Nikolai Alexandrovich Golubtsov ( December 12, 1900 , Sergiev Posad - September 20, 1963 , Moscow ) - Archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church .
| Nikolai Alexandrovich Golubtsov | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date of Birth | December 12, 1900 |
| Place of Birth | Sergiev Posad , Russian empire |
| Date of death | September 20, 1963 (62 years old) |
| Place of death | Moscow , USSR |
| Citizenship |  the USSR |
| Nationality |  Russian empire |
| Occupation | ROC priest |
Content
Biography
Father - Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy Alexander Petrovich Golubtsov ( 1860 - 1911 ), a specialist in the field of liturgics and church archeology. Mother - Olga Sergeevna, nee Smirnova ( 1867 - 1920 ), daughter of archpriest, rector of the Moscow Theological Academy. Died, contracted smallpox, caring for peasant children. The family had 12 children, including Ivan , the doctor of historical sciences and Pavel, the future archbishop Sergius (Golubtsov) . Another son, Seraphim , also became a priest. Nikolai was the seventh child in the family.
Wife - Maria Frantsevna, nee Grinkevich, daughter of an agronomist, was born in a Lutheran family, and, under the influence of her future husband, converted to Orthodoxy.
He spent his childhood in Sergiev Posad, after the death of his mother he moved to Moscow, took care of his younger brothers Ivan and Paul. He graduated from the gymnasium, K.A. Timiryazev Moscow Agricultural Academy ( 1925 ), receiving a diploma from a field agronomist.
In 1918 - 1920 He served to mobilize in the rear units of the Red Army, where he was forced to clean latrines for refusing to remove the cross. From childhood, he was a believer, his spiritual mentor at first was the elder Alexei Zosimovsky , and after his death, the priest Sergei Uspensky, who was shot in 1937 and later canonized. As an Orthodox believer, he refused to receive a higher humanitarian education, which was already subjected to strong ideological influence .
Agronomist
After graduating from the academy, he began working as an agronomist at the Ashukinskaya station near Zagorsk (that was the name of Sergiev Posad then), he delivered educational lectures to the peasants, but was soon dismissed for religious beliefs without the right to "contact the population." Then he worked at the Moscow Seed Station, and in 1937 - 1949 . - Researcher at the VASKHNIL library (Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences). During the Great Patriotic War every summer he worked on the "labor front" on the collective farm. According to the recollections of his spiritual child Sergei Iosifovich Fudel ,
Once in the winter, a message came that on the collective farm where he worked in the summer, a certain young man was put on trial, and he was threatened with execution under martial law. The young man was innocent, and Nikolai Alexandrovich could confirm this. The authorities refused to let him go from work, and he left without permission, and in the war such an act was equated with desertion. The trial took place, and thanks to the testimony of Nikolai Alexandrovich, the young man was acquitted. It is interesting that at the same time unauthorized departure from work did without consequences. And there are many such cases.
Priest
In the 1940s , preparing to take the dignity, he was practicing as a sexton and reader in the Moscow Church of the Nativity of Christ in Izmailovo . In 1949 he passed the exams for the course of the Moscow Theological Seminary . From September 1, 1949 - the deacon, from September 4, 1949 - the priest. He served in Moscow churches: in the Church of the Deposition of the Lord on Donskaya Street and in the Small Cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery . Among his spiritual children were many representatives of the intelligentsia, including the famous pianist Maria Veniaminovna Yudina . His spiritual child in his youth was Alexander Men - about. Nikolay had a significant influence on him. According to S. I. Fudel,
it was truly a “good shepherd” who devoted himself entirely to caring for his many church children. There were a lot of them from all over Moscow ... But he was equal with everyone, everyone was quiet, he accepted everyone as if he were just waiting for this parish in order to give him with all his generosity his precious time and all his spiritual strength.
On May 4, 1952, he performed the funeral service for Matrona Dimitrievna Nikonova, who later became a saint as the Matron of Moscow [1] .
In 1962 , baptized the daughter of Joseph Stalin, Svetlana Alliluyev , who later recalled Fr. Nicolae:
I will never forget our first conversation in an empty church after the service. An elderly man with a face like Pavlov, Sechenov, Pirogov, great Russian scientists, came up with a quick gait. The face is both simple and intelligent, full of inner strength. He quickly shook my hand, as if we were old acquaintances, sat on a bench by the wall, crossed his legs and invited me to sit next to him. I was confused because his behavior was ordinary. He asked me about children, about work, and I suddenly began to tell him everything, still not realizing that this was a confession. Finally, I confessed to him that I did not know how to talk with the priest, and I apologize for that. He smiled and said: "As with an ordinary person." This was said seriously and soulfully. And yet, before he left, when he held out his hand for the usual handshake, I kissed her, obeying some kind of impulse. He smiled again. His face was reserved and strict, the smile of that face was worth a lot ...
Spiritual children left memories of Fr. Nicolae, in which, in particular, noted his wisdom and insight:
All marriages that he blessed were happy. But if Father Nicholas did not bless, disobedience ended in disaster. A catastrophe, but not a tragedy, because the priest still pulled out of trouble with his omnipotent prayer. One girl decided to get married. Father Nikolai did not know the groom, never saw him, but immediately said that this was not the person she needed, the girl stood her ground, grieved, even cried. Father Nicholas did not bless. When we began to ask the priest why he was so against, well, maybe he should be blessed, he sighed and, as bitterly as his most loving father, said: “I really feel sorry for her - he will beat her . ” The girl did it her own way. And this man who became her husband really beat her. I know how much suffering she had to endure.
The author of the essay on the “Trinity” by Andrei Rublev , services with an akathist to the icons of the Don Mother of God and “Recovery of the Dead,” sermons often published in the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. Although, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, he was not allowed to preach in the church, and Fr. Nicholas could only utter a few words before the confession, which turned into a small sermon on the theme of the gospel reading, the memory of this day's saint. The spiritual children recalled that "at times the priest said so, with such ardent conviction, a plea, a request that the heart answered, even the most deaf, the most callous."