "," Thanksgiving for receiving alms. " These were the main works of Afanasy Sakharov. The saint sang to God his prayers even in the gates of death, and the Lord saved the life of a minister for the Church and the Fatherland.
In the difficult 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. To this light people from all sides were drawn.
Everyone sought solace and peace in the soul. They met a person filled with unceasing prayer for each person. He did not complain about the prison past and for everyone found words of comfort, love and kindness. Vladyka shared his experience, revealing the meaning of the gospel and the life of the holy saints. The books of Afanasy Sakharov have become desktop textbooks for clergy and Orthodox people.
After the conclusions, and he spent in captivity a total of 22 years, the saint received up to several hundred letters a year. By the Great Holidays of Christmas and Easter, he sent packages and consolation letters to the needy. Vladyka’s spiritual children told about him that he was very simple and very attentive in communication, for any, even small service, he tried to thank as much as he could.
He lived modestly, and human appearance was not the main thing for him. Glory and honor were not important for him either, he taught to live 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. Within a few days, the blessed came from the laurels to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the monastic tonsure, Viceroy Archimandrite Pimen, Dean Archimandrite Theodorite, Father Superior and Cypriot Cyril. 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. Towards evening, he quietly said the words: “Prayer will save you all!”, Then with his hand he wrote on the blanket: “Save, Lord!”
In 1962, October 28 on Sunday on the feast day of St. John of Suzdal the pious old man peacefully departed to the Lord. He knew the hour and day of death in advance. Bishop Athanasius Sakharov hid his insight and discovered it only in the rarest cases, and that, only for the help of his neighbors.
In 2000, his name was canonized by the Cathedral of Arihiera in the guise of new martyrs and confessors of Russia. Today in Petushki there is a church where Afanasy Sakharov prayed. His relics, holy and incorrupt, are also stored there; they help people through their prayers receive help and protection from the Lord.
Detailed information about the life of the saint can be found in the book “What a great consolation our faith is”, it contains frank letters from the great confessor St. Athanasius.