In 1979-1983 studied at the Ryazan College of Electronic Instruments, in 1983-1987. - at the Ryazan Higher Military Command School of Communications.
In 1987-1990 served in the Belarusian Military District. For further service, in August 1990 he was transferred to the Ryazan Higher Military Command School of Communications to the position of commander of a training platoon of cadets.
In July 1991, he was dismissed from the Armed Forces at his own request with the rank of senior lieutenant. He immediately submitted a petition to be accepted into the brethren of the St. John the Theologian Monastery.
On July 16, 1991, he was tonsured a monk, and on August 1, a monk with the name Joseph in honor of the holy righteous Joseph the Betrothed.
On February 20, 1992, he was appointed dean of the St. John the Theologian Monastery, and on September 1, 1993, he was appointed assistant governor.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of July 29, 2017 () he was appointed rector of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk Theological Seminary.
Name day on the Sunday of the Nativity of Christ.
Education:1987 - Ryazan Higher Military Command School of Communications.
Uncle of the poetess Maria Sergeevna Petrov.
Childhood and education
He was the 4th child (there were 9 children in total) in the family of a tradesman in the district town of Ustyuzhna, Semyon Kirillovich Petrov, who owned a bakery and bakery shop. The house was located in Kazansky Lane (now Valentina Tereshkova). He was baptized, like all his brothers and sisters, in the parish Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Vspolye (destroyed in 1939).
He graduated from the Ustyug Theological School, the Novgorod Theological Seminary, and the Moscow Theological Academy in 1899 with a candidate's degree in theology. Successfully completed the task of the Academy of Sciences, recording the northern folk reprimand according to the developed program. In 1899-1900 - professor's fellow. Master of Divinity (1903); dissertation topic: “History of the Jewish people according to the archeology of Josephus.”
Monasticism and teaching
Since September 9, 1900 - acting assistant professor at the Moscow Theological Academy in the department of Biblical history.
On August 26, 1901 he was tonsured a monk, on September 30 he was ordained a hierodeacon, and on October 14 - a hieromonk.
Since 1903 - Associate Professor at the Moscow Theological Academy.
On January 18, 1904, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. He was dismissed from the academy in 1906 upon request due to a conflict with radical students.
In June 1906, he was appointed rector of the Yablochinsky St. Onufrievsky Monastery of the Kholm diocese.
Since 1907 - rector of the Yuryev Monastery of the Novgorod diocese.
Bishop
- In December 1925, Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky), in his will before his arrest, made him the third candidate for Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens.
- Since 1920 - Archbishop of Rostov, vicar of the Yaroslavl diocese. In 1922 he was sentenced to 4 years in prison, but in January 1923 he was released early.
- In 1923-1926 he ruled the Yaroslavl diocese during the arrest of Metropolitan Agafangel (Preobrazhensky).
- In July 1919, he was arrested on charges of disrupting a campaign to uncover relics by ringing bells and a religious procession. He was sent to Moscow to Butyrka prison. In August of the same year he was released. In 1920 he was sentenced to one year of suspended imprisonment.
- On March 15, 1909, he was consecrated in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra as Bishop of Uglich, vicar of the Yaroslavl diocese (the ruling diocesan bishop until December 1913 was Archbishop (later Patriarch) Tikhon (Bellavin)). From February 27 of the same year he was rector of the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery in Rostov - until the final closure of the monastery in 1923; On May 22, 1913, I met Emperor Nicholas II at the monastery, who visited Rostov during the Romanov celebrations.
- In 1920-1925 he ruled the Novgorod diocese during the arrest of Archbishop Arseny (Stadnitsky).
Metropolitan of Leningrad
In August 1926, Archbishop Joseph was appointed Metropolitan of Leningrad and on August 29 (according to the Julian calendar) arrived in Leningrad. In the evening of this day (the eve of the memory of St. Alexander Nevsky) and in the morning on the day of the holiday, he performed a solemn service in the Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. On August 31, he went back to Rostov to say goodbye to his former flock and prepare for the move, but the authorities forbade him to return. He was arrested and sent to the Nikolo-Modensky Monastery for a year.
Leader of the Josephites
In 1927, Metropolitan Joseph did not recognize the “Declaration” of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky).
In the fall of 1927, he refused to accept the appointment of September 17 to Odessa (instead of Leningrad, where the authorities did not allow him); while living in Rostov, he continued to be called Metropolitan of Leningrad. His position enjoyed significant support among the “old church” clergy and people in Leningrad, where on his behalf the diocese was administered by one of the vicars, Bishop Dimitri (Lyubimov). On February 6, 1928, he signed an act of departure from Metropolitan Sergius, becoming the head of a special movement in the Patriarchal Church, called in the literature after his name “Josephlanism.” He was banned from serving by Metropolitan Sergius and his Provisional Synod by decision of March 27, 1928; did not recognize the prohibition.
In September 1929 he was arrested and deported to Kazakhstan in Aulie-Ata (Dzhambul). He was arrested in exile and brought into the case of the “All-Union Organization of the TOC” (True Orthodox Church) on September 9, 1930. Initially, Metropolitan Joseph was interrogated in Leningrad, then was taken to Moscow. On September 27, 1930, in his own handwritten testimony, he characterized the difference between the “Josephites” and the supporters of Metropolitan Sergius: “Sergius wants to be a lackey of the Soviet Power, we want to be honest, loyal citizens of the Soviet Republic with human rights, and not a lackey, and nothing more.” In other testimony he wrote: “The Tsarist government once beat me - I endured it... I am ready to endure anything from the current Soviet government, firmly believing that without the will of God it is not strong enough to do me any harm. (Ev (angel from) John, 19 chapters, 10-11 centuries)"
By resolution of the Special Meeting of the OGPU Collegium on September 3, 1931, he was sentenced to five years of imprisonment in a camp with a replacement for deportation to Kazakhstan for the same period. He lived on the outskirts of Chimkent near an irrigation ditch, beyond which stretched the unplowed steppe. In a small Kazakh adobe house, he occupied a room with overhead light, furnished very modestly: there was a roughly knocked together table, a trestle bed and a couple of chairs. Every morning one served at the lectern, on which he placed a small carved fold.
Arrest and martyrdom
In 1937 he was arrested again during mass repressions against the clergy.
On November 19, 1937, he was sentenced to death by Troika UNKVD in the South Kazakhstan region; November 20, 24 hours he was shot along with Metropolitan Kirill (Smirnov); presumably buried in the Fox Ravine near Chimkent.
The question of canonization
Canonized as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. The Russian Orthodox Church, however, does not glorify him, although some of Metropolitan Joseph's supporters have been canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. Apparently, the obstacle to canonization is not the leadership of the “schism” (the modern Russian Orthodox Church admits that the “Josephites” were right in many respects), but his admission of his guilt in 1937 in “counter-revolutionary activities”; although many in the ROCOR believe that counter-revolutionary activities and a hostile attitude towards Soviet power cannot be an obstacle to church glorification, but, on the contrary, testify to the life feat of Vladika Joseph. However, there is a point of view that this protocol was fabricated by the security officers (this version is supported by the official style of the text and the standard form of testimony for such confessions). If the church accepts this point of view as official, the issue of canonization can be resolved positively.
Church writer
The main work of Bishop Joseph: “History of the Jewish people according to the archeology of Josephus Flavius” (Sergiev Posad, 1903, master’s thesis). He saw the task of his work as “having rejected the unsuitable, to establish the important” in the text of Josephus. He emphasized two extremes in Josephus’s assessment - hypercriticism and complete trust: “It took, to the point of humiliation, slavish adoration of Joseph’s authority by far from remarkable talents (like some fathers and teachers of the Church) before balance was established.” The conclusion of the researcher himself was that Flavius, speaking about the period preceding the Maccabean Wars, did not have any serious documents other than the Old Testament, but his information about the last two centuries BC. e. are of great value, especially since this period is not fully covered in the Bible.
In 1905-1910 he published his diary under the title: “In the arms of the Father. Diary of a Monk,” consisting of twelve volumes. The text shows how carefully the diary author delved into himself and recorded his every mental movement. The diary says a lot about the ups and downs of his spirit and the temptations to which he was exposed.
Starting with me and other active rural priests, Bishop Joseph, with his Utkin, are waging war “on all fronts” of the diocese, carrying out attacks and leading to the destruction of everything good and social that exists in the diocese. All the abbots of the monasteries, all the abbots of the churches, without exception, have already received rudeness and attacks from him, and he has already “removed” many. Another scandal, now with the most famous and worthy monastery, with the most hardworking abbot, is just a continuation of the policy of hatred and destruction , which has been running for several years in the diocese. Because of this, in the literal sense, people are dying (two famous elderly priests died after he “smashed” them at the altar), people are leaving churches, and faith is falling. How long? A new article is a new cry for help to the Patriarch, whose silence, looking at these outrages, already causes bewilderment.
Original taken from borman784 V
Original taken from expertmus in Ivanovo bishop and vl. Arseny (Epifanov) vs. Ambrose (Yurasov)
Red (Vvedenskaya) Church of the Holy Vvedensky Convent
“SPIRITUAL REVIVAL” IN THE HOMELAND OF THE FIRST SOVITS
Start
"Russian Messenger" several times addressed the issue of the episcopal ministry of Bishop Joseph of Ivanovo-Voznesensk and Kineshma, whose activities bring considerable confusion into the souls of the Orthodox people of the Ivanovo region. So this time we are forced to express a judgment about his next actions.
In the city of Ivanovo, notorious as the birthplace of the Bolshevik “first soviets,” by 1990 there was only one small Vvedensky Church left in a city of more than half a million. Despite the fierce resistance of the authorities, the temple is transferred to the Church, and Abbot Ambrosy (Yurasov) is appointed its rector and builder, then managing the Ivanovo diocese, Bishop Ambrose (Shchurov).
Very quickly in the Vvedensky Cathedral around Fr. Ambrose, a community gathers, and already in 1991 it receives the status of a convent, which became the largest monastery in Russia in terms of the number of nuns, only a little later the famous Diveyevo convent will equal it in number. Now the monastery, in addition to the devastated urban area, has 4 more farmsteads (up to 50 nuns) in rural areas of the Ivanovo region, having restored completely destroyed churches in them.
In those same years, Fr. Ambrose from his children gathers the Radonezh brotherhood, which creates an Orthodox radio station and newspaper of the same name in Moscow, a network of Orthodox gymnasiums, a book publishing house, a pilgrimage service and conducts active missionary work. Hegumen Ambrose, who became a very famous shepherd and missionary, in the same years was elevated to the rank of archimandrite, and as an exception, as the founder of the Vvedensky convent (there was no monastery here before the revolution), he was elevated by the Synod not only to the position of confessor of the monastery, but also to the position of abbot (according to tradition, the abbess of women's monasteries are abbess).
Ascension Foundation
There were not enough churches in Ivanovo; the main cathedral of the city itself, the Ascension Cathedral, after which the city was once named Ivanovo-Voznesensk, was blown up by the Bolsheviks in 1930. In 2006, Archimandrite Ambrose received the blessing to create the Ascension Church, a place for it was allocated by the authorities in the center city near the station (not far from the Vvedensky Monastery). The blessing was given by the diocesan council chaired by Archbishop Ambrose (Shchurov).
To raise funds for the construction of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord by the spiritual children of Archimandrite. Ambrose, the Interregional Public Fund for the Promotion of Spiritual and Moral Education “Ascension” was created, which was also engaged in extensive educational activities (in particular, training school teachers to teach elements of Orthodox disciplines to schoolchildren). The Ascension Foundation and city authorities asked that the future church be given the status of a “Repentant church-monument at the site of the beginning of the Russian Troubles,” where the first “Soviets” appeared in 1905.
Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov) was elected President of the Foundation. The foundation had the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II, then Patriarch Kirill and Metropolitan Isidore of Kuban, operated in 4 regions of the Russian Federation, organized summer camps for training Sunday school teachers on the Black Sea coast, published literature, helped orphanages, etc. But the main business of the Foundation was the construction of the Church of the Ascension. The Ivanovo diocese itself did not spend a single penny on the temple under construction.
New bishop
The problems began with the appearance of Bishop Joseph (Makedonov) at the Ivanovo See. His very assumption of office is indicative: on the day of his arrival at 24.00 (!) the diocese building was seized and sealed, and the belongings of 76-year-old Archbishop Ambrose began to be thrown into the street from early morning.
Bishop Joseph (Makedonov) is considered the nephew of Archimandrite Abel (Makedonov), a childhood friend of Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov). If his predecessor, Archbishop. Ambrose (Shchurov) opened churches (about 170 in 17 years), then bishop. Joseph began to close them (already about 20) for the priests’ failure to pay the “tax” to the diocese (it should be taken into account that in terms of churches the diocese was one of the most ruined, and according to the economic rating among the regions of the Russian Federation it is in penultimate place).
Dozens of priests were banned and expelled from the diocese (according to some sources, up to a hundred). So, someone O.N, who was building a church in the village, was summoned by Bishop. Joseph and was accused of stealing 2.5 million rubles, although he was not shown a single supporting document. The bishop promised to put him in prison if he did not give him the money. The frightened priest sells an apartment in the Moscow region that his parents once bought for him, a car, and brings the money to the bishop in cash. He takes the money, writes him a letter of release from the diocese and orders him to get away, threatening him with prison if he appears in the diocese again. This is just one case of constant extortion of money from parishes. Ep. Joseph states this: “If they can’t pay, then they don’t need the temple there. Then we’ll close.”
The undesirable priesthood is subjected to constant persecution for the most absurd reasons. The founder of the monastery, Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov) was removed from the leadership of the Vvedensky Convent (“according to the charter it is not allowed”), and when he, as confessor and senior priest of the large clergy of the monastery, signed the schedule of monthly services of the clergy of the monastery and then five other metochions, hanging in the altar of the monastery cathedral - he was summoned by Bishop. Joseph to the “disciplinary commission” of the diocese. From his point of view, the abbess (!) should have compiled the list of employees.
A separate topic is the bishop's assistant. Joseph, his secretary, Abbot Vitaly (Utkin), who began his career with Joseph in the Ryazan Monastery of St. John the Theologian. Without touching on his very peculiar views, which he abundantly scatters on the Internet (such as ardent anti-monarchism, calls for “troops to suppress popular unrest and shoot at the people”), his activities of a completely material nature are interesting. Ig. Vitaly (Utkin), clearly under the patronage of his patron, travels around the diocese and confiscates ancient icons, supposedly for “safekeeping in the diocese” or “for restoration,” forcing the abbots to order copies in their place, but the icons disappear and are not in the diocese . Orders are given orally, in categorical form - but without giving receipts for receipt of icons, so as not to leave traces. Utkin is well known to professionals in the black market for icons. Thus, ancient icons were confiscated from the ancient temple in the village of Kholui, from the temple in the village of Krasnoye near Palekh, and from a number of other churches. A number of priests were removed from the leadership of churches and - some were transferred to other parishes, and some were expelled - precisely because they refused to destroy their churches with their own hands and hand over the icons to Utkin. The wording of the removal is “for disobedience to the ruling bishop.”
Ascension Foundation and the new temple
As they report, once at the Ivanovo See, Bishop. Joseph told those around him that he needed to get rid of several clergy, calling in particular Archim. Ambrose (Yurasov), Archimandrite Nikon (Fomin), Schema-Abbot Mitrofan (Lavrentiev) and some others. From then on, their constant persecution began.
In 2008, when all the design work was completed, the Board of Trustees of the Church of the Ascension under construction (which is headed by the former mayor of the city of Ivanovo, and now deputy governor A.G. Fomin) turned to the new bishop Joseph (Makedonov) with a request to consecrate the construction site - the bishop refused . The Ascension Foundation and the city authorities again asked Bishop Joseph to petition the Patriarch to assign the future church the status of a “Repentant Church-Monument at the site of the beginning of the Russian Troubles,” where the first “councils” appeared in 1905, but the bishop strictly refused.
Vitaly Utkin, on behalf of the Ivanovo diocese, officially stated that the diocese has nothing to do with the new Church of the Ascension under construction, causing surprise among the townspeople (“Ivanovo newspaper”). But then things got more interesting.
Governor M. Men and Bishop. Joseph arrived in Moscow to see Patriarch Kirill and asked for the patriarch's blessing for... the construction of a new cathedral Church of the Ascension. In fact, the Patriarch was misled, to put it mildly. They presented everything to him as if such a temple did not exist, its construction was not underway, but they were undertaking to build it. Patriarch Kirill gave bishop. Joseph and Governor Menu gave a blessing for the construction of the new Ascension Church, adding how much is known about that meeting, that he hopes that there will be no unfinished churches in Russia. According to available information, there is nothing to build such a temple complex in the impoverished Ivanovo region.
In the spring of 2008, Bishop. Joseph met with those entrepreneurs who are helping the Ascension Foundation in Ivanovo in the construction of the Church of the Ascension (of which Archimandrite Ambrose was appointed rector from the very beginning), and asked: how much money is needed to complete the construction of the temple? They answered that it was even more than 25 million, and to his question: would they find that kind of money - they answered in the affirmative. But the crisis began and construction was delayed.
At the beginning of the summer of 2011, at a meeting of the diocesan clergy, Bishop. Joseph accused the leadership of the Ascension Foundation of stealing more than 26 million rubles. and threatened the Foundation with criminal prosecution if it did not receive this money. At the same time, the Ascension Foundation is a public organization, the Ivanovo diocese is not among its founders, it is not accountable to either the diocese or the regional authorities (it is interregional, and carries out its activities in different regions of the Russian Federation), carefully submits its financial statements annually and in no way maybe something “owes” to the Ivanovo diocese.
After this, denunciations began (now they are called “reports”) by Bishop. Joseph to the Moscow Patriarchate and local police.
Denunciation to the Patriarchate by Bishop. Joseph dated 10/12/2011 is not known from the text, but from the response from Moscow it is clear that the Patriarchate was deceived by Bishop. Joseph, because it directly states that this is a response to his report “... based on the results of an inspection carried out by the Diocesan Administration of the activities of the Interregional Public Fund “Ascension”” - whereas there was no such inspection, because public organizations, in principle, are not accountable to the dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church (except when they were founded or co-founded by them). However, from the office of the Patriarch on November 24, 2011 to the Ivanovo diocese in the name of bishop. Joseph receives a resolution (No. PK-01/2279): “ “The Patriarchal blessing for the activities ... of the Ascension Foundation is withdrawn until the circumstances of its activities are fully clarified. Please inform the management of the Foundation about this.". Archbishop Istra Arseniy».
On the same day (and possibly even an hour) Ep. Joseph directs archim. Ambrose “Decree No. 306”, which says: “ In accordance with the resolution... (the text from the office of the Patriarch is repeated) ... by this decree, Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov) is revoking his blessing to occupy the post of president of the above-mentioned fund from November 25, 2011 until the circumstances of the activities of this fund are fully clarified... bishop. Joseph.»
But this is not enough. A campaign to slander the leadership of the Foundation has begun. So, in a direct telephone conversation with Rev. Vsevolod Chaplin, Chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations between Church and Society, Bishop. Joseph stated that more than “20 criminal cases” (!!) were opened against the Foundation. At the same time, the request made from the Foundation about such “cases” caused only bewilderment in the Ivanovo prosecutor’s office and, at first, even in the police (dated December 8, 2011, No. 15-529-2001). But then local police officials, led by the deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Ivanovo region A.L. The Romans began trying to dig up dirt on the Foundation and its founder, asking local residents and parishioners of the monastery, “do they know how much money the monastery and the Foundation stole?” Such questions caused amazement among local residents.
Also, the Ascension Foundation was slandered by Bishop. Joseph in front of Metropolitan Isidore of Kuban, in whose diocese there were branches of the Foundation for the training of Orthodox teachers. Metropolitan Isidore also withdrew his blessing on December 8 and ordered: “From this date, the branches will cease their activities.”
But this, of course, did not end there. A new “Decree No. 332 of December 12, 2011” followed, in which “based on the decisions of the Diocesan Council and the Spiritual Council (??) of the Vvedensky Convent of Ivanovo (clause 2 of Protocol No. 14 of December 10, 2011) BLESSED :
1. Prohibit the residence of males in the fence of the Vvedensky Convent in the city of Ivanovo.
2. Abbess Maria (Perepecha), abbess of the Vvedensky convent in Ivanovo, to ensure the creation of a male monastic community at the courtyard of the St. Vvedensky convent “Sergius Hermitage” in the village of Stoyantsevo, Lezhnevsky district, by January 10, 2012.
3. To include in the composition of this community all male persons (clergy, monastics, novices and workers) currently living on the territory of the Vvedensky Convent...
4. …
5. Appoint archimandrite of the Vvedensky Convent of Ivanovo as the senior clergyman of the male monastic community “Sergius Pustyn” in the village of Stoyantsevo, Lezhnevsky district. Ambrose (Yurasova).
6. To accommodate the clergy during the period of their seven-week rotation in the Vvedensky Monastery, the abbess ... Abbess Maria should prepare a place of residence outside the monastery fence.
...Ep. Joseph" (the spelling of the decree is preserved everywhere)
If we translate this entire “Decree” into human language, it all means that one of the most respected confessors in Russia, whom many reverence as an elder, the 73-year-old archimandrite is thrown out in the middle of winter from the monastery he founded and rebuilt over more than 20 years on street. Moreover, this decision is presented in the way that the “Spiritual Council” of the clergy itself expelled itself from the monastery, which they care for, at the most suitable time of year for life in an open field. Truly a “masterpiece” in this decree is the command of the abbess of the convent (!!) to “ensure the creation of a male monastic community,” and even in less than a month - a unique “spiritual breakthrough” that has no analogues in modern times.
Noteworthy is the instruction of Abbess Maria to “prepare a place of residence outside the monastery fence” for serving fathers. Firstly, a separate building was built for the clergy, completely separated from the sisters' cells. Secondly, the monastery is barely making ends meet, because it itself is building the Ascension Church (the monastery is the customer, and the Ascension Foundation is the contractor for the construction work and is seeking money for it), bears a large social burden of helping the poor and sick, schools and colonies, and does not have the opportunity to buy housing in the city for its priests. And thirdly, but most importantly: for monks to live in rented apartments, among the laity, there is a temptation for a monk and a violation of the “statutory monastic life” much greater than on the monastic territory in a separate building, which the bishop, who is obliged to at least formally support “monastic life” in the diocese rules” - cannot but know.
But ep. Joseph moves on. He has already taken away from the monastery a hotel with 50 beds, built by Archimandrite. Ambrose for pilgrims (who came from everywhere in large numbers to the Vvedensky Monastery) to settle in it... 5 students of the “icon painting class” of their microscopic theological school. Theological schools are a separate matter: although they formally exist, in practice for many years he ordains very few people, and all the graduates of the Ivanovo “theological schools” (if you can call them that loudly) go to be ordained in other dioceses, although , this is also possible because they also understand what kind of ruler they will have to deal with...
Results
The clergy and inhabitants of the Holy Vvedensky Convent in Ivanovo decided to pray to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' to grant the monastery stauropegial status (if possible, with all the rebuilt courtyards) and, if possible, convert the Ascension Church under construction into a Patriarchal courtyard. Otherwise, as a result of the kindling ep. Joseph and the corrupt police scandal surrounding the construction of the temple and monastery can destroy both. The Board of Trustees of the Ascension Foundation is ready to ask His Holiness Patriarch Kirill about this.
Recently, a search was carried out in the monastery, during which all documents of the Foundation’s activities were confiscated on the basis that “according to their data,” as stated by investigator O.N. Osmachko, they “have evidence” of embezzlement of 19 thousand rubles from the Foundation. at the beginning of 2010 (!). The documents were seized without a description or even a receipt for their seizure. The premises of the monastery, which had nothing to do with the Ascension Foundation, were also searched. Needless to say, the search and seizure of these documents was commanded by Ig. Vitaly (Utkin) with a group of police, and it was sincerely unclear to the nuns and priests of the Holy Vvedensky Monastery: which of them was in charge of the search and commanding each other?
Two reports were given on Ivanovo television (TV company “Bars”), in which both the leadership of the Ascension Foundation and the construction of the temple itself were discredited. The first report on December 31, 2011 (http://rutube.ru/tracks/5191770.html) spoke quite seriously, but absolutely without evidence, about “terrible crimes” in the Foundation.
The most piquant thing here is that if the Foundation itself is a legal entity that has suffered from someone’s embezzlement, then it is this “affected person” that is subject to attack and reprisal in the most stunning way.
The second report was apparently supposed to correct the idiocy of the previous one. What came out of this is for the viewer to judge. Now A.L. Rimsky, speaking on a local television network, said that a “criminal group” represented by the leadership of the Ascension Foundation had been exposed, which had stolen countless treasures, siphoned money abroad and bought real estate there. The stunned residents of the Ivanovo region now, it seems, with the help of Comrade. Rimsky, they will soon begin to understand what the real reason for the devastation in their unfortunate fatherland is: all their troubles - and most importantly: hopeless poverty and the ruin of their native enterprises and farms - precisely because the Ascension Foundation appeared several years ago in their city, which and led the region to complete ruin...
Sergey PISEMSKY
"Russian Bulletin", 3 (839) 2012
June 2 marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of a famous and deeply revered ascetic, confessor, poet and preacher, who was called one of the most spiritual bishops of recent times. Ksenia Kirillova provides an unknown testimony about Bishop Joseph in her article.
An elder and confessor of the faith, Metropolitan Joseph of Alma-Ata and Kazakhstan (Ivan Mikhailovich Chernov) was born exactly 120 years ago in Belarus, in Mogilev-on-Dnieper, into a military family on June 2, 1893, on the day of remembrance of the Great Martyr John the New of Sochavsky.
Vladyka served twenty years in Soviet camps and miraculously escaped fascist execution. At the same time, according to eyewitnesses, he never lost heart, willingly consoled others and even acted like a fool.
Taganrog Bishop Joseph (Chernov) experienced his first arrest in 1935, when a special meeting at the NKVD of the USSR sentenced him to 5 years in the camps “for anti-Soviet agitation.” Vladyka was released in December 1940 and sent back to Taganrog. During this period, Bishop Joseph took part in the activities of the illegal community of believers “White House”, served secretly, performed priestly consecrations and monastic tonsures. After Taganrog was occupied by German troops during the Great Patriotic War, he resumed open ministry as the Bishop of Taganrog in August 1942.
The Bishop had difficulties with the German authorities due to his refusal to leave subordination to the Moscow Patriarchate and commemorate Metropolitan Seraphim of Berlin in the services instead of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky). During interrogations, the German command repeatedly offered Bishop Joseph cooperation for propaganda purposes, threatening arrest and execution, and also urged him to hand over Jews, Komsomol members and others. One day he was briefly arrested. Vladyka, however, refused and did not serve prayers for the victory of the German army.
Moreover, Father Joseph helped some Jews escape from the Nazis, and also actively helped the partisans. Fundraising to help the Soviet troops also took place in the regions cared for by Bishop Joseph. All amounts were transferred through the partisans, with whom the bishop was directly connected.
Soon after his patriotic speech about Emperor Peter I and the greatness of Russia on the occasion of the solemn restoration of the monument to Peter I in Taganrog on July 18, 1943, the Gestapo arrested the ruler. He was in the Gestapo prison in Uman from November 6, 1943 to January 12, 1944, and on Christmas Day 1944 he was sentenced to death. Vladyka was saved only by the retreat of German troops from Uman on January 11, 1944.
After the liberation of Uman by units of the Red Army in June 1944, Bishop Joseph was again arrested. He was kept in Moscow in the Butyrka prison, then was transferred to Rostov-on-Don. In February 1945, the bishop was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He served his prison term in the Chelyabinsk special purpose camp, and since 1948 - in the village of Spassk in the Karaganda camp. Since 1954, the bishop was in exile in the village of Ak-Kuduk, Chkalovsky district, Kokchetav region, and was finally released from it only in 1956.
Now a whole book of memoirs has been published about Vladyka Joseph, “The Light of Joy in a World of Sorrow. Metropolitan Joseph of Alma-Ata and Kazakhstan,” based on which a film of the same name was made. We present to your attention the memories of Metropolitan Joseph, not included in the book, of one of his spiritual daughters, the sister of the abbess of the Verkhoturye Intercession Convent Sofia (Lyubykh) - Maria Ivanovna Sashchina (nee Lyubykh).
I was born into an Orthodox family in the late forties of the last century, and was the last child. Despite the atheistic policy, my parents went to church and taught me Christian virtues,” recalls Maria Ivanovna. - During the revolution, my grandfather was an elder in the church, and in 1929 he was evicted to Siberia, where the city of Nizhnevartovsk is now located. Although my parents were afraid to tell me about him until I reached adulthood, I spent my entire childhood in church. Dad worked as a sexton in the cathedral. I remember that I really liked the singing and the solemnity of the service.
In 1956, the Petropavlovsk diocese was formed, and a new bishop, Bishop Joseph (Chernov), who had just been released from exile in Kokchetav, came to Petropavlovsk, where little Masha Lyubykh was then living with her family.
He served so prayerfully and was so happy to praise the Lord again that it seemed to us, the children, as if we were in Heaven. His passionate and imaginative sermons, his memories of the trials during his twenty years of wandering in exile and God’s help to endure the humiliations that befell him, remained in his consciousness for the rest of his life, and always helped in difficult life situations, says Maria Sashchina.
In those years, the main parishioners of the temple were women, while the bishop needed subdeacons - men who could enter the altar.
I loved to stand to the left of the pulpit, and Vladyka Joseph allowed me to hold the minister and the staff when he stood at the pulpit. I was seven years old then, I stood and froze with happiness, holding a book or a rod. But when I turned eight, Vladyka explained to me that the girl was no longer allowed to participate in divine services, and so that it would not be so bitter for me, he gave me a brooch. “I cried very bitterly that I was not a boy,” recalls Maria Ivanovna.
When Vladyka was transferred to Alma-Ata, having matured, Maria tried to fly to him 2-3 times a year.
Communication with him, his conversations, advice helped me cope with my adversities and illnesses in life. He was a man of amazing kindness. I remember the first time I went to see him in 1967 with my dad. I was 18 years old then. The stove was then heated with wood, and the wood that was used for this was very heavy and hard. Imagine my surprise when, early in the morning, looking out the window, I saw the bishop carrying these heavy logs. He didn't even tell me what he was going to do, didn't ask for help. When I went out into the yard, he told me that he would now heat the titanium so that dad and I could wash ourselves off the road. Can you imagine? The bishop, who is over seventy years old, himself carried firewood to warm our water! - she recalls. “For me it became a model of humility.
According to Maria Ivanovna, in his interactions with people, Vladyka Joseph was surprisingly simple, kind, and at the same time surprisingly soulful. Many spiritual children remember his gentle, slightly cunning eyes.
Vladyka felt people very much. Those who once communicated with him could not help but remember him later. Once, at Metropolitan Joseph’s, I met a priest, Father Naum. Then, after the death of my parents, I got ready to go to Ukraine, and even took a blessing for this. Then Father Naum told me: “Hand over your ticket and fly to Alma-Ata.” It seemed strange to me to change everything, especially since it was not so easy, and the blessing to fly to Ukraine had already been received. In a word, I didn’t go to Kazakhstan then - and soon the bishop died. Father Naum told me later: “If only you knew what kind of person you left behind!” But how could I know then that he would be gone - after all, I was still a girl of about 25 years old. Now, I probably would have behaved differently,” Maria Ivanovna laments.
Or another memory from the “Peter and Paul” period of the Bishop’s life. In the 50s, on the first Sunday after the holidays, schoolchildren were often seated at their desks - supposedly to remember what they had forgotten during the holidays. Little Masha was standing at the service on Palm Sunday, afraid of being late for school, when Vladyka Joseph turned to her with the words: “Mary has left - and who will hold the baton?”
At that time, I was already over seven years old, and I was forbidden to hold the rod. I couldn't understand what he was talking about. Many years later, when I now have to hold the staff while helping my mother in the monastery, I remember those words of his. This means that he knew that there would be another rod in my life,” says Maria Sashchina.
Maria Ivanovna recalls one instance of the bishop’s insight: when, after stomach surgery, he called her with the words: “Well, now your fasts will be canceled for the rest of your life.”
It was strange for me. I strictly observed all the fasts and thought: okay, now I’m sick, and then I’ll get better and start fasting again. Who knew that I would have 15 more operations, and in one of them my stomach would be removed? But he apparently knew...
After the death of the Metropolitan, Masha Lyubykh got married - according to her, not very successfully.
It’s interesting that I managed to tell the bishop that I wanted to get married. He told me then: “Maria, you will regret it.” And, as usual, he was right.
Some memories of Maria Sashchina are connected with the memories of Bishop Joseph about the camps:
Once the priest told how they celebrated Easter in the camp, sitting in the same cell with the Cheboksary Bishop Emmanuel. By some miracle, the parishioners were able to give them bread, wine, and an Easter egg at the end. Instead of the throne, they placed one old bishop to serve the liturgy on his relics - after all, they were all confessors at that time. Of course, at that time he was alive, but when the service ended, the bishop turned out to be dead. The bishop even risked telling this story during a sermon from the pulpit, although in Soviet times it was unsafe.
By the way, in relation to the Soviet regime, according to his spiritual children, Vladyka remained wisely cautious, for example, he allowed people to wear a pioneer tie at school so as not to anger the teachers, but did not bless them to wear it at home. He did not order the cross to be removed.
He tried to give such advice so that we could not go into open conflict with the authorities, but at the same time preserve our souls,” notes Maria Ivanovna.
Many years later, Maria Sashchina had a session with Kashpirovsky - of course, not because of her passion for the occult, but by mistake deciding that he was an ordinary doctor (this was in the 80s). Then the famous “healer” unexpectedly admitted to her: his “treatment” would not work on her, because he felt some kind of strong patron behind her. Perhaps, Maria Ivanovna herself agrees with the notorious psychic on this - she still feels the prayerful help of Vladika Joseph.
Born in the village. Leech Lake (Arzamas district, Nizhny Novgorod region), in an Old Believer family (Old Believers who accept the Belokrinitsky hierarchy). Parents - Mikhail Stepanovich And Evdokia Afanasyevna.
When Ivan was six years old, he lost his father. From the age of 11, he was brought up at an Old Believer monastery near the village of Elesino, Borsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province. Being in obedience to the bishop Kirila Nizhny Novgorod and the Bishop of the Ural, who lived at the monastery, he studied church singing and rules. Since 1907 he served as a charterer in the village. Klimotino, Gorky region.
In 1909, the Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod ordained him a deacon at the church in the village. Vasilevo (now Chkalovsk, Nizhny Novgorod region). In 1916, Bishop Innokenty ordained him to the rank of priest and appointed him as rector in N. Novgorod.
His wife died in 1924 Pelagia, leaving him with seven children. Soon Fr. John was arrested and spent 10 years in prisons and camps. Having been released, he hid for about 10 years, hiding with Christians and not stopping anywhere for long.
According to the Central Election Commission of the FSB, “Morzhakov I.M., priest of the Old Believer parish, tailor,” was arrested again in 1935 on charges of illegal residence in Moscow and participation in "counter-revolutionary Old Believer organization". By a special meeting at the NKVD on October 25, 1935, as "socially dangerous element" was sentenced to imprisonment in the Karaganda camp. According to the State Information Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, he was released on April 30, 1938 (rehabilitated on September 24, 1992).
In 1945, Archpriest John took monastic vows and was consecrated bishop of Chisinau, Odessa, temporarily Chernivtsi and Izmail. The monastic tonsure and consecration were performed at the Rogozhskoe cemetery by the archbishop and the bishop.
In 1953, at the Consecrated Council, Bishop Joseph was offered the high priestly ministry, but out of humility he refused in favor of the bishop. Bishop Joseph was elected deputy (vicar) of the Archbishop of Moscow and All Rus'. After the death of Archbishop Flavian, he is elected to the Moscow throne.
February 19, 1961 at the Rogozhskoye cemetery, bishops of Klintsovsky and Novozybkovsky Veniamin (Agoltsov), Kyiv and Vinnytsia Irinarh (Vologzhanin), Volga-Don and Caucasian Alexander (Chunin) They elevated Bishop Joseph to the rank of Archbishop of Moscow and All Rus'.
At his post as high priest, the self-possessed and firm character of Bishop Joseph was fully demonstrated. According to the recollections of his contemporaries, no matter what the situation, he never raised his tone when addressing the offender, and when he made a decision, he ensured that it was strictly carried out.
He was buried at the Rogozhskoe cemetery. The burial was performed on November 9, 1970 in the Pokrovsky Cathedral at the Rogozhsky cemetery by the Bishop of Chisinau, concelebrated with the bishops Irinarch Kyiv, Vinnitsa and Odessa and Joasaph Klintsovsko-Novozybkovsky.
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