Mikhail (Postnikov)

He graduated from the Voronezh Theological College (1893), the Voronezh Theological Seminary (1899), studied at the Faculty of Medicine of Tomsk University (1899-1901), while listening to lectures at the Faculty of Law of the same university. He was expelled for participating in the strike movement.

He graduated from the historical and philological faculty of Moscow University , passed an external exam for the course of the Yaroslavl Demidov Law Lyceum and for the course of general classes of the St. Petersburg Conservatory . He completed his education abroad. Master of History (1911).

He served as assistant secretary and senior notary at the Voronezh District Court. Since 1909 - a justice of the peace in the city of Shavli in the Coven province , at the same time was a teacher of history and law at the gymnasium. Since 1912 - member of the Kovensky district court, continued to engage in pedagogical activities. Since 1914 - fellow chairman of the Novgorod District Court. Widowed.

Since 1917 he was a teacher at a real school in Tikhvin . After the Bolsheviks came to power, he worked as the Commissioner of Justice in the Northern Region, in the Novgorod Provincial Court, and until 1920 was chairman of the exit court in Voronezh.

In 1920 he was ordained a deacon, then a priest, and tonsured a Riasophore. In 1920 he served in the Resurrection Church of Voronezh, in 1920-1922 - in the Kazan Church of the village of Usman of the Voronezh Diocese.

Since the creation of the renovation movement in 1922, he has been one of its most active figures. In the summer of 1922, he was sent to the Ryazan , Voronezh , and Astrakhan dioceses as the plenipotentiary of the Renovationist Higher Church Administration (VTsU), where he persuaded local weak-willed bishops to join the renovationism (otherwise they would be threatened with reprisals by the authorities) and organized local renovation structures. For this, he was elevated by the Renovationist VCU to the rank of archpriest .

Astrakhan lawyer Arkady Ilyich Kuznetsov in his memoirs called Postnikov “a famous church pogrom” and wrote:

Postnikov left notoriety for his insolence and treachery. O. Vasily Smirnov told in 1958 that he himself saw a gun at Postnikov, with which he threatened him - Smirnov and Fr. Evgeny Karasev if they do not join the Renovationists. After Postnikov’s departure from Astrakhan, Smirnov and Karasev were arrested.

Renovationist Bishop

On October 13, 1922 he was ordained by the Renovationist bishops to the Bishop of Volsky, Vicar of the Saratov diocese, where he served until March 10, 1925. He came into conflict with the Saratov Renovationist Bishop Nikolai (Pozdnev) , who soon became an Old Believer.

In 1923, after the release of Patriarch Tikhon from imprisonment, he came to him in Moscow and was in negotiations to transfer to the patriarchal jurisdiction. In response to a request about whether Mikhail (Postnikov) was recognized as bishop, Patriarch Tikhon wrote a resolution of September 28, 1923: “I only had Mikhail Postnikov on this date; until he is recognized by us in the rank of bishop in view of the controversy of his ordination. Archimandrite Vissarion was appointed bishop in Volsk ” ^[1] .

In 1923 he was arrested, but a month later released without charge. In the same year he was sentenced to three months of forced labor. He held discussions on religious topics, preached how an educated and energetic person enjoyed a certain authority in Volsk , but, being a renovator, he remained an unacceptable figure for supporters of the Patriarchal Church. According to the report of Patriarch Tikhon of the Dean of the Volsk churches of the Saratov diocese, Archpriest Alexei Khitrov of the Intercession Church of September 6/19, 1923: "Evil became even stronger with the advent of the VTSU protege Mikhail Postnikov, who in his speeches said that he did not belong to the renovation movement. ..." Possessing With great energy and a rich gift of eloquence, often performing solemn services, Mikhail Postnikov carried away not only priests, but also many of our Orthodox parishioners ... " minority, but eventually figured out - as a result of agitation of the faithful to Orthodoxy, as well as some actions of Postnikov. - ... "Unfortunately, these were not priests." On the eve of Great Lent, 1923, Postnikov was arrested " ^[1] .

From December 1924 to 1926 he was temporarily managing the Pskov Renovationist Diocese. In 1925 - the ruling bishop of the Velikoustyuzhskoy diocese.

In 1925-1927, he was a renovationist bishop of Ural and Volsky (after joining the Volsky Vicariate diocese in the Urals).

May 14, 1927 was elevated to the rank of archbishop .

In 1928-1929 - the renovationist archbishop of Kasimovsky, vicar of the Ryazan diocese.

In 1928-1933 he called himself the temporary administrator of the Vitebsk diocese of renewal.

In 1929-1930 - the renovationist archbishop of Ryazan, was dismissed to retire.

Since November 27 - the renovationist Archbishop of Kalinin.

On December 26, 1931, due to his health, he was dismissed at rest, but continued to rule the Vitebsk diocese.

His management style was tough enough: he tried to open new renovation parishes by all means, forcing the clergy subordinate to him even to violate the current legislation. For example, Archbishop Mikhail gave orders to begin worship in the newly opened church, without waiting for registration in the village council or district executive committee, which could lead to the arrest of the clergyman ^[2] .

March 4, 1933 was arrested in Vitebsk by the Vitopersector of the OGPU. He was accused of active counter-revolutionary agitation, of membership in a counter-revolutionary church-rebel organization. He pleaded not guilty. Sentenced to five years in prison. Then the sentence was changed to three years of exile, which he served in the Arkhangelsk region in 1933-1936, where he worked as a representative of the Leningrad artel to supply photographic materials. In his own words, he was serving the link very hard; before it ended, he was very ill.

According to some reports, in 1936-1937 - Archbishop of Kalinin. Then he lived in Moscow , was a statistician, worked in the mountains of social security .

He continued to participate in the activities of the renovation church, in October 1941, being a bishop at rest, he participated in a meeting of the Supreme Church Administration in Moscow before the evacuation of the renewal metropolitans Alexander Vvedensky and Vitaly (Vvedensky) from the capital.

Since 1942 - legal adviser of the Moscow Renovational Diocesan Administration.

In October 1943 he turned to Patriarch Sergius with a penitential memorandum in which he announced his departure from the Renovationists, motivating his decision with their moral imperfections. At the same time, he signed the document as an archbishop, thereby, apparently, demonstrating a desire to preserve this dignity in the future. Although all the “personnel” decisions of the Renovationists made after April 1924, when Patriarch Tikhon forbade the Renovationists in the ministry and declared them outside the church communion, were declared invalid in the Patriarchal Church.

Patriarch Sergius refused to accept Bishop Michael in his jurisdiction on these conditions, indicating in his resolution that

the petitioner's note does not reveal sufficient seriousness in the petitioner's understanding of his canonical misconduct, and therefore the petitioner's repentance is not enough ... The main sin of renovationism is not that its representatives were not all perfect in life, but that renovationism was like a corporation or, in expression in the language of canons, as a self-sacred gathering, broke away from the Holy Church “and a different altar was erected” (St. Apostles Rights. 31) ^[3] .

In addition, Patriarch Sergius expressed his unwillingness to recognize Archbishop Mikhail’s right to the dignity of the archbishop, emphasizing that “according to the generally accepted procedure, awards received in a hostile camp are not worn by ministers of the Church”.

As a result, on November 5, 1943, in the meeting room of the Holy Synod, he repented in a new form, condemning his "great sin of avoiding the One Holy Orthodox Church in the Renovationist schism" and noting that "I do not pretend to any rank received as a reward , I only humbly ask you to accept me in fellowship with the Holy Orthodox Church, and I declare that I am breaking all relations with renovationism ” ^[4] .

After that, Patriarch Sergius, having covered his head with the joining omophorion, recited a permissive prayer over him and entrusted the bishop’s panagia to the joining. After singing the Kondak Pentecost, “Where the Fusion of Condescending Languages”, Patriarch Sergius uttered a pure litany and made a pardon. The rite of adoption ended with the mutual bishop salutation “Christ is in our midst” ^[4] .

When accepted into communion with the Moscow Patriarchate in the current rank of bishop with the title Volsky , but left alone. This form of repentance of Bishop Michael became a precedent for the reception of other renovation figures.

On February 12, 1944, he was appointed bishop of Arkhangelsk , but refused the appointment and remained at rest. However, according to other sources, he still made some decisions as the diocesan bishop. So, in 1944, he decided to assign the status of the cathedral to the Elias Church, one of the two returned churches in the city’s churches in Arkhangelsk . On Easter, April 16, 1944, he served Patriarch Sergius in the Cathedral of the Epiphany Cathedral in Moscow.

Since July 1944 - Bishop of Penza and Saransk . He proved himself an energetic organizer, achieved the return of church property from the Penza Museum of Local Lore. Under him, the Church of the Assumption Church was returned, which became a cathedral, which was thoroughly renovated (in particular, heating was installed in the church). He had a beautiful voice and read very expressively, especially akathists , so that some, including not too religious people, came to the cathedral specifically to listen to it.

According to the recollections of the head of one of the Penza city organizations, during the war one of the members of the commission to assist the families of war veterans in need turned to the bishop for support. Bishop Michael immediately responded to this request and handed over 10 thousand rubles, and when asked if he needed any document for the report, he replied: “I only report to the Lord God.”

In January - June 1947 - Bishop of Ivanovo and Shuisk .

June 25, 1947 was arrested on charges of anti-Soviet agitation and the disclosure of information not subject to disclosure. In particular, he was accused of preaching "discrediting the Soviet regime, namely, slandering the relations of the Soviet regime with the church and the clergy, slandering the family life of Soviet people and raising children." During interrogation, he stated that

in my sermons, my goal was to arouse the believers' repentance for their sins and arouse their love of religion. As for the Soviet government, I never spoke badly of its policy ... I considered my sermons to be of a church-moral character, which took place in content and in the old days, when disasters fell on Russia and the Russian people.

On December 20, 1947, he was sentenced to five years in prison by the Special Conference of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR, which he was serving in Vladimir Prison. The sentence has been fully served. The further fate is unknown. The date of his death is believed to be 1952.

In July 2010 he was rehabilitated.

• Patriarch Tikhon and the history of Russian church unrest. St. Petersburg, 1994.S. 284-285.

• Mikhail (Postnikov) on the site "Russian Orthodoxy"
• Biography (inaccessible link)
• "Archpastors of the land of Ivanovo" Bishop Michael (Postnikov) (inaccessible link)
• http://pravoslavie58region.ru/index.php?loc=mihail-postnikov.htm