Bobkov, Evgeny Alekseevich

Born July 6, 1939 pos. Kuchino, Moscow Region, in the family of a well-known Old Believer activist, lawyer Alexei Dorofeevich Bobkov .

He graduated from the first Kuchinsky secondary school in the Moscow region ( 1956 ). While still a schoolboy, he was placed by Bishop Gerontius (Lakomkin) as a reader in the Pokrovsky Cathedral at the Rogozhsky Cemetery.

He entered the Law Faculty of Moscow State University ( 1956 - 1959 ). He studied "excellently", took part in raising virgin lands and had a state award for this. Dismissed from the third year for religious beliefs. At the faculty (in the building of the former Synodal School), a dispute was organized on the topic "Is there a God?" The young man firmly defended his views and, raising the Gospel before everyone, firmly declared: “I believe in His power!” On the pages of many newspapers appeared malicious publications. ^{[1] [2]} The reaction to them was exactly the opposite: letters from readers poured into the dean of the law faculty with support and admiration for the views and behavior of Eugene. The faculty leadership was forced to confiscate them.

In 1960 he graduated from the All-Union Correspondence Law Institute , in 1960-1961 he served in the Armed Forces, then continued to be an active parishioner of the Intercession Cathedral. In 1963 - 1964 he studied at graduate school, from which he was also expelled for religious reasons. ^[3]

Since 1964 he was in charge of the book depository of the Intercession Cathedral. On July 7, 1966 , Archbishop Joseph (Morzhakov) consecrated him deacon in the same church. He was popular among the Moscow intelligentsia, had wide views, communicated with both Old Believers who belonged to other areas, and with the priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Alexander Men . He provided legal assistance to parishes and individual Christians, was the author of scientific publications on Old Russian culture and its monuments. His son Sergei recalled:

It so happened that I learned to read first in Slavic, only then in Russian. Father knew how to put it so that without orders, he just looked, and there was already a desire to do anything for him. Father was a man who believed that you can’t force, but you can convince. We had no prohibitions. Please take the atheistic dictionary, please take the book of a New Believer author or Catholic.

The activities of the deacon Evgeny Bobkov caused a sharp discontent of the authorities, which led to the demand of the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR to transfer him from Moscow to the province in real dignity. This demand was made on June 6, 1975 , and the clergy of the Old Believer church could not leave the deacon in Moscow - especially since by that time Evgeny Bobkov had very tense relations with the leadership of the archbishopric. However, it made a decision, regardless of the position of the authorities, to ordain him to the priesthood.

On June 11, 1975, he was ordained (Bishop Anastasius (Kononov) ) to the priest and appointed (Archbishop Nicodemus) rector of the Church of the Prophet Elijah in Gomel . Since the late 1970s, he was also the dean of the Don, Caucasus and Klintsy-Novozybkov dioceses (which were managed by Bishop Anastasius) and the secretary of the diocesan administration. Since May 27, 1983 - archpriest . Since 1984 - rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in the village of Turaevo, Moscow Region .

From the beginning of the 1980s, it marked the beginning of the collection of materials for the Old Belief encyclopedic dictionary. The vigorous activity of Archpriest Evgeny Bobkov led to pressure from him by the authorities, to threats of reprisal against him. Therefore, his tragic death in a car accident (the taxi in which he drove crashed into a truck on November 25, 1985) was regarded by many Old Believers as revenge on the part of the special services. ^[four]

He was buried at the Rogozhsky cemetery . Three of his children became Old Believers priests - Bobkov Sergey Evgenievich (parish in the village of Belaya Krinitsa, Chernivtsi region of Ukraine ), Bobkov Nikolai Evgenievich (parish in the city of Morshansk, Tambov region, Russia), Bobkov Gleb Evgenievich (parish in the village of Mikvarovo, Kilmez district, Kirov region ).

• Director of the Jewish publishing house "Gesharim" Mikhail Grinberg ( Jerusalem ) at a presentation at the Library Abroad Library named after A. Solzhenitsyna stated that he had dedicated the collection of works of the famous Old Believer figure Vladimir Ryabushinsky “Old Believers and Russian Religious Sentiment” published by the publishing house to Archpriest Evgeny Bobkov, his close friend and neighbor. ^[four]
• He maintained close contacts with representatives of the spiritual and administrative leaderships of all Old Believers' consents: the Chairman of the Moscow Old Believer Fedoseevskaya Preobrazhensky community M. I. Chuvanov, the spiritual mentor and the chairman of the Riga Pomeranian Grebenshchik community L. S. Mikhailov. He was in contact with many priests and hierarchs of the Patriarchal Church, including: Archbishop Pitirim (Nechaev) , Archbishop of Saratov Pimen (Khmelevsky) , Metropolitan of Minsk Filaret (Vakhromeev) . He studied the history of the Old Believers, the work of Archpriest Habakkuk, chronicled the Old Believer Church, collected manuscripts and old printed books. On the basis of his meeting in 1984 in the Pushkin House (Leningrad), the E. Bobkov Foundation was formed.

• Biography
• Memorial service on the 20th anniversary of the death
• Conversation with the widow and children