© Chita and Krasnokamensk Diocese. Bishop of Chita and Transbaikal Evstafiy (Evdokimov) Seminarian
On November 12, the newspaper “Alexandrovsky Voice of Labor” published an article “Disinfection or Love? May our land not be scorched!” But the publication was preceded by a completely detective story. 3 days before publication, the text of the article was stolen from the newspaper and was heatedly discussed in the diocesan administration! – says the author of the topic about the local diocese.
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DISINFECTION OR LOVE?
Today, November 4th, is a holiday Holy Mother of God- in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. I came to the Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ, where I have been a parishioner for about twenty years, and did not recognize him. He was completely different, but not outwardly - but in spirit, in the inner atmosphere. There was such a strange feeling, as if I had come home, and new people lived and ran there, whom I did not know and who did not know me. And new priests led by Bishop Eustathius, and new faces in the icon shop to replace those expelled, and new parishioners. However, there are no new parishioners - there are parishioners of other churches who came here after the priests who were transferred to the cathedral from other churches. What is this? There are parishioners, but no parish? Is it fragmented, dispersed, destroyed overnight?
A church parish is a community that develops in each specific church over many years. In essence, this is a family with its own strict hierarchy headed by the abbot. Our family was formed more than twenty years ago, when the cathedral was being revived. The family multiplied, grew stronger, and raised children through the Sunday parish school. For one reason or another, the abbots changed, but everyone who came again respected what their predecessors had done and increased their achievements. Together we raised the temple - and it blossomed before our eyes. How we rejoiced at the new iconostasis, the new dome with a cross, the new house where the refectory and Sunday school were located... With tears in our eyes we listened to the sermons of our priests, who called us to pure life, led to the salvation of the soul, asking the Lord to forgive our sins. In a word, we lived a Christian life, happy with that that we can introduce our children and grandchildren to it.
When we learned that we would soon have our own ruler, we were happy. We love our Metropolitan of Vladimir and Suzdal Evlogii, we always greet him with reverence at our place - and he bestows upon us affection and love. And now we will have our own ruler - and we will love him, we will help him, we will find him in his person. good shepherd, with whom it will be easier to go to God.
Archbishop of Alexander and Yuryev-Polsky Evstafiy arrived to us with his entourage this summer. Among the church people there was talk about the unfavorable situation in the Chita diocese, from where the bishop was transferred. “We’ll wait and see,” we said, not attaching any importance to these rumors.
Several months have passed. Crying can be heard from everywhere. Discord, disorder, and gossip reign everywhere. The situation is rapidly developing according to the “Chita scenario”, where over the course of several years dozens of priests were banned from ministry without trial or investigation, and those who remained were subjected to constant shuffling, where most parishes were ruined, where the director of the Sunday school was unexpectedly and innocently fired and anathematized, where An atmosphere of threats, reprisals, and denunciations reigned, where the Orthodox Church was so discredited that it was almost deserted.
The same thing started happening here. In just a couple of months, a split has occurred into two camps: some look at what is happening with bewilderment and pain, others sing the glory of the “great man of prayer.” I don’t know where they got the idea that he was “great”; they probably pray with him. But every Christian knows that the result of prayer should be peace, tranquility, creation, joy, but for us there is destruction, anger, gossip: a little more - and we will fight with each other and become enemies.
The first to be destroyed was the cathedral's parish school, which was called inferior from the pulpit. The archbishop's office is now located in its premises. But the point is not that there are not enough premises. The terrible truth is that behind all this there is an attempt to destroy the Church from within under plausible pretexts. For example, it is said that the school was not destroyed at all, but will safely move to another location - to the premises of school No. 3. Lie. This will be a different school, it is just preparing to open, but no one knows what it will be like yet. But has anything kind and good ever been built on the site of destruction?
As in the Chita diocese, we also began to shuffle priests. But it was not without reason that His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of blessed memory pointed out that it is unacceptable to transfer priests from place to place, thereby destroying the community and separating the flock from the shepherd. After all, Christian life is realized through the activities of communities.
With the arrival of the Bishop and his retinue, we learned that we are illiterate “hillbillies”, that we are all deprived of God’s grace, which now needs to be restored, that we are all in delusion and require improvement in all directions. Therefore, our “wild, ignorant” souls will be subject to disinfection through religious processions. However, isn’t it strange that Bishop Eustathius calls religious processions such an inappropriate word for a Christian as “disinfection”?
But we, the “Papuans,” believed that processions of the cross were a feat of prayer for the glory of God. And with what joy the religious processions that came to us were always greeted miraculous icons The Most Holy Theotokos and the saints, and with what love and reverence we joined them! Yes, we are sinful people, but we grieve, we pray to the Lord to help us cleanse our hearts so that we can accept at least a spark of Divine Love. There is no need to make idiots out of us: we know that God is Love. We saw it in the eyes of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', who came to us more than once. We felt it in Diveyevo when we walked along the Kanavka of the Most Holy Theotokos, where he Venerable Seraphim healed our souls. Finally, we live in the very heart of Russia, next to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, under prayerful protection St. Sergius Radonezhsky. We have blessed places: around there are several ancient monasteries in which the relics of saints reside. We know that love is not moralizing, but courageous charity. Yes, we need cleansing, but not disinfection. "Dichlorvos", of course, strong remedy, but what remains after it is not purity, but a lifeless, scorched space. We need a Shepherd, not a disinfectant.
It is no coincidence that one of the Chita priests who suffered from the tyranny of the bishop writes to us: “I can sympathize with your situation. We must fight for the Church, for the good order of diocesan and parish life. Here after Eustathius it’s like scorched earth. So hang in there, don't give up. God help!
For nine years, as Chita residents write on the Internet, they “cryed into their pillows” and prayed to the Lord to deliver them from this suffocating “disinfection”, from the authoritarian regime in the diocese. They complain about “the uncanonical actions of Bishop Eustathius, complete arbitrariness towards serving priests, the policy of disunity, pitting priests against each other, exorbitant fees from parishes, impoverishment and plight clergy of the diocese." They testify that “at the moment all strong parishes have been ruined”, that “active, respected and competent priests are under ban (and this is more than half of the entire clergy of the diocese!)”, that “in the diocese an atmosphere of denunciations, gossip, and also threats and open blackmail from the bishop,” that “the priesthood is persecuted and suppressed.” They warn us that “the difficulty lies in the fact that from the outside everything looks fine, but only believers know the situation from the inside,” who “are afraid not only of the bishop, but also of each other,” they lament that in such a purposefully built atmosphere, “the weak in spirit are breaking down, losing faith,” that “many young people and intellectuals have left the Church.” One of the priests admits that the current situation is also their fault: “We often indulge the licentiousness of the highest church dignitaries. Moreover, our church grandmothers and aunts contribute to this with their servility (for some, bishops are simply like God!). And there is also general disunity, especially priestly disunity, when no one will stand up for the persecuted, everyone hides in their own corners.” And also, let us add, falsely understood humility, and also opportunism, flattery, walking over the heads of others!
The prayers of the Chita residents were heard. Now, by God's permission, a test awaits us. A test of our faith and our integrity. We are too susceptible to external “piety” and easily fall for the hook of spiritual substitutions, forgetting that all answers must be sought in the Gospel, which teaches that “God is Love.” And our loyalty to Christ lies not in the number of religious processions, but in the ability to “shed blood for one’s friends,” in the ability to love and mercy.
Our test today is to protect our priests who cannot do this themselves due to addiction. It is that we should not be divided, but united in the defense of our parishes. By remaining aloof from the current unhealthy situation, betraying yesterday's mentors and friends, participating in gossip and denunciations, we betray the Church. This is precisely the case when our conscience calls us to act, when our Christian duty is to openly speak the truth and call a spade a spade. Yes, the temple premises can be taken away from us, but we cannot be excommunicated from the Church if we are faithful to God.
O. SEMENOVA.
Newspaper “Alexandrovsky Voice of Labor”, No. 46, November 12, 2014
Details can be found on the Chita forum in the topic “What is happening in the Chita diocese” (
On January 30, 2017, Archbishop Evstafiy of Alexander and Yuryev-Polsky prayerfully celebrated the 17th anniversary of his episcopal consecration. Bishop Vikenty of Zlatoust and Satka came to share the joy of the holiday with the ruling bishop. The archpastors celebrated together Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in the city of Alexandrov, in the concelebration of the clergy of the Alexander and Zlatoust dioceses. At the end of the service, a festive prayer service was held. In his welcoming speech, the Bishop-guest recalled his priestly service under the omophorion of Archbishop Eustathius and thanked him for his care and guidance (Bishop of Chrysostom and Satka Vikenty was rector of the Exaltation of the Cross parish in Kosterevo, Alexander Diocese, for five years). Then Archbishop Eustathius was congratulated by representatives of the clergy, employees of the diocesan administration, philanthropists and parishioners. At the suggestion of Bishop Vincent of Chrysostom and Satkinsky, on behalf of the parent and teaching community, Sergei Vladimirovich Saratovsky presented the bishop with a public award - the medal “For educational activities”, in recognition of his fruitful work in the spiritual and moral education of the younger generation.
Press service of the Zlatoust diocese
AND THE ARBISHOP OF ARCHBISHOP EVSTAFY (EVDOKIMOV)
His Holiness
Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill
from the parishioners of the Alexander Diocese
Your Holiness!
We appeal to you with a request to investigate the gross violation of the canons by Evstafiy (Evdokimov), Archbishop of Alexander and Yuriev-Polsky.
From publications on the Internet we learned that the secretary of our diocese, Archpriest Vladislav Moskalenko, is married for the second time. We contacted the priests of the Chita diocese, who confirmed that they knew for certain: Archpriest Vladislav Moskalenko after divorce from his first wife Svetlana Moskalenko with the blessing of Archbishop Eustathius in violation of church canons around 2001 officially married for the second time to Elena Korchagina. And this fact ow. Eustathius carefully hides - on the diocesan website, where detailed biographies of all the priests of the diocese are posted, about the secretary of the diocese, Archpriest. There is not a single line for Vladislava Moskalenko.
We do not want our diocese to be ruled by a bigamist, who should be deposed, but whom, contrary to all canons, was placed in a key position by Bishop Eustathius.
The parishioners of the diocese are also extremely embarrassed by the whole “staff” of cell attendants of Archbishop Eustathius, who accompany him from diocese to diocese: nun Antonia (Kozhokar Evgenia Alekseevna), nun Vitalia (Belonogova Elena Nikolaevna), nun Varvara (she is also the treasurer of the diocese and simultaneously treasurer cathedral Nativity of Christ!). Many parishioners call these “mothers”, who are excessively close to Vl. Eustathius, “bishops”...
It is also a gross violation that nun Antonia, who does not have any official position, is in fact co-manager diocese, interferes in all, including financial, affairs, acts on behalf of Bishop Eustathius, for which there is a lot of evidence. We called her the “gray eminence.”
The restoration of the diocese building on Sovetskaya Square and the premises of the church house of the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ is being directed by an unknown person named Valentina Ivanovna (she was not introduced to anyone, including the headman of the cathedral), who stated that she “ is Deputy Bishop for Economic Affairs" All this suggests that behind the “secret” managers there are some kind of illegal business manipulations.
Archbishop Eustathius, in violation of the Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church and the monastery charter, demanded to be settled in convent...priests. When attention was drawn to the violation of the charter and the lack of space, the bishop threatened... with the closure of the monastery. We are amazed by such actions that resemble blackmail.
The fact that two priests of Chita and Transbaikal diocese Russian Orthodox Church (Fr. Vladimir Novospassky and Fr. Roman Vityuk), illegally deposed from the rank of Vl. Eustathius, reinstated by the general church court of the Russian Orthodox Church - confirms that this person is engaged in tyranny, his actions are inadequate. He continues to intimidate the priests of the Alexander diocese, threatens them with defrocking, forces them to inform on their brothers, to reveal the secret of confession - obviously, in order to collect “incriminating evidence” on everyone and begin full-scale repression, as in the Chita diocese. (Almost all the priests we know will confirm this before the Patriarchal commission). He has already suggested to the deans consider complaints against priests in absentia - in their absence(so to speak, “without trial or investigation”), to which the deans have not yet agreed.
The usual thing for Archbishop Eustathius is to unfoundedly accuse a priest of theft or other sins invented by him, without presenting any facts. The diocese knows that it is better not to catch the eye of the bishop.
Archbishop Eustathius cruelly treated the most honored priest of our diocese - Mitred Archpriest Boris Tolkachev, who had just been awarded His Holiness Patriarch Order of the Russian Orthodox Church of Glory and Honor, III degree, in connection with the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination. Having entered the Church of the God-loving Icon of the Mother of God, where Fr. Boris served as rector, Vladyka did not find one for him kind words, shook a rug lying near the entrance to the temple in the face of the elderly archpriest (allegedly it was not clean enough), became rude to him, and a few days later wrote a decree sending him to the outpost (the words of the decree were amazing: “ For the glory of the Russian Orthodox Church you are going to the outposts"(!!!)). This was a few days before the Dormition of the Mother of God. When asked to let Fr. To Boris the last service at the Assumption, Eustathius said: “ What will this holiday give?.. And in general I don’t know him and don’t want to know him!»
There is an atmosphere of intimidation and fear in the diocese. Archbishop Eustathius’ favorite saying: “ The best bishop's reward is a ban" In such a situation, shepherds are reduced to the position of powerless serfs who try not to appear in the diocese, and especially not to catch the eye of the bishop. About the construction of which normal operation Can we talk about the diocese?
The situation in the Alexander Diocese is developing rapidly, and every day new evidence of the inappropriate actions of Bishop Eustathius appears.
Archbishop Eustathius forbade him to appear in the monastery Archpriest Andrei Ustyuzhanin (who served for many years in the Alexander Dormition Convent and was the confessor of the monastery Sunday school and has now been transferred to the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ). He was told that if the nuns and Sunday school students wanted to confess to him, they should come to the cathedral. It's hard to imagine a more ridiculous situation. This can be considered as a step towards the destruction of the spiritual care of nuns and the beginning of the liquidation of the monastery Sunday school, especially since the categorical demands of Vl. Eustathius to the nuns to “get out” of vital monastery premises is reminiscent of raider takeovers.
For us, the most tragic thing is that Archbishop Eustathius is destroying parishes and parish life, which were established with such love under the leadership of Metropolitan Evlogii of Vladimir and Suzdal. While members of the Holy Synod call on the parish clergy " to strengthen in every possible way in the laity the consciousness of belonging to a particular parish community, responsibility for the life of their parish“We are doing everything to tear parishioners away from their native parishes; an atmosphere of lies, flattery, and denunciations is being created. The strong, friendly parish community of the Cathedral of the Nativity in Alexandrov was destroyed under the guise of good deeds and intentions. The rector and other priests were transferred to new places of service. The employees of the candle shop, who had given 15-20 years of selfless service to the temple, were dispersed and were publicly accused of theft. Even the grandmothers who looked after the candlesticks went to other temples. People who come to the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ are greeted by the bishop’s rudeness (for example, towards elderly parishioners who wanted to take his blessing). An indicative case is when the archbishop drove away a young mother because her child burst into tears before Communion. The woman ran out of the temple in tears - her husband ran after her with the words: “ We won't come here again!» Orthodoxy is a religion of love and joy, not fear, denunciations, unfounded accusations and gossip. We are convinced of the opposite by evil deeds.
Parents of children who attended the Sunday educational group at the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in the city of Alexandrov have already contacted the Patriarchate about the liquidation of the group due to the fact that the bishop needed its premises under Personal Area. In response to appeal No. OG-01.4818 dated October 30, 2014, they were informed that the diocesan bishop had decided to create unified center for spiritual and moral education of children. However, Bishop Eustathius misinformed the Synodal ORIK: on the basis of MBOU Secondary School No. 3 in Alexandrov, instead of the center, a Sunday school of the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ, completely separated from the parish, was opened, which did not have a license! Opening cathedral Sunday school in secondary school, widely advertised in the press, caused numerous complaints to the regional education department for violation of the education law. As a result of the scandal, the school was closed a few days later. The children are back on the street! They were again cruelly deceived for the sake of the ambitions of Archbishop Eustathius.
On the instructions of Archbishop Eustathius, a blatant criminal act was committed: on the eve of publication, an article was stolen from the newspaper “Alexandrovsky Voice of Labor” “DISINFECTION OR LOVE? May our land not be scorched!” Secretary of the Alexander Diocese Fr. Vladislav Moskalenko came to the editor of the newspaper V.V. Tikhonova and put pressure on her, insisting that the article be removed. Journalists regarded this indecent act as an attempt to introduce “church censorship.”
The stay of Archbishop Eustathius on the land of Alexander is accompanied by various scandals. A serious blow to the authority of the entire Church was dealt by the bishop’s rash actions with the proposal to move the historical monument to the “Alexander’s Republic of 1905.” and build up Cathedral Square with diocesan buildings (O. Ryzhenkova. “The Alexander Diocese proposes to build up Cathedral Square” // Newspaper “ County town A” dated October 22, 2014), which caused an extremely negative reaction from the Alexandrovites, including accusations of the entire Orthodox Church of greed (on the Alexandrov forums you can find the following statements: “The church just needs expensive land in the center of the city, like any merchant and huckster,” “World-eaters!”, “When will this mess end? I hope that we will manage without a workers’ uprising – like the one of 1905-1906.”, “This whole mess with monuments is very reminiscent of the fuss in Ukraine... It seems that we, too, are planning a split in society to prepare for an all-Russian Maidan”). That is, by his actions, Archbishop Eustathius provoked religious discord. In addition, the Bishop is probably not going to take into account that on Cathedral Square, according to the evidence of the scribal books, there were civil and pestilence cemeteries, and the burials of the Leningrad siege survivors are also located here (see the book of local historian V. Boravskaya “The Land of Alexandrovskaya”). Even the communists did not use this place for development - there is a park there. And if church buildings are built on the bones of their ancestors, will such blasphemy add to the authority of the Church?
We see many strange signs in the Bishop’s behavior: sudden uncontrollable outbursts of anger, unpredictability of behavior, sudden changes in mood, memory loss during services and sermons... Perhaps the Bishop is simply seriously ill, and his cell attendants and associates are hiding it in order to continue to rule? How can such a person continue to lead, behaving so inappropriately, surrounded by dubious people, treating the clergy and flock not as a loving shepherd, but as a tyrant? Based on the bitter experience of the first months of his reign, we come to the conclusion that he is not able to lead people and sows discord, division, mutual suspicions, and denunciations.
Why wait until we, like in the Chita diocese, have scorched earth? With tears, we ask Your Holiness to stop the spiritual disaster that befell our diocese with the arrival of Archbishop Eustathius.
With deep respect and hope - parishioners of the Alexander Diocese.
There are about 100 signatures in total.
until February 3, 2013 - bishop
until October 10, 2009 - Bishop of Chita and Transbaikal
Vadim (Lazebny) (v/u)
Kaltasy village, Bashkortostan
Archbishop Eustathius(in the world - Evgeny Vladimirovich Evdokimov; November 1, village of Kaltasy, Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) - bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archbishop of Alexander and Yuryev-Polsky.
Biography
He graduated from high school and served in the army. In 1974 he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary, then the Moscow Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1981 with a candidate of theology degree.
Bishopric
December 27, 2000 Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided “Temporary archpastoral care of the flock of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church living in the Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia of the People's Republic of China is entrusted to Bishop Eustathius of Chita and Transbaikal in coordination with the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.”
After the decision of the Holy Synod of October 10, 2009, the independent Ulan-Ude and Buryat diocese was separated from the Chita diocese, Bishop Eustathius was determined to have the title of Chita and Krasnokamensk.
On February 3, 2013, on the 35th week after Pentecost, before the start of the second day of the Consecrated Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, Bishop Eustathius of Chita and Krasnokamensk was elevated to the rank of archbishop.
On May 30, 2014, the Holy Synod appointed him Archbishop of Alexander and Yuryev-Polsky.
Criticism
In 2006, Bishop Eustathius banned Fr. Sergiy Taratukhin for recognizing Mikhail Khodorkovsky as a political prisoner and, on this basis, refusing to consecrate administrative building colony in Krasnokamensk, where the entrepreneur was serving a prison sentence.
Awards
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Notes
Links
- on the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate.
- in the Encyclopedia of Transbaikalia.
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Excerpt characterizing Evstafiy (Evdokimov)
Prince Vasily fulfilled the promise made at the evening at Anna Pavlovna's to Princess Drubetskaya, who asked him about her only son Boris. He was reported to the sovereign, and, unlike others, he was transferred to the Semenovsky Guard Regiment as an ensign. But Boris was never appointed as an adjutant or under Kutuzov, despite all the efforts and machinations of Anna Mikhailovna. Soon after Anna Pavlovna's evening, Anna Mikhailovna returned to Moscow, straight to her rich relatives Rostov, with whom she stayed in Moscow and with whom her beloved Borenka, who had just been promoted to the army and was immediately transferred to guards ensigns, had been raised and lived for years since childhood. The Guard had already left St. Petersburg on August 10, and the son, who remained in Moscow for uniforms, was supposed to catch up with her on the road to Radzivilov.The Rostovs had a birthday girl, Natalya, a mother and a younger daughter. In the morning, without ceasing, trains drove up and drove off, bringing congratulators to the large, well-known house of Countess Rostova on Povarskaya throughout Moscow. The countess with her beautiful eldest daughter and guests, who never ceased replacing one another, were sitting in the living room.
The Countess was a woman with an oriental type of thin face, about forty-five years old, apparently exhausted by children, of whom she had twelve. The slowness of her movements and speech, resulting from weakness of strength, gave her a significant appearance that inspired respect. Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, as home person, sat right there, helping in the matter of receiving and engaging in conversation with guests. The youth were in the back rooms, not finding it necessary to participate in receiving visits. The Count met and saw off the guests, inviting everyone to dinner.
“I am very, very grateful to you, ma chere or mon cher [my dear or my dear] (ma chere or mon cher he said to everyone without exception, without the slightest shade, both above and below him) for himself and for the dear birthday girls . Look, come and have lunch. You will offend me, mon cher. I sincerely ask you on behalf of the whole family, ma chere.” He spoke these words with the same expression on his full, cheerful, clean-shaven face and with an equally strong handshake and repeated short bows to everyone, without exception or change. Having seen off one guest, the count returned to whoever was still in the living room; having pulled up his chairs and with the air of a man who loves and knows how to live, with his legs gallantly spread and his hands on his knees, he swayed significantly, offered guesses about the weather, consulted about health, sometimes in Russian, sometimes in very bad, but self-confident French, and again, with the air of a tired but firm man in the performance of his duties, he went to see him off, straightening the sparse gray hair on his bald head, and again called for dinner. Sometimes, returning from the hallway, he walked through the flower and waiter's room into a large marble hall, where a table for eighty couverts was being set, and, looking at the waiters wearing silver and porcelain, arranging tables and unrolling damask tablecloths, he called to him Dmitry Vasilyevich, a nobleman, who was taking care of all his affairs, and said: “Well, well, Mitenka, make sure everything is fine. “Well, well,” he said, looking around with pleasure at the huge spread-out table. – The main thing is serving. This and that...” And he left, sighing complacently, back into the living room.
- Marya Lvovna Karagina with her daughter! - the huge countess's footman reported in a bass voice as he entered the living room door.
The Countess thought and sniffed from a golden snuffbox with a portrait of her husband.
“These visits tormented me,” she said. - Well, I’ll take her last one. Very prim. “Beg,” she said to the footman in a sad voice, as if she was saying: “Well, finish it off!”
A tall, plump, proudly looking lady with a round-faced, smiling daughter, rustling with their dresses, entered the living room.
“Chere comtesse, il y a si longtemps... elle a ete alitee la pauvre enfant... au bal des Razoumowsky... et la comtesse Apraksine... j"ai ete si heureuse..." [Dear Countess, how long ago... she should have been in bed, poor child... at the Razumovskys' ball... and Countess Apraksina... was so happy...] lively voices were heard women's voices, interrupting one another and merging with the noise of dresses and the moving of chairs. That conversation began, which is started just enough so that at the first pause you can stand up, rustle with your dresses, and say: “Je suis bien charmee; la sante de maman... et la comtesse Apraksine" [I am in admiration; mother’s health... and Countess Apraksina] and, again rustling with dresses, go into the hallway, put on a fur coat or cloak and leave. The conversation turned to the main city news of that time - about the illness of the famous rich and handsome man of Catherine's time, old Count Bezukhy, and about his illegitimate son Pierre, who behaved so indecently at an evening with Anna Pavlovna Scherer.
“I really feel sorry for the poor count,” said the guest, “his health is already bad, and now this grief from his son will kill him!”
- What's happened? - asked the countess, as if not knowing what the guest was talking about, although she had already heard the reason for Count Bezukhy’s grief fifteen times.
- This is the current upbringing! “Even abroad,” said the guest, “this young man was left to his own devices, and now in St. Petersburg, they say, he did such horrors that he was expelled from there with the police.
- Tell! - said the countess.
“He chose his acquaintances poorly,” Princess Anna Mikhailovna intervened. - The son of Prince Vasily, he and Dolokhov alone, they say, God knows what they were doing. And both were hurt. Dolokhov was demoted to the ranks of soldiers, and Bezukhy’s son was exiled to Moscow. Anatoly Kuragin - his father somehow hushed him up. But they did deport me from St. Petersburg.
- What the hell did they do? – asked the Countess.
“These are perfect robbers, especially Dolokhov,” said the guest. - He is the son of Marya Ivanovna Dolokhova, such a respectable lady, so what? You can imagine: the three of them found a bear somewhere, put it in a carriage and took it to the actresses. The police came running to calm them down. They caught the policeman and tied him back to back to the bear and let the bear into the Moika; the bear is swimming, and the policeman is on him.
“The policeman’s figure is good, ma chere,” shouted the count, dying of laughter.
- Oh, what a horror! What's there to laugh about, Count?
But the ladies couldn’t help but laugh themselves.
“They saved this unfortunate man by force,” the guest continued. “And it’s the son of Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov who is playing so cleverly!” – she added. “They said he was so well-mannered and smart.” This is where all my upbringing abroad has led me. I hope that no one will accept him here, despite his wealth. They wanted to introduce him to me. I resolutely refused: I have daughters.
Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, since December 29, 1999 at the Chita See, since October 10, 2009 has the title of Chita and Krasnokamensky
Biography
He graduated from high school and served in the army. In 1974 he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary, then the Moscow Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1981 with a candidate of theology degree.
On December 4, 1980, at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, he was tonsured a monk, on January 4, 1981, he was ordained a hierodeacon, and on March 27, 1982, a hieromonk.
- in 1984 - elevated to the rank of abbot and sent to serve in the Moscow Danilov Monastery.
- in January 1988 - sent as a builder and confessor to the Yaroslavl Tolgsky Monastery.
- in May 1991 - appointed abbot of the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery in Rostov.
- April 24, 1994 - elevated to the rank of archimandrite.
On December 29, 1999, he was appointed Bishop of Chita and Transbaikal; his episcopal consecration took place on January 30, 2000 at the Epiphany Cathedral in Moscow.
After the decision of the Holy Synod of October 10, 2009, the independent Ulan-Ude and Buryat diocese was separated from the Chita diocese, Bishop Eustathius was determined to have the title of Chita and Krasnokamensk.
Criticism
A wave of criticism of Bishop Eustathius swept through the first years of his service at the Chita See. It was caused by the ban on the ministry of the former Ulan-Ude dean archpriest Igor Arzumanov. The reason for this was a letter from a certain young man, “an orphan who had come to the church,” containing an accusation against the dean of pedophilia. As an independent investigation by Ulan-Ude journalists showed, the letter turned out to be a fake and was fabricated by envious people of a priest popular among parishioners.
In 2009, Bishop Eustathius’s policy regarding the priesthood of the Chita diocese again became the subject of criticism. Decree of the ruling bishop banning the ministry of archpriest