Zarkeshev Alexander Biography

A rare collection of poems from the archives of Russia in Paints. From the Palestinian impressions of GG. We are on the FASEBOOK Mail Box of the Internet portal "Russia in Paints" our site about pilgrimage to the Holy Land "Many only here, abroad, realized that they are Orthodox Christians Father Alexander, you are the rector of the Holy Nicolaev Cathedral in Tehran, the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as the rector Please tell the Arab Emirates about the history of Russian Orthodoxy in Persia?

Many of our Orthodox compatriots worked and lived, self-evidenced Orthodox clergy, found the numerous Russian emigrants in the history of the Orthodox certificate in Persia The schisms, the Orthodox community survived in difficult and even critical situations when the very existence of the Orthodox Russian parish was in the threat of disappearance. Up to a year, the Holy Nicolaev parish in Tehran was formally under the jurisdiction of the foreign church, but for about 20 years without pastoral feeding.

According to God's Providence, the parish restored the interrupted connection with the mother-church. Tehran into the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. The abbot was also sent - Hieromonk Alexander Zarkeshev, your humble servant, who has been entrusted to him for almost 9 years for his obedience in the Islamic Republic of Iran. What, in your opinion, should be guided by a priest who heads to serve in another country?

Before sending to the place of service, the Holy Prevention admitted to be especially attentive and sensitive to the needs of every parishioner. Be friendly in relation to the local Islamic clergy and the authorities. And most importantly, do not rush with conclusions and do not make hasty decisions. Time showed that it was the right warnings. What was your first impression of the arrival?

Upon arrival in the Islamic Republic of Iran, I was warm and warmly adopted by the local community. It was surprised that people living already in the third and fourth generation outside Russia remained faithful to Orthodoxy and the church. During communication with the elderly parishioners of the local church, a whole layer of historical evidence of the presence of Orthodoxy in this ancient country was opened to me.

Listening to the memoirs of the summer old people who found still pre-revolutionary time, I was amazed at how deep influence Russia had on Persia at the end of the 19th and early XX centuries. Who is your parishioners now? Currently, the Holy Nicolaev parish in Tehran consists of descendants of Russian emigration with Iranian citizenship and permanently residing in the country of approximately fifty people, as well as Orthodox believers from among the employees and their families of the Embassy of the Russian Federation, Trade Mecrations, Russian organizations in Iran of two hundred people.

The composition of this group of parishioners is constantly updated. On the coast of the Caspian Sea, in the port of Enzeli, there is St. Nicholas Prayer House. Currently, the arrival of the St. Nicholas Church in Enzeli consists of fifteen people-descendants of Russian emigration. Russian experts in the city of Busher on the southern coast of the Persian Gulf erect a nuclear power plant.

In the year, a special premises for the Orthodox chapel of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God were equipped in the Zhilposelka Builders. How do the residents of the Islamic Republic of Iran relate to Christians? Muslims treat local Christians - Armenians and Assyrians, as well as to our church, and Muslims are good and with great respect. In the local parliament there are 2 deputies from the Armenian community and one from the Assyrian.

Do your parishioners have to hide their religious views? Russian people do not have to hide their faith, since local residents with goodwill and respect for Christians. Do you often have baptism and weddings in your temple? Over the year in our temple, approximately baptism and wedding occurs. Have there been cases when Muslims husbands accepted the Orthodox faith of their Russian wives?

There were no such cases in our parish, since under local law the non -Muslim side must accept Islam without fail. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, Muslims do not turn to Christianity, as this is prohibited by the country's criminal legislation and is persecuted. Can Muslims enter the Orthodox Church? How do Iranians relate to you? Upon learning that I am an Orthodox priest, ordinary Iranians always express their sympathy, as well as emphasized polite and warning.

Are there any parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in this region? We communicate more by e -mail. What problems do your parishioners have due to living in strict conditions of an Islamic country? The main problem of my parishioners-women is that they are obliged to wear Islamic clothing-a scarf and a light cloak even in a forty-degree heat. What else is burdened by the souls of Russians living abroad?

Survival from the homeland.But, being in the difficult conditions of stay in the country with a different culture and other religion, our compatriots have the opportunity to visit the Orthodox temple where you can put candles, raise a hot prayer for their loved ones who remained in the distant homeland, ask the Lord for help and support or just to be alone with God and by themselves by the Orthodox worship to feel themselves part of the Ecumenical Church of Christ.

After all, many only here, abroad, felt what Christianity was, and realized that they were Orthodox Christians. Is it true that the Iranians are hostile to the Gentiles? No, despite the carefully instilled negative image of Iran, the Iranians are very friendly, responsive, friendly and hospitable. There is almost no street crime. I feel calmer in the cassock in Tehran than, for example, in Moscow.

Do you have to adapt to local traditions? We do not obey any local custom, although we treat respect to someone else's religion and culture. Did the Orthodox community with local authorities have problems? At the end of the year, the municipal authorities of Tehran approved a new plan for the improvement and reconstruction of the city. According to this plan, Christian cemeteries in the Dulab region - the Russian Orthodox, Armenian Gregorian, Catholic and Assyrian - should have been demolished, and roads were laid and the park was broken in their place.

These timely measures have led to the fact that the territory of Christian cemeteries in the Dulab region is entered in the register of antiquity monuments and is currently protected by the state. Do you consider yourself a missionary? I do not consider myself a missionary. Missionaries are great ascetics - those that were employees of the Urmian Spiritual Mission in Persia.

The mission acted among the Assyrians who live compactly in the area west of Lake Urmia. At the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to the efforts of the Russian Spiritual Mission, a significant part of the Urmian Assyrians with the Orthodox Church was reunited. The last head of the mission was Bishop Pimen Belolikov - the future new martyr Russian, who suffered from the Bolsheviks in the city of what climate in Iran?

Is it easy to transfer Russian people? Tehran is located at the foot of the Elbors mountain range, so it is quite cold in winter and it is snowing. So on Christmas without Christmas trees and cold we do not do. Are there saints revered by the Orthodox in Iran? Our local saint is the holy martyr Simeon, Bishop of Persian, whose image is in the iconostasis of our temple.

We remember the prophet Daniel, whose grave is located in the city of Shush Biblical Suzi. A magnificent mosque is built over the grave, and the crowds of Muslims go into it to bow to the dust of the Old Testament righteous. In the year, a group of parishioners of St. Nicholas Cathedral, together with me, made a pilgrimage to the grave of the Great Prophet, revered by representatives of three world religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Are Orthodox miracles taking place in Iran? I consider it a miracle that there is an Orthodox temple in Tehran. That, according to God's Providence, to date, the fire of the Orthodox faith in this ancient country is on fire. And this fire should be supported by our labors, the works of those Russian people to whom the Lord has done to carry His ministry to the Fatherland in the difficult conditions of abroad, so that he would not go out of the indifference or negligence of ours.

It also applies to those who have not yet gained faith in God or are in doubt, who honestly and sincerely want to figure out the issue of every person in Russia or Iran, on the issue of God. What do you consider your main achievement? I consider my main achievement that the continuity, the succession of the pastoral ministry in this country was restored. After all, the first Orthodox Russian priest arrived in Iran in the year.

Even further, the bells of the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Tehran convene Orthodox Christians to prayer to the house of God. Do Russian pilgrims come to Iran? Pilgrims are in no hurry to come to Iran, but for those who want to make a pilgrimage to Iran, we can give advice by e -mail. The history of Orthodoxy in Iran has ancient roots. And how and when did the Orthodox community appear in the UAE?

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the flow of those who arrived in the UAE increased at the expense of ethnic Russians from the former Soviet republics.

Gradually, a large Russian diaspora formed in the country and eventually the need for spiritual nourishment of the Russian -speaking colony arose. Since the year, I began to visit the Russian Orthodox community in the UAE with pastoral visits. In May, the first official delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, led by the chairman of the department of external church ties of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan of Smolensky and Kaliningrad, Kirill, took place.

As a result of the meeting, Sheikh Sharji promised to allocate a land plot for the construction of a Russian Orthodox church. Orthodox worships of the Russian-speaking community are held: in Dubai in the building of the Anglican church, in Sharje in the building of the Armenian church, in Abu Dhabi in the building of the Antioch Orthodox Church.In March, the Russian Orthodox parish of St.

Apostle Philip was officially registered by the municipality of the city of Sharji. Sheikh Sultan Ben Muhammad Al Kasemi in April of the year allocated a land plot for the construction of a temple with a total area of ​​2 hectares by the Russian Orthodox community. Currently, the project of the Russian Orthodox Church and the spiritual and educational center has been completed by the St.

Petersburg architect Yuri Kirs.