Hermogenes (Golubev)

Father - professor of the Kiev Theological Academy and University , doctor of church history S.T. Golubev .

Brother - Vladimir Golubev (1891-1914), activist of the monarchist movement "Two-headed eagle" in Kiev. He was a university student, during the First World War, the ensign, died at the front.

In 1915 he graduated from the 3rd Kiev Gymnasium with a silver medal and entered the Moscow Theological Academy. In 1919 he graduated from the Academy with a degree of candidate of theology.

On June 8/21, 1919, Bishop Theodore (Pozdeevsky) was tonsured a monk at the Danilov Monastery in Moscow and was ordained hierodeacon on August 25 ( September 7 ) of the same year. In the same year he was sent as a missionary to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra . On August 15/28, 1921, in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral on Krutitsy, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon was ordained a hieromonk and appointed a member of the Spiritual Council of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

In 1921 - a member of the Orthodox All-Ukrainian Council. July 10/23, 1922, Metropolitan Michael , Exarch of Ukraine, was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and was appointed Kiev diocesan missionary.

October 18, 1926 appointed rector of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, which at that time numbered more than 600 people. In connection with the occupation of all Lavra churches by the Renovationists, divine services were performed at that time in the Olga Church in Pechersk in Kiev. Brotherhood of Lavra ruled until 1931 inclusive.

In 1931 he was arrested "for anti-Soviet activities" and sentenced to 10 years in camps. In the camp, he began a serious lung disease, in connection with which he was released prematurely, in 1939 .

Since March 1945 he was rector of the newly opened Transfiguration Church in the village of Trusovo , Astrakhan . In June of that year he was appointed rector of the Intercession Cathedral of Astrakhan.

From September 1948 to January 1953 he was the rector of the cathedral in Samarkand , where he develops close friendships with remarkable Orthodox devotees - the future archimandrite Boris (Kholchev) , archimandrite Serafim (Sutorikhin) and professor-philologist Alexei Shenrok. Here, father Yermogen also meets with the priest Sergiy Nikitin (later Bishop Stefan ), who years later will be the predecessor of Bishop Yermogen at the Kaluga Department.

On March 1, 1953, in the Epiphany Patriarchal Cathedral in Moscow , he was consecrated bishop of Tashkent and Central Asia . From November 1955 to June 1956, he temporarily ruled the Diocese of Alma-Ata .

He began and completed in Tashkent the construction of the vast Assumption Church (Cathedral). Due to the fact that obtaining permission for such construction was not possible from the authorities, he received permission to restore the old church located in the adapted building and began the rapid construction of the cathedral. The temple was built around the old church, and until the end of construction there were daily services. When the construction was banned, it was too late: the temple was already standing. The solemn consecration of the cathedral, which “surpassed all expectations” with its beauty, grace and majesty, took place on September 4, 1958 . The day before, before the beginning of the all-night vigil, the decree of the Patriarch was read out on the elevation of Bishop Hermogenes to the rank of archbishop ^[1] .

The temple in Samarkand was also promptly built. In addition to the above-mentioned churches, a new cathedral in Ashgabat , a large stone baptismal church in the city of Frunze ( Bishkek ) were built under the leadership of Archbishop Yermogen, the churches of Krasnovodsk and Mary were restored and restored.

On February 20, 1958, he was again appointed provisional administrator of the Alma-Ata diocese. On August 28, 1958 he was released from the interim administration of the Alma-Ata diocese.

In 1959, the Ombudsman for Religious Affairs of the Uzbek SSR wrote: “Observing the activities of ... Archbishop Yermogen convinced me that he was very hostile to Soviet reality. Not content with the role defined by the Soviet state of the Church, Hermogenes rudely violated socialist legitimacy in his activities. Being a supporter of the enemy of the Soviet system - the former Patriarch Tikhon, this burnt church seeks to strengthen the foundations of the Russian Orthodox Church with a cross and a ruble ... "

September 15, 1960 released from the administration of the Tashkent diocese with the provision of leave, lived in monasteries in Belarus and Odessa .

Archpriest Pavel Adelheim recalls the Tashkent period of the ministry of Archbishop Hermogenes:

In Soviet times, there was a strict procedure for registering the clergy. The bishop was supposed to "coordinate" the candidacy of the priest before his ordination and appointment. It seems unbelievable, but Archbishop Hermogenes did not obey this order. He first ordained the priest, and then with a decree in his hands he sent for registration to the commissioner. In 1958, when even redecoration was forbidden in the temples, the archbishop built a magnificent cathedral in Tashkent. He also organized a diocesan hotel, and every priest who came to Tashkent on a call from a bishop or on a personal matter received a comfortable room, breakfast, lunch and dinner for free. In addition, Archbishop Hermogenes ordered the purchase of a house of worship for each church in the Tashkent diocese. So, every priest and deacon of the diocese, arriving at the parish, received comfortable housing. By his decree, the archbishop forbade the younger clergy to give gifts to senior ones. Only the elders could give gifts to the younger ones who stood lower on the corporate ladder. This situation made simony and corruption impossible. In the end, for his firmness and fidelity to the bishop's duty, Archbishop Hermogenes lost the pulpit. ^[2]

Metropolitan Anthony (Melnikov) responded so much about him ^[3] :

... I really love and appreciate Vladyka Hermogenes, but he is a Utopian. He writes his notes to Podgorny, Kosygin, Kuroyedov, proves that the Constitution and Soviet laws on cults are violated in relation to the Church. But he does not want to understand that if there is no general and drastic change in the regime in the USSR (and this is difficult to count on), there can be no significant improvement in the situation of the Church. Our rulers themselves are well aware that they violate the laws, but do not intend to change their attitude towards the Church. The writings of Archbishop Hermogenes only annoy them, and the Churches do not bring any benefit, just the opposite.

On June 13, 1962 he was appointed Archbishop of Omsk and Tyumen . Since May 29, 1963 - Archbishop of Kaluga and Borovsky .

In Kaluga, he was engaged in charity work, supported poor parishes, halved the amount of the “voluntary-compulsory” contribution to the Peace Fund, revitalized and strengthened the parish life, organized the repair of dilapidated churches, and attracted young active clergy who have a religious education to the diocese, for whose residence in two private Kaluga houses a kind of underground hotel was organized. In addition, he began to send for the state clergy who compromised themselves with selfless "flirting" with the Soviet regime.

In 1965, F. P. Ryabov , the Commissioner for Religious Affairs of the Kaluga Region, characterized his activities as follows: “The influence of Orthodoxy on the population is growing. In almost all churches, there was an increase in profitability and ritualism, which in turn testified to a greater attendance of churches by believers. ” In the Kozelsky district , 60% of children were openly baptized, and in Maloyaroslavetsky - up to 87%, with more and more baptisms annually. The number of believers has risen sharply.

Archbishop Hermogenes expressed his disagreement with the decision of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church of July 18, 1961 to amend the "Regulation on the Management of the Russian Orthodox Church" regarding Section IV - "On Parishes". In his response to the decisions of the Council, he expressed the opinion that the rector of the church can and should be elected among the members of the executive body of each church and should not remain an outside observer, but be an active participant in both the spiritual and economic life of his parish. He was the author of a letter then signed by a number of bishops, which contained the same proposal. As a result, on November 25, 1965, he was fired to retire to the Zhirovitsky Monastery with the right to serve in it.

Archbishop Hermogenes continued to write in writing to Patriarch Alexy I and the Holy Synod, as well as to other bishops with his proposals on questions of parish life, as well as on other church issues of the Russian Orthodox Church. This correspondence became known outside the USSR; materials appeared in the foreign press about it. After this, the Holy Synod, by its decree of July 30, 1968, qualified the activities of Archbishop Hermogenes as unprofitable for the Russian Orthodox Church ^[4] . He was determined to continue to live alone in the monastery with a warning that if he continued his similar activities, then punishment measures would be applied to him (that is, he would be subjected to canonical punishments).

In 1977 - 1978 he was preparing to move to his homeland - to Kiev - but died as a result of a heart attack. He was buried by will at the Korchevatsky cemetery in Kiev near the grave of V.I. Gedroits , who, as a doctor, saved his life. The authorities did not give permission to transport his body for almost two weeks ^[5] . Despite such a long period, the archpastor’s body, according to eyewitnesses, not only did not undergo decay, but also exuded a fragrance ^[2] .

• Biography.
• Archbishop Hermogenes (Golubev). Autobiography. From a letter to Vladyka John (Lavrinenko).
• Black Hundred student (about his brother V. Golubev).
• Kostenko N., Kuzovkin G., Lukashevsky S. “Damage caused by you must be corrected, erased, erased!”: To the publication of the “Declaration” of the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church // Grass roots: Sat. articles of young historians. - M., 1995.