Mina (Shelaev)

Ivan Vlasovich Shelaev was born on September 15, 1882 in the village of Peresvetovo, Dmitrovsky district, Moscow province (now Dmitrovsky district of the Moscow region ). His father came from a peasant family, but having the extraordinary abilities of a worker and a good organizer, he eventually moved to Moscow , where he organized first an artel and then a small fringe factory.

The family life of Ivan's parents did not work out, and in 1885 his father and mother split up. Ivan was only three then, and his older sister was 6 years old. In order to put the children on their feet, his mother gets a domestic servant in one of the wealthy Moscow families. She tries not only to raise and raise children, but also to give a good education. Moreover, Ivan showed excellent learning abilities.

On March 23, 1896 , at the age of fourteen, he successfully completed a full 4-year course of study at the Moscow City Petrovsky-Pyatnitsky School.

In the period until 1906, Ivan Vlasovich had to serve and work in various places and positions. From 1902 to 1906 he worked as a copper caster at one of Moscow's plants. During this period, he not only works, but also intensely engaged in self-education . Thanks to a deeply believing and humble mother, he was brought up in true love for God and the Church, which determined the main direction of his aspirations for knowledge. He independently studies the Holy Scriptures , the patristic heritage, Orthodox dogmatic theology, as well as works on the history of the Church . Since that time, he has a personal library , which he replenishes with love, considering it his main wealth.

Filled with love for the Divine doctrine of the Savior, enriched by solid knowledge of the Orthodox faith, Ivan Vlasovich sees his calling in teaching and preaching the saving commandments of the Orthodox faith . He successfully passed exams at the Theological School at the Moscow Zaikonospassky Monastery as an external student and on November 11, 1906 received certificate No. 282 for the title of teacher of a parish school.

Here, at the Zaikonospassky Monastery , from 1906 to 1910 he was also appointed to the post of teacher in a monastery school.

Being a strong supporter of the possibility of healing the Old Believer schism of the Russian Orthodox Church through single-faith , Ivan Vlasovich decides to devote himself to this noble goal, for which from August 23, 1910 to 1913 he was appointed to the post of teacher of the parish school at the Moscow Nikolsky single-faith monastery . This is where his outstanding missionary abilities manifest. During these three years, he not only teaches, but during the holidays he holds public talks with the Old Believers, who are of constant success, thanks to his firm and deep knowledge of the Orthodox faith.

But nevertheless, the main factor in the formation of Ivan Vlasovich Shelaev as an Orthodox missionary among the Old Believers was his spiritual closeness with the abbot of the St. Nicholas monastery, hegumen Mina (Shustov) . Hegumen Mina at one time turned into a single faith from the Old Believers, and, for many years being in a single-faith monastery, conducted relentless missionary activity, leaving behind a number of literary works in this direction. The blessed death of Hegumen Mina (Shustov) , which followed on April 17, 1911 , was a great loss to Ivan Vlasovich. Over time, he will not only become a worthy successor of his labors, but in monasticism will be called by the same holy name - Mina .

During 1914, Ivan Vlasovich received three appointments from the vicar of the Ryazan diocese , Bishop Ambrose of Mikhailov (Smirnov) . On August 19, 1914, he was appointed the acting psalm-goer to the church in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign” of the village of Znamenskoye, Yegoryevsky district, Ryazan province. In September-November of the same year, he was appointed a missionary in I, and then in II Yegoryevsky Deanery districts. At the same time, he is an active member of the Egorievsky Missionary Brotherhood in the name of St. George the Victorious. On February 11, 1915, Ivan Vlasovich Shelaev, encouraged by His Grace Bishop Demetrius (Sperovsky) of Ryazan and Zaraisk, was expressed his missionary work among the Old Believers of Yegoryevsky Uyezd.

On March 7, 1915, he was transferred to the post of missionary in the city of Yegoryevsk , and on March 15 he was also appointed to the full-time post of psalmist for the Egorievsky Assumption Cathedral with ordination to the clergyman .

According to the petition filed, by the decree of the Ryazan Bishop of April 5, 1915, Ivan was identified among the designated novices of the Ryazan Spassky Monastery with the dismissal of the psalmists by investing in a Riasophore .

April 12, 1915, on the day of remembrance of the Martyr Mina of Palestine, he was tonsured a monk with the name of Mina .

On April 15, 1915, the monk Mina was ordained a hierodeacon , and on April 26 of the same year he was appointed a Ryazan district missionary with the combination of all previously defined missionary posts.

September 20, 1915 at the Ryazan Spassky Monastery, he was ordained a hieromonk .

On June 10, 1916 "for zeal and zeal in missionary work" he was taught the archpastoral blessing of Dimitri (Sperovsky) , bishop of Ryazan and Zaraisk. Now the preaching and missionary activity of Hieromonk Mina extended not only to Yegoryevsky Uyezd and Spas-Klepikovsky bordering on it, but also to Ryazan Uyezd , as well as the city of Ryazan .

He saw the main result of his noble mission in the reconciliation of the Old Believers with the Russian Orthodox Church, and, judging by the evaluation of the results of the work by the Ryazan archpastors, he did this mainly successfully.

On January 1, 1917, Hieromonk Mina (Shelaev) was appointed the Diocesan Missionary , and on January 23 he was awarded the Legguard . His zeal and missionary gift was highly appreciated not only by the diocesan leadership, but also by many church servants who knew him, as well as ordinary believers. March 23, 1917 for the preaching work, he expressed gratitude to Egorievsky citizens.

The terrible and troubled events of 1917 did not at all affect the character of the Diocesan missionary . With the same zeal, he continues his church obedience.

On September 19, 1919, the Archbishop of Ryazan and Zaraisk John , on behalf of the monastery Council and the collective of sisters, asked to appoint Hieromonk Mina to the priestly place in the monastery instead of the retiring elderly archpriest John Skvortsov, abbess of the Alexander-Mariinsky monastery, Egorievsky Uyezd Anatolyol. Hieromonk Mina also turned to Vladyka on this occasion, saying: “For missionary purposes, I would like to visit and live more often in the Spaso-Klepikovsky district, and therefore humbly ask Your Eminence to appoint me to correct the duties of the second priest in Alexander Mariinsky a monastery, from where, after correcting my next ministry, I will come to correct my missionary duties in Ryazan. ” The petition of the abbess of Anatolia and Hieromonk Mina by the Governor of the Ryazan Diocese imposed a positive resolution No. 2439 of October 8, 1919. So the ministry of Mina lasted until 1921 , when the monastery was closed, and the position of the Diocesan missionary was reduced.

After the closure of the Alexander Mariinsky Monastery about. Mina finally settles in Ryazan , living in the gatehouse of the St. Nicholas-Yamsky Church. And already in the rank of hegumen , and then archimandrite , from time to time he serves as a priest in the parishes of the villages of Diaghilevo, Berezniki and Nikulichi. The last place of the short parish ministry of Archimandrite Mina was the Tikhvin temple of the village of Nikulichi, closed in 1935 .

Doesn't leave about. Mina and missionary obedience. In December 1935, Old Believers, fugitives from the village of Kaverino, Spaso-Klepikovsky District, came to him in order to invite him to the post of priest in their church. Archimandrite Mina gave them the answer that this is possible only if the Old Believers unite with the Patriarchal Orthodox Church on the basis of unity of faith. After the conversation, representatives of the runaway departed to resolve this issue with the entire community. On the same day, Mina's father reported on the proposal of the Old Believers to the Governor of the Ryazan Diocese, Archbishop Iuvenal (Maslovsky) , to which Vladyka was very happy and blessed the initiative to reunite the Old Believers with Orthodoxy. The Holy Bishop said: "The unification of all the movements of the Old Believers and Orthodoxy is very desirable at present for the whole Orthodox Church, which is artificially divided into different movements for the sole purpose of destroying the Church and Orthodoxy." Archimandrite Mina this time did not complete his missionary duty in negotiations with the Old Believers only because he was soon arrested.

Having lost the opportunity of parish service, Fr. Mina, under the guise of begging, continued her missionary and preaching work, not only among the Old Believers, but also among the peasants and collective farmers in the villages of Diaghilevo , Nikulichi , Khambushevo and Golenchino . Now in his sermons, he called on the Orthodox people not to forget God and the Church, to honor church holidays, despite the persecution. Since he had no means of livelihood at that moment, believers from these suburban villages secretly helped him. With the blessing of the Archbishop of Ryazan and Shatsky Iuvenaliya (Maslovsky) , walking in the villages, as a rule, was accompanied by the fulfillment of church demands in the homes of believers, thereby keeping the secret life of the Church warm.

Archimandrite Mina, in addition, had the grace to heal the sick, so the afflicted turned to him. This gift given to him by God later became one of the articles of the accusations. Until the very moment of his arrest, he lived in the cramped conditions of a church gatehouse and kept his main wealth - an extensive spiritual library, the treasures of which he generously shared with believers.

On January 5, 1936, among 27 clergymen, Archimandrite Mina was arrested in the case "on the counter-revolutionary activities of the Governor of the Ryazan Diocese of Iuvenalia (Maslovsky), Archbishop of Ryazan and Shatsky." Father Mine, in particular, was charged with the fact that he “systematically visited Maslovsky”, “conducted anti-Soviet agitation about persecuting the Church among the population”, “having a large library of a religious nature, he gave to various believers to read the book”, and also “healed various diseases. " From January 5 to April 6, 1936 he was held in Ryazan prison.

During interrogations, Archimandrite Mina behaved firmly and confidently, without specifying anyone. He set forth his point of view without guile and doublehandedness.

By the resolution of the Special Conference at the People’s Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR of April 4, 1936, all 27 arrested in this case were sentenced to different terms of imprisonment. Archimandrite Mina was sentenced to five years in prison. On April 6 of the same year, with the first departing stage, he was sent to the city of Mariinsk in the group of convicts at the disposal of the head of the distribution unit of the Siblag of the NKVD . Together with the holy martyr Alexander Andreev, a former rector of the Church of the Sorrow of Ryazan, he was determined to serve his sentence in the Suslovsk branch of the ITL of the West Siberian Territory .

After a year and a half, in September 1937, in the Suslov branch of Siblag, an investigation was opened into the existence of a counter-revolutionary group in the camp under the leadership of the prisoner here, Archbishop Seraphim of Uglich (Samoilovich) . The blame for this group was the sabotage of work, counter-revolutionary and religious propaganda. In this case, 15 people were brought to justice. 12 of which were sentenced to death by a resolution of the “troika” of the Novosibirsk Regional Department of the Internal Affairs of the Novosibirsk Region. Among them are the holy martyr Seraphim (Samoilovich), Archbishop of Uglich; Rev. Martyr Mina (Shelaev), Holy Martyr Alexander Andreev.

The sentence was carried out on October 22 ( November 4 ) 1937 .

By the acts of the Jubilee Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, which took place on August 13-16, 2000 in Moscow , Archimandrite Mina (Shelaev) is glorified as a martyr .

According to the Orthodox calendar ^{[1] the} memory of the saint is performed 5 times a year:

• October 22 ( November 4 ) - The death of the Rev. Martyr Mina (Shelaev) Ryazansky, archimandrite (1937).
• On the week before August 18 ( August 31 ) - The memory of the Monk Martyr Mina (Shelaev) Ryazansky, archimandrite, in the Cathedral of Kemerovo Saints .
• On the week before August 26 ( September 8 ) - The memory of the Monk Martyr Mina (Shelaev) Ryazansky, archimandrite, in the Cathedral of Moscow Saints .
• In the week after January 25 ( February 7 ) - The memory of the Rev. Martyr Mina (Shelaev) Ryazansky, archimandrite, in the Cathedral of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia .
• June 10 (23) - The memory of the Monk Martyr Mina (Shelaev) of Ryazan, archimandrite, in the Cathedral of Ryazan Saints .

• Were faithful to death ...: The book of memory of the new martyrs and confessors of the Ryazan / Historical and Archival Department of the Ryazan Diocese, - Ryazan. - 2002 T. 1 / Ch. ed. Meter, Simon (Novikov). - 418 p.

• Iconography .
• Rev. Martyr Mina (Shelaev), archimandrite. // Azbyka.ru