Today, more than ever, Orthodox people have the opportunity to freely, according to various sources, get acquainted with the spiritual works of modern erudite and clever preachers and theologians, who do a lot to glorify the name of the Lord and give answers to the most burning questions of any Christian. Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev is one of them, and besides, he is a very famous publicist and missionary who conquers with his brilliant sermons, as he is original in his own way and everything that he talks about cannot but find a response in human hearts. In many unbelieving people, he awakened true faith in God. The sermons of Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev in the form of videos, audio recordings and lectures can be viewed or read on Internet sites.
Biography
Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev was born in 1961 in the wonderful city of Moscow near Orekhovo-Zuevo. His whole family was Orthodox. Grandmother - Matrena Fedorovna - worked in the church, she was a heroine mother, since she gave birth to 11 children. Her most hated and abusive word was "communist."
Oleg Stenyaev’s grandfather was a front-line soldier, he worked anywhere, but not for the state — as a stove-maker, joiner and builder. He never received an official salary or pension. Oleg’s parents, as well as uncles and aunts, lived in every way adhering to God's laws, all of them were married and baptized their children. Nobody also joined the Komsomol.
The whole family lived alone on the banks of the Klyazma River in a large private house without a TV, but with a Bible. Not far from them was the current Church of the Nativity of the Virgin.
Once, in a kindergarten, Oleg noticed a cross on his chest, which he was immediately taken away by force and then thrown away. The boy was very offended, he cried for a long time.
School
Everyone at the school also knew that Oleg Stenyaev was from a believing family, so once a special commission was even set up that came to their home and suddenly saw a Bible on their desk. Uninvited guests immediately began to resent what the child was reading. But the grandmother was not taken aback, she took a broom and “swept” them out of her house. It was the 70s, believers then could no longer fear for their lives and behaved quite boldly. Then Oleg was agitated to join the Komsomol, but he refused, surprisingly, but the class supported him. Moreover, even a literature teacher Stanislav Andreevich - a war invalid and a communist - defended him and believed that he was a normal student, and they made him an atheist.
After leaving school, Oleg went to work as a turner, a borer, then he was taken into the army in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and after that he decided that he would be a policeman. Grandmother did not approve of this and sent him to study at the seminary, but for family reasons he did not finish it. Then he was ordained a deacon, and he served in the Ivanovo, Tambov and Moscow dioceses.
Stolen bride
Once before him was a choice: to marry or to become a monk. He had a girl from Western Ukraine, and Oleg decided to marry her. But during the time of Perestroika Gorbachev, the Greek Catholic Church was legalized, in which the rite was Orthodox, and the Catholic faith. Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Gomel dioceses withdrew from the Moscow Patriarchate. The bride's parents wanted him to accept their faith, but he refused. As a result, his bride became a nun of a Catholic monastery. Oleg had the brightest and kindest memories of her, they even corresponded at one time, but according to the rules of their order letters were to be read at all and the mother Superior forbade them. From this moment on, Stenyaev developed a special fervor in the debate with heterodox people. Indeed, thanks to them, he was left without a bride.
Dissenter
In 1990, just before the collapse of the USSR, he read an article in the newspaper Pravda that the Patriarch was praying for unity in the CPSU. This was the reason that Oleg Stenyaev moved to a non-canonical Orthodox association - a community that broke away from the ROCA. Then he served in the Martha-Mariinsky monastery. But when the Soviet regime collapsed, he came with repentance, he was forgiven, moreover, he returned the Martha-Mariinsky monastery under the control of the Russian Orthodox Church, however, before that he gathered his clergy and parishioners, where they jointly decided to return to the united Church.
Oleg Stenyaev externally graduated from the theological seminary, and then the Moscow Theological Academy, and was elevated to the rank of archpriest. Since 2004, he serves as a cleric of the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist (Moscow, r. Sokolniki). Stenyaev became the author of a number of programs on Radio Radonezh and the chairman of the newspaper Missionary Observation. He headed the Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Non-Traditional Religions, thanks to which more than three thousand people became Orthodox.
Chechen War
During the first war in Chechnya in the early 90s, Stenyaev visited the Russian military more than once, he baptized many of them, and just handed out crosses, and even the Muslims who served there took them for themselves. The soldiers explained this by the fact that they were fighting for Russia.
The second Chechen archpriest Oleg Stenyaev traveled with a charity mission, he distributed warm clothes and food to civilians in the city of Grozny. And then one day their minibus was stopped by Chechen fighters. They were very lucky that one Chechen recognized Stenyaev, because he saw how he was distributing cereals and condensed milk to children in the square. They were released, but the car died out. Stenyaev understood that they could now easily be put into a cold and dark hole. He took out a little alcohol and swallowed to warm himself and at least a little cheer up. The militants began to deal with their engine. Stenyaev spoke to one of them and asked why they are still detaining three Orthodox priests in their captivity, to which he replied that they were not priests, but paratroopers - sports Facebook soldiers.
Turning to Stenyaev, he said that it was immediately evident from him that he was a Russian pop - fat, impudent, drunk and not afraid of anything. And he added that Allah will punish the one who touches him. After that, the priest got into his vehicle. The militants pushed their minibus, and they drove on. Yes, it’s not for nothing that they say that there are no atheists in a war.
Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev: books
He authored many books. He is an expert in the field of sectology and comparative theology, so he wrote many books on this subject: Jehovah's Witnesses. Who are they? ”(1996),“ Conversations on the Book of Genesis ”(1999),“ Krishnaites, Who Are They? ”(2004),“ Satanism ”(2002),“ Conversations on the Gospel of Matthew ”(2009) and many more.
Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev: "Apocalypse"
The book of Oleg Stenyaev, which he called “Conversations on the Apocalypse,” turned out to be quite interesting and very fascinating. In it, he began to study the most complex biblical book, “The Revelation of John the Evangelist,” or “Apocalypse” (Greek translation). He decodes it in a modern way. Not every priest and theologian will undertake this interpretation, but Oleg Stenyaev’s everything turned out in the most magnificent way. At first, he simply had conversations with parishioners on these topics, but then he was asked to create a book, which many of the faithful now read with great pleasure. On the Internet you can even see a video lecture by Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev, which has the same name as the book.