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http://internetsobor.org/index.php/novosti/rptsz/pamyati-protodiakona-sergiya-vsevolozhskogo
SHARED-12/10/2021: ROCOR: Lyons, France: In Memory of Protodeacon Sergius Vsevolozhsky, who Just Passed to the Lord, at 96 years of age.
In memory of Protodeacon Sergius Vsevolozhsky
Author: Metropolitan Agafangel.
Date of publication:01 December 2021...
Category: ROCOR http://internetsobor.org/index.php/novosti/rptsz
At the age of 96, our dear Protodeacon Sergius Vsevolozhsky, a faithful son of the Church Abroad and Historical Russia, died.
Father Sergius was from an aristocratic family, was the grand-nephew of the famous adjutant general, Field Marshal Prince A.I. Baryatinsky, governor of the Caucasus and conqueror of the notorious Shamil. By the way, Father Sergius had a large reproduction of the famous painting depicting this important historical moment, which became the main event in the conquest of the Caucasus, and the capture of Shamil, on the wall of their living room.
A large number of Father Sergius's relatives went abroad with the White Army, but not all of them managed to leave. Part of the family, in the figurative expression of the villain Bela Kun: "Crimea is a bottle from which not a single counter-revolutionary will jump out", was savagely, brutally torn to pieces and shot in December 1920, along with several hundred innocent victims in Bagreevskaya estate, near Yalta. After the fall of Soviet power, a majestic Orthodox cross was erected at the site of the atrocity, and then, through the efforts of Father Sergius' cousin, Sergei Nikolaevich Maltsov, a chapel was built in honor of the Kursk-Root Icon, for the consecration of which, part of the family came from abroad.
Forty three years ago, in 1978, on the patronal feast day of the church of St. George The Great Martyr in Marseilles, the ever-memorable Archbishop Anthony elevated Father Sergius to the dignity and recognition of: “One of The Most Active Members of The Parish”, who, with his kindness, cheerfulness and sociability, with his wife Tatyana Nikolaevna and children, significantly revived not only the life of our church, but in general all of the Orthodox believers of the whole south of France. We remember that when the parish was going through serious difficulties and Vladyka Anthony was forced to remove the then parish rector, he placed on Father Sergius the difficult responsibility of safely preserving the church, which testified to the bishop's confidence in him.
After retirement, the Vsevolozhsky couple moved to Cannes, where, one might say, they fully showed themselves as praise-worthy workers in the church field. After the very long parish pasturship stay of the ever-memorable Father Igor Dulgov (later Archbishop Seraphim) in Cannes, it was necessary to have there in a leadership role, an also strong personality to continue his work, in his place, resulting in a "two-headed personality" working partnership of - Protodeacon Sergius and Matushka Tatiana, who together became the real father and mother of the parish and in general of all those who to this day, visit the temple, as newcomers in need of care. They gave to others so much strength, caring and love that they seemed to become akin in spirit, to those of us in this distant little spiritual corner of long lost old Russia. And we know how our faithful people who still remain here today, literally are now feeling orphaned.
At the same time, Father Sergius was involved in important activities in the neighboring city of Menton, being the long-term chairman of the Society of St. Anastasia, which takes care of the Sorrowful Church and the home for Russian Elderly, called the "Russian House", containing a rich museum with touching exhibits of St. George's crosses, other orders and other relics, remaining after the deaths of the White heroes. And all this, too, has now gone into the wrong hands ...
When the situation escalated to that point in Cannes, when all Soviet punks forcibly settled in the church house, those rough criminal types, who sometimes posed a danger to the noble and die-hard elderly & their spouses, the poor elderly people living there, were forced to leave Cannes and decided to end their days nearby with their daughter Xenia, and their son-in-law, Protodeacon Eugene and grandchildren, and so they moved to Lyon, where they merged into the life of our St. Nicholas Church and for several years continued their fruitful work here.
In 2015, Matushka Tatiana died prematurely and Father Sergius began to noticeably weakening and in his decline, though he from time to time still served, but pretty soon he was no longer physically able to continue to carry out the deacon's ministry. When his children brought him to church for communion, it was always a great joy for the parishioners who surrounded him with attention and love.
We express our heartfelt condolences to his children, son-in-law, grandchildren and great-granddaughter.
Eternal Memory to dear Father Protodeacon Sergius!
Let us keep the memory of You and Your Matushka in our hearts for many years!
Protodeacon German Ivanov-Thirteenth
The last OFFICIAL word I heard about ROCOR's statement against Sergianism is that we have composed a couple of wordings of the anathema, but it is not written into the Church Anathema Service —— the official word is that it is offered and approved for use in the anathema service, but not yet at this time permanently written into the service books.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that the reason for the hesitation is that the definition is not perfected, possibly not complete enough to cover points we might not be able to see at this time. To get into the service books the wording has to be able to stand up to the future possible mis-use or misunderstanding. The definition was discussed for months, maybe even a year, and all possible ROCOR experts still among the living were consulted. This is as far as it went. This is what the Holy Spirit gave us. And our Holy Synod has accepted this.