Augustine (Sudoplatov)

Born December 20, 1912 in Astrakhan in a Russian Orthodox family. Baptized in the Archangel Michael Church of Astrakhan ^[1] .

In 1920, at the age of eight, his father was sent to elementary school, after which in 1924 he continued his studies at the seven-year school, which he graduated in 1928 ^[1] .

From childhood, by his own admission, he was distinguished by religiosity and loved to attend solemn services in the Astrakhan John the Baptist Monastery . From 12 to 17 years old he was “extremely active” in church. He was an assistant and book holder with the Archbishop of Astrakhan Thaddeus (Uspensky) ^[1] , who occupied the Astrakhan department in 1922-1926. He talked with Bishop Philip (Stavitsky) , who was appointed to the Astrakhan Chair in 1926, “acquaintance with whom and many meetings with him and spiritual discussions on various occasions have finally assured me of a decision over time when I finish properly secular higher education in Russian ministry Orthodox Church in the monastic rank ” ^[1] .

In the summer of 1929, for about two months, he was a psalmist in the church of the village of Razin Bugor near Astrakhan, where then the former rector of the Churkin Nikolaev desert Archimandrite Arkady and the former confessor of this monastery, hieromonk Hilarion, whom the future archimandrite Augustine spoke of as people of high spiritual life ^[1] .

In 1930 he entered the Astrakhan Pedagogical College at the school department. In July 1933 , at the end of the technical school, he was sent as a teacher of Russian language and geography of grades 5-7 to the Kharabala seven-year school of the Kharabala district of the Stalingrad region (now Astrakhan region ). In 1935 he worked as an inspector of schools in the Kharabalinsky district ^[1] .

In September 1935, due to his father’s illness, he returned to Astrakhan, where he entered the literary faculty of the Astrakhan State Teacher’s Institute , which he graduated in 1940 . Since June 1939, he worked as a teacher of the Russian language and literature of grades 6-10 in the secondary school No. 3 of the city of Astrakhan ^[1] .

After the outbreak of World War II on June 26, 1941, the Stalin RVC of the city of Astrakhan was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army . He came to the Head of the Production Department of the headquarters of the 36th Rifle Corps ^[2] . He participated in the battles for Poland, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Romania. demobilized on May 14, 1946 with the rank of senior lieutenant of the administrative service ^[1] .

From August 1946 to August 1953 he worked in Astrakhan as a senior school inspector of the Narimanov district department of public education. He was chairman of the Board of Education. From August 1950 to August 1954 he was a full member of the Knowledge Society, and lectured on literature . From August 4, 1953 to September 1954 he worked as the director of the Biryukovskaya high school. In September - October 1954 he worked as a teacher of the Russian language at state courses of the Ministry of Fisheries at the Astrakhan Fish Institute . He was engaged in creative and literary work, mainly on pedagogical topics ^[1] .

He resigned from the civil service "in order to devote the second half of his life to the honest service of the church and the Motherland in the monastic rank" ^[1] . For some time he was secretary of the Bishop of Pskov and Porkhovskiy John (Razumov) ^[3] .

April 3, 1955 adopted as a novice in the Pskov-Pechersky monastery . On June 5 of the same year, he was tonsured a monk with the name Augustine ^[2] . Soon he was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon and hieromonk ^[4] .

From August 21, 1955 to March 14, 1956 he served as treasurer of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery ^[2] .

On July 13, 1956 he was appointed governor of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. Under him , the “Bishop’s House” was built in 1957, and with the help of the pilgrims some repairs were made to St. Michael's Cathedral ^[3] . The Soviet regime did not suit, whose representatives wanted to see the governor of the Pskov-Pechersky monastery as an obedient and governed governor. Patriarch Alexy I ousted Archimandrite Augustine objectionable to the authorities, but on July 28, 1959 appointed hegumen Alipiy (Voronov) , a zealous advocate of Orthodoxy, already distinguished himself during restoration work in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra ^[5] .

On October 1, 1959, by decision of the Holy Synod, he was appointed head of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem ^{[6] [7]} .

Established good relations with all church and civil authorities. This allowed him to hold solemn services at the Trinity Cathedral, attended by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Venedict, and attended by representatives of the diplomatic corps, UN headquarters, representatives of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church and other faiths, and even the Soviet ambassador to Israel ^[8] .

In 1961, he was relieved of his post as head of the Jerusalem Mission for health reasons ^[4] .

On July 16, 1970, by the decision of the Holy Synod, he was appointed viceroy of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra ^[9] . During this time, and until his death, due to poor health (he was defeated by paralysis ^[10] ), he lived outside the monastery for a long time, and Archbishop Archbishop Varnava (Kedrov) served as acting governor of the monastery ^[11] . He performed this service until 1972 ^[4] .

He died on July 27, 1979 ^[4] .

• Pskov-Pechersky Monastery // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. M., 1956. No. 12. P. 26-31.
• Admission to the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission of His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem Benedict I // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate . M., 1960. No. 3. pp. 18-21.
• The triumph in the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem (celebration of the namesake of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy) // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. M., 1960. No. 4. pp. 37-39
• From the life of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. M., 1960. No. 10. p. 17-19.