Oleg Voskresensky biography

Natalya Kostrykina 14 votes: 4. He actively preaches and constantly learns something. Behind him is a decent baggage of knowledge and intellectual experience: a pedagogical institute, an Orthodox seminary, the protection of a candidate dissertation on the topic of religious education and writing textbooks on the basics of Orthodox culture and the book “Foundation of Faith”.

Oleg told us why for an Orthodox Christian it is important from time to time to be in the role of a student. You probably thought about her significance more than once and why did you get it? Since I got the paternal line, where everyone was priests and deacons. The last in the priestly series was my grandfather, Archpriest Alexander, who took martyrdom for his faith in the terrible m.

I think that I got it not so much “why” because I definitely don’t have special virtues for this, how much “why”, namely, as a call to spiritual and educational activities. I try to justify this service if possible. Tell us about this saturated educational path. And the “patroness of students”, firstly, sent to me absolutely wonderful school teachers and, secondly, consistently directed my feet from one educational institution to another throughout my life.

Two higher, two magistrates, candidate and innumerable set of all kinds of courses, seminars and conferences. And, of course, the main thing - I do not stop studying with my students, students, undergraduates. I teach and develop new courses, preparing new topics, reports and presentations. Oleg Voskresensky lectures from the “Foundation of Faith” cycle in the Moscow Metropolis-why is it so important for you-to study something constantly?

And how few I have grounds for vanity. What position does Orthodox Christianity take there? Are there many of our temples in America? This can be seen from its very name: the United State countries are the country of America. All thirty with a tail of years I live in the Middle West and I understand very well that on both coasts or in the so -called “biblical belt” the south, a picture of life, including the life of the Orthodox Church, is largely different from our Minnesota.

And Orthodoxy has been added for not the first decade, not yielding to most more common Christian denominations in the growth rate of growth. The reputation of the “historical” or “ancient” Church of the Historic Church, ancient Faith, adhering to conservative and traditional values, meaningful and accumulated by generations of believing spiritual experience. In our city, for example, by 3.5 million.

Then I got a job in one of these missions as a full -time consultant for placement and employment, my work was called. Unlike some other states, in Minnesota, mainly those who wanted to work with us “negative unemployment” settled in Minnesota. So my help was mainly in search of an application of the forces and talents of new arrived compatriots. Until now, people on the street are met by people whom I once helped start, as they say, from scratch, and recall the long-forgotten history stories of our first “career steps” with them.

My business is clearly and vividly state the history of the Epiphany: which, in fact, happened years ago, how do we know about it and how reliable this is our knowledge. Further - answers to questions that, as a rule, follow from the establishment of this historical fact: how can we live now if this actually happened. And not in any “spiritual dimension” there, but in our human history.

At a meeting with a non -church audience in universities or in open areas, I try to invite a local priest or competent layman, so that without me there will be an opportunity to continue this conversation. I use mainly the text of the Holy Scriptures with the addition of some experience accumulated by the Church. And your own too. As a philologist, not so much by profession as by education and the warehouse of the mind, it is always interesting to me and it seems important to reveal the meaning of individual language units - words, phrases, sentences - in their context: linguistic, historical, cultural, religious, spiritual ...

Sometimes it turns out to make small personal discoveries on this path, which I am glad to share with the audience. Tell us about your literary work? And I can puff on the keyboard almost at the speed of oral speech. If my will, only this would be done, but who will read all this?! True, I have very few stories, and even less poems - the complex of guilt for the “unproductive” time spent, when so much still needs to be done for the mission, for spiritual education, for the benefit of God's work!

Who are your key or favorite literary heroes? Moreover, this applies not only to reports, articles or sermons, which, of course, are written for a specific “task”. I even wrote my very few poems almost exclusively because I felt a completely clear need for them.And almost immediately they seemed to me in a very definite and finished form, rhythm, style, volume, etc. All that I had left was to fill out the remaining “gaps” without spoiling, without distorting the idea already contained in the still non -existing text.

However, I write stories and poems extremely rarely, but I am happy to take up scientific articles and journalism-the genes of mother-journalist are affected. And one often mixes with the other, which was also noted by my scientific director: “Your dissertation is read, as a journalistic investigation - it is impossible to tear yourself away ... But we will promote it.” And my beloved literary hero, unfortunately, did not acquire his own behalf!

In the textbooks on the “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture”, separate lessons with the so -called through hero were introduced, which was supposed to reveal complex spiritual concepts and cultural images and symbols with a personally example. So, my hero Bartholomew came to my ladder from Nesterov’s painting, asking deep questions in children's speech, accessible to schoolchildren.

However, the zealous editor, introducing himself as a truly Orthodox, demanded that his image with a shepherd Vanya, because, according to her deep conviction, our great holy prp. Sergius of Radonezh, even in childhood, could not ask such naive questions. In the new textbooks for grades 5 and 6, I tried to return his name to the youth, but, unfortunately, the publishing house suddenly changed its plans, and books with my hero did not come into the world.

How do readers find out about them? In what other form do you convey them to the audience, except through the site? After all, they are already scared to think, more than a quarter of a century! I then studied at Bethel Seminary's magistracy, and we were given a few “educational” sermons at the Homileti course. Those that I read in the classroom passed with a bang, and all the more I wanted to try my forces in Russian.

Our strict Orthodox priests, of course, did not let me in this matter, but in one of the local immigrant Protestant churches, on the contrary, they accepted with outstretched arms. It was just interesting to them, on the one hand, to hear the competent speech of the grammar of many of their preachers, with all due respect, limped on both legs and, on the other hand, to join the church experience, which in the USSR was not only alien to them, but often hostile.

So my sermons, which I read in parallel on the “Russian Christian Radio” state of Minnesot, which I launched and led for almost a decade, began to appear and accumulate. The result of this experience was the publication of the collection of these sermons, as well as the stories, essays, articles and even poems in the book “The Beginning of Wisdom”, published in the Canadian publishing house Lulu.

It can be ordered there now. And for a long time they circulated in the audio format for a long time, while I supported the Russian Radio website, but then they remained only on my personal website. Of course, it would be nice to update them and, perhaps, even reprint, but it’s much more interesting for me to write and create something new, and this-let it remain ...

a tribute to time. Oleg Voskresensky after a lecture with listeners - where at the moment you are lectures on Christianity and to whom? In America, I have to give lectures in English, but, being a philologist, I cannot not realize that my Russian language is much richer, more imaginative and, therefore, more effective and more spectacular! That is why I go all over Russia, and also look into neighboring, still rather Russian -speaking countries.

Every six weeks I go with a suitcase on three -week lecture trips. For eighteen years of this ministry, I traveled with lectures, lessons, presentations and reports with a total number of 19 countries. This is regarding geography. First of all, I work with students from elementary school to magistracy. As a co -author of textbooks on the Orks course, I am invited to conduct open lessons on the “basics of Orthodox culture” for fourth graders.

And, for example, in the Belgorod Seminary, I am leading a master's course in modern apologetics. For high school students, I will adapt my lecture on the “historical foundations of the Christian faith”, and I propose to students of universities “Fundamentals of the Science of Communication” or “The Secret of the Russian Soul. Experience of comparative cultural studies. " Of course, my audience includes teachers, teachers, teachers, educators and parents - both in educational institutions of advanced training, and in “open” audiences: libraries or cultural houses.

I work with parishioners, priesthood, laity, catechists and missionaries - at parishes, in diocesan centers, spiritual schools and seminaries. The increase in the spiritual literacy of a believer, in my opinion, remains one of the most important and far from solved tasks of the Russian Orthodox Church. We evaluate our successes with the calculation of baptized and communion, and what happens in the heads and hearts of these people, it turns out for the most part ...

not taken into account.More than once and not two at my presentations in the temples, I have heard the recognition of completely adults about the fact that, being “practicing believers” for many years, they, as it turned out, never thought about the fact that the earthly life of Christ is a very real historical event, and not just the “true and immutable teachings of the Church”, that is, of course, I do not forget about “our smaller brothers”, protesters - Protestants - Protestants - Protestants - Protestants.

communities, biblical colleges, conferences, camps, etc. My rich interfaith experience and the very content of my lectures, for the most part reflecting the general Christian heritage of the whole church, opens doors for my mission and in the gospel communities. Their openness, cordiality and missionary spirit and often enrich me with the experience of humility and boldness, truly gospel.

It just so happened that she was born on a very specific occasion and the case, which, in fact, are described in it, I will not retell. Maybe she and especially dear to me, as for the episodes from the life of people dear to me - mothers and daughters. The preaching itself, perhaps, is not the most expressive, and not the deepest, but one of the most memorable.

It seems that I have never pronounced it since then, but I often refer to it. And, on the contrary, most often I read and “beloved” in this sense of the word - about love for my neighbor. My little discovery borrowed from S. Averintsev about the meaning of the word “neighbor”-another, another, not me-seems to me, firstly, the most important for understanding the Christian and the Jewish faith and, secondly, almost completely unknown to most believers.

Honestly, I would give all my lectures, reports, publications and presentations for the sake of reading, repeating and spreading the content of this sermon of this sermon. I also really like to re -read the sermons of about. George Chistyakov and the “spiritual words” by S. Averintsev, now, alas, the deceased. I recall their voices that I heard at the worship and continue to learn a lot from them - as a person, as a philologist, as a Christian.

For many years, amazing in the depths of preaching for many years, from the rector of our temple in St. Polish-Fr. Jonathan Prokator. That the people have become closer to faith? Fortunately, the Lord will not ask me this, for, as my word will be responding in the human soul, it depends on it much more than on my efforts and skills.