“To be the sister of the Patriarch is honorable, but not easy. Elena Gundyaeva: Teachers' Councils tempered Vladyka by teaching instant reaction and the art of discussion (interview with the Patriarch's sister - media materials)

Even my sister is not allowed to be called by name

The sister and elder brother of the new patriarch have been congratulated for the second day on the high appointment of Kirill. The number of calls from happy friends in the first day exceeded a hundred. 59-year-old Elena Mikhailovna Gundyaeva is very tired.

home and cell phones they did not stop in the evening, at night and in the morning, - Elena Mikhailovna admitted to us. - I'll just hang up, and already someone else is calling. I could only say "thank you". I was especially shocked by a naive call from England at three in the morning. I just dozed off a bit. Raised, and all over again: joy, experiences, congratulations.

Elena Mikhailovna heads the diocesan church theological children's school at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and Seminary. All the students learned about the impressive relative of the director recently.

Our task is to convey the will of God to the hearts, and not to talk about our families, ”explains Gundyaeva.

She does not see anything surprising in the appointment of Cyril as a metropolitan.

God helped. And yet, our parents could not but grow up such a person as Vladyka, - she says. - Oh, I'm used to this kind of treatment. It will be very difficult to relearn to call a brother a patriarch. I haven't called by name for a long time. Only by dignity.

when he came to Petersburg. Well, we rarely see each other. He has very few business trips to his hometown. It is understandable. The Metropolitan works all over the world - contacts, events, how many churches he consecrated. He has 48 hours in a day - how much he manages to do. To the common man not under power. Only with God's help. As a sister, it’s hard for me without communication with him. But I understand that service comes first for him.

Why the cartographer did not become a philologist

It turns out that Volodya Gundyaev began his career in the Leningrad geological expedition, where he came in 1962 as an apprentice draftsman.

In the St. Petersburg complex geological expedition (as the first place of work of the future metropolitan and patriarch is now called. - Approx. ed.) a holiday. The fact is that many here not only remember Gundyaev, but also followed his fate after leaving this job. We rejoiced at promotions, watched TV shows with his participation. Therefore, his election as a patriarch for those who work or worked within these walls is a great event.

You know, Volodya engendered the need to come to religion in many with whom he communicated. For example, Elena Levitskaya, who at that time was the head of the cartography department and his immediate boss, even took up compiling an Orthodox explanatory dictionary, - Oleg VASIN, head of the St. Petersburg integrated geological expedition, told Komsomolskaya Pravda. - A woman-front-line soldier came to understand religion before our eyes. She often talked with Vladimir on spiritual topics.

Elena Levitskaya, who is already 98 years old, became friends not only with him, but also with his family. Vladimir Gundyaev's father was a priest, his mother was a teacher of Russian language and literature. The family was very intelligent. Yes, and Vladimir, who combined work with study, was also distinguished by a lively mind and a broad outlook. Therefore, among his comrades there were many older colleagues. Today they all remember the work of Vladimir Gundyaev with warmth.

He quickly learned everything: write in calligraphic handwriting, make sketches of geological sections, graphs of the content of rocks in minerals. And all this - very carefully, clearly, using special instruments, - recalls the head of the regional geological group, chairman of the council of veterans of the St. Petersburg Integrated Geological Expedition Ludwig NASONOV. And he was also very modest. He did not speak openly and at every step about religion, believing that faith is a purely personal matter.

Vladimir worked here for 3 years, from 1962 to 1965. He just graduated from the school of working youth. And he already quit his position as a cartographer.

Before the guy opened, as they say, all the roads in life.

He thought to enter the Zhdanov University in the eastern department of the philological faculty, - Ludwig Nasonova clarifies. - Even took the statement there. But the selection committee asked if he was a Komsomol member. And when they found out that they didn’t, they advised me to join the Komsomol. Vladimir said he would think about it and left. And in the end he entered the theological seminary in the same year.

Obeisance to parents is obligatory

Flowers are always fresh on the grave of Archpriest Mikhail. It is located next to the small church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker at the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery in St. Petersburg. Here the father of the future patriarch also served as rector.

The mother of the new head of the Russian Orthodox Church(father died in 1974, and mother - exactly 10 years later).

His Holiness regularly comes, - Father Dionysius, who is now serving in the temple, told Komsomolskaya Pravda. - Several times a year. Maybe not every month, but quite often. The last time was quite recently, already locum tenens of the throne. And it always happens very quietly, modestly, without fuss, in a family way. He will come, hold a service and be sure to bow to the grave of his parents.

DID YOU KNOW?

It turns out that the title of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' has existed for almost 66 years - since September 1943. Then he was received by Patriarch Sergius at the personal suggestion of Comrade Stalin. And before that, the name of the country in the title of the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church sounded like "Rusiya" and then "Russia". To the title of the pre-Petrine patriarchs was added "by the grace of God ..." and "... and all the northern countries." It is curious that the first Patriarch of Moscow Job was called differently: both “the most holy Patriarch of the reigning city of Moscow and the Great Russian kingdom”, and “Patriarch of the reigning city of Moscow and all Russia”. Nikon, on the other hand, signed “By the grace of God, the great lord and sovereign (due to the fact that his predecessor Filaret, who did the same, was the father of the king and, in fact, co-ruler. - Approx. ed.), the archbishop of the reigning city of Moscow and all the great and small and white Russia and all northern countries and Pomoria and many states of the patriarch. Since then, the honorary title of the patriarch "great master" has been preserved (with the commemoration of the patriarch in divine services).

Not only our older brother Nikolai did not sleep that night, but I did too, - he smiles tiredly Elena Mikhailovna. “We were all very worried about Vladyka. They prayed that the Lord would arrange everything in the right way for the Church of God. The tension subsided only when the name of the new patriarch was announced. We congratulated Vladyka on his election to the Patriarchal Throne. His voice sounded very tired, he also hardly slept that night. Vladyka said that he was taking this cross upon himself and would carry it. This election for Vladyka is yet another service to the Church. Today he is already in business, the Cathedral continues ... We did not talk for long, I told him very personal words, sisterly. We are all praying for him. So that the Lord would strengthen him, give him health. After all, everything is the will of God. And in order to accept this will, one must have health.

Mission

Vladyka Kirill used to rely on God's will, - tells him Native sister Elena Gundyaeva. - The Lord himself leads him ...

It so happened that the number "27" became a fateful date for Bishop Kirill. Almost 40 years ago, Vladimir Gundyaev, a 22-year-old student of the Leningrad Theological Academy, once and for all determined his path, highlighting an arbitrarily chosen date in the calendar - March 27, 1969: “If until then I don’t meet a girl with whom I will be ready to go through my whole life, then I accept monasticism. And, not having met his beloved, he took the tonsure ...

This decision was not some kind of accident, - Elena Mikhailovna is sure. - It was prepared by the whole history of our family - both the difficult but wonderful life of our dad, Archpriest Mikhail Gundyaev, and the tragic, full of ordeals fate of his grandfather, priest Vasily Gundyaev ... They suffered for their faith - dad spent 4 years in Kolyma, and grandfather passed 46 prisons and 7 exiles... It was they who opened for us - both for Vladyka Kirill and for our elder brother Father Nikolai - this door of service to the Lord...

Metropolitan Kirill was also elected patriarch on the 27th, this January. It is truly a sign of fate...

Father

Mikhail Gundyaev became a priest in 1947.

Just then, a new stage of the struggle with the church began in Leningrad, - recalls the sister of Metropolitan Kirill. - In order to deal with the priesthood in one fell swoop, the financial committee came up with an unbearable tax - 120 thousand rubles. Compare: then the Pobeda car cost 16 thousand rubles. But if the priest refused to serve, the tax was written off ... Naturally, the pope did not even think about any refusal to serve God. We sold everything that could be sold, borrowed money, and dad paid this tax. But then he paid off these debts until the end of his life, - Elena Mikhailovna says with pain. - I don’t understand how we lived ... As a child, I went out to the front door, and there was always a mesh bag with groceries hanging on the handle. They were brought by ordinary parishioners - people of very modest means. Most often it contained a herring and a loaf of bread.

I remember how the inspectors came to describe the property for debts. It was scary: I’m six years old, I’m walking in the yard, and they shout to me: “Lenka, they’re coming to you!” A colorless woman in a knitted hat came once again to describe the property. I rushed upstairs, taking off to the fifth floor, so that my mother would only be ready to open the door to these people, and there was absolutely nothing to describe. Books, thank God, did not describe. All we had left was the library...

But with all the poverty, my mother always gave us tea from cups and saucers. No matter what! She taught us that even in difficult years a person should not lose the appearance and likeness of God. It remains for life. Trouble comes, and it must be experienced without losing inner world. Then you will bear any misfortune. And we had many troubles.

teachers' councils

The gift of a preacher, for which Vladyka Kirill is known to millions of people, was laid in childhood. 13-year-old Volodya Gundyaev was tempered ... by teachers' councils.

During the Khrushchev persecution, as a very bright preacher, dad was exiled to serve in the provincial Krasnoe Selo, - says Elena Mikhailovna. - We were given half of the old house, with mice and frost in the corners. Then our older brother Nikolai entered the seminary, and Volodya and I went to live with our parents in this house. And at school we started very big problems. Everyone knew that we were priestly children, we did not go to the pioneers for reasons of principle. And they immediately began to “process” us - they offered me to become the chairman of the council of the squad, to go to the Orlyonok pioneer camp - just join! My refusal affected my grades... Bishop Kirill was in a very terrible situation. He, a 13-year-old boy, was summoned to the teachers' council and began to study. They really wanted to re-educate him and publicly declare this: they say, "we remade the children of such a priest"! Imagine, the entire teaching staff gathered in the teacher's room - from the head teachers to the senior pioneer leader. And it began: “Where did everything come from?”, “Why do you believe in God?” They tried to drive Vladyka into a dead end. And since dad has been studying the Law of God with us since childhood, Volodya, while still a little boy, could operate with such texts that people did not know at all, and he won! And I remember how happy he came home after the teachers' councils! I told my parents about these disputes, and they were proud of their son. The teachers' councils tempered the lord by teaching instant reaction and the art of discussion...

Time

Vladimir Gundyaev graduated from the seminary and the academy in less than 4 years - twice as fast as his fellow students.

Do you know how he studied? - says Elena Mikhailovna. - He went to bed at 24.00, and got up exactly at 4.15. I drank a cup of coffee, two hours later - a second cup. At 8 o'clock I went to school, and he went to the Theological Academy or worked until the evening. And in this way he handed over one subject in four days - only in his case it was not days, but days. He believed that he had no right to play for time.

Just like his decision not to marry: after all, he didn’t marry not on purpose, because he wanted to become a monk, but because it didn’t work out: “That’s it, I won’t love anymore, but time is running out, but you have to serve! »

Icon

Until the end of his life, our dad was called Father Mikhail Smolensky, because he began to serve in the church of the Smolensk Icon Mother of God at the Smolensk cemetery. And then, when his son, Bishop Kirill, was transferred to Smolensk, having been appointed Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, everyone exclaimed: "God's Providence!" And indeed, this Smolensk icon as if guiding him through life.

Elena YAROVIKOVA, Elena EVSTRATOVA, Igor VASILIEV, Life.ru

Known German magazine "Stern" due to the dense ignorance of their employees at one time - even when His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' visited Germany in the rank of Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad - told readers about the family and personal life of monk Cyril. And about a cozy house in Switzerland, and about his passion for skiing and fast driving in sports cars, and about his wife, and even about children and dogs ... And out of greater respect, he even named Father Kirill neither more nor less, but "great family man".

It must be said that Lydia is a faithful common-law spouse and the same age as Holiness, and not a young "kept woman - a spoiled woman." They with "holiness" gave birth to good and smart children. Another thing is why the ROC does not tell the truth and why does Lydia continue the tobacco (from the devil) business? Why does the Russian Orthodox Church consider ordinary conception (a gift from the Almighty) to be vicious?

That's what wickedness! No, to call the PR service of the Patriarchate and find out how right tell readers about the difficult hermit prayer life high-ranking monks! Well, by God, like small Samoyeds - “what I see is what I sing!”

As a result, since then, all sorts of blasphemers-ahhalniks have been "inclining" the poor Lidia Mikhailovna Leonova in every imaginable way. Even His Holiness himself, in connection with the recent apartment scandal, was forced to make excuses - they say, she is not my wife, but just a fighting friend, registered with me in the same living space. This, they say, is my sister, like, "a nun in the world." Saying "sister", one must assume, he meant, of course, not his only sister in the whole world, Elena, but "sister" in faith, in the spirit of entrepreneurship. After all, he usually addresses everyone like this: “Brothers and sisters!”. Therefore, Lydia Leonova is also his “sister”, although not his own.

Lidia Mikhailovna Leonova- (01/27/1947) - "A nun in the world", who for 38 years - since the distant "Soviet" 1974 - has been relentlessly accompanying monk Kirill through life. Moves with him to all new places of residence, accompanies him on trips and participates in his commercial enterprises. According to spiteful critics, more than 300 tobacco commercial organizations were registered in her name. It was Lidia Mikhailovna that the Stern employees had in mind when they called Kirill “an excellent family man,” and it is she who is now officially registered in the apartment and lives together with the monk Vladimir Gundyaev.

And here is how he talks about this in an interview with Yuri Vasiliev (03/23/2012) Chief Editor independent network resource "Portal-Credo.Ru" Alexander Soldatov: " Question: We talked about the option with my sister above. Are there more or less official explanations of who the monk Kirill Lidia Leonova is? In addition to the communal neighbor, of course. Answer: The official historiography is silent about Mrs. Leonova. ... There is an unofficial historiography that originates from the publication of the German magazine "Stern" around 1993-1994, where Metropolitan Kirill is described as "an exemplary family man." And it is even claimed that he has children. Further our portal with a link to different sources- in particular, on Sergei Bychkov from Moskovsky Komsomolets, who conducted various investigations regarding the life of the future patriarch, - for several years he wrote that this Mrs. Leonova was the daughter of a certain official from the Leningrad regional party committee. The future patriarch met her back in the early 70s, when he was a student at the Leningrad Theological Academy. ... since then, she has accompanied him everywhere - she lived in Smolensk, and now in Moscow. Therefore, the word "sister", perhaps, should be understood in a spiritual sense, and not in a physiological one. (http://www.svobodanews.ru/content/article/24525100.html).

Elena Mikhailovna Gundyaeva- real and the only sister of the Holy One. She devoted her life to the Church, for many years she has been working as the director of an Orthodox gymnasium and is proud of her brother.

However, not only German, but also patriarchal "freaks" also do not catch mice (their business acumen is not the same as that of Cyril himself!). No, in order to quickly clean up all the biographical "apocrypha", so they have left them to this day - they say that Cyril has only a sister, Elena, a pilgrim, and only a brother, Nikolai, a pilgrim.

Evgraf Duluman
(According to documents and official
messages on the Internet)

Lidia Mikhailovna Leonova

The patriarch declared her to be his non-existent second cousin.

None of the official biographies of Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev will ever include the story of his acquaintance with Lidia Mikhailovna Leonova, the young and pretty daughter of the head of the catering department of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU. For 30 years now, they have had the warmest relations, which, by the way, gave rise to some Western journalists who are poorly versed in Orthodox canons, call Bishop Kirill "an exemplary family man." They say that now a number of commercial enterprises are registered at the home address of Lidia Mikhailovna in Smolensk, one way or another connected with the business of the metropolitan himself.

... The name of Lydia Leonova first surfaced in the late 90s - when it turned out that several commercial structures were registered to her in Smolensk, where the current Patriarch Kirill was the diocesan bishop. These structures, in particular, were also engaged in the notorious tobacco business - they controlled some kind of tobacco trade there, they were engaged in investments of various kinds.

There is reason to believe that Lidia Leonova, whom the future patriarch brought with him to Smolensk from Leningrad, is his kind of financial agent, at least, and a fairly close person, since they live in the same apartment.

... She may be a distant relative, perhaps a spiritual child, or simply a tenant. In any case, for true believers, a wave of provocative articles is obvious as a result of the fight against Putin and United Russia. And the believer will not be shaken in faith even by a patriarch with three sixes on his forehead. For they do not believe in the patriarch, but in God. The Church is an institution for preserving knowledge and its purity, as well as helping those who go to God with advice and rituals. As long as Cyril does not introduce new trends from himself into the church, it does not matter what the newspapers write about him. Moreover, the former official in question, apparently, in good relations with the authorities, including with Putin. Why didn't Putin "protect" him then?

... It's a family thing for them, to manage other people's money. After all, the “sister” should receive compensation. Or Kirill is scorched and he and his "sister" still have common housekeeping, and he really, how innocently the Western press wrote, "a decent family man."

... The official historiography is silent about Mrs. Leonova. Therefore, its status is incomprehensible to us: so we could at least refer to some official document. There is an unofficial historiography that originates from the publication of the German magazine "Stern" around 1993-1994, where Metropolitan Kirill is described as "an exemplary family man." And it is even claimed that he has children. Further, our portal, citing various sources - in particular, Sergei Bychkov from Moskovsky Komsomolets, who conducted various investigations regarding the life of the future patriarch - wrote for several years that this Mrs. Leonova is the daughter of a certain official from the Leningrad Regional Party Committee. The future patriarch met her back in the early 70s, when he was a student at the Leningrad Theological Academy. And now, supposedly since then, she has accompanied him everywhere - she lived in Smolensk, and now in Moscow. Therefore, the word "sister", perhaps, should be understood in a spiritual sense, and not in a physiological one.

Good afternoon!

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