Golovin priest lectures. Biography
Vladimir Golovin, reviews from priests and the opinion of the Russian Orthodox Church - what do priests and laity say about the “visionary” archpriest? Orthodox doubts regarding Vladimir Golovin from the city of Bolgar should have been dispelled, since if he had violated the canons and been a heretic and schismatic, he would have been banned from ministry long ago. And he not only serves, but also actively preaches, including on YouTube - the priest has more than 45 thousand subscribers on his channel, and videos are released almost every day.
Father calls for prayer for peace, but he himself happily gives valuable spiritual advice to “volunteers” from the Russian Federation who are going to fight in Ukraine, without trying to dissuade them from doing so. Considering that in this he fully follows the policy of the Russian Orthodox Church (which forms entire detachments of Cossacks at parishes and actively promotes the often violent formation of the Russian world in foreign territories), then, of course, the priests’ reviews of Vladimir Golovin should be mostly positive, as a fellow agitation and propaganda.
On the other hand, we must admit that, after all, Vladimir Golovin is an intelligent, educated person, and has a reasonable view on many issues. For example, he compares sexual minorities with alcoholics, drug addicts and other sinners, and calls to love them (and not beat them), to condemn sin, not people. Many useful tips He gives in everyday and everyday issues, and, moreover, relying not only on St. fathers, Scripture, but also from my own experience.
Regarding the coming times, everything is bad for Vladimir Golovin - money has already been abolished, soon the code will be introduced on the forehead and hand, everyone who does not accept the code will be starved to death. In this, Father Vladimir Golovin from Bolgar also largely agrees with other priests and Russian politics. Everyone should urgently go to the villages, give birth to more children for the army, pray and vegetate in poverty while officials have fun, steal and pump out oil - a very good soul-saving thing.
It should also be noted that, according to rumors from forums, many priests from Samara and Tatarstan do not give their blessing to go to Bolgar. These rumors are refuted in some places (as about Father Gennady Feoktistov), in others they are not.
Feedback from parishioners
Reviews of parishioners and laity about Vladimir Golovin vary. There are many negative ones, for example, many write with horror that Father Vladimir predicted to his children that their child would die anyway, the girl would never get married, in general, a lot of such sad, hopeless things. For Orthodox insight this is very strange. At the conference of the Blagovest newspaper, where an entire thread is dedicated to Father Vladimir, there is even a case where a church-going woman stopped going to church altogether after meeting Golovin, she was so disappointed.
Considering the priest’s extraordinary behavior, his fame grows from year to year. True, he has not yet crowed, calling the possessed to reprimand him, but the cries of “Don’t look me in the eyes! “Leave great impressions on the laity.
Also, cases of “predictions” did not come true, ruining people’s destinies. But, of course, a significant part of the parishioners are fans of Father Vladimir Golovin and talk about how the prophecies came true. They write that one conversation brought into faith people who, sobbing, realized how wrong they had lived.
Indeed, Father Vladimir has charisma, he knows how to speak in a very simple and relatable way, winning people over to him.
Participants in discussions on the forums, of course, advocate not condemning the priesthood. But Father Vladimir himself calls for condemning the act, not the person. Therefore, the words of the parishioners who suffered from the Bulgarian seer can be interpreted as precisely a condemnation of his unfulfilled predictions.
Feedback from priests
This is what the priests of the Russian Orthodox Church say about the defrocking of Vladimir Golovin and his activities.
Priest Georgy Maximov:
“Vladimir Golovin was ordered by the ruling bishop to stop all those activities, which became a source of temptation and embarrassment for many. Archpriest Vladimir did not agree to repent, did not fulfill what was prescribed, and was given time to think several times. As a result, he was defrocked.
Vladimir Golovin, instead of turning to the Church Court, turned to his supporters, who promoted this case as persecution against him. He made staged videos with professional direction, many of which he was wrong about. He did not delete these videos, although he could well have done so.”
It should be noted that in some videos Vladimir Golovin gave parishioners really dubious life advice. For example, he recommended finding out the reason why her husband watches pornography, that is, watching these videos herself and “finding out what’s wrong with it.”
This, of course, goes against the gospel: “Whoever looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” However, discord in intimacy between husband and wife does lead to adultery and, of course, Golovin did not mean the need to watch porn, but the importance of understanding the reasons so that it would be easier to restore harmony in the family.
Priest Vyacheslav Nefedov:
“I treat Father Vladimir Golovin with respect, since the priest has served for a very long time. All priests make mistakes, whether young or old. It seems to me that Vladimir Golovin should have first asked some clarifying questions, maybe the person was mistaken and no longer thinks so. Ask him questions in his presence, figure it out.
I would like such situations to be resolved in the spirit of peace and brotherly love. Some of the accusations voiced could simply be based on misunderstood information from the sermons of Fr. Vladimir. However, if Father Vladimir really, for example, venerates Slavik of Chebarkul (a false saint according to the Russian Orthodox Church - editor's note), this is already serious. As for the accusations of praying for money through the site, this seems strange to me, since in the same monasteries the sacraments are carried out according to a clear price list. If you don’t like the prices for the sacraments, then let’s remove them completely.”
Father Andrey Fedosov:
“I would like to stand up for father Vladimir Golovin. But many things do seem strange. For example, a photograph of Fr. Vladimir from his anniversary silver wedding, where he stands without a cassock and in a white tailcoat.
But at the same time, to say that this is a “renewal of marriage”, “an additional wedding” is all speculation and distortion.
The most important complaint about the report about Vl. Golovina – have you tried to talk to him before? Have you tried to call the ruling bishop? That we have a number of questions for this priest, we would like to receive clarification on them. And so it was brought to international educational readings, which is ugly. What was the purpose of this report? It does not seem that he was directed towards repentance. Vladimir."
Let us note that Andrei Fedosov was also banned from ministry for 3 months after his videos. Free-thinking is severely punished in the Russian Orthodox Church.
Conclusions
Taking into account the reviews of priests and the opinions of parishioners about Vladimir Golovin, we can draw a fairly clear conclusion that he is an intelligent man, an educated priest, whose activities have not been condemned by the Russian Orthodox Church for many years. What served the real reason deposition - financial sharing, jealousy over the number of admirers, or heresy and nonsense in sermons - it’s hard to say. But in any case, there are doubts both about the objectivity of the church court and about the statements of Golovin himself.
Taking into account the “INN-Antichrist” accents in the sermons and the unfulfilled “predictions”, one can make another accurate conclusion that he was an ordinary provincial priest, with his own opinion, who may well be wrong.
Considering how difficult it is now in the Russian Orthodox Church for a thinking person who cannot imagine a crucified boy near Slavyansk, does not want to support Putin with his corrupt system, does not believe that very soon they will kick people out of their apartments due to the lack of a code on their hand, and doesn’t want to dig a dugout ahead of time...then you just need to learn to separate the wheat from the chaff.
You can learn a lot of useful things from Father Vladimir’s sermons, but it’s clearly not worth accepting all his speeches as 100% truth, if you don’t want to ruin your life because of someone else’s extravagance.
If you go to church, improve yourself, don’t sin, and listen to your heart, then God himself will put everything in its place, without “seers.” You can also get some advice on prayer or spiritual struggle from your parish priest.
Dear visitors! This article - general overview opinions from forums and excerpts from the statements of priests, and not the official point of view of the Russian Orthodox Church. There is a lot of conflicting information on the Internet about priest Vladimir Golovin; it is likely that many of the reviews are erroneous or made up, but some of the conclusions were drawn from Father Vladimir’s videos.
Again, there was no goal to spoil this priest. And he has a lot of useful sermons.
But he is also full of inappropriate things. For example, Father Vladimir first says that he has no time for political topics, and he serves only the Lord, and then he discusses these topics for half an hour. Such speeches are, of course, very pleasant to the Soviet generation, which has replaced love for Lenin with Orthodoxy, but is turning away young people from the Church, who are very sensitive to political propaganda in the church.
Now the times are such that subjective opinion It is better to treat the clergy without fanaticism, having reason, and understanding weaknesses, forgiving, in the end. Take the good and cut off the bad, and Golovin’s sermons will benefit you.
This year, the Spas television channel broadcast the program “The Word” with Archpriest Vladimir Golovin. In this program, the priest talked about his life and how he came to the decision to devote himself to serving the church. This article will also present some facts from the biography of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin.
About father and grandmother
Father says that about him life purpose was predicted long before his birth. And it happened like this: the priest’s grandmother wanted to show her son Valentin (the future father of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin) the places where she was from. This village was nearby.
Since buses went there very rarely, the mother and son decided to get there on foot. On the way, they passed a well, built on the spot where the appearance of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker took place several centuries ago. On this day, a holiday dedicated to this saint was celebrated. Therefore, many people gathered near the well. People were dispersed by policemen and vigilantes, but still, many believers did not want to leave.
Icon on wood
Mom drank water from the well, and then presented the ladle to her son (the future father of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin). Valentin took a sip and tasted rot. The whole point is that in Soviet era the authorities discouraged visiting this shrine and praying in the nearby area. Therefore, when the well lid broke, it began to get inside various rubbish and leaves flying from the trees.
The local administration also had no intention of cleaning the water. When Valentin drank from the ladle brought to him, in order to kill the taste of rot, he threw back his head and began to breathe heavily fresh air. At that moment, the boy saw that on the tree under which they stood, some branches had been cut down, and on the branches were skillfully carved images of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the Virgin Mary.
Prophecy
The child pointed to these icons to his mother. But she could not immediately see them, since they were made in the form of cracks in the wood. Therefore, they could not always be distinguished at first glance. People standing nearby began to say: “These are the miracles St. Nicholas shows in our difficult times!” They began to ask the boy to cut down for them the branches on which the images were located. A child raised like many soviet people at a time when scientific atheism was widely promoted by the state, I was frightened by such a request and pulled my mother’s hand.
They quickly left that place. Already being at a considerable distance from the shrine, mother and son heard a woman’s voice behind them, it was an old woman who said: “Are you the boy to whom the Mother of God appeared with St. Nicholas the Wonderworker?” Valentin said that it was not him. Then the woman spoke again: “You will live long life. The son who is born to you will become a priest. And many men from your family will also devote themselves to the church."
Grandmother's education
In answers to questions about his biography, Archpriest Vladimir Golovin said that his spiritual upbringing in early childhood It was mainly my grandmother who did the work. It was she who brought him to the temple for the first time. Subsequently, Pelageya Ivanovna often took her grandson with her to church services. Each time the boy was very bored in the cathedral, and he thought that next time he would certainly refuse to go there. However, something forced him to always answer his grandmother’s question in the affirmative: “Grandson, will you go to church with me?”
First reading of the New Testament
It was Pelageya Ivanovna, when her grandson admitted to her that he wanted to attend church regularly, who brought him the Gospel so that he could read it aloud. The woman herself was not taught to read and write. Therefore, when Valentin said that he wanted to familiarize himself with the contents of the book on his own, silently, she told him to definitely read it out loud.
She taught him a lesson careful attitude to the Holy Scriptures. When the grandson put the book on his lap, the grandmother reprimanded him: The Gospel can only be placed on the table. Pelageya Ivanovna forced the young man to wash his hands before he touched the pages. Only after this did his grandmother allow him to read the Holy Scriptures.
Children's thoughts about the meaning of life
Telling about early period In his biography, Archpriest Vladimir Golovin says that for the first time he was forced to think about the meaning of life by the death of his uncle. His father was so close with his brother that he named his son after him. When a relative died from serious illness V early age(he was only about 40 years old), his young nephew also grieved. He and all the adult family members attended the funeral. After the ceremony, before leaving the cemetery, the boy heard cheerful laughter and humorous conversations between adults. He was outraged by such a frivolous attitude towards what was happening from his relatives.
He was also struck by the duplicity of people who, a few minutes before, had shed bitter tears over the coffin of the deceased. Before going to bed, the child asked his mother: “Mom, are we all going to die too?” To which she replied: “Yes, son, we are all mortal. But our end will not come soon.” This event came turning point in the life of little Volodya. He set himself a goal: to find the meaning of existence at all costs. To do this, the child began to study the literature that was in bookcase and at the local library. But the books that passed Soviet censorship did not answer the question that interested him. Oddly enough, the literature on scientific atheism, which contained quotes from the Old and New Testaments, turned out to be much more useful at this moment. The boy read only these excerpts, skipping all the criticism that followed the words from the Bible.
He soon became so interested in the study of the Holy Scriptures that he decided to devote his life to the church.
Thus, the old woman's prediction to his father and grandmother was confirmed.
Life troubles
In the biography of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin, like all people, there were unpleasant moments. For example, when he is on one of cool hours said that he believed in God, the stunned teacher complained about him to the school principal. Chapter educational institution He called the boy into his office and scolded him for a long time. The result of this conversation was Golovin’s expulsion from school. Only after much persuasion did the teenager manage to be reinstated in the educational institution.
Passing the commission at the military registration and enlistment office was also not an easy task. When the commission members learned about religious beliefs future father of Vladimir, they did not want to enlist him in the army. Numerous summonses to the offices of various officials followed.
The situation was aggravated by the fact that pressure was exerted not only on the future Archpriest Vladimir Golovin himself, but his family was also subjected to various humiliations. As a result, doctors deliberately found some mythical disease in the guy, thanks to which he was not accepted into the army.
In which church does Archpriest Vladimir Golovin serve?
The answer to this question will be given in this chapter. Father lives in the Republic of Tatarstan. In a city called Bolgar. Archpriest Vladimir Golovin is the rector of this church, consecrated in honor of the 13th century great martyr Abraham. The saint lived in an area on the banks of the Volga River, and was a Muslim by birth. He came from a family of wealthy merchants and was himself engaged in trade. By the will of fate, he met several Russian merchants who told him about the Orthodox faith.
Abraham realized that this religion was his purpose in life. He was baptized and began to preach his spiritual beliefs among the people to whom he himself belonged. Since the saint, even before his churching, was actively involved in charity work and helped people in every possible way, at first his fellow tribesmen tried to influence him only with persuasion. They wanted to force him to renounce his religion and convert back to Islam. Abraham responded to all their admonitions with a firm refusal. Then he was imprisoned and tortured. But even enduring terrible suffering, he did not renounce his faith. Then he was executed. At the site of the death of this great martyr there is now a chapel, and one of the churches in the city of Bolgar is dedicated to this saint.
It is in this cathedral that Archpriest Vladimir Golovin serves, whose sermons people come to listen to not only local residents, but also numerous pilgrims who come to worship the holy places where Abraham of Bulgaria lived. For his diligent many years of priestly activity, the priest was ordained to the rank of archpriest. This is what the chief priest is called. This title is given no earlier than after 10 years of a person’s presence in church service. Before the revolution, those bearing this rank were called archpriests. During his sermons, Archpriest Vladimir Golovin speaks in simple, understandable language about the most important topics for every Christian. For example, he believes that nowadays people have become too great value give comfort and material goods. Because of this, representatives of the current generation often forget about spiritual life and prayer.
Conversations by Archpriest Vladimir Golovin
After sermons, the priest personally communicates with those in need of advice. He encourages parishioners to begin to pray regularly, citing numerous examples of how people's lives change for the better through the fight against sins and correct spiritual life.
About life after death
In one of the programs devoted to issues of Christianity, Archpriest Vladimir Golovin expressed the opinion that many people are afraid of the death of themselves and their loved ones because they feel sinfulness and the retribution that awaits a person in afterlife. According to him, righteous people, as a rule, say goodbye to life very calmly and resignedly. This is how many who lived in the old days died.
For example, in the past it was even customary to prepare things in which a person was supposed to lie in a coffin. Today, people deliberately try to drive away such thoughts from themselves, because they do not want to think about death. This happens because they do not want to part with their sinful existence, and the thought of retribution is unpleasant to them. For this reason, many unpleasant phenomena occur in the lives of modern people.
Eternal youth
Archpriest Vladimir, in his sermons and in answers to questions from journalists, encourages people to objectively assess their age. According to him, due to the fact that people are not capable of this, they commit various sins. For example, many men over the age of 40 leave their families for young mistresses because they want to prove to themselves that they are still young enough. Or, conversely, some thirty-year-old people have not yet found their way in life and are “sitting on their parents’ necks.”
About the family
Many are interested in whether Archpriest Vladimir Golovin has a family. Father has been married for about 30 years. Archpriest Vladimir Golovin has four children and, as he himself says, the priest is already “a hundred times a grandfather.”
Call to Prayer
Vladimir Golovin tells the parishioners of his church and the numerous people who gather at his sermon to turn to the Lord God with all pressing questions. He is convinced that prayer and repentance are the most important components of the life of any Christian.
Repentance, according to him, should be brought not to the priest, but to the Almighty. He believes that the clergyman receiving confession should even in some cases stand further from the altar than the one making confession. Because in this sacrament a person conducts a dialogue with God.
The wife of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin contributes in every possible way to the activities of her husband. Therefore, there is always peace and mutual understanding in this family. The texts of this priest’s sermons can be found on websites dedicated to Orthodoxy. He is also the author of several books on the Christian life.
From the moment the article was published, it has become increasingly obvious that Golovin’s accusers do not want to enlighten, with love and meekness, correct their brother priest in faith, point out his mistakes, and help him find perfection in his ministry. The accusers of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin want to tear to pieces and destroy him and his life’s work. For a month now he has been fiercely tormented, tormented and tormented - in a month 32 publications have been made where the priest is branded with the most cruel labels and accusations!
The words come to mind: “For I know that after I am gone they will come in to you. fierce wolves, not sparing the flock" (Acts 20:29) and also "They seek out untruth, making investigation after investigation even into the inner life of a person and to the depths of the heart" (Ps. 63:7).
I am forced to admit that both Archpriest Alexander Novopashin and Alexander Leonidovich Dvorkin experienced so-called professional deformation. When people who have denounced totalitarian sects for so many years they themselves began to act using methods of personality suppression that are used in totalitarian sects.
And this is not due to the misconceptions and preaching errors of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin, which, as is already obvious, are not systemic and malicious in nature, but are caused by the weakness of the human mind, from which we can easily be corrected by a simple reproof made with love. How can you admonish your brothers in faith with love? For example, like this:
- Analysis of the situation: Golovin, Dvorkin, Novopashin- Archpriest Andrey Fedosov
- About Archpriest Vladimir Golovin and prayer by agreement- Priest Georgy Maximov
The question is different, our priests must realize that if the fierce ones, stricken by vanity inquisitors from RATSIRS will win, their methods will prevail, they will not be repulsed, then in Russian Orthodox Church the era of real totalitarianism will come, when opponents who have gone astray, stumbled, or simply made mistakes will be dealt with mercilessly like this.
To understand the hypocrisy of the accusers of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin, you can read their own words:
- Opposition to sects is one of the works of the Church’s love for man- Professor Alexander Dvorkin
- Guruistic (young age) groups in the Church- Archpriest Alexander Novopashin
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This video provides answers to accusations against Archpriest Vladimir Golovin of heresy, sectarianism, childishness, etc. selections from... his own sermons:
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P.S. 32 publications against Archpriest Vladimir Golovin in a month lead to suspicions that this entire company is a crafty and paid order. In one of his publications, Alexander Leonidovich Dvorkin complained that he did not have time to analyze Golovin’s sermons. And indeed, Alexander Dvorkin is a professor at PSTGU, the head of the center for svschmch. Irinea of Lyons, actively gives lectures in the regions, Archpriest Alexander Novopashin is the rector of a large cathedral, the dean of Novosibirsk, a film director - these are, in fact, very, very busy people. And for a whole month they have been doing nothing else but one provincial priest. All business has been abandoned. Think about it, 32 articles in a month!
At the same time, if you go to the main page of the Center for Holy Martyrs. Irenaeus of Lyons, and count how many articles (reports) Archpriest Alexander Novopashin and Professor Alexander Dvorkin wrote and published, then it will be discovered that they did one at a time, in best case scenario two or three publications per year. Alexander Dvorkin made five publications for last month(i.e., he fulfilled his quota of publications in three years), and Archpriest Alexander Novopashin also made five publications in a month (thus fulfilling his quota of publications in five years).
So, people have abandoned all their professional duties and many important current affairs and are occupied only by one village priest not from their dioceses (not some large and powerful sect like the Church of Scientology, " Jehovah's Witnesses", or "Society for Krishna Consciousness"), molding from him a megagalatic heretical monster, from which a great schism of the Russian Orthodox Church will occur, and the Antichrist himself will come a hundred years earlier.
This leads to suspicions that they are paying generously for this, since everything has been abandoned and the accusers live only with Golovin and his “metagalactic blasphemous sect”, and they are not fighting for the purity of Orthodoxy here... such hyperactivity, such a painful reaction to criticism, such a fierce and cruel (at times even hysterical) criticism not of an adherent of some totalitarian sect and a criminal, but of an Orthodox priest, another reason to suspect that there are not pure intentions here...
“They seek out untruths, they make investigation after investigation even to the inner life of a person and to the depths of the heart” (Ps. 63:7).
- Hypocrisy is a disaster for a missionary- Maxim Stepanenko
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And again about the hypocrisy of accusers:
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Moreover, this whole scandal is a storm in a teacup. So average daily quantity visitors to the website svschmch. Irenaeus of Lyons is 685 people, in February 976 people, in January 448 people, in November-December there were about 300 people. Those. The Golovin scandal attracted about 500 new people a day to the site. Only 500 people a day are interested in the topic of criticism of the “heretic” Golovin out of 140 million Russians. At the same time, the so-called average daily core of the Irineevsky site is 163 people in March, 111 people in February, and in previous months this figure was 60 - 80 people. The average daily core is the number of regular readers who visit the site several times a week. Thus, no more than 100 people throughout Russia were specifically immersed in Golovin’s theme; the rest were one-time visitors - they looked and forgot...
Thus, the top publication for February on this site was Alexander Dvorkin’s article “The Unconventional Theology of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin” - 5,300 views. The initial report of Archpriest Alexander Novopashin had 4,062 views in January, and 713 views in February.
For comparison article “Why don’t I publish Novopashin’s criticism of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin on the “Towards Truth” project” for February - March it has about 13 thousand views. Video Archpriest Alexander Fedosov viewed by 111.5 thousand people in a month, video Priest Georgy Maximov 87 thousand views in three weeks. Appeal from himself Archpriest Vladimir Golovin 66 thousand views for three weeks.
What does this mean? The fact that Golovin’s accusers have lost morally. Russian Orthodox Christians are no longer looking for the fierce denunciations of this priest, but the real truth about him and the justifications of the shepherd whom they respect and love.
The methods of denouncing the leaders of RACIRS have not yet received support from the church people. This is what makes them so actively look for uncleanness in the backyard of the Bulgarian priest. So by Easter you can expect that up to 50 articles will be written, as if proving: we are right! we are right! “They seek out untruths, they make investigation after investigation even to the inner life of a person and to the depths of the heart” (Ps. 63:7).
And this phrase has a characteristic continuation: “But God will strike them with an arrow: suddenly they will be wounded; with their tongue they will strike themselves; all who see them will depart from them. And all men will fear, and will proclaim the work of God, and will understand that this is His work. But the righteous will rejoice in the Lord and trust in Him; and all the upright in heart will boast” (Ps. 63:8-11).
Over the past month, most Orthodox online community is buzzing around the activities of the canonical priest Archpriest Vladimir Golovin from the Bolgars. It is not very easy to understand everything, because the raised emotional noise drowns out the objective component of the issue. Every day several articles are published supporting this emotional upsurge, based on the call to cleanse Orthodoxy from false shepherds and bewilderment regarding some of the priest’s expressions. How many have tried to crush true shepherds under these goals?
I think quite a lot, including in Russian church history. But the first person in the history of Christianity to be killed without trial or investigation, based on accusations of “blasphemy against God, the founding of his own sect, daring speeches” was Jesus Christ himself. Roman judicial system, based on objective evidence, did not find any guilt in him worthy of death. But exactly religious people of that time, they considered it possible to insist on death penalty. And indeed, if Jesus Christ was not God, then many accusations would be quite fair. But among those who decided, there were none who would pose the question this way: is this really so? After all, it is clear that if we approached the actions of Christ with reasoning, we would certainly see that through Him the works of God are done. A person might not accept the divinity of Christ himself, but the divinity of the works that He did - upon closer examination, it was impossible to deny. And these things are already quite enough in order not to declare a person a blasphemer, a sectarian (you yourself are like a Samaritan).
Based on the above, I would like to warn people about making premature judgments regarding any person, especially if this person is Orthodox, especially if he is a canonical priest who is not prohibited from serving. Simply because to convict someone of anything without trial or investigation is a grave sin. We can testify that something confuses us, that it is something strange, that it is unacceptable, but we cannot say that a person is a false elder, a sectarian, a blasphemer, an accomplice of Satan. In the same way, if we do not agree with some opinion or word, or deed of the Patriarch, we have every right to do so, but without a council of bishops, we cannot not remember him, or call him a false patriarch, because this is what places us instantly outside the church. First of all, let's look at the claims against the personality of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin.
From all the material I read on the Internet, I tried to highlight the main points. The main complaint is being in delight. Is it possible to objectively prove this? Often the following facts are put forward as the basis for this - the artistry of the priest, frankness in every sense, the presence of a staff, the presence of a tomb, wearing bright clothes, and the like. I think everyone understands that, based on external factors, it is impossible to say whether a person is in delusion or not; this can only be done by a person’s personal confessor. Moreover, considering that each person is in a different degree of charm.
Due to the presence of all these external factors In general, the spiritual state of a person does not in any way follow. The main factor in the presence of charm is its denial. But both denial and confirmation are just words by which we cannot determine the real state of a person’s heart. The Holy Fathers gave methods on how to identify delusion in ourselves, but we suddenly begin to apply this to our neighbors. Obviously this is a mistake.
Let's argue by contradiction. Let's say Archpriest Vladimir Golovin is in demonic delusion. But what we see is that through his “charming” sermons, tens of thousands of people turn to church, begin to pray, read the Gospel, Holy Fathers, confess, take communion, in a word, they become children of the church.
And here we have 2 options:
1. Or God, through Vladimir Golovin, replenishes his church.
2. Or is this a diabolical multi-step aimed at causing a subsequent split within the church.
Can a person in delusion lead crowds of people? It can easily. Can a person in delusion bring more people to church than those who are in a normal state? This is where I doubt it. Vladimir Golovin is a leader in converting people to Orthodoxy and churching, he is also a leader in the number of subscribers on YouTube. The question again arises before us, either these are God’s works, or these are very cunning works of the devil, calculated many moves ahead. After all, people end up in the church after the fact, and there his power is limited. Let's consider the second option. If this is a diabolical multi-move, with the goal of luring as much as possible more people into the church, and then create a schism, then we are forced to admit that this multi-step includes Archpriest Alexander Novopashin, and Alexander Leonidovich Dvorkin, and all those who are developing this scandal, and they are the direct executors of this plan. It just logically follows from this. What is the devil's plan in this? Bring as many people as possible to the church, and then split them off? But many will remain, and before that they were not in the church at all. I see this as pointless.
The first option looks much more convincing, when God, through the sermons of Vladimir Golovin and prayer by agreement, does his own deeds, crowds of people turn to church, and at the same time, the tools that the devil used (the Internet, advertising, artistry) are now successfully used for the good, and All this is naturally unbearable for a fallen spirit, and so he plots against this matter. Considering the whole situation as a whole, I do not find convincing the possibility that Archpriest Vladimir Golovin is in delusion, and since he is in delusion, he is doing the works of the devil.
Since the fruits of his activities I see are completely opposite to the fruits of the devil. The fruits of the devil are schisms, quarrels, irritations, heresies. The fruits of the Spirit of God are peace, love, forgiveness, thanksgiving, repentance. We see this in his last video, where he asks everyone for forgiveness, and promises to realize and deal with what is really bad in him.
Could Fr. Vladimir Golovin to be in delusion and at the same time, through him the work of God was done? Maybe. Can Alexander Dvorkin be angry and at the same time do God’s work through him? Maybe. Therefore, neither charm nor anger explains anything and we cannot appeal to them as an argument.
One can question whether it is reliable that the priest’s fruits are good? Many reproach the fact that the followers of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin do not tolerate criticism, respond aggressively, threaten something and defend the priest in every possible way. At the same time, accusers consider it their duty to announce these weaknesses of their neighbor, despite the fact that these weaknesses are generally characteristic of all people, regardless of whether a person is right or wrong. But in fact, all these reactions are not any argument in favor of the fact that the work being done in Bolgar is not God’s.
All these complaints like “I was threatened, insulted” are only emotional, psychological technique. And look why. The Apostle Peter, in the Garden of Givsemane, in defense of his teacher, cut off the ear of the bishop's servant with a sword - did it follow from this that Jesus Christ was wrong? It shouldn't have. I came to church and did something wrong and my grandmother yelled at me. Does this mean that God is not in the church? It shouldn't. It's the same here. During this month, I had to have many conversations around this scandal, and I also heard some direct insults addressed to me, but this does not tell me anything about the rightness or wrongness of their position.
All these reactions say is that we are all damaged by sin, no matter what point of view we accept. Now let's consider the claim to the flock. She is charged with what she made of the priest - a guru. Perhaps, indeed, some people idolize him due to their spiritual inexperience. However, does it follow from this that Archpriest Vladimir teaches something bad? Again, no way. In his sermons we do not see this call to idolize him. Heretics do not honor Jesus Christ correctly, does it follow from this that Jesus Christ is wrong and taught something bad? It shouldn't. Therefore, the appeal of the honorable and smart people We must cut off such emotional arguments in favor of our position immediately. It's just the magic of emotions. Now I would like to consider the claims to the words of Archpriest Vladimir Golovin.
The question of blasphemy. Has anyone wondered if the purpose of this sermon was blasphemy? What was the priest's goal in doing this? It seems to me that anyone honest man will answer that, of course, it was not blasphemy, the goal was to explain something to the children. We are indignant, I have already heard many times calls to remove him from ministry for such words, or to defrock him, and even to hit him. But no one asked the question, maybe just fix it? Can't you just correct a person? Because a person, having a completely good goal, made a mistake in form - are we Christians, can’t we just correct him?
Please note that the issue of blasphemy is also an emotional, psychological argument; its goal is to constantly maintain emotional negativity in relation to the canonical priest.
As for the dogmatic claims themselves in this matter, everything is sorted out here:
- Archpriest Vladimir Golovin: Contra et Pro- Deacon Konstantin Seleznev
The edited, cropped video “all monks are freaks” that circulates on the Internet has exactly the same emotional effect. In a cropped version, it looks like this: “monasticism is such a form of ugliness” - and then people become indignant, “... well, after such and such words everything is clear with this priest.”
In fact, Fr. Vladimir didn’t say anything criminal there; the following was briefly said: “Monasticism, on the one hand, is a form of ugliness, but in our fallen world, this life form which returns to nature. It’s like with oncology, chemotherapy - they inject poison into the body, and in case of a sick body - this is a medicine that cures. So monasticism in our time is a medicine for those who we became after the Fall. The monks themselves heal and heal us. By your prayers, by your example" - as we see, this opinion is completely acceptable, and there is nothing wrong with it.