"General Christ leads where necessary"

Andrei Tkachev delivered the first sermon in the temple, from which Alexei Uminsky was expelled the day before

“I will reduce, or let’s swell,” - the first worship in the role of the rector of the temple of the Life -Giving Trinity in Hokhlah, Archpriest Andrei Tkachev spent in his recognizable manner: the vulgarized “folk” Orthodoxy. For the flock, accustomed to the intellectual and humanist Alexei Uminsky, is a striking contrast.

In the Christmas Christmas Eve, Tkachev spent the first liturgy in the church, from which the priest was expelled on the eve, who restored it along the brick and created the unique community of parishioners who came here, as in a warm and bright house - for comfort and mercy.

Sending Uminsky for the state in front of one of the main religious holidays, in itself a dramatic one, would not look so defiant if it were not for the personality of the priest who had replaced him. We already examined the biography and views of Tkachev in detail: the Suvorovsky School, who fled from Ukraine in 2014, was a graduate of the Suvorov School, dedicated both from the Military Institute of the USSR Ministry of Defense and from the Kyiv Theological Academy), became the most striking apologet in church circles. The star (and the confessor!) Of the Malofeevsky “Constantinople”, he served in the temple built by the “Orthodox oligarch” - St. Vasily the Great with the gymnasium of the same name in the village of Zaitsevo, Moscow Region. A luxurious temple - for its own: checkpoints, entrance to the passes, the gymnasium website states that these same passes to attend services are “temporarily not issued”.

So fans of theological work of Andrei Tkachev had to be content with video versions of his sermons, in which he, for example,

• He asked God to send diseases to former compatriots - participants in Euromaidan,

• assured that "Russian should die with a smile",

• condemned women attending a gynecologist. “... She lay on the table, spread her legs to climb with all sorts of eyepieces a gynecologist, - in, never in life! .. And if I had to die - well, die.”

Soldiers (the appearance on the amvon in the gas mask in protest against coronavirus restrictions), tips on how to more efficiently “break his wife on the knee,” his company style. So there was no more inappropriate candidate to nourish the flock of the temple in Khokhlah.

But the appointment is clearly not by chance, on the contrary, this is a devilish drama, a completely clear message - akin to the transfer of the Euronews etheric frequency to the newborn channel Vladimir Solovyov or the emergence of the Sputnik radio on the waves of the destroyed Echo of Moscow. It can be called this even easier - a slap in the face.

The parish where musicians and artists gathered, journalists, lawyers and writers, where they gave lectures and arranged film screening, where they wrote letters to prisoners, and at charitable fairs they collected money to help the homeless, given to completely different hands. These hands, by the way, the day before touched church property - the new rector fluently got acquainted with the material values ​​of the entrusted parish.

Of course, he did not find the habitable rabits of luxury in Hokhlah. There is no Carrara marble, generously paid for the gymnasium temple by Malofeev. Here, not far from the memorial eve of the parishioners have departed, fragile glass cones are tenderly hung on a small Christmas tree, and on the temple fence - an exhibition of the photo of Yuri Growth.

So, perhaps, Archpriest was quite sincere when he assured the Amvon that his plans were also violated by this appointment. But, they say, if you want to make God laugh - tell him about these same plans.

... In the morning in the temple there are unusually few people. A few support group stands out, a couple of ladies with “plastic” lips ... Tkachev serves vigorously, so that the liturgy runs in an hour. It does not quite a canonical “interactive”: instead of a deacon, he goes to the salt to read the Gospel, now and then turns to parishioners, offers them a chorus to read the involved prayer with it, altar prayers, the sound of which is usually a secret for the public, pronounces his entire very loud voice. By the way, you can hear original improvisations - for example, the words about "volunteers at the front and in the rear", which certainly are not in the text of the ancient service. Or about "women waiting for their husbands and fathers." He shoots his eyes to the people, clearly looking for support. The people are silent.

“Blessed are the exiled truths for the sake of”, “Blessed are peacekeepers” - the choir sings the following of the liturgy with its turn.

I’m afraid that this is not at all about who is now sacred in the altar, but previously stated that “we are a rotting in peaceful times,” and enthusiastically taught to charge “grades”: “You put each cigar -“ Lord, Lord, have mercy, God, have mercy. ”

And although Tkachev in the first years of service in Russia tried to create an image of the exile, his current manner of behavior in the Khokhlovsky temple was more reminiscent of Laktionov’s painting “Moving to a new apartment” (the one that is better known under the fake name “It’s good that the owners were shot”).

And yet, for a complete celebration, it would be necessary to change not only the shepherd, but also the flock itself. The previous one is not ready to respond to the jokes of the new rector. Tenacious prickly eyes are looking for a response in the public, but to find it is closely. Simple does not pass, the story of how “a soldier wanted to sleep with a woman before the battle” (interpretation of the life of Nikolai Monk) does not cause a laugh or a nod. The new entry, obviously in an attempt to win the sympathy of the “pure public”, is an appeal to the secular classics: “A person is mortal - and is suddenly mortal,” Bulgakov does not definitely quote. Forgetting to add that the words that he had just spoken from the amvon belong to Woland in the novel. “Yes, a person is mortal, but that would be more half -worn. It is bad that he is sometimes suddenly mortal, that’s what a focus! And in general, he cannot say what he will do this evening, ”so the replica of the devil that appeared to the Soviet writers sounds in the original.

Finally, the preacher comes with the trump cards: “We are soldiers, we obey the commander. General Jesus Christ leads us to where it is necessary, ”he explains his appointment to the orphaned temple. The image from the current dungeon is clearly close to him.

Having produced the Savior in the generals, the Suvorovets Tkachev immediately shifts the concern for him about the consequences for his own career jerk. "All responsibility is on him, he did it!" - declares Archpriest of an amazed flock (one cannot but appreciate the attempt to remove this most responsibility from Patriarch Kirill, who owns an unexpected personnel decision).

We note the novelty of the image of Christ-General. Such official propaganda has not yet produced, but how relevant it sounds! Under such a Grad sauce, to charge more hand. The main thing is not to remember the source, otherwise you can think about: does Andrei Tkachev pray for someone who said once: “Return your sword in his place, for everyone who took the sword will die”?