1942, my mother got off the train with me and my suitcase in knitted slippers

I was born in 1939. This year it’s already 79 years, it’s hard to even imagine such a figure; next year it will be 80. During this time, our world, our lives, of course, have changed a lot.

Probably, first of all, it would be necessary to say about your origin - it is the simplest. My mom and dad are from different villages - Moscow and Tula regions, everything is nearby.

My parents separated quite early, even before the start of the war, in 1941, and my mother took care of me alone. She gave birth to me at the age of 28; apparently, initially she didn’t really love my father, but, like any woman at that age, she wanted to have a child. We lived in one room in a shared apartment, not far from here on Serpukhovka. Mom was a drawing and drawing teacher, she worked at a school right there in Zamoskvorechye.

The war has begun. 1941, summer. Bombings and stuff. I’m telling all this from my mother’s words, but, of course, I don’t remember. But I remember that we were lying on the bed, the spotlights flashed outside the window, and something shook. Mom said that she decided to evacuate. All Muscovites were offered to do this.

In July 1941, she left with me, one and a half years old. The place of evacuation was Bashkiria, some village. There she organized classes for children. While it was summer, everything was fine, but when autumn came, and then winter, all the children sat at home, because it was cold, there was snow, and the children did not have felt boots.

So there was no one to work with and there was nothing to live on. Usually, when people left for evacuation, they took all sorts of clothes with them, so that they could later exchange them for food. When everything had already been changed, and there was nothing more left, she desperately decided to return to Moscow.

This decision was made in December 1941, when the Germans were slightly pushed back from Moscow. Once we got to Arzamas on the crossroads, and on the way there was an incident that she talked about all her life.

In some city she changed trains and boarded a train, which everyone boarded. Some men began to offer help to the women: “Let’s take the baby, it’s hard for you with a child, with a suitcase. Give us the baby, and you sit down with the suitcase.” Several mothers handed over their children, and the men sat with them. And women are no longer allowed in with suitcases.

There were about 8-10 of these mothers left on the platform, they sat down, drove off, the conductors pushed them, raised such a terrible cry that the driver heard and stopped. They called the police, the police came, they said: “You want to sit down by deception. Children? You're lying. Now we will put you in prison." Mom says: “I’m walking along the carriage, a policeman is leading me along the carriage, and you are already sitting on the third shelf, in your hands a piece of sugar, and from there from the third shelf: “Mom, mom is coming!” What more proof do you need? It worked out.

When we arrived in Arzamas, we had to change trains to Moscow, but it is clear that there was no return from evacuation, it only began somewhere in 1944, that is, she left illegally. She was told that there were no trains to Moscow. She stands completely confused with me in her arms, a suitcase. What to do?

And all her life she considered this moment to be God’s intervention, although until she was 70 years old, my mother classified herself as an unbeliever. Some man passes by her and seems to say to himself: “We can get to Moscow with a military train.” Where is this military echelon, how to look for the military echelon? Station, many ways. And she went to look somewhere. How I found it, I don’t know...

It's so warm there open doors, the soldiers are sitting, she says: “Guys, take me to Moscow, I’m with the child.” The guys say: “Maybe, really, we’ll take the aunt. Somewhere around here, too, wives are messing around with their children, maybe someone will help them too. Let's". She went and left me with a suitcase somewhere with a woman. She remembers: “How I found you later is completely incomprehensible.” In general, she got into this car, drove to Moscow, got out there, and the soldiers lined up in a column, saying: “Stand up in the middle for now. There’s a checkpoint there so they don’t see you.”

I walked out onto the square of the Kursk station wearing knitted house slippers, because my felt boots had been stolen along the way; it was already January 1942. Let's go home. Thank God that the house was not bombed, the house remained. I walked in, the windows were broken, it was winter.

Mom says: “I took out some plywood, a blanket, stuffed it somehow, took out clean sheets, and lay down. And I was so happy that I was at home in my clean bed!” I’m just telling this so that it’s clear what time it was.

Then I went, but still with cards. How to buy? I haven't settled into school yet. I went to the house management. They say to her: “Why have you come? Go where you came from. There are no cards, no work, nothing.” “You go yourself,” he says. “How can I go back there with my child?”

Fortunately, after two weeks she managed to get a job at the school where she worked. And for two weeks she went with me to the bakery, asked for alms, and then they gave me not money, but bread. The bread was weighed, cut into 400 gram pieces, if there was a little extra weight left, it would be given to those who asked. We lived like this for two weeks. I remembered the proverb: don’t refuse scrip and prison.

And so it was.

Then somehow, when I got a job, everything worked out. Me in kindergarten determined. In general, everything has improved.

I have a love for all living things

One of my childhood memories, when I was still in school: we had a Gorky Park of Culture and Leisure nearby. There is a joke: “the central park of culture and bitter relaxation.” It was actually really good. I remember my mother and I were in the park; she worked part-time in the summer.

Father Alexander in childhood

The toy library, as they called it, gave out toys for children, and somehow I was grazing nearby. Someone caught a fish with such a net, lowered and raised, lowered and raised. And there were bleaks splashing, as I now understand. I asked, they gave it to me - these were my first animals at home in some kind of jar, then an aquarium. Then I had fish all the time, and now too. I have such a love for all living things.

I must say that I had no problem with who to be. For as long as I can remember, I was absolutely firmly convinced that I would be a biologist, a zoologist, or at least work with living creatures. I never had any troubles about who to become.

This is how my school years passed. In the summer there was the village of Novoivashkovo, where my mother took her to her cousins, everything was wonderful there. I went to the forest and picked berries. Now it’s even somehow strange, I was seven or eight years old - I went far into the forest alone, picking berries. He himself came up with an interesting custom: you need three berries, and the best ones, the red ones, you can’t leave the green ones under a leaf, as a kind of gratitude to the forest. Why three? Why leave? Apparently, something is built into what Jung called the “collective unconscious”, “sacrifice”, this is such a wonderful communication with the invisible world.

I also remember how the village kids were terribly amazed that I couldn’t swear. They carefully taught me: “Say this. Ha-ha-ha!”

In winter, the skating rink in the Park of Culture was wonderful, we went there almost every day. I often went to the bird market on Kalitnikovsky, the tram ran from Paveletsky station. I bought food and fish.

I went to KYUBZ - a circle of young biologists at the zoo. Many future zoologists went through it. There was also a parallel organization of VOOP - the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation. Father Alexander Men and Nikolai Nikolaevich Drozdov left there. There was the legendary leader of this youth group, Petr Petrovich Smolin, abbreviated as PPS. What good guys they were!

Friendship with Pavlik Men

But my whole life was determined by the fact that in the first grade I became friends with a boy named Pavlik Men. Somehow I really liked him, we lived in the same yard, I visited them almost every day. They had a lot of wonderful books, so thick. And the name is the Bible, and there are all sorts of wonderful illustrations in it, Dore, as I understand now.

In general, this family was my second home and shaped my whole life. He had an older brother, a handsome young man, unusually cheerful, witty, he sometimes appeared, flashed, I looked at him with admiration. This was the future father Alexander Men. Then we got to know each other better.

Despite the fact that I understood that this was a believing family, they had icons and everything else, at the same time I believed that this was their worldview, and I had my own.

And in 1958, two years after leaving school, I experienced conversion.

One summer in June (this was exactly 60 years ago) I was waiting at the Pushkino station for a train, looking at a wonderful sunset. And a strange thought came that it couldn’t be that all this beauty was just some combination of atoms, molecules, diffraction sunlight and so on, apparently there is something or maybe someone behind it.

If so, then everything that this wonderful family, which I loved like my own, believes in, exists, there is a God, and one must have some kind of relationship with him.

The next day I ran to Pavel and said: “Come on, tell me about your faith, what do you believe in, how, what, what?”

Of course, this was followed by my catechesis; at that time I was living at their dacha. They had a nice dacha, by chance my father bought it before the war, during the war some soldiers lived there, thank God they didn’t burn it down. It was in the village of Otdykh along the Kazan road.

There I was preparing to enter college, and at the same time preparing for baptism. He was baptized in July, that is, about a month after that evening at the station.

I read the Gospel, Pavlik’s mother taught me, she also taught Pavlik prayers. Of course, I didn’t tell my mother anything, God forbid. I was baptized by Father Nikolai Golubtsov, a wonderful Moscow priest, he served in the Church of the Deposition of the Robe on Donskaya Street.

In general, it must be said that Zamoskvorechye was a very fertile area, there were only 46 churches left in Moscow, and in Zamoskvorechye there were about five churches within walking distance on Yakimanka, on Donskaya Street, on Ordynka, on Novokuznetskaya.

Baptized in a basin, no font

Svetlana Alliluyeva wrote well about Father Nikolai Golubtsov in her book “Memoirs and 20 Letters to a Friend.” She also communicated with him and was baptized by him about two years before. It’s interesting that on the evening before baptism there was such a temptation that I remember.

Tomorrow I’m going to go get baptized, and I’m thinking: “Do I really believe? I probably don't believe it. I just see that the family I love so much really wants and will be happy if I get baptized. What is it, I am baptized only because of them? Something is probably wrong."

But suddenly I thought: “Stop! Once I’ve decided, that’s it, I’ll go.” And went. Later I realized that this was a typical temptation of dark forces.

Of course, they were baptized in a basin; there was no font like we have now. I can’t say that I experienced anything at that very moment. But the next day, when I opened the Gospel, I suddenly felt that before that I had read and everything was clear, but now it was as if some kind of veil had been lifted, some kind of muslin had been removed. This is what I can testify, an internal change has occurred.

I can’t say that I immediately became a zealous parishioner. I remember Pavel came to pick me up, we went to church together early in the morning on Sunday, came to his house, had dinner.

His aunt, his mother’s cousin, said: “Pavlik, you’re probably late for church? You left already late while you came to pick up Shurik.” “No, no, we came and sang the Lord’s Prayer.” And I thought that everything was in order, we were in time for the Lord’s Prayer. This is how life went on.

Entered the third year

That same year I entered the Plekhanov Institute. On the third attempt, because at that time Khrushchev put forward such a condition to deal with work experience. Therefore, people who had two years of work experience were admitted with C grades, and those who had no experience were eliminated with one B grade.

At first, of course, I entered the university at the Faculty of Biology, the Faculty of Biology, which was then called the Faculty of Biology and Soil Sciences, and there I received two A’s and two B’s, but did not pass the competition. Moreover, there was such a detail, in English they hesitated whether to give me an A or a B, they asked: “How” possessive case" translated into Russian?

But everything is already mixed up for me, I say: “Past tense.” Although the past tense has nothing to do with it, it possessive. They gave me a solid B, I didn’t pass the competition, what should I do? One word, and fate would have been completely different. Didn't get in.

The next year I decided to enter the fisheries institute, although the fisheries institute was considered the latest. But there was an ichthyology department there, and I wanted to study ichthyology. But even there, although I had already received three A’s and one B, I didn’t pass. And the guys after the army passed through in threes. What to do?

And in the third year I decided to enroll near my home at the Plekhanov Institute, on Strochenovsky Lane. There I also got my three A’s and one B, but I already had two years of experience. The experience was very simple - I worked as a plumber at the same institute.

Most of the guys were from the army, many guys were from the Caucasus. I remember later, when I had already left, I was on some expeditions in the Caucasus, when I talked to the guys that I studied at the Plekhanov Institute - oh! In the Caucasus, it was the coolest university, in modern terms.

I studied there for a year and went to practice as a salesman; on Gorky Street near the Belorussky Station I sold some cereal for three weeks, nothing. I finished my second year and took it for myself thesis on storing fish, what processes occur in it, freezing, defrosting.

And my close friend, Alik Grossman, entered the Pedagogical Institute, Faculty of Biology. I just didn’t know that there was a biology department not only at the university, but also at the pedagogical university. And he invited his friends, a youth group, to the Prioksko-Terrasny Nature Reserve for their student holidays, it was 1960.

The guys who studied at the Kyubinsky Youth Biological Plant, at the VOOP, the biological growth of Moscow, went there. Bison walked there. Father Alexander had many songs about this reserve. The administration of the reserve was located in the village of Danki, and Father Alexander has this song:

The sun went down behind the Danks
The bison have been sleeping in the reserve for a long time.
Only one window in the barn is burning
Here the students sit with the VOOP members.

There was a large group from the pedagogical institute, mainly girls, and the boys invited all their friends, some from MEPhI, some from the Plekhanov Institute, and so on. It was about fifty-fifty such a wonderful company.

It was opposite Pushchino, the future academic town; they were just beginning to build it. They went there through the Oka to buy food and all sorts of drinks, including strong drinks. Once we got on the bus and heard a song:

From the windows there is a crusty air...
The brand new bus is in a hurry.

Right about us. Okudzhava’s song, however, no one understood whether Okudzhava was a man or a woman, but they sang the songs. I thought: “This is student life, not that our guys dream of becoming store managers, department heads. There are songs and everything. No, we have to move on." And he left his institute, from the second year he transferred to the first year at the Pedagogical Institute. There I met Nonnochka Borisova, she laughed so much, such a good smile. This, I think, is it.

Don't look for your wife in a round dance, but look in the garden

Interestingly, I recently read Leonid Kuchma’s book “Ukraine is not Russia.” He also talked about his student youth around the same time, the songs were the same, and he said that the girls were different, but the most great success It was the merry laughter that was used.

Although my mother always told me: “Don’t look for your wife in a round dance, but look in the garden,” because of her business skills.

In the summer, Alik Grossman, he was proactive, suggested: “Let us now get a job in a pioneer camp to work as counselors, earn a little money and then go wild to the Caucasus.” None of us had ever been to the sea before.

And off we went – ​​and Nonnochka went, and the whole company. The acquaintance became established, and already on December 14 of the same year we married and became husband and wife. We rented a room. Nonnochka was 20 years old, and I was 21. 58 years ago. That's how it all worked out.

Student newspaper with cartoons from the deacon

I must say that after baptism, my acquaintance with Father Alexander Men grew into friendship, and into his spiritual guidance. Just in 1958, he was ordained to the rank of deacon and served near Moscow near the Pionerskaya station. I was studying at the Plekhanov Institute at the time, and somehow I ended up in a small-circulation student group, and there I had to draw all sorts of caricatures, and there were no suitable artists.

Father Alexander drew caricatures beautifully, and I suggested: “I have one wonderful artist. I’ll give him topics, he’ll draw.” Whole year the student newspaper published cartoons drawn by a deacon of the Orthodox Church; no one knew him yet. There was such a funny one, for example: there are a lot of people in the buffet, it’s difficult to get through to get pies, a guy literally sneaks over their heads and returns with the pie he received, and the caption: “If you have the strength, guy, come to the buffet to eat.” This was back in Plekhanovsky.

And already at the pedagogical university I began to prepare a diploma on soil fauna, this was affected by the usual pattern that you choose a direction in the field where there is a talented leader. We had a wonderful professor, Mercury Sergeevich Gilyarov, an entomologist, the founder of soil zoology, a very interesting person, witty, wonderful. He was from Kyiv himself, a very intelligent person, very well read.

I also remember the wonderful Joseph Iosifovich Malevich, an expert on worms, he spoke about them with such love.

But towards the end of the training, a significant event happened. We had a teacher, head of the department Agriculture, Andrey Viktorovich Platonov. The situation at that time was such that genetics was considered a pseudoscience, although at that time Lobashev was teaching classical genetics in Leningrad.

This Andrei Viktorovich Platonov, he was a tall, mustachioed man, very respectable, with an aristocratic appearance, in his fifth year he unexpectedly proposed to several young people: “If you wish, I can give you a course in classical genetics.” It turned out that he was a student of one, at one time dispossessed geneticist Zhebrak, a former geneticist himself, left unemployed at that time, and now headed the department of agriculture.

Of course, we immediately agreed, there were five or six of us, he gathered us in his office and told us seditious things about Mendel and Morgan. Our eyes were suddenly opened to all the patterns that we had been learning. The next generation in ferns, insects, everything became clear in zoology.

Since I wrote my thesis with Gilyarov, I was recommended for graduate school. To my shame, I did not go to work at the school, although I was recommended to go there.

When I graduated from college, two girls were born. For some reason I expected that there would be two boys, I imagined how I would buy them boxing gloves and practice boxing with them. Back then they didn’t determine who was there, a boy or a girl. It can be seen that the tummy is large, forked, it is clear that there are two. They are now over 50 years old, this was in 1964.

At the same time, I was studying in graduate school, but Andrei Viktorovich Platonov says: “If you want, I can recommend you to Dubinin’s laboratory of radiation genetics at the Institute of Biophysics, I have an acquaintance there.”

It was inconvenient to leave Gilyarov, but I decided to do it anyway. This is really a science, but soil zoology – who needs it? Of course, everyone at the department condemned me: he was accepted into graduate school, he entered school instead, and he left. My supervisor Gilyarov himself reacted most lightly to this; he says: “Sasha, you know, you can’t cheat only on your wife, but you can cheat on your scientific supervisor, so that’s okay.”

Then he and I congratulated each other on all sorts of holidays: Merry Christmas and others. Once, when Nonnochka and I went to Kaunas to see a very interesting priest, we suddenly met a group walking, and Mercury Sergeevich was there. “Fathers, Mercury Sergeevich, hello!”

Geneticist Timofeev-Resovsky and future exarch of Belarus

I found a topic at the Institute of Biophysics and defended my dissertation. My opponent was Valentin Ilyich Kaidanov from St. Petersburg, a very good person, a wonderful geneticist, a candidate of sciences, but I also needed a doctor.

There was Nikolai Vladimirovich Timofeev-Resovsky, a famous figure, Granin wrote about him. The man is very interesting fate, at one time he went on a student exchange to Germany somewhere in the mid-20s, and when the time came to return in the early 30s, everyone recommended that he should not do this under any circumstances, because he would have been immediately imprisoned. He stayed there and actually worked there, many suspected that he collaborated with the Nazis, but nothing of the kind happened.

One of his sons was arrested for participation in anti-fascist organizations and executed in March 1945. The other, younger one, remained alive. Nikolai Vladimirovich himself was there throughout the war, and when 1945 came, he could well have gone to the United States, he was a very famous world-class geneticist, the only member of the Bohr seminar, there was such an elite seminar of physicists Niels Bohr in Copenhagen, and the only zoologist and biologist Nikolai Vladimirovich was there, he then developed the theory of targets, discovered ontogenesis, and so on.

He was a prominent scientist and worked on the topic of my dissertation. Therefore, it was natural to invite him to my defense in 1969.

The work continued, but the situation around itself changed, samizdat, signatures, anti-government letters, books by Solzhenitsyn appeared. In 1972 it was clear to me that the main problem our country - after all, this is not so much a science as a spiritual state, that the church is the very instrument that can improve this state, especially since Father Alexander Men was nearby, and I turned to him with this.

He reacted completely negatively.

“No,” he says, “Christians are needed everywhere, including in science, so please stay, there is no question.”

In the summer of 1972, Father Gleb Kaleda secretly accepted the priesthood; he was a geologist professor, that is, he followed approximately the same path. And Alik Grossman left for Israel. So the turning point was 1972.

Anatoly Vasilyevich Vedernikov, rector of the seminary, recommended me to Bishop Filaret Vakhromeev, then he became exarch of the Belarusian Church, the son of a famous conductor, teacher of the conservatory Vakhromeev.

We talked to him, and he was ready to receive me. But it was clear that this was very difficult. Father Alexander and I discussed how I could leave the institute, because I needed to resign first so as not to put the institute under pressure. 1972, Soviet times, and suddenly a candidate of sciences leaves for the theological academy, somehow this is not good. I need to quit. But as?

And Father Alexander and I decided to go to Boris Lvovich Astaurov, who worked at my institute and was known for standing up for many people.

“Boris Lvovich, you know, it just so happened that I will have to submit my resignation.” - "How? What's happened? Let's go to my house. We won’t be here,” because there were microphones there. We arrived at his house: “Natasha, give us some tea.” We sat down and drank tea. “Well, tell me, what happened?” He decided that something was dissident. And Boris Lvovich said: “You know, I, of course, completely disagree with your decision, but I recognize your right to do as you see fit.” Somewhere in his soul, in my opinion, he was a believer, and on the anniversaries of the death of his relatives and friends, he went to church.

And a couple of years later, one of the employees of the Shapiro Institute remained in Sweden, it was real scandal, so my departure was so-so. Although the head of my laboratory was told: “Well, Nikolai Nikolaevich, we are preparing personnel for the Russian Orthodox Church».

And when one employee named Ginzburg applied to emigrate to Israel, he already said: “Well, for whom is it better to train personnel, for Israel or for the Russian Orthodox Church?”

Mendel was a rector, and it’s no big deal for me to be a deacon

And in mid-September I received a serious call male voice said: “A State Security officer is speaking to you. We need to meet and talk."

I knew they wouldn’t give up: “Okay, let’s do it. Where?" - “In the Moscow Hotel in the lobby. I will stand on the right, I will have the Pravda newspaper in my hands.”

I arrive, indeed the newspaper “Pravda”, they take me to the room. “Alexander Ilyich, of course, we are not against it, we understand that these are your views. You know, you know Father Alexander Men. A lot of young people gather there... Now is the time when, under the guise of church interests, they are actually pushing through anti-Soviet propaganda. Do you visit Father Alexander? You should tell us the situation, who is driving, what is happening there.”

“You know, Father Alexander and I have been friends since childhood, and somehow giving information about our close friend not good and all that.” - “Alexander Ilyich, are you a Soviet person or not?” - “Soviet”. - “Why don’t you want to help us?” - “I’m ready, but somehow in a different way.”

In general, the conversation went on for several hours, but I did not agree to help. At the end I was told: “Look, it will be difficult for you, but consult us.” Of course, I didn’t seek advice, but difficulties later emerged.

At the end of my studies, I was ordained to the rank of deacon. It was such joy and fulfillment! Nonnochka remembers that I didn’t sleep for three nights, and I didn’t want to sleep, I’m so happy that I’m serving in the church!

They immediately sent me to the parish; a vacancy opened up there. Their deacon drank, he was sent to another church for correction, and I was put there. In a couple of weeks, I had to appear before the church commissioner for the Council of Religious Affairs, who registered all movements and appointments to ministry in the church. He had to give a certificate that I was registered as a minister of worship.

“Well, Alexander Ilyich, the state gave you a higher education, an academic degree, and you went into an ideologically harmful area. We will calculate how much money was spent on you and deduct it from your salary.” I tell him: “You know, the founder of my science of genetics was Gregor Mendel, the abbot of the monastery. But for me, a modest candidate of sciences, being a deacon is nothing so scary.” “Yes, yes, okay, go.” This ended, but then all my requests for ordination were unsuccessful.

D. Alexander Borisov, Prot. Alexander Men, art critic Evgeny Barabanov. Koktebel, 1976

I even wrote to Patriarch Pimen then: “Your Holiness, I serve with joy, but my voice capabilities for deacon service are very modest - I must have a good voice. Please, Your Holiness, humble novice...”, and so on.

To which the resolution was returned: “Honorable Deacon Alexander, you write that your voice data is very modest, but the size of the church in which you serve is also modest. Serve as a deacon. I remember you." Every year I wrote requests, every year I received the following answers: “There are no vacancies yet. Serve as a deacon. I remember you."

But perestroika comes, 1989. Our prior abbot was already old, he retired, and a new one was appointed. Such a big man, father Petr Royna from Belarus, war veteran, partisan, medals, everything there. But he was traveling, and it’s clear what kind of people were traveling then, nevertheless. Somehow he warmed to me, and when a priest unexpectedly died quite young, a vacancy arose, he petitioned for me to be ordained to this position. Which is what happened in 1989, when I was 50 years old.

The Gospel as if for learning the Russian language

Of course, I was despondent when you serve for 16 years and get no advancement. One could preach how many missed opportunities there are. Later I realized that this was not accidental, because then the children would not have seen me. And now the children have grown up, everything is fine. So everything is fine, I have no regrets at all. Then, you know, serving as a deacon for 16 years is very useful for humility.

I remember meeting different wonderful people.

A wonderful old man, Father Tavrion Batozsky, served near Jelgava in Latvia, in a little church. Half of Moscow’s believers went to see him then. “Father, they won’t ordain me.” - “Nothing, nothing, you wait, wait with joy.” He had a small sculpture in his altar - the warm heart of Jesus; in general, he was a supporter of closeness with Catholics, for which many people kicked him. And he sat for 25 years with Catholics.

There was a wonderful geneticist, a Jesuit, a priest from Namur. He came here to Russia in the 80s, as if for scientific purposes, specially learned the Russian language, and headed delegations of believers.

This was treated very positively to show that we have churches, please come, we don’t mind.

All members of the delegation were given one copy of the Gospel in Russian, because it could be smuggled under the pretext: “We are studying Russian from the Gospel.”

Then when they came here, he took the Gospels from everyone, put them in his purse, came to us and handed them over. We have already distributed it further.

But one day they followed him to where he was taking the Gospels, and they came to our house with a search. We hid the Gospels in the piano, which is now in our room. You can open the lid down there and put in many, many books. They kept it there. Not only the Bible, Solzhenitsyn was still in prison, and so on - he was imprisoned for about five years.

But I still had a bad reputation - I communicate with foreigners.

There was also a wonderful acquaintance with Father Stanislav Dobrovolskis, from Lithuania; half of Moscow also visited him. He made ornamental candlesticks from iron and loved to work. Already in the mid-90s, they organized a meeting of Russian-speaking people, young people, guys from Lithuania, from Latvia, they invited me. I knew that there were people from Lithuania, and I said: “You know, I am very familiar with Lithuania. I saw one wonderful person, one might say a holy man, Father Stanislav Dobrovolskis.” What started here! Ovation, thunder, because the whole of Lithuania knew him, he also served many years, and thanks to this he knew the Russian language. That was the time.

We approach the tanks, knock on the lid: “We want to give you the Gospel”

In 1989, former colleagues called me from the Kurchatov Institute and said: “Father Alexander, since you went to the people, go to the end. Let us elect you to the Moscow City Council. We are nominating Sergei Adamovich Kovalev to the Supreme Council, and let’s nominate you to the Moscow Soviet.” Well, let's try it.

75% of our Zamoskvorechye region voted for me, and that’s how I ended up in the Moscow City Council. Fortunately, the Moscow City Council turned out to be opposite the very temple that Katya Genieva, the director of the library, advocated to hand over to us. This was the church of the community of Father Alexander Men, Katya Genieva went to the Patriarch, went to Luzhkov. And already in March 1991, there was a decree from the Patriarch on my appointment as rector of this newly created community.

It’s interesting that we held our first prayer service in this church in the courtyard on July 14, the day of remembrance of Cosmas and Damian of Rome. When Katya died, she was buried in this church on July 14th. One of these non-random coincidences.

Another coincidence is also not accidental, when they killed Father Alexander Men on September 9, 1990, they held a funeral service and buried him on the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist. This was a clear sign for thousands of people - he was the forerunner for thousands of people, for their faith, the forerunner of the Lord.

And so that we do not doubt this, six months fell on the discovery of the head of John the Baptist on March 9 - everything is one to one. Such things tell us a lot.

And in 1991, in the summer of August on the Transfiguration, the putsch, the State Emergency Committee and all that. I am a deputy of the Moscow City Council, and I wrote an appeal from the Moscow City Council to those troops who entered.

And the Russian Bible Society had already been created, we received many Gospels from abroad, such American Gideon publications in Russian. The next day we decide to bring an appeal to Yeltsin from the deputies of the Moscow Soviet and the Gospel. We board the bus and drive up - there are armored vehicles, tanks in the center everywhere. And the police are completely confused, because a bus arrives and a man in a cassock with the badge of a Moscow Soviet deputy gets out. It’s unclear what to do with it.

We approach the tanks, knock on the lid, they open it: “How many of you are there, guys?” They are silent. "A military secret? We want to give you the Gospel." - “Oh, there are five of us here.” Together with the Gospels we give these proclamations, our appeals. In general, we distributed about 1.5 thousand gospels that day on the 20th, and in the evening there was an attempt to storm, some movement of these armored personnel carriers.

August 22, 1991: The Russian flag is carried at the head of the column. Father Alexander Borisov is in the first row

Pardon Commission

I think in 1992 or 1993 I was invited to the pardon commission, because there were deputies from the Supreme Council there, it was necessary to invite someone else from the Moscow Soviet, especially since I was a priest. The commission was instructed to create Anatoly Ignatievich Pristavkin. Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava was there, Lev Emmanuilovich Razgon, Mark Rozovsky, Vladimir Ilyich Ilyashenko was also there.

It was a very good deal. About 15 thousand people were pardoned per year, and such an indicator of efficiency was that the recidivism of those pardoned by the commission was only 5-7%, with the usual 50-70%. It was clear that the commission did not just pardon just anyone, but indeed people who could have been completely released.

The Commission took the initiative to Supreme Council to introduce into legislation a measure of pardon - a replacement death penalty to life imprisonment. Then about 60 people were awaiting execution of the sentence, I asked for their addresses, and sent them the Gospels, a typical letter: “Dear so-and-so, we know your circumstances, maybe this book will be useful to you, etc.”

There were answers, one of them really impressed me. A certain Sharoevsky from the Smolensk region writes, he is awaiting execution of the sentence, he is not a believer, but in prison he asked the question: “Lord, if you exist, why did I end up on death row?” – directly appealed to the heavens. And suddenly he says: “I hear a voice.”

“This voice tells me: “That’s why there is good and evil in the world. You chose the path of evil, now you get what you chose.” - “Why did I choose the path of evil?” And the voice tells me: “Because you are free.” - “Why do I need this freedom if it led to death row?” And a voice says to me: “Without freedom you would not be happy.”

I think this is a very profound answer. This attracted me so much, we started corresponding with him and are still corresponding.

Dostoevsky captured me so much that I barely passed the exam

Books in childhood - Jules Verne, all his translated novels, Fenimore Cooper, Pushkin - somehow “ Captain's daughter“I liked Eugene Onegin, I read all sorts of things there. I remember that even before we went to school, I read Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons” and really liked it. Dostoevsky did not exist then, they did not study him in school, there was no such Russian writer in Soviet schools. Maybe some people don’t remember this, but that’s how it was.

Immediately after Stalin's death in 1953, his books began to be published little by little, and in the tenth grade I began reading Dostoevsky. Of course, I haven’t gotten to the big stuff yet, but the stories and stuff – I really liked all of it, really. I started reading Tolstoy somewhere after the age of 25, although we all wrote essays “The Image of Natasha Rostova,” but, of course, without reading anything, we leafed through something, and that’s how we studied. Of course, already in the tenth grade everyone was reading avidly, almost everyone knew Ilf and Petrov, Jerome K. Jerome’s “Three Men in a Boat” by heart, all these jokes. It was all like that.

The main book that determined my life was the Gospel. When I started reading it, back in 1958, it became clear that this is the main thing we have.

I’m still making some discoveries for myself.

I recently talked about this last opening when Jesus says: “I am a King, but my kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight for me.” Somehow I missed it all. What, after all, is “striving”? We need to think about what’s in the new translation, what’s in English translation? They would fight for me. It is clear that “if I were the same as in this world” is another leader who fights with a sword in his hands for his direction. No, Peter is told: “Put your sword in its sheath. It is clear that Jesus is once again affirming that His direction is completely different, that His kingdom is not like those kingdoms that are in this world.” These are interesting discoveries.

Also, the words are not very clear when at the Last Supper Jesus says to Peter: “Behold, Satan asked that he could sift you like wheat, but I prayed that you, having once turned, would strengthen your brothers.” It’s not very clear why “sow like wheat,” what does it mean to sow? In the 19th century, sowing meant sifting, selecting, conducting selection - you did poorly, you are not suitable, you did well, you are suitable. Christ speaks about Satan’s requests to conduct such selection for quality.

Then, of course, Father Alexander Men’s books “Son of Man.” I was the first reader of the first edition, edition of 6 copies. And there were other wonderful books.

Mother Nonna Borisova:Of course, there was a lot of spiritual literature, but classic literature Tolstoy, Dostoevsky - this was already after 35 years. He already served in the church and re-read everything with pleasure.

Thank you, Nonnochka. I'll make an amendment. I remember I was going to some exam at the institute - on the way I was reading “Crime and Punishment.” The book captivated me so much that I barely passed the exam.

Mother Nonna Borisova:I re-read everything, I say, I just re-read everything with such pleasure, a lot of classics then - and Turgenev.

Question: Tell me, how do you feel about Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita”?

Archpriest Alexander Borisov:When this book appeared, for many people, I think, it was the first that told about the gospel events. Since I had already read and knew a lot about these events long before, for me it was not some kind of discovery of the gospel plot, but rather, it was literary work around it. Rather, it was about dark forces who lived in our Soviet reality at that time. So I did not accept the figure of Christ and the Master as historical figures. It was rather a kind of allegory for me.

Anna Danilova: When a person becomes a church member and comes to church, it is clear what he should read, what books he starts with - all the basics of Orthodoxy, books for beginners, of course, reading the New Testament. But what books a person who has been a church member for a long time should base his life on, besides the New Testament, is not very clear. What do you advise people who have been in the church for a long time to read?

Archpriest Alexander Borisov:Of course, the books of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, father of Alexander Schmemann. The books by Father Alexei Uminsky are good. Maybe they are more for beginners, but there are good and deep books. There are wonderful new authors emerging. We have posted a book by Archimandrite Savva Mazhuko, “The Inevitability of Easter.” Now the book “Orange Flowers”. An interesting book by a Greek author - Father Andrei (Konanos).

Of course, the books of Father Alexander Me remain very important in order to understand what the Bible says. But the most important thing for the life of a believer is still the Holy Scripture, because previously they didn’t pay much attention to it. Akathists, canons, prayers - all this is good and wonderful, but still the Holy Scripture is at the center - he was one of the few who emphasized the importance of this.

There is a well-known saying that Old Testament is revealed in the New, but when you become convinced of this yourself by reading, this is extremely important, but you must start, of course, not from the first pages of the Bible, but precisely from the Gospel.

What surprised me most was the convicts

Question: Father Alexander, I wanted to ask you, what non-church people left a mark on your life?

Archpriest Alexander Borisov:I was just talking about these scientific acquaintances - Andrei Viktorovich Platonov, Mercury Sergeevich Gilyarov, Boris Lvovich Astaurov - wonderful people were.

Question: Nikolai Vladimirovich Timofeev-Resovsky?

Archpriest Alexander Borisov:I talked about Timofeev-Resovsky. I must say that Nikolai Vladimirovich and I became friends when I began serving in the church. I visited him often, I performed his funeral service and buried him. When he was already close to death, I visited him and asked: “Nikolai Vladimirovich, you would probably like to confess and take communion?” - because there were no conditions.

He said: “Yes, yes, I would really like to, but how and what?” I then brought Father Alexander Me to him in Obninsk. They talked for an hour and a half, both were very pleased with each other. Nikolai Vladimirovich was very tearful, blissful, everything was wonderful. Father Alexander comes out from him, and such the highest praise: “Well, this is a man of the Renaissance, generally wonderful.”

Anna Danilova: Father Alexander, how did you meet Ekaterina Yuryevna Genieva?

Archpriest Alexander Borisov:I got to know her closely already when the temple began to open and so on. Before that it was somehow distant, because Elena Semyonovna, father Alexander, was close friends with her and her family. She was an acquaintance of acquaintances, more likely. Already immediately, when we received the temple, we began to work together here in the library and so on. But I heard about her, of course, almost from childhood, about this family.

Ekaterina Yurievna was an absolutely unique person who combined in herself the highest culture, extraordinary efficiency, courage, organization, talent as an organizer. This is a person you can really look up to, you need to.

Question: Dear Father Alexander, you told us, we knew it, that you served as a deacon for many years, but you did not tell us how you became the rector of the church. It would be interesting for us to know how you became an archpriest.

Archpriest Alexander Borisov:This was a memorable service by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, he somehow treated us very favorably. He was generally a very kind man and a man with obvious signs of holiness, no doubt. In 2000, when he once again celebrated the liturgy with us on the day of Cosmas and Damian, the saints of our church, just during the service the protodeacon said to me: “Come on, get on your knees.” I knelt down. “Stay like that.” He said: “Let us pray to the Lord.” And His Holiness reads a prayer and prophesies the rank of archpriest. From that moment on, this title was awarded. That's how it happened.

I must say that His Holiness Patriarch treated us with attention. Perhaps one such circumstance contributed to this. On August 21, 1991, after our distribution of the gospels, we went to the place where the tragedy occurred: the death of three young men. There were even traces of blood on the asphalt. We went there and held a funeral service.

And the rally was grand on Tverskaya Square next to the temple. Shevardnadze spoke, and someone else. Somehow the idea came to me that I should go and report to His Holiness about what was happening in the city. I arrived at the Patriarchate, there was no one there, only the secretary Lydia Konstantinovna, who also treated us well. I explained to her why I came, she said: “Take this phone and call it.”

I, like Stirlitz, quietly took the phone: “Your Holiness, priest Alexander Borisov is bothering you, I wanted to tell you about the situation.” He told me that an appeal had been drawn up from the Moscow Soviet, that I drafted it, and that it was accepted at the Presidium of the Moscow Soviet. The Holiness asks: “Was it adopted unanimously?” I say: “Yes, unanimously. Your Holiness, it’s somehow inconvenient for me to advise you on anything, but in general, everyone is waiting for your reaction.”

He was silent for a minute and said: “There will be a reaction by evening.” And his short article appeared in Izvestia, which contained the following words: “The government that persecuted the church and kept Russia in chains for 70 years has collapsed.” So his position was clearly stated. Then in 1993, he also spoke out to reconcile the warring forces. Such relations developed well.

Question: Father Alexander, I have a question: in the post-Soviet years, did you meet people who surprised or delighted you? How can this happen - in confession or something else? How do you recognize people?

– I didn’t really understand the question. In what sense?

Question: Your story somehow ended in the 90s.

- Yes.

Question: And in last years were there any people who surprised you, I would ask, in in a good way surprised?

– I would say that what surprised me most were the convicts whom I visited in correctional colony 18 in the town of Kharp, Salekhard diocese, people who had serious crimes behind them, and they truly, sincerely converted, read the Gospel, pray, and repent with tears in their eyes .

A man who has nine corpses behind him repents about this with tears, says: “I can’t forgive myself, I pray for these people.” This is very significant. Moreover, all these people whom I visited, I confessed and gave communion to about 60 people, more are sitting there, it’s just who I managed to do, it’s not necessary, it’s their request, it’s they who submit the petition for the priest to come. After all, in Soviet times they would all have been shot long ago, but now they...

Some even say: “I’m glad that I ended up in prison, because if I had been free, I would not have recognized God, I would have continued to rob and kill, but here I met God, I met the Gospel, I read.” These are truly converted people.

Question: Please tell me, how do you feel about interest in other religions and spiritual teachings, if a person is driven by love for God and the desire to know him from all sides?

Archpriest Alexander Borisov:It is, of course, not bad, but, on the other hand, time is short. Answer, I quote Father Alexander Men: “All other religions are hands stretched out to heaven, and Christianity is a hand stretched out to us.” There is little time: if you learn this, that, and that, there will be no time left for the most important thing.

Question: If one mutually enriches the other? It doesn’t lead away, but enriches.

Archpriest Alexander Borisov:I again quote Father Alexander Men: “Everything that exists in other religions, it already exists in Christianity.”

– Yes, but for this you need to open it and make sure of it.

Archpriest Alexander Borisov:I think it’s enough to believe it if Father Alexander says that in Buddhism the idea of ​​salvation is in Christianity. In Islam, submission to God, obedience to God - this is in Christianity. In Hinduism, all presences are in God's world - and this is in Christianity. So I think life is short, so it’s better to dive into the answer that contains everything.

My wife and I always find it easy to come to an agreement.

Question: Good evening. Father Alexander, I would like to ask personal questions. It is very impressive how tenderly you treat your wife. What fuels a relationship? I would like to hear about your mother. You talked about her participation in your childhood. What message did you remember from her in your life? Another question, after all, you are already quite a few years old, are you so vigorous and cheerful, what gives you strength? I understand that faith, God, but not everyone is so joyful and cheerful. Thank you.

Archpriest Alexander Borisov:Thank you, so many questions at once. You know, regarding my relationship with my wife, we have the same sense of the importance of God, that this is the most important thing and comes first. For both of us, housekeeping and money issues are like subordinates, this is not very important. We are equally calm about this. Of course, there needs to be something, but this is not in the first place. This feeling of God and the importance of this, it is common to us, so somehow it is always easy to agree.

As for my mother, despite the fact that she had a very difficult life, loneliness, broke up with her husband, she was a very optimistic person, like me. But this is not some kind of personal merit, this is some kind of biochemistry of the body. Because, fortunately, I don’t know what depression is, I don’t know what despondency is. I never smoked, and it’s no merit, I didn’t want to.

So here, I was never particularly discouraged, in all situations I still found something good, positive. As for my mother, she was an easy-going person: “God will give the day, God will give food.” She had this. “We can grow to be a hundred years old without getting old,” she kept quoting. She even died when she was already almost 92 years old, the day before her cousin, her niece, arrived, they drank a little, sang songs, and the next day something became bad with her heart, they called an ambulance, and she died, that is, she did not lie down one day.

Mother Nonna Borisova:She was very creative person, and is absolutely not attached to anything material. Indeed, she was not a believer for a long time, but in the end, she came to the temple and began to read the Gospel. True, she wrote out gospel quotes from the epistles for me and put them on the table.

Archpriest Alexander Borisov:I must say that my mother taught drawing and drawing. She painted, she had quite successful works, not God knows what, but successful ones. She loved it very much.

At the age of 80 she began to learn to paint icons. At 80 years old! Our altar boy Valentin, a wonderful icon painter, was her teacher. And in the temple we have several icons painted by her. About one icon, it happened to be standing in my room, we had one very interesting architect Yakubenin, we were just talking about something in the room, he talked about the liveliness of works, paintings, and so on, and he accidentally pointed to this icon, he I didn’t know that my mother painted it, and she said: “Look, it’s an icon, it’s clear that it was painted by an amateur, but it’s alive.”

Nonna’s relationship with her mother was not simple, complex, but despite this, we moved in together in 1969 and lived together until 2002, that’s almost 30 years. For a daughter-in-law and mother-in-law in the same apartment, this is actually something. Lyusya Ulitskaya said: “How can you bear it? I would have simply killed her." You know, I really remember - both Nonna, and I, and the children - only good things. And some deep feeling that it really was right. When an elderly person, already over 90 years old - here is a son, here are granddaughters, here is a daughter-in-law, all together - there was something very right in this. Thank God that we managed to get through it so calmly, and that’s how it all was.

Mother Nonna Borisova:Then for me it was a very evangelical path. I don’t know how successfully I passed it, but Father Alexander and his mother - they are such absolute unmercenaries and gave away everything, even other people’s things, even mine. A relative came and she said: “Yes, Nonka still has it, take it.” I was so indignant, I thought it was such an injustice, and then I realized that it was God teaching me that I just need to come to terms with it and accept it as it is.

Video: Victor Aromshtam

Alexander Ilyich Borisov (October 13, 1939, Moscow) - Soviet biologist, publicist and public figure, a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, until September 2010 he served as president of the Russian Bible Society.

From 1956 to 1958 he worked as a mechanic, earning the work experience then necessary to enter a university.

From 1958 to 1960 he studied at the Institute of National Economy. Plekhanov.

In 1960 he transferred to the Faculty of Biology and Chemistry of the Moscow Pedagogical Institute. Lenin. He got married that same year. Has two twin daughters born in 1964.

In 1964, after graduating from the institute, he worked in the Laboratory of Radiation Genetics of the Institute of Biophysics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, headed by Academician N.P. Dubinin. The laboratory was soon transformed into the Institute of General Genetics of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

In 1969 he defended his dissertation on genetics and was awarded the academic degree of Candidate of Biological Sciences. He went to work at the Institute of Developmental Biology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, headed by Academician B. L. Astaurov. His opponent at the defense of his dissertation was the outstanding Russian geneticist Nikolai Vladimirovich Timofeev-Resovsky.

In 1972, he left his scientific work and, with the blessing of his confessor, Father Alexander Men, entered the 4th grade of the Moscow Theological Seminary.

In 1973 he graduated from the seminary and was ordained to the rank of deacon, where he served until 1989 in the Church of the Icon Mother of God"The Sign" in Aksinin.

From 1973 to 1978 he studied at the Moscow Theological Academy, after graduating he defended his candidate's dissertation on the topic “Teaching about man from liturgical books.” Candidate of Theology.

In 1989 he was ordained a priest (previously such an ordination was impossible due to the negative position of the authorities).

In 1991, he was appointed rector of the Church of the Unmercenary Saints Cosmas and Damian in Shubin, which was returned by the state to the Orthodox Church. A significant part of the spiritual children of the deceased Archpriest Alexander Men moved to this parish.

In 1991 he was elected president of the Russian Bible Society.

From 1995 to 1997, he was a member of the public council of the Zamoskvorechye Technical University.

In 1994, at the theological conference “Unity of the Church,” organized by the Orthodox St. Tikhon humanitarian university, priests Alexander Borisov and Georgy Kochetkov were sharply criticized. Speakers at the conference accused them of renovationism, theological modernism and unauthorized innovations in the parishes entrusted to them. Father Alexander Borisov was particularly criticized for his book “White Fields. Reflections on the Russian Orthodox Church." In it, the author reflected on the ignorance of the clergy and the ritual faith of parishioners, on the low theological literacy of Orthodox Christians in Russia, and on the problems of spiritual education. The book was written in a polemical manner, but the most controversial question was the author’s understanding of ecumenism. It is known that Fr. Alexander Borisov, like his mentor Fr. Alexander Men is a convinced and practicing ecumenist. As president of the Russian Bible Society, he constantly participates in joint research projects, conferences and symposia with Catholics and Protestants.

I remember when I entered the Church, I listened with trepidation to any word coming from the lips of any more or less churched person, I read any book, any crazy brochure, published, as expected, under the brand “ by blessing...", perceiving it as a Revelation of God. Oh, how much blood this approach has ruined for me! But more about this some other time. In the meantime, I wanted to talk about confession.

Again, when I joined the Church, before confession I read little books that (God grant my memory) were called something like “A Complete List of Sins.” They listed such sins as “poored the air (farted) in the temple” or “did not say hello to a neighbor” and even “kicked the cat.” And so I diligently wrote everything out on paper from such books (that’s what I was advised to do - write, not speak) and went to the priest for confession. Confession for me was a pass, an entrance ticket to communion.

And recently I ended up in the church with Father Alexander Borisov.

In our parish, confession and communion are not bound by strict boundaries. That is, I can take communion at least every Sunday, and go to confession once every 2 months. Provided that he did not sin seriously. This practice, in my opinion, is correct. As Protopresbyter A. Schmemann wrote, in ancient Church Confession was a sacrament for people EXCLUDED from the Church. But with us it has often turned into a formality, a pass to Communion. And yesterday, on Great Wednesday, Father A. Borisov actually uttered words that made me rethink a lot in my approach to the Sacrament of Confession. He said that (read every word) IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO MAKE CHURCH LIFE AN ACCOUNTING REPORT about every penny. Now I will explain what he meant. The fact is that every evening we say the “Daily Confession of Sins.” Father Alexander said that we must TRUST Christ: if every evening we repent of the bad things we have done during the day, then we should not dump it all on the priest in confession! We must say some very important things, very serious things, and not report “Father, I looked askance at my neighbor yesterday.”

“Don’t turn church life into accounting, when they account for every penny. Trust in Christ. If you have sincerely repented in your heart, He will forgive your sin.”

This was very new for me. After all, all my life I was taught that it is precisely God who needs to account for every penny, telling everything to the priest. If you didn’t report even one penny to the priest, it’s a big deal—it was all in vain. This is legalism (in which we condemn Catholics). And the words of Father Alexander gave me a breath of freedom. Free relationship with Heavenly Father. God, it turns out, is not the gloomy, inexorable Judge from Orthodox brochures about “ full list sins" and Good Father, to whom you can, falling to Him, say with tears: “Forgive me, please, forgive me, I am so guilty before You, forgive me, my dear Dad” - and he will forgive. Well, it turns out that’s how it is.

The past recently Nativity was perhaps the most amazing thing in many years. Previously, I went to one church near my house, it was run by parish grannies over 70, who, as you know, are cold in any heat. Therefore, they did this: they tightly battened down all the windows, closed all the doors and turned on the heating at full blast. And here you are standing in a coat and sweater in the temple, greedily catching in your mouth the hot air, heated from radiators, burning candles and the breath of people standing around. You try in vain to pray, but there is only one thought in your head: “Give me some air!!!” But at those who dared to open the door to the street and let a small wave of life-giving oxygen inside the temple, the grandmothers immediately began to scream: “ You sho! Close the door, people are cold!“And I stood at the night Liturgy in some kind of prostration, trying in vain to pray, and when, after a few hours, I felt that a faintness was falling on my brain, I left with regret, went home and fell exhausted into bed, waking up the next morning with a cast-iron head, like having a hangover.

But this year everything was different.

I had never been to a night Christmas Liturgy far from home before, and therefore I was afraid whether I would be able to get home by metro back, or whether the metro would close. But, fortunately, in our church of Cosmas and Damian (or “in Cosmas,” as the parishioners themselves lovingly call it), the Liturgy ended at one in the morning, so everyone could easily get home.
The contingent of parishioners of Kosma differs from other Orthodox churches. Here, most of the parishioners are not old women, but quite young people: women, men, many children of different ages- from teenagers who very sincerely pray and receive communion, to the youngest parishioners. The kids in the left aisle have their own children's kingdom. Here's an illustration for you. Sorry, all the photos were taken with my cell phone, so the quality is average, but that’s not the point. So, look how freely children feel in the temple:

(this and the rest of the photos (except the last one) were taken with a camera mobile phone, so forgive me for their unprofessional quality)

Do you see this little boy playing with the car on the sole? This is a shock for any pious parish grandmother! But we remember the words of Christ that children cannot be forbidden to come to Him. Here they come. But in its own way, in a childish way. They play on the sole, dangle their legs, sit on a bench against the wall, and draw. They are at home, they are with Christ.

I remember with horror how, during my recent visit to the St. Daniel’s Monastery, I witnessed such a disgusting picture: a woman was shaking ANOTHER child like a pear and hissing at him: “How dare you behave like that? Get up and stay here!” The boy dared to run around in her presence. I thought, a little more, and I myself will come up and “shake” this “zealot of piety.” Well, okay, let's not talk about sad things, let's talk about the kids in our church. For Christmas we put up a nativity scene in our church, like this:

He was extremely popular with children. They crowded around, carefully touching with their fingers the figures of the Magi, animals, but never the figure of the Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus. It seems like kids, but how they understand!

And I really liked the figurine of Jesus, His angelic face:

A little more about the parishioners:

There are a lot of intelligentsia in Kosma, many types of people that I rarely see in others Orthodox churches. The whole point is that in Kosma no one will bother you, say that you are lighting a candle with the wrong hand, crossing yourself incorrectly, or venerating the icon incorrectly. No one will teach you anything at all! It was a shock for me.

One woman told me that once a girl came into the temple, dressed in SUCH a miniskirt, that in another temple two or three lively old ladies would have immediately fluttered up to her and clearly explained who she was, who she looked like and where she should go. go. But here the temple attendant approached this girl and quietly said: “You will forgive me, bow more carefully, okay?” The fact is that the girl began to bow to the Crucifixion, and, naturally, her already mini-skirt crawled up. But the girl was not offended, but said: “Oh, but I was walking here, thinking about everything so much that I didn’t even think about how I was dressed, you’ll forgive me.”

In general, we love women. Any woman, not just a grandmother, can take a chair and calmly place it in a convenient place in the church, where she can sit for the entire service. By the way, men are not forbidden to take chairs. And what? What if a person has just started going to church and is not used to standing on his feet for 2 hours? We must show him love and respect, and not place “unbearable burdens” on him. Anyone can take a chair from us and sit quietly. By the way, it is not at all necessary to hang a jacket or fur coat on a chair - there is a locker room in the temple, where almost all parishioners of the temple leave their outerwear. It depends on everyone, but for me the locker room and my prayer during the service are closely related. Remember what I said at the beginning.

Now about church services:

I really like, for example, the fact that in our church in the middle of the Liturgy, Father Alexander Borisov comes out to the Royal Doors and proclaims: “ Christ is in our midst!", and the parishioners answer in unison: " And it is, and it will be!" and then greet each other. At first I was confused by this feature, I thought, where did it come from? It turned out that this is an ancient custom; now only priests do this at the altar. And here are all our parishioners. By the way, these greetings are not coldly formal. In Kosma, our parishioners really know each other and help each other. This was also news and discovery for me. In the church where I went before, the rector (a good priest, by the way!) once said, addressing in a sermon to standing people: "Well, we know our own..." And I felt sad. I realized that I am here" not yours" And in Kosma, everyone really is like brothers and sisters. I remember once coming to the temple. There was no service. From lighting - the fire of candles, and a ray of light falling from the church bench. I stood in this ray of light, opened the “Prayer Book” and began to pray. Suddenly a voice came from behind: “Oh, boy, you’re going to ruin your eyesight!” It was the temple attendant. He went and turned on the lights in the entire temple! For my sake alone! And again, for comparison, I remembered the incident in the Sretensky Monastery: inclement weather, slush, I wiped my feet at the entrance to the temple, but still there were traces behind me. I was praying near the shrine with the relics when I heard a dissatisfied old woman grumbling from behind: “ But what is this - I just washed the floors, and they were trampled again!“I turned to the little girl: “Sorry for ruining your floor that was washed in the temple, I’m leaving.” Oh, I'm talking about sad things again. Let's talk about Christmas again!

This Christmas night there were so many people in the church that I was surprised: after all, everyone came from different parts of Moscow, but they arrived! The temple was crowded, but fun and festive.

Father A. Borisov (pictured above) gave one of his heartfelt and at the same time simple and understandable sermons, then so many people took communion that, I think, there were several thousand people. In our country, communion, by the way, is not associated with mandatory confession to him. This is a common Orthodox tradition, but you didn’t know? They do this in Greece, for example in Serbia.

And at the end of the Christmas night Liturgy, the choir suddenly burst out in English “Holy Night”, then her own in Russian, then other Christmas hymns in Latin, English, Russian. At first I was very surprised (I had never heard such a thing in any other church, with a choir singing in English), and then I thought: after all, in Easter night read the Gospel in many languages ​​as a sign that the Good News has been preached to all nations, why not sing hymns on Christmas night? different languages as a sign that all nations glorify the birth of Christ? And when the choir sang in English, Latin, Russian, it seemed to me that the whole world was in our church. It was very impressive. On the way home I hummed " Gloria in excelsis D eo" (“glory to God in the highest”) and “... for our sake, a young boy was born, the Eternal God...”

I can still tell you a lot about my life in this amazing place - the temple of the holy silverless Cosmas and Damian in Shubin. A place where people will always smile at you, where you are always welcome, and where you can meet many interesting people. But the most important thing is to meet Christ, and not rituals, rules and regulations that must be followed.

I was sitting at work alone in an empty office. It was quiet. I heard my department colleagues celebrating a little further down the corridor. New Year. Our Ministry held a corporate event today and invited Chaif ​​and Garik Sukachev. The guys bought all sorts of goodies, and of course cognac. To be honest, I don’t really follow the fasts. But this time I looked at all the abundance placed in the refrigerator, and for some reason... I felt sad. I thought that somehow things weren’t supposed to be like this. I wanted joy, but not the joy of noisy fun that get-togethers with work colleagues give, but the joy that gives " The light is quiet saints of glory. Immortal Heavenly Father..."
And I decided, instead of having fun at a corporate party with cognac and Garik Sukachev, to go... to the temple for confession to my father Alexander Borisov. My colleagues were surprised when I told them that I wanted to go to confession instead of dancing until I dropped, but they understood me. In general, people understand that we shouldn’t think badly of them and are afraid to declare our faith. We think that they will judge me and not understand... Although my team is not Orthodox, everyone treats my faith with respect. Maybe because I respect them? It’s as simple as that: don’t put pressure on people, don’t impose your vision of the world on them, and they will treat you normally and respect your views.

So, I was sitting at work alone in an empty office. Thick December snow was falling outside the window. It was very quiet, good and somehow joyful inside. This is what it is like - “Quiet Light”.

And a little later I stood in front of the Gospel and the cross and told Father Alexander Borisov about my careless life. I was ashamed and disgusted that I was like this bad person. But Father Alexander did not condemn. He consoled me, and it was clear that he loved me, felt sorry for me, and was heartbroken for me. I thought: “Lord, if a person can love me SO, knowing exactly what I am, and still love me, then what can we say about You, Lord!”

I walked to the subway and thought about how interesting life is, in essence, when you live meaningfully, and not for the sake of money, career or other phantoms.

On January 22, on the day of remembrance of the famous missionary and outstanding preacher Archpriest Alexander Men, Father Alexander Borisov shared personal memories of his spiritual mentor.

How Stalin's repressions pushed to the priesthood? Why, living “under the hood” of the special services, did he feel inner freedom and not be afraid of arrest? What was the Soviet Orthodox underground like? Why was the church community a sensational discovery in Soviet times? How to quench your spiritual thirst? The rector of the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Shubin, Archpriest Alexander Borisov, a Soviet biologist, publicist and public figure, a friend of the family of the famous preacher Archpriest Alexander Men, talks about this and much more.

From a passion for biology to the first acquaintance with the Bible

I knew the future Archpriest Alexander Men from childhood, since we studied at the same school in Stremyanny Lane (now Moscow Waldorf School No. 1060), and with his brother Pavel, with whom we have been friends for 68 years, we studied for all ten school years in one class. Even at that time, I chose him and his family for communication and friendship. Of course, Alik - that’s what we called Alexander’s future father back then - was 4 years older, and in school time this difference was quite serious. Therefore, I began to consciously perceive it only from the seventh grade. I remember that he was a wonderful, handsome young man who drew beautifully, was witty and cheerful.

We then had similar interests - he, like me, was also interested in biology. But it so happened that we were in different circles: he was in an organization called VOOP (All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation), which was led by the talented teacher Pyotr Petrovich Smolin, and I was in the KYUBZ (Club of Young Zoo Biologists). I would like to note that the entire generation of biologists from the 60s to the present day were either in the KYUBZ or in the VOOP. These were wonderful organizations: one at the zoo, the other at the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University. They constantly had meetings, trips, reports. At that time, I borrowed books on biology from Alik, and we talked about what we had read.

I visited his family's home quite often. I remember they had a lot of interesting books. In particular, the Bible with wonderful illustrations by Gustave Doré. By the way, this was my first acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures. There were also a lot of icons in their house, however, they were kept in a special box, which was almost always closed in case the neighbors stopped by. This was a very intelligent and pious family: the father worked as an engineer at a textile factory for decorating fabrics, the mother had a philological education, but worked as a draftsman.

In addition to their house, I often visited their dacha, especially in the summer. They had a dacha that began to be built before the war and was completed within 10 years after Great Victory. By modern standards, she may seem very modest and even poor. But then its undoubted advantage was its location - the "Rest" station, a wonderful area for those times. There we relaxed, rode bicycles, walked and just chatted different topics. Then our interests began to converge.

About your spiritual insight

One day, when I was 19 years old, I asked Pavel Me to tell me about “their faith.” Because before that, I knew that their family was a believer, but I believed that this was their personal matter, which did not concern me. We had many common interests besides this: skating rink, bicycle, biology, dacha, etc. And then I already realized that if there is a God - and I felt that He really exists! - then everything this family does is right. I was sure that there was no need to choose different spiritual paths and religion. Since I was born in Russia, it means that God wants me to become Orthodox Christian. After all, if he wanted me to become a Buddhist, then I would have been born in India. These were the thoughts I had at the time, naive, childish, but completely justified.

From that time on, we began to become more closely acquainted. And if my epiphany occurred at the beginning of June 1958, and already at the end of July I accepted the Sacrament of Baptism, for which Elena Semyonovna, the mother of Pavel and Alexandra, was preparing me - a wonderful woman of very ardent faith. And I was baptized in the Deposition of Robe Church on Donskoy by Father Nikolai Golubtsov, who a year before baptized Stalin’s daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva here. He became my first spiritual mentor. Now, looking back at my life, I can say that Baptism was a rather radical event in my life.

Alik was expelled for believing in God

From that time on, I began to visit Father Alexander, who had already become a deacon, more often. I note that his service became possible thanks to his expulsion from the last year of the Fur Institute. Alik was then actually not allowed to pass the state exams, allegedly kicked out for absenteeism, although the main reason was that they found out that he was a believer. But everything was for the better, because after that he didn’t have to mandatory work for three years in their specialty after graduation, as was then required. It turns out that he was released into free swimming. And so Father Nikolai Golubtsov organized a meeting for him with one of the Moscow bishops, who soon ordained him as a deacon. And in the same year of 1958, his service to the Russian Orthodox Church began.

By the way, just at that time he had already written the book “Son of Man” about the Gospel with a circulation of only 6 copies - so many could be printed on a typewriter. There were illustrations that he cut out from magazines. I remember that very decisive anti-religious propaganda began then, which I, however, did not really notice, but the clergy felt it, because many churches were closed under various pretexts. For example, in Moscow, a church on Preobrazhenka was closed under the pretext of metro construction. Hundreds of churches, if not thousands, were closed throughout Russia.

About how Father Alexander was once a cartoonist

I remember when I was still studying at the Plekhanov Institute, I was on the editorial board of the institute’s newspaper, and Father Alexander then drew cartoons for it. Of course, they didn’t know who exactly made them. I just brought it and said: “These are the drawings of my friend.” I remember one funny poem with its humorous illustration. Imagine: a canteen, a lot of people, everyone is pushing through, trying to get food, and then a man climbs over their heads with a pie. And below is my signature: “If you have the strength, guy, come to the buffet to eat!” (Laughs) When Alexander Men studied at the Fur and Fur Institute, he also always took an active part, namely as a cartoonist and designer in all the institute wall newspapers. Photographs of his cartoons have also survived.

How Stalin's repressions pushed him towards the priesthood

For the Men family, repression was a reality, so Alik understood who was the culprit and initiator. In 1947, during the celebrations of the 800th anniversary of Moscow, a giant portrait of Stalin hung on balloons above the city center, illuminated by spotlights, so that it was visible from everywhere. Alik already understood then that this was service to an idol to which millions of human sacrifices had already been made. They were also in Alik’s family: his father’s brother was repressed back in the 30s, many priests and believers he knew were in prison.

I remember Pavel, when we were in grades 3-4, I traveled from Mytishchi to send food parcels to someone, because it was impossible to do this from Moscow, but it was possible from the region. It remained a mystery to me: where and why is he doing this? I only knew that my mother, Elena Semyonovna Men, encouraged him for this with a certain amount of money, which was quite enough, for example, for going to the movies together. Only over time did I learn that he sent food to believers who were in camps and prisons.

And so, as a counterbalance to all this evil, Alik then decided to become. He recalled in his books how once in his youth he was asked what he wanted to become in the future. He named different professions: zoologist, writer, artist, historian, and only at the very end - priest. We can say that all this came true: he drew wonderfully and had excellent artistic taste, had an ear and beautiful voice. Whatever specialty he chose from all of the above, he would undoubtedly be very successful there. But he chose to serve God.

Church communities were a sensational discovery

Please tell us what kind of community has developed around him? There is a cliché that he was a shepherd only for the “wild tribe of intellectuals,” but this is not so: there were also very simple parishioners and notorious grandmothers?

There were ordinary people, of course, although they were not very inclined to create such communities. After all, this requires additional effort. In Soviet times, this was simply impossible - teaching any religion was a criminal offense. Therefore, the church community had to include people who had a special character, a certain cultural level and, of course, an interest in faith. That is, for the most part these are representatives of the intelligentsia.

I don’t know for sure whether there is now modern churches communities that would include ordinary working people, in addition to the intelligentsia. As for our parish, we have a fairly large community, but the Church of St. Cosma and Damian in Shubin is located in the central part of the capital, where there are very few local residents, mostly people purposefully come here from different parts of Moscow. However, we have many people engaged in industrial professions: electric locomotive driver, door installer, social workers, etc. So the question of the church community is one of the most serious and important.

I believe that people really should participate not only in conciliar prayer, but also communicate at meetings outside of divine services. The Soviet government prevented this in every possible way, because then only the performance of rituals was allowed, to “satisfy religious needs,” so to speak. But the intelligentsia was characterized by a desire to understand more deeply the subject to which it pays attention. Therefore, naturally, a circle of people gathered around an active priest, who had something to tell, who not only listened to him with interest, but also enthusiastically communicated with each other.

It can be said that from the first months of Father Alexander’s ministry, such a circle was gradually created, first in the village of Akulovo (now Otradnoe station of the Belarusian railway), where he served as a deacon, then in Alabino (Kiev railway). Initially there were not many people, but then, in the early 60s, the idea arose to simply gather at home and read the Gospel together. Then it was some kind of sensational discovery. Such events were of a conspiratorial nature: if we had to talk about it on the phone, then, of course, everyone spoke in Aesopian language, because some words, for example, Gospel, group, seminar, could not be uttered at all.

Often such meetings were combined with the celebration of some holidays. By the way, then Father Alexander began to write his first books precisely for the circle of those people who came to meetings and could learn more about the Gospel. His main, innovative method of pastoring was focusing not only on Divine services, but also on the Holy Scriptures as a revelation that the Lord gives to people so that they know about God, about the world and about themselves. And Divine services in the Church are the tip of the iceberg, where we meet Christ. But we do this for a reason, not just because we are passing exams at the institute or our husband is a drunkard, etc., but precisely out of love for God and for the sake of understanding our whole life.

Now people don't value the religious freedom they have

Did he feel a connection with the Orthodox underground of the 30s, this “spiritual kinship” with his mother, with his aunt and their mentors? Did Father Alexander talk about this?

He came out of this Orthodox underground or, as it was then called, the “catacomb church” - quite lively, deep, serious. And his aunt is his mother’s cousin, who was baptized about a year after Elena Semyonovna, but took the path Christian faith even before Elena Semyonovna, she just wrote interesting book"Catacombs of the 20th century." Father Alexander received baptism in one of these church communities, as they were then called, “non-remembering”, that is, they did not remember during the Divine Service at the Great Entrance and at all prayers - then he was a metropolitan, a patriarchal locum tenens. The “non-rememberers” believed that he made unacceptable compromises with the godless government.

In the Orthodox underground there were people who risked their freedom, and often their lives. Indeed, many priests of these underground communities were arrested and received prison sentences. True, during the war they were not punished as cruelly as in 1937–38, and capital punishment was used less frequently. In 1945, after the election, those people who spiritually led such underground communities even from prison, wrote to their spiritual children that the election of Patriarch Alexy I should be recognized as canonical, come out of hiding and go to the patriarchal churches. They did so, after which their church life continued within the framework of the official Church.

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom

What was it like for you, Soviet boys? Some kind of legend, or something tangible? Now, when so much material has been published - books, memoirs, letters, and archival files, when there is the Internet, we can hardly imagine to what extent it was possible to know nothing at all about these people, living next to the last of them... .

In the 30s and 40s, there were still small groups of believers, mostly intellectuals, but not only, who knew each other, met occasionally, even organized Christmas trees for children and grandchildren, passed on the Holy Scriptures to interested acquaintances and acquaintances, miraculously preserved spiritual literature. Of course, all this was done very carefully, in an atmosphere of extreme secrecy. Of course, Elena Semyonovna and her sister, Vera Yakovlevna, were part of these circles, and Alik received many spiritual books from their friends and acquaintances.

One of the most active educators, whom many knew, was Nikolai Evgrafovich Pestov. A scientist, a chemist who lived not far from the Yelokhovsky Cathedral, one of the rare people then who had a small but separate apartment. He had a good spiritual library, and he gave his books to many trusted people to read. At the same time, he always accepted people one by one and never introduced anyone to each other - conspiracy!

After all, then the Gospel was difficult to get. Some people even rewrote it. Some got it from Baptists, who had their own channels through which they sometimes received the Holy Scriptures. But to go and buy freely in a store, as it is now, was simply impossible to even imagine. Moreover, in the early 60s, when Khrushchev was in power, the entire press was filled with atheistic propaganda.

In those years, they even specifically looked for people who might have some kind of dark spot in their biography, they were forced to renounce their faith, and humiliating materials were published about this. I remember several such cases when people had to do this, but I don’t know how sincere their actions were. But overall it was a disaster for people - a renunciation of faith, and even publicly, with corresponding articles in the press! At the same time, it cannot be said that there were terrible persecutions, but pressure was exerted and obstacles were created, in particular at work.

You and I know that certain positions could only be held by party members, and few people were able to combine this with faith in God. Although some even party workers secretly baptized children. But now it is difficult to judge whether this was done for religious or rather superstitious reasons. In general, life then was far from what we have now. Therefore, we must admit with bitterness that now people do not value the religious freedom that they have. For 25 years now, the Gospel has been sold completely freely. However, in my opinion, hardly more than 5% of our population have read the entire Gospel. But this book is the basis of our culture and, in general, of the entire European civilization.

In books, articles and photographs, Father Alexander makes an impression free man. At the same time, we know that in the early 80s the community experienced a severe crisis associated with KGB pressure. In general, all his life he lived “under the hood” of both the special services and the situation of the unfree church. How did he feel about it? These restrictions, dangers, betrayals, informants in the inner circle... After all, at one time he was seriously ready to be arrested.

Inner freedom comes from a person's deep faith and knowledge of Christ. When a person knows this joy of life with Christ, when faith for him is not just a visit to church from time to time, but the center and meaning of his entire life, then he can feel like a free person. He made his choice to understand himself, the purpose of his life, relationships with people and with God.

It is precisely this choice that makes a person internally free, he is not constrained by anything. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. More Venerable Seraphim Sarovsky said that the goal of Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. When a person acquires it, he receives inner freedom. But at the same time he understands that he lives in real world, where he may be called to account and even arrested, so you need to be careful and not once again compromise yourself.

Every time requires its own language

Today, the names of Me, Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh and Father Alexander Schmemann are often listed separated by commas. Does Father Alexander really have something in common with people who grew up and became priests in exile? Why are they standing in one row now?

They are ranked according to the spiritual level that each of them has achieved in this life, to what level they have risen. They truly were wonderful preachers. They were able to reveal inner meaning to other people Holy Scripture and Christian life, without delving into denominational differences or denunciations. This is what one of the great Christian writers called simply Christianity. Because when Christianity arose in the 1st century with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the victory over death, there were no Protestants or Catholics yet - there were only disciples of Christ, who some time later began to be called Christians.

This suggests that behind this there are two serious needs of our society: many insurmountable life difficulties, and hence the ardent hope for God’s help, and spiritual thirst, albeit in such a manifestation that is not understandable to everyone, often causing condemnation. However, this speaks of the enormous spiritual thirst of people who need spiritual support and strengthening. As the Gospel says: look at the fields, they are white and ready for harvest. Pray that the Lord will send workers into His harvest.

There has been much controversy regarding the authenticity of this shrine. How much Orthodox person is it important to know whether she is real or not? Or, as the Gospel of Matthew says: “according to your faith, be it done to you”...

Of course, this is also true. I think that here we still need to refrain from extreme skepticism and understand that behind this there is still a craving for a meeting with the spiritual reality, which, one way or another, is behind this. Most likely, this is a powerful symptom of spiritual thirst for us. I think that it can be satisfied with the preaching of the Gospel. The Lord said: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” When we discover this for ourselves, we will not be so worried about questions of the authenticity of this or that shrine.

For example, 50 rubles a month – is it a lot or a little? A cup of coffee? Not much for a family budget. For Pravmir – a lot.

If everyone who reads Pravmir subscribes for 50 rubles. per month, he will make a huge contribution to the opportunity to spread the word about Christ, about Orthodoxy, about meaning and life, about family and society.

(1939) - Moscow priest, leader of the modernist movement within the Russian Orthodox Church, ecumenist and promoter of tolerance. Follower Fr. Alexandra Men, evolutionist

From 1958 to 1960 he studied at the Institute National economy them. Plekhanov. In 1960 he moved to the Faculty of Biology and Chemistry of the Moscow Pedagogical Institute. Lenin. In 1964 he worked in the laboratory of radiation genetics of the Institute of Biophysics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, headed by Academician. N. P. Dubinin. The laboratory was soon transformed into the Institute of General Genetics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Candidate of Biological Sciences. He went to work at the Institute of Developmental Biology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, headed by Academician B. L. Astaurov.

In the 70-80s. member of the informal Orthodox community, led by Fr. A. Men. In 1973, he graduated from the seminary (and later, in absentia, from the Moscow Theological Academy) and was ordained to the rank of deacon, where he served in the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign” in Aksinin. Candidate of Theology.

In 1989 he was ordained a priest. Since 1991 - rector of the Moscow Church of St. Cosmas and Damian in Shubin. In 2000, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II elevated Fr. Alexandra to the rank of archpriest.

Member of the initiative group of the “Church and Perestroika” movement (1988). From 1991 to 2010 - President of the Russian Bible Society. Since 2011, President of the Bible Institute.

In 1990-93 - Deputy of the Moscow City Council of People's Deputies, in 1995-97. - Member of the public council of the TU "Zamoskvorechye", in 1997-99. - Advisor to the District Assembly of the Zamoskvorechye district. Member of the Commission on Pardons under the President of the Russian Federation.

Translator of the book by exposed pedophile, Catholic priest John Powell, “Why Am I Afraid to Love?” (publishing house “Life with God”). Translator of Raymond Moody's book Life After Death. Permanent host of the TV show “The Fifth Dimension” (Daryal-TV).

In 1994, at the theological conference “Unity of the Church,” organized by the Orthodox St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute, Fr. A.B. was condemned for religious modernism and ecumenism in his book “White Fields. Reflections on the Russian Orthodox Church."

O.A.B. condemned as "extreme" prohibition of “unmarried wives” from receiving communion by some priests who insist on immediate weddings, because it allegedly pushes people away from the Church, and sometimes destroys “families.”

Major works

Whitened fields. Reflections on the Russian Orthodox Church (1994)

The Beginning of a Christian's Journey (1997)

Good and evil in our lives (2004)

translator of the book: priest John Powell. Why am I afraid to love? M.: Life with God, 2008

Sources

Lyudmila Ulitskaya presented her new novel “Daniel Stein, Translator” at the Library of Foreign Literature // Blagovest-Info. 12/14/2006

O. Alexander Borisov: The Church can use its right to grieve to influence the demographic situation in Russia and // Blagovest-info. 01/24/2008

QUOTES:

Supporting the thought of his teacher, Rev. Alexander Borisov, successor and follower of A. Me, wrote: “In church circles, represented by an almost uniform Church, both then and now, the very idea of ​​the possibility of humans having ape-like ancestors seems impious and heretical. A healthy attitude towards scientific data, both then and now, is found in Orthodox environment only as an exception" (Borisov Alexander, priest. Whitened fields. M., 1994, p. 140).

“Of course, to say that man arose from a monkey is completely ignorant. But the fact that both man and monkeys arose from a common trunk of homenoids is, of course, an indisputable fact<...>an already existing homenoid was chosen as a vessel to contain the image and likeness of God, which through mutation acquired incomparably more than even its closest ancestors...”

“Theology has always had to somehow respond to progress in science. Now, when science is developing ever faster, theology should not fence itself off from its achievements, fearing for the harmony of theological structures, but comprehend them in a new way. For example, science clearly shows the relationship between primates and humans: according to the latest data, 90% of human genes coincide with the chimpanzee gene system.”

year 2014 “Darwinism is no more dangerous for Christianity, just as the first scientific revolution of Nicolaus Copernicus turned out to be harmless, according to which in the center solar system“It is not the Earth, as was previously thought, but the Sun,” - the priest said in an interview published on Friday in the newspaper "Culture".

year 2014 “Man, unlike animals, is also characterized by boundless spiritual evolution towards an increasingly spiritually perfect being. Using the example of the saints, we see that with God’s help it is available in the short life span of an individual. After all, God became man so that man could become god.”

As he recalled, Darwinism rests on three pillars: mutation, isolation, natural selection, and these factors act “But today it is already obvious that random mutations alone are not enough for evolution; the speed and quality of some changes were clearly caused by directed mutations.” According to the priest, he shares the view that humans had common ancestors with living primates “based on the simple fact that humans and chimpanzees have 95% of their genes in common... And, say, with a gibbon, much less. This means that at some point we simply diverged in evolutionary paths, starting from a common ancestor” .

“real Christianity is life, real deeds, and not just teaching. For the sake of dogmas one can fight, kill; You won’t do this for love.”

“It would not be too much of a stretch to see a parallel between the infantilism of children who grew up without fathers, with the infantilism of those Christian peoples where the veneration of the Mother of God replaced the veneration of Jesus. In an instinctive urge human soul to supplant the direct veneration of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit with an “intermediate authority” - especially the veneration of the Mother of God (this tendency is strongly manifested not only in the Orthodox Church, but also in Catholic Church) - we encounter the most important delusion of the human soul: an attempt to create the image of God ourselves.” The book "White Fields".

“Having at one time been a successful means of supplanting pagan images,<иконы>in many cases began to dominate in the Christian consciousness as a certain independent entity, separate from the prototype - Jesus of Nazareth." The book "White Fields".

“now we have to start all over again, that is, to re-prove the need for reform within the Church in general and the Russification of the liturgical language” (Book “White Fields”, p. 133).

“The most important of the radical changes,” writes Father Alexander, “is the Russification of the liturgical language and the introduction of the Russian language when reading the Holy Scriptures during services.” (Book “White Fields”, p. 172).

“Then this caused ridicule from church snobs. But maybe it's not so funny after all? Perhaps some time will pass, and our descendants will be perplexed as to how it could happen that... millions of Christians were fenced off for many centuries by the iconostasis... Obviously, the time has come to think about whether there will be a celebration of the liturgy similar to the renewed Bishop Antonin, to promote a fuller and conscious participation of all those in the church in the Eucharist" (ibid. pp. 175-176).

“Reforms are, of course, necessary in relation to a significant part of liturgical material” (Book “White Fields”, p. 54).

“I am not afraid to say that Father Alexander was, of course, a prophet of our time. Not a prophet in the common sense of the word, i.e. a predictor of the future, although that was also a thing, but precisely a person who speaks the truth of God..."

“The National Prayer Breakfast is a good opportunity for people of different faiths to come together to say very important things to each other. Thank God that in our Bible society people of different confessions have been working together for twenty years. I’m surprised and grateful for the award.”

“It is naive to believe that by affirming a literal understanding of the Bible, we affirm faith in God. In fact, in this case, we affirm an ignorant view of the world around us. And Christianity, defending a literal understanding of the Bible, will only cause ridicule from educated people.”

“God will judge people only by how they lived their lives. A person who does good thereby chooses Christ, although he may not know Him. Obviously, these could be people belonging to different religions.”

It is not by chance that we correspond with convicts. Among them may also be those who were victims of miscarriages of justice. We pray for these girls in the same way. (who took part in the blasphemy in front of the altar of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on February 21 - Ed.). In the same way, we can call for leniency and mercy towards them. As for whether they deserved punishment or not, I agree with the assessment of Andrei Kuraev’s father - there was no need to inflate everything so much. It was entirely possible to perceive this incident as buffoonery.” (Fr. Alexander Borisov. About studying genetics, working as a mechanic, praying for power and Pussy Riot // Big city. 29.06.2012)