priest (priest) of the Most High God )
To talk about God, Faith and salvation in such a way that one may never even mention Him,
and everything becomes clear to readers, listeners and viewers, and this brings joy to the soul...
I once wanted to save the world, then my diocese, then my village...
And now I remember the words of St. Seraphimushka:
“Save yourself, and thousands around you will be saved”!
So simple, and so unattainable...
Father Alexander Dyachenko
(b. 1960) - in the photo below,
Russian man, married, simple, no military
And I answered the Lord my God that I would go to the Goal through suffering...
Priest Alexander Dyachenko,
photo from the deanonymization meeting of a network blogger
Contents of the storybook "Crying angel". Read online!
- Miracles ( Miracles #1: Healing cancer patients) (with the addition of the story "Sacrifice")
- Present (butt trainer)
- New Year ( with added stories: Wake , Image and Eternal Music)
- My universities (10 years on hardware No. 1)
- (with added story)
- Crying angel (with added story)
- Best Love Song (A German found himself married to a Russian - he found Love and Death)
- Kuzmich ( with added story)
- Shreds (full version, including the story of Tamara's meeting with I.V.Stalin )
- Dedication (To God, Ordination-1)
- Intersections (with added story)
- Miracles (Miracles #2: The Smell of the Abyss and a Talking Cat)
- The flesh is one ( Wife priest - how to become a mother? With addition:)
Joke
Be like children (with added story)
In the circle of light (with added story)
Valya, Valentina, what’s wrong with you now...
Crown (Father Paul-3)
love thy neighbour
Climbing
Time doesn't wait (Bogolyubovsky Procession + Grodno-4) (with additional story “I love Grodno” - Grodno-6)
Time has passed!
The all-conquering power of Love
Meeting(with Sergey Fudel) ( with the addition of the story "The Makropoulos Remedy")
Every breath... (with added story)
Heroes and exploits
Gehazi's curse (with added story)
Father Frost (with added micro-story)
Deja vu
Children's prayer (Ordination-3, with added story)
Good deeds
Soulkeeper (O. Victor, special forces father, story No. 1)
For a life
Boomerang Law ( with added story)
Hollywood star
Icon
And the eternal battle... (with added story)
(10 years on hardware No. 2)
From the experience of railway theology
Mason (with added story)
Quasimodo
Princes ( with added story)
Lullaby (Gypsies-3)
Foundation stone(Grodno-1) ( with added story - Grodno-2)
Red poppies of Issyk-Kul
You can't see face to face...
Small man
Metamorphoses
A world where dreams come true
Mirages
Mishka and Marishka
My first teacher (Father Paul-1)
My friend Vitka
Guys (with added story)
In war as in war (O. Victor, special forces father, story No. 6)
Our dreams (with added story)
Don't bow down, little head...
Scampish notes (Bulgaria)
New Year's story
Nostalgia
About two meetings with Father Alexander “in real life”
(Father Paul-2)
(O. Victor, special forces father, story No. 2)
Turn off mobile phones
Fathers and Sons ( with the addition of the story "Grandfather")
Web
First love
Letter to Zoritsa
Letter from childhood (with the addition of the story "The Jewish Question")
Present (about happiness as a gift)
Bow (Grodno-3) (with the addition of the story “Hercules’ Disease” - Grodno-5)
The provision obliges (with the addition of a story - Victor Island, No. 4 and 8)
Epistle to Philemon
(Wolf Messing)
Offer
Overcoming (with the addition of a story - Father Viktor, special forces father, No. 3 and 7)
About Adam
Road checks (with added story)
Clearance ( Ciurlionis)
Radonitsa
The happiest day
Fairy tale
(10 years on hardware No. 3)
Neighbours (Gypsies-1)
Old things (with added story)
Old nags (with added stories and)
Passion-face (Gypsies-2)
Three meetings
Difficult question
Poor
Lesson (Ordination-2)
Feng Shui, or heart stone disease
Chechen syndrome (O. Victor, special forces father, story No. 5)
What to do? (Old Believers)
These eyes are opposite (with added stories and)
I did not participate in the war...
My tongue... my friend?...
Even if you read stories and essays father of Alexander Dyachenko on the Internet (online), it will be a good thing if you buy the corresponding offline publications ( paper books) Father Alexander and give it to all your friends who don’t read anything online (sequentially, first to one, then to another). This is a good thing!
A little about simple stories Russian priest Alexander Dyachenko
Father Alexander is a simple Russian priest with the usual biography of a simple Russian man:
- was born, studied, served, married, worked (working on the "iron" for 10 years),... remained a man.
Father Alexander came to the Christian faith as an adult. He was very “hooked” by Christ. And somehow little by little ( siga-siga - as the Greeks say, because they love this thorough approach ), unnoticed, unexpectedly, he turned out to be a Priest, a Servant of the Lord at His Throne.
Just as unexpectedly, he suddenly became a “spontaneous” writer. I just saw so many significant, providential and wonderful things around me that I began to write down the life observations of a simple Russian person in the “akyn” style. And being a wonderful storyteller and a real Russian person with a mysteriously deep and wide Russian soul, which also knew the Light of Christ in His Church, he began to reveal in his stories a Russian and Christian view of our beautiful life in this world, as a place of Love , labor, sorrows and victories, in order to benefit all people from their humble unworthiness.
Here is the summary from the book "Crying angel" Father Alexander Dyachenko about the same:
Bright, modern and unusually deep stories by Father Alexander fascinate readers from the first lines. What is the author's secret? In truth. In the truth of life. He clearly sees what we have learned not to notice - what causes us inconvenience and troubles our conscience. But here, in the shadow of our attention, there is not only pain and suffering. It is here that there is unspeakable joy that leads us to the Light.A little biography Priest Alexander Dyachenko
“The advantage of a simple worker is a free head!”
At a meeting with readers Father Alexander Dyachenko told us a little about himself, about his path to faith.- The dream of becoming a military sailor did not come true - Father Alexander graduated from the Agricultural Institute in Belarus. Almost 10 years on railway worked as a train compiler, has the highest qualification category. "The main advantage of a simple worker is a free head",” Father Alexander Dyachenko shared his experience. At that time, he was already a believer, and after the “railway stage” of his life he entered the St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute in Moscow, after which he was ordained a priest. Today, Father Alexander Dyachenko already has 11 years of priesthood behind him, a lot of experience in communicating with people, and many stories.
"The truth of life as it is"
Conversation with priest Alexander Dyachenko, blogger and writer
"LiveJournal", LJ alex_the_priest, Father Alexander Dyachenko, who serves in one of the churches in the “distant” Moscow region, is not like ordinary network blogs. Readers in the priest’s notes are attracted and captivated by something that certainly should not be looked for on the Internet - the truth of life as it is, and not as it appears in virtual space or political debates.
Father Alexander became a priest only at the age of 40; as a child he dreamed of being a naval sailor, and graduated from the Agricultural Institute in Belarus. For more than ten years he worked on the railroad as a simple worker. Then he went to study at the Orthodox St. Tikhon's Humanities University, was ordained 11 years ago.
The works of Father Alexander - apt life sketches - are popular on the Internet and are also published in the weekly magazine “My Family”. In 2010, the publishers of Nikeya selected 24 essays from the priest’s LJ and published the collection “The Weeping Angel.” A second book is also being prepared - this time the writer himself will choose the stories that will be included in it. Father Alexander told the Pravoslavie.ru portal about his creativity and plans for the future.
- Judging by your stories in LiveJournal, your path to the priesthood was long and difficult. What was your path to writing? Why did you decide to immediately publish everything on the Internet?
By chance. I must admit, I am not a “technical” person at all. But my children somehow decided that I was too behind the times, and showed me that there is a “Live Journal” on the Internet, where you can write down some notes.
But still, nothing happens by chance in life. I recently turned 50 years old and it’s been 10 years since I became a priest. And I felt the need to draw some conclusions, to somehow comprehend my life. Everyone experiences this crucial moment in life, for some - at 40 years old, for me - at 50, when it’s time to decide what you are. And all this gradually resulted in writing: some memories came, at first I wrote small notes, and then whole stories began to appear. And when the same youth taught me to take the text into LJ “under the cut”, then I could not limit my thoughts...
I recently calculated that I've written about 130 stories over the past two years, which means I've been writing more than once a week during that time. This surprised me - I didn’t expect this from myself; Something, apparently, was moving me, and if, despite the usual lack of time for a priest, I still managed to write something, then it was necessary... Now I plan to take a break until Easter - and then we’ll see. I honestly never know if I'll write the next story or not. If I don’t have a need, a need to tell a story, I’ll drop it all at once.
- All your stories are written in the first person. Are they autobiographical?
Priest Alexander Dyachenko: The events that are described are all real. But as for the form of presentation, writing in the first person was somehow closer to me, I probably can’t do it any other way. After all, I am not a writer, but a village priest.
Some stories are truly biographical, but since this did not all happen to me specifically, I am writing under a pseudonym, but on behalf of the priest. For me, every story is very important, even if it didn’t happen to me personally - after all, we also learn from our parishioners, and throughout our lives...
And at the end of the stories I always specifically write a conclusion (the moral of the essay), such that everything is put in its place. It’s still important to show: look, you can’t go to a red light, but you can go to a green light. My stories are, first and foremost, a sermon...
- Why did you choose such a direct form of entertaining everyday stories for preaching?
Priest Alexander Dyachenko: So that anyone who reads the Internet or opens a book still reads it to the end. So that some simple situation, which he is used to not noticing in ordinary life, would excite him, awaken him a little. And maybe next time, having encountered similar events himself, he will look towards the temple...
Many readers later admitted to me that they began to perceive priests and the Church differently. After all, a priest is often like a monument to people. It is impossible to turn to him, it is scary to approach him. And if they see in my story a living preacher who also feels, worries, who tells them about the secret, then maybe it will be easier for them to come to the realization of the need for a confessor in their life...
I don't see any kind of certain group people from the flock... But I have a lot of hope for the young people, so that they can also understand.
Young people perceive the world differently than people of my generation. They have different habits, a different language. Of course, we will not copy their behavior or expressions in the sermons in the temple. But when preaching in the world, I think you can speak a little of their language!
-Have you had a chance to see the fruits of your missionary message?
Priest Alexander Dyachenko: I didn’t suspect, to be honest, that there would be so many readers. But now there is modern means connections, they write comments to me on the blog, often meaningless, and I also receive letters to the newspaper “My Family”, where my stories are published. It would seem that the newspaper, as they say, is “for housewives”; people read it simple people, busy with everyday life, children, household problems - and from them I was especially happy to receive feedback that the stories made me think about what the Church is and what it is like.
- However, on the Internet, no matter what you write about, you can get comments that are not very favorable...
Father Alexander: Still, the response is important to me. Otherwise I wouldn't be interested in writing...
—Have you ever heard gratitude from your regular parishioners in the church for your writing?
Father Alexander: They, I hope, don’t know that I also write stories - after all, in many ways, the everyday stories I hear from them make me write something down again!
- What if they run out? entertaining stories from life experience, will they be exhausted?
Priest Alexander Dyachenko: Some quite ordinary situations can be very insightful - and then I write them down. I don't write, my main task is priestly. While this is in line with my activities as a priest, I write. I don’t know whether I’ll write another story tomorrow.
It's like an honest conversation with your interlocutor. Often, at a parish after the Liturgy, the community gathers, and over the meal everyone tells something in turn, shares problems, or impressions, or joy - this is the result of sermon after sermon.
- Do you yourself confess to the reader? Does writing strengthen you spiritually?
Priest Alexander Dyachenko: Yes, it turns out that you are opening yourself. If you write while hiding, no one will believe you. Each story carries within itself the presence of a person on whose behalf the story is told. If it’s funny, then the author himself laughs, if it’s sad, then he cries.
For me, my notes are an analysis of myself, an opportunity to sum up some conclusions and tell myself: here you are right, and here you were wrong. Somewhere this is an opportunity to ask for forgiveness from those whom you have offended, but in reality it is no longer possible to ask for forgiveness. Maybe the reader will see how bitter it is later, and will not repeat some of the mistakes that we make every day, or at least think about it. Even if not right away, let him remember years later - and go to church. Although in life it happens differently, because so many people still gather and never come to the temple. And my stories are addressed to them too.
Priest Alexander Dyachenko: Holy Bible . If we don't read it daily, we will end as Christians right away. If we live by our own mind and do not feed ourselves on the Holy Scripture like bread, then all our other books will lose their meaning!
If it’s difficult to read, let him not be too lazy to come to church for classes and conversations about the Holy Scriptures, which, I hope, every parish conducts... If the Reverend Seraphim of Sarov I read every day Gospel, even though I knew it by heart, what should we say?
All that we, priests, write - all this should push such a person to begin reading the Holy Scriptures. In that the main task the entire church community fiction and journalism.
Priest Alexander Dyachenko: Well, firstly, at the church we are collecting our parish library, in which everyone who applies can get something they need and something modern that is not only useful, but interesting to read. So for advice, including about literature, do not hesitate to turn to a priest.
In general, there is no need to be afraid of having a confessor: you definitely need to choose one specific person, even if he is often busy and sometimes he will “brush off” you, but it is better if you still go to the same priest - and gradually personal contact with him will be established.
Priest Alexander Dyachenko: It's hard to choose just one. In general, as I grew older, I began to read less fiction; you begin to appreciate reading spiritual books. But recently, for example, I opened it again Remark “Love your neighbor”- and I saw that this was the same Gospel, only presented in everyday terms...
With priest Alexander Dyachenko
talked Antonina Maga- February 23, 2011 - pravoslavie.ru/guest/44912.htm
The first book, a collection of stories, by priest Alexander Dyachenko "Crying angel" published by the Nikeya publishing house, Moscow, 2011, 256 pp., printed paper, pocket format.
Father Alexander Dyachenko has a hospitable LJ blog- alex-the-priest.livejournal.com on the Internet.
“Scholia” is the ancient word Archpriest Alexander Dyachenko used to call his first novel, which he presented to St. Petersburg readers on February 18 in the Bookvoed store. "Scholia" translated from Greek means "a small commentary in the margins or between the lines of an ancient or medieval manuscript."
The literary work of Father Alexander Dyachenko is familiar to readers from books published by the Nikeya publishing house; the priest’s stories are known to users social networks on the Internet, but few people know that Dyachenko is the literary pseudonym of Archpriest Alexander Bragar, rector of the Church of the Tikhvin Icon Mother of God in the village of Ivanovo, Alexander diocese. At a meeting in Bukvoed, Father Alexander said that in fact, Dyachenko is the old surname of his family according to male line, and Bragar is a kind of pseudonym. Once upon a time his ancestors, who lived on Western Ukraine, fled from persecution of the Orthodox, and were sheltered by the landowner Bragar, who endowed the family with his surname. When Father Alexander began to publish his stories, he used his family name to, in his words, “disguise himself” in the everyday parish environment, thus sharing his priestly ministry and his passion for writing.
Previously, Nikea published three collections of stories by Archpriest Alexander Dyachenko. According to the father, “ The short story format is good because it attracts those who don’t like “a lot of beeches.” When I wrote them down, I simply recorded real events, meetings with people - everything that captured the heart».
Father Alexander admitted that "Scholia" is his first, and perhaps only novel.. When asked why, he answered: “ Because I am not a writer, I am a priest, writing a large and truly literary work requires special knowledge, skills that I do not possess. My stories are sketches real events, there is nothing fictitious in them, and in a novel you cannot do without a certain amount of fantasy. Scholium is a rich, beautiful, ancient word. I write my notes and impressions on the margins of people's lives. Everyone who reads with me leaves their scholia in the margins of the book».
The novel was written in a collaboration of five authors, not all of whom knew each other personally. It began with the manuscript of a woman, an altar attendant in the church where the author of the book serves. " I could not even imagine that a man lives so close to me, whose grandfather is a real asceticXX century!“- noted the priest. This woman is very wise and strong. She survived the tragedy that played out in the family, and being on the verge of life and death, she found the strength to write about her grandfather in order to leave a mark in the history of the family, in the memory of her grandson.
Her grandfather, a simple peasant, endowed with a fiery love for God, had a tremendous influence on the spiritual appearance of not only the family, but the entire region. When the Bolsheviks destroyed churches, God-loving simpletons came to him for consolation and strengthening. " “I kept thinking,” Father Alexander said at a meeting in “Bukvoed,” “how different we are from them - pure, deep, sincere people Russian outback the middle of the last century - our grandfathers and fathers. I think their sincerity is what we miss!»
On the memories of the 20th century ascetic, the priest superimposed the story of his friends, whose daughter had an accident, and through this ordeal the whole family came to God. As Father Alexander said, according to reader reviews, it is clear that the roll call of the destinies of people who walked in various ways, but who have found one priceless treasure - faith, is perceived organically, like a roll call of generations, reminding that everyone is alive with God. In this sense, he really likes the tradition of Orthodox Serbs to write single memorial notes “dead and alive.”
At the presentation, Father Alexander was asked questions about how did he become a clergyman, what did he like to read?
« In life, it is very important not to take someone else’s place. Having read the books of the marine painter V.V. Konetsky, since childhood I wanted to be a military sailor, but did not pass medical commission at school. I decided, in order not to waste time, to study at some university, but one where there is less competition - after all, I just have to hold out until spring, and then enroll in the navy again. I entered the Agricultural Institute (due to minimal competition), and when I started studying, I became seriously interested in applied biology. It was so interesting to study it that I forgot about the officer’s dream. On March 8, I defended my diploma and went on assignment. On the day of my arrival, a young conscript soldier brought from Afghan war"load-200". He was wounded in the stomach just on March 8, and at one time he entered the same faculty where, out of nothing to do, I entered. That is, everything should have been the other way around, and I took the place of that soldier.
The memory of this remained for life. I’ve been a priest for 16 years now, and I still feel uneasy, am I taking someone else’s place? Do I have the right to the priesthood? The older you get, the more you understand what shrine you come into contact with when serving the Liturgy. This, in my opinion, good feeling- examination of one’s conscience gives rise to reverence for the holy».
One of the readers asked me to answer, How to relate to aggression, anger, which is becoming more and more around?
« Irritation is the background of human existence. Moreover, we live normally, there are no starving people, but we are so envious and insatiable, and they also encourage us from the screen: “Live to the fullest! Demand it! You deserve it!” Our life is a boomerang: what we launch will come back. An example of selfless love for neighbors is Dr. Fyodor Petrovich Gaaz, a Catholic, for whose funeral all the St. Petersburg Orthodox clergy gathered! On his grave there is a monument - shackles, designed by him to minimize the pain caused to the prisoners. To love the image of God in every shackle like he does is an example for any Christian. Hatred corrodes, in spite of it we must do good».
« Father Alexander Dyachenko is a wonderful priest because a real priest always preaches, and he answered every question from the audience with a full-fledged sermon. Today we heard about a dozen short sermons - balanced, edifying and very interesting. May God grant that the people who heard them receive the benefit that is within their power.
I became acquainted with the work of Father Alexander from the book “In the Circle of Light,” which I read right away, admired, found on the Internet all the possible stories of the father, his “Live Journal,” read and admired even more.
Why was I so attracted to the work of Father Alexander? Much of what he writes is familiar, even some facts from his life are akin to me, because I was baptized at about 30 years old, like him, and ordained at the age of 40. Everything is the same, only with a difference of 15 years. Even the fact that he has a friend - a priest, a former special forces soldier - coincides, because I am a former hand-to-hand combat instructor. Everything is native, and even written in good Russian, with warmth - what could you ask for better?
Works written by a priest are read differently by the laity and his colleagues in the priestly ministry. A layman looks at the events described in the book from the outside. The priest sees in them stories from his practice, only well written. Yes, indeed, for some reason one grandmother manages to wait for the priest rushing to her for the last confession, but the other does not. A man came to confession for the first time, and in an incomprehensible state, but he brought his pain, and how to deal with him, how to help? This professional exchange of experience in parish practice, which is not taught in the seminary, is very useful.
“Popovskaya prose” is a unique genre that is interesting not only to believers. Nowadays the so-called " great literature“usually creates aesthetic nonsense, playing with words, describing, as a rule, disgusting passions. Fiction and fantasy immerse you in a too fictitious world. The priest hardly invents anything; his soul does not dare to write outright fiction. As a rule, the priest describes reality so that it becomes alive, and this is precisely what is missing in popular culture now» .
Anna Barkhatova , correspondent for Russian People's Line
I dedicate this book to my dear granddaughter Elizabeth and to everyone who was born in the first years of the twenty-first century - with hope and love.
© Dyachenko Alexander, priest, 2011
© Nikeya Publishing House, 2011
All rights reserved. No part electronic version This book may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet and corporate networks, for private and public use without the written permission of the copyright owner.
©The electronic version of the book was prepared by liters company (www.litres.ru)
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Road checks
Shortly before my New Year good friend sad news has arrived. In one of the small towns of the neighboring region, his friend was killed. As soon as I found out, I immediately rushed there. It turned out that it was nothing personal. Big, strong man about fifty years old, returning home late at night, I saw four young guys trying to rape a girl. He was a warrior, a real warrior, who went through many hot spots.
He stood up without hesitation and immediately rushed into battle. He fought off the girl, but someone contrived and stabbed him in the back. The blow turned out to be fatal. The girl decided that now they would kill her too, but they didn’t. Said:
- Live for now. One night was enough, and they left.
When my friend returned, I tried as best I could to express my condolences to him, but he replied:
- Don't console me. Such death for my friend is a reward. It would be difficult to dream of a better death for him. I knew him well, we fought together. There is a lot of blood on his hands, maybe not always justified. After the war he did not live very well. You understand what time it was. It took me a long time to convince him to be baptized, and, thank God, he was baptized not so long ago. The Lord took him to the most glorious death for a warrior: on the battlefield, protecting the weak. A beautiful Christian demise.
I listened to my friend and remembered an incident that happened to me.
Then there was a war in Afghanistan. In the active army, due to losses, it was necessary to make urgent replacements. Career officers from the units were transferred there, and in their places reserve officers were called up for a period of two years. Not long before, I returned from the army and found myself among these “lucky ones.” Thus, I had to repay my debt to the Motherland twice.
But since military unit, where I served was not very far from my home, then everything turned out well for us. I often came home on weekends. My daughter was a little over a year old, my wife did not work, and the salaries of officers were good then.
I had to travel home by train. Sometimes in military uniform, sometimes in civilian life. One day, it was in the fall, I was returning to my unit. I arrived at the station about thirty minutes before the electric train arrived. It was getting dark, it was cool. Most of the passengers were sitting inside the station. Some were dozing, some were talking quietly. There were many men and young people.
Suddenly, quite suddenly, the station door swung open and a young girl ran towards us. She pressed her back against the wall near the cash register and, stretching out her hands towards us, shouted:
- Help, they want to kill us!
Immediately at least four young people run after her and shout: “You won’t leave! It's the end of you! – they press this girl into a corner and begin to strangle her. Then another guy literally drags another guy like him into the waiting room by the collar, and she screams in a heartbreaking voice: “Help!” Imagine this picture.
Back then, there was usually a policeman on duty at the station, but that day, as if on purpose, he was not there. The people sat and looked frozen at all this horror.
Among everyone who was in the waiting room, I was the only one wearing the military uniform of an aviation senior lieutenant. If I had been a civilian then, I would hardly have gotten up, but I was in uniform.
I get up and hear the grandmother sitting next to me exhale:
- Son! Don't go, they'll kill you!
But I had already gotten up and couldn’t sit back. I still ask myself the question: how did I decide? Why? If this had happened today, I probably wouldn’t have gotten up. But this is who I am today wise minnow, and then? After all, I myself had Small child. Who would feed him then? And what could I do? I could have fought with one more hooligan, but I couldn’t stand against five for even a minute, they would have simply smashed me.
He walked up to them and stood between the guys and girls. I remember getting up and standing, what else could I do? And I also remember that none of the other men supported me.
Luckily for me, the guys stopped and became silent. They didn’t say anything to me, and no one hit me even once, they just looked at me with some kind of respect or surprise.
Then, as if on command, they turned their backs to me and left the station building. The people were silent. The girls disappeared unnoticed. There was silence, and I found myself the center of everyone's attention. Having experienced a moment of glory, he became embarrassed and also tried to leave quickly.
I walk along the platform and - imagine my surprise - I see this whole company of young people, but no longer fighting, but walking in an embrace!
It dawned on me - they were playing a prank on us! Maybe they had nothing to do, and while waiting for the train, they had fun, or maybe they bet that no one would intercede. Don't know.
Then I went to the unit and thought: “But I didn’t know that the guys were joking with us, I really stood up.” Then I was still far from faith, from the Church. He hadn't even been baptized yet. But I realized that I was being tested. Someone was looking at me then. As if he was asking: how would you behave in such circumstances? They simulated the situation, completely protecting me from any risk, and watched.
We are constantly being peered at. When I ask myself why I became a priest, I cannot find an answer. My opinion is that a candidate for the priesthood must still be a person of very high moral standing. He must comply with all the conditions and canons historically imposed by the Church on a future priest. But if you consider that I was only baptized at thirty, and before that time I lived like everyone else, then like it or not I came to the conclusion that He simply had no one to choose from.
He looks at us like a housewife sorting through badly damaged cereal, hoping to finally cook something, or like a carpenter who needs to nail a few more planks, but has run out of nails. Then he takes the bent and rusty ones, straightens them and tries: will they work? I, too, am probably such a rusty nail, and so are many of my brothers who came to the Church in the wake of the early nineties. We are a generation of church builders. Our task is to restore churches, open seminaries, and teach the new generation of believing boys and girls who will replace us. We cannot be saints, our limit is sincerity in our relationship with God, our parishioner is most often a suffering person. And most often we cannot help him with our prayers, we are not strong enough, the most we can do is only share his pain with him.
We are laying the foundation for a new state of the Church, emerging from persecution and getting used to living in a period of creative creation. Those for whom we work must come to the soil we prepare and grow in holiness. That’s why, when I give Holy Communion to babies, I look at their faces with such interest. What will you choose, baby, cross or bread?
What is this book about?
And in the 90s, together with my beloved and loving husband- help the priest restore the temple from ruins. All of Nadezhda Ivanovna’s memories were written down in notebooks and placed in a book in almost untouched form. And then other stories seem to be “strung” onto these recordings - those of parishioners and Father Alexander himself. Joyful and terribly sad...
Read completelyWhat is this book about?
In the center of the story is the fate of one of the parishioners of the temple in Vladimir region, where Father Alexander serves. Many difficult and tragic things befell her: a hungry childhood in a distant post-revolutionary village, war, devastation, persecution of the Church, the loss of her only daughter, then her grandson...
But despite all the difficult trials, one cannot say about the heroine of the story, Nadezhda Ivanovna, that her life was tragic and that she unlucky man. Raised in a poor but very friendly believing family, from childhood she carried in her heart that joy of being and gratitude to the Lord for every day she lived, which gave her the strength to endure everything.
And in the 90s, together with my beloved and loving husband, I helped my father restore the temple from ruins. All of Nadezhda Ivanovna’s memories were written down in notebooks and placed in a book in almost untouched form. And then other stories seem to be “strung” onto these recordings - those of parishioners and Father Alexander himself. Joyful and terribly sad, funny and creepy, they form the second line of the book - scholia - i.e. notes in the margins.
Who is this book for?
For those who appreciate the author's sincere intonation, who expect genuine human stories, warmth, consolation and, most importantly, love for people from prose.
Why did we decide to publish this book?
Firstly, because it was written by Father Alexander Dyachenko. And this is always a joy for readers, because meeting, even just on the pages of a book, with a real priest who deeply and compassionately loves his parishioners is for many a strengthening of faith and consolation. Secondly, because, despite the abundance of literature on bookshelves, a truly living, warm word that is close to everyone is still a rarity. Father Alexander knows how to convey such a word.
"Highlight" of the book
“Scholia” is an unusual story: it contains independent and integral stories, the priest’s stories about his parishioners, friends, himself and his loved ones are a kind of comprehension, a detailed commentary on another line of the story - the diary of Nadezhda Ivanovna, a religious woman with a very difficult fate. The lines intertwine, like threads, into a single whole, revealing amazing connections that exist between people who seem to be completely strangers - not related by family ties, even living in different time, - but “for eternal memory there will be a righteous person.”
about the author
Archpriest Alexander Dyachenko - priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, rector of the church in honor of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Ivanovo, Vladimir region. Graduated from the Orthodox St. Tikhon Institute. Bachelor of Theology. Actively involved in missionary and educational work. Published in the All-Russian weekly "My Family". Author of several books, including "The Weeping Angel" and "In the Circle of Light", previously published by Nicaea.
Approved for distribution by the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church IS R15-507-0385.