The biography of the Milkins

Social origin: from the working and employee place at the present time: Moscow Education: Bachelor of Theology Date of Interviewing: In my life was a pioneer organization and Komsomol, but growing up for years, very difficult, for years, which, when we called the word “rebuild”, we did not know what this means and what all this leads to us and rejoiced at the events that occur around us.

And in the third year of this very perestroika, an event occurred in our country, which it was impossible to imagine a few years before even a few years before. In the city where I was born, there was no temple, but by my birth I belong to the old Old Believer priestly family, which was then divided in two. My great -great -handed priest was my great -great -grandfather, but the temple in which he abused was destroyed in the years, and he already survived his days with a small temple in one of the cities of my native Gorky, now the Nizhny Novgorod region.

And so I will not say that the church entered my life in a year, of course. The stories about my great -great -grandfather were very scarce, I had very small information about him, because they tried to hide belonging to clergymen so that they would not laugh at the child. It is a pity, of course, I always wanted to know as much as possible, but now there is no one to ask. And through these stories, through reading the psalter of a unique press, and I learned to read in Slavic years at 10-at 11, the church entered my life.

At first, gradually, unnoticed, and then in the year - how the avalanche fell, and I found out that we have such a Gorky diocese. And in this diocese there is the most important person, his name is the lord, this is such a title, and his name is Nikolai. I once saw him on TV and could not imagine at that moment that it would pass for a while and I would call this person with his Avva, his spiritual father and a certain number of years will pass, he would laid my hands on me and utter completely unforgettable words: “Divine grace, always weak heralds, and impoverishing the compensating persons.” Well, further my name ...

It was an amazing person, and the greatness of the Lord Nikolai, the then archbishop, later Metropolitan Gorky, then Nizhny Novgorod, was even then, but, of course, he was seen a lot at a distance, and understanding which mountain you were in some years of your life, and from whom you received this grace, of course, understanding, and awareness came much later He served the bishop without two months 40 years.

8 days, he is younger than the bishop's chirotony of the deceased Holiness Patriarch Alexy. And already Bishop Alexy then participated in Hirotony, already being bishop. They were friends, they knew each other for a very long time, and both had a difficult life, but now I would like to say exactly about the Lord Nikolai. He began his ascent along this church path from Tula. He was born in the Tula region in the year, on October 4 this year we will celebrate the centenary of his birth.

He had mentors, his aunt nun, that is, Christ was in his heart from his heart, of course, but his fate was completely special. Especially when compared with us today. He graduated from school at 17. And the war began, a year. A year before the call, and he in every possible way, like boys, growing up young men of that time, wanted to go to the front.

The time has come, he got there, finished machine -gun courses and was a machine gunner. And in the winter of the year, under the mines of the Rostov region, he died. It was he who said so: "I was killed in war." The gap of the shell, contusion, moat, falls asleep with earth - and winter. Only the legs remain outside. And the dog saved it. God saved him, of course, but he acted in this case through this God's creature.

She ran up, began to bark. They approached, saw that he was alive. He loved dogs all his life, and the most what is the same. A dog always lived in his house, and he treated them in memory of his savior is very, very warm. And amputation on both legs along a third of the foot, he is disabled, it is already impossible to fight, and now, having fought, he is disabled, and he is sitting at home.

He tried to study, but there was a man who showed him another way of life - then the Tula bishop Anthony Martsenko, a wonderful person. Nicholas became his hypodiacon and the connection of spiritual connection until the very last day of the life of Vladyka Anthony did not lose. Vladyka finished his life in the camps, and this communication with unreliable person from the point of view of the then power, of course, played a very large role not once in the life of Nikolai Kutepov.

He was Nikolai both in baptism and in tonsure. It played a large role and interfered with him at certain moments, but he never renounced his mentor, his mentor, his mentor. This is the first such lesson for me: you should always be grateful people who have done good for you and never betray them. In general, this is the ability not to betray, he tried to convey to others. Unfortunately, not everyone succeeds.He enters the Trinity-Sergeev Lavra, studies with very interesting people, his fellow practitioner in the seminary was, for example, the future Metropolitan Vladimir St.

Petersburg Kotlyarov, who had rested Father Leonid Kuzminov a few years ago, and, again, all his life was friends, it was a very strong friendship, but Lord Nikolai was a few years old. He was fought older in the war, for the whole war, he was wounded in this way and, as he said, he really died there, but the Lord returned his life, of course, determined a lot in his life. They grew up by people quite and comprehensively developed.

They had, for example, a pavement with plates, which was not quite encouraged, especially in the walls of the spiritual school. And at the end of the seminary, the Moscow Spiritual School did not want to see either one or the other in its ranks, as it was written in the papers, what they mean by this, I don’t know, maybe the same records with a patrepon played a role in a role, but it was written “it was denied, due to excessive secularism”.

Those who refused, to whom in the end, they refused with this very wording. But Vladyka Nikolai loved the music, loved all his life. He was a frequent visitor to the opera Theater in Gorky, then Nizhny Novgorod and knew very well classical music, loved the opera. Then study in Leningrad, in Leningrad Theological Schools, then ordained, he accepted the Holy San of the Lord Gabriel Ogorodnikov.

He served in Cherepovets for some time and was a healing deacon, and then became a novice in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. As they say, his tonsure was, of course, not a reason, but the reason for the laurel to be closed. Then he was an inspector in the Saratov Theological Seminary, which after the war existed for some time, and already from the inspectors he was called up to another service, ordained bishops and was directed to where he probably never thought to be, he was a Mukachev bishop.

It is impossible to imagine. This is a territory that has recently become part of the USSR. The Uniates and Vladyka Nikolai, who had absolutely nothing to do with Ukraine, and Mukachevo became part of Ukraine, Western Ukraine, but this special Western Ukraine gets there. And three years, not for long, but served in a rich man in the diocese, in which there are more parishes, and if my memory serves me, 11 monasteries.

You can imagine. He recalled this, recalled how he came to the parish, looked - lies a ministry at the analo, the Uniate official, of course, with the commemoration of the Roman dad, he tried to replace him with the Moscow press service, but barely carried his feet. Well, otherwise everything is fine. And after the Mukachevsky diocese, it is transferred to Omsk, Omsk and Tyumen.

It is enough to look at the map in order to be horrified to how much this diocese was: 15 parishes, 7, if the memory serves, in Omsk, 8 in Tyumen or vice versa, which is not significant, and this is after these 15 parishes. What do you think? It is full of energy, full of strength. And he begins to patch the roofs, do something else. And then there was such a crocodile magazine, he specialized in the priests, in the bishops, so as not to write about them in Pravda, a lot of honor, they wrote in the Crocodile.

Well, of course, notes came out. Now it is impossible to read this without any disgust, and then it was normal: how did Nikolai with his “minions” normally “priests” were impossible to write something there, what church cash desks are doing ... Despite the fact that Vladyka Nicholas was a perfect uncraciner. He had a love of ancient things. He wore glasses in an old frame, he had a collection of wall clocks at home, which all showed the wrong time for one simple reason, otherwise they would all beat in one minute and it would be terrible cacophony.

So he loved, loved the antiquity in the good sense of the word, he was not a retrograde, he was always a very modern person, all the years of his life, but he loved thoroughness, perhaps he was a very thorough person, he loved thoroughness in people. When he saw a person who was unanimous to him, of course, rejoiced that someone thinks the same way as him. Well, Omsk, a huge diocese, and then Rostov, near which he almost died.

In Rostov, this is a very important, indicative case for me, he himself told how he once served in Novocherkassk. It was, as I understand it, on the throne holiday, there is the Pokrovsky Cathedral, the Cossack Cathedral, a huge cathedral, and this cathedral is located in the square, there is no fence or fence, just nothing, it stands in the middle of the square, there is neither a church house, there is no opportunity to hide to priests and parishioners.

And then they were ordered to hide. On the eve of the holiday, an authorized person comes, if anyone does not know what it was, it was such a special official, was called the “Council for Religious Affairs” body, and in this council they decided whether one or another priest or the deacon to serve, where he will serve, allow him to register or not.Well, such questions.

They decided to give the opportunity to fix the roof for the gathered money or let it flow on the head. And then the Commissioner comes and says: “Nikolai Vasilievich ...”, but they loved him, Nikolai Vasilievich, he will really understand, “Nikolai Vasilievich, tomorrow, I know, you are supposed to go around the temple, the procession - so that there is nothing.” Well, the lord, and he was a very direct person in such cases, says: “I have a church charter, and I choose a charter between you and the charter, which should obey unconditionally.” The next day, the liturgy, the procession around the temple.

They go down to the meal, and there is already a telegram to "take control of another diocese." And, of course, it was not just that he was aware that you are working, you are doing, and they beat you for it. Then there was Vladimir. He was the Vladimir Archbishop. Vladimir is an ancient city, one of the most ancient cities in Rus', thereby the attention to the bishop from the bosses was very, very close.

Then, in those years, Andrei Tarkovsky shot his wonderful film “Andrei Rublev” in Vladimir, the filming was also in the Assumption Cathedral, and something happened during the filming, there was a fire. By the way, they also wrote about this in the journal Crocodile, I myself read a note about it after years, of course. This note was repented by the director, because "that's how he was inaccurately making his film." After the fire, the local authorities decided to close the cathedral for restoration if they closed, who knows how many decades this restoration would have continued.

Then, of course, they would open it, but in whatever it would be, this pearl, one of the main cathedrals of the Russian Church? This was completely impossible to admit. I don’t know where the letters came from, I don’t know who wrote them, I don’t know who initiated, but there were many letters, the letters were in the Central Committee, and the Government, and even in the United Nations.

And they decided to meet the requests of the workers of the city of Vladimir - not to close the cathedral. But Vladyka, of course, could not forgive this in any way, he was transferred to Kaluga, for some time he was the Kaluga bishop, and then to Gorky.