Among the parishioners, Father Gerontiy (Potapov) is known as a caretaker of children with cancer, a zealot of the Cossacks, a fighter against fraudulent healers and sorcerers. But once he himself was an adherent of the occult teachings, which threatened the death of the soul.
A voice led to the church
Hereditary Cossack Yuri Potapov (that was the name of Hieromonk Gerontius in the world) came to the Lord, having overcome a difficult spiritual test. At the age of eight, Yura became seriously interested in martial arts. A few years later, he began to get carried away with Eastern philosophy, not noticing how with each new book he was more and more pulled into the maelstrom of mysticism.
Photo: v-34.ru
- After mastering some "spiritual practices" I began to have a kind of mystical visions. I saw a cross, pictures of the opposition of darkness and light. All the information I received about people and the world in this way was sharply negative.
Communication with the other world lasted about a year. Tired of obsession, the teenager cried out to God and mentally received the answer: "Go to church and receive communion." The demons did not want to let go of the lost soul. "The voices said they would destroy me if I went to church." However, the desire to get rid of spiritual captivity overcame.
Promotional video:
“In the church, I felt happiness and light, which I had never experienced before,” says Hieromonk Gerontiy. - I talked to the priest, confessed, received Holy Communion. After that, as a cut off - I no longer engaged in occultism. Three weeks later, my bad condition returned, and I received communion again.
And after that, he began to go to church every Sunday, because in fact he was afraid to face the dark world that he had entered. I think God deliberately allowed my mystical hobby so that I could see the other side and understand everything.
The guy was immensely grateful to the Lord for the release. Feeling a craving for asceticism, immediately after the army, when he turned 20, Yuri went to a monastery.
A friend called to heaven
For some time, the young monk had to spend in the labor Timashevsky monastery near Krasnodar, performing construction and agricultural work. With the zeal of a former athlete, Yuri grabbed at any business, believing that he could do anything.
It ended with health problems. The guy left the monastery and went to study in Volgograd, at the theological faculty of the Orthodox University at the Holy Spiritual Monastery. Here, at the age of 23, Yuri Potapov was ordained a priest and prophetically given the ancient name Gerontius, which means a spiritual mentor or elder. Now the priest had to take care of the parishioners, saving their souls.
- After ordination, I was given the obedience to take care of children with cancer. For five years I did it, but I could not get used to it. It was hard to see the pain and suffering when very young children are in intensive care, and there is no chance that they will survive. The hardest part was telling the truth that they would not be saved. You go to a child who is three years old, and he looks at you through the eyes of an old man.
Not because he is tired of living, but because this is a person in whose face death stands, and he knows it,”recalls Father Gerontius. - Disease is the bearing of the cross. Any suffering, labor or burden endured for Christ's sake, any pain is imputed to righteousness. As Seraphim Sarovsky writes: "If you knew what awards are in store for you for the misfortunes that you suffered innocently, then you yourself would impose them on yourself as much as possible."
Batiushka says that during the obedience in the hospital, there were several unexplained cases. One little boy, after a successful operation, drew angels on a piece of paper and said they held him while doctors performed the procedure. The doctors themselves witnessed another case. Seriously ill teenagers were in the neighboring wards. The guy and the girl are very attached to each other. Soon the girl was discharged with improvements, and the guy (his name was Dima) died.
- She was so attached to Dmitry that all the time she wanted to go visit him at the hospital. But his parents hid his death under various pretexts. And then he began to dream of her, showing the kingdom of heaven. She told this to her parents and said that together with Dima angels come to her and call her.
It got to the point that the father began to go to the boy's grave, where he asked him to stop appearing to his daughter in a dream, - says the priest. - However, the girl suddenly falls ill. She is taken to the hospital. Already in intensive care, she again turns to her mother with a prayer: "Dima has come, he is calling, let her go." All this happened in front of the doctors. For a long time, the mother asked her daughter to come to her senses, but then she could not resist and said - go. And in seconds the girl passed away.
Attacked in broad daylight
The new obedience, which the priest has been carrying for the eighth year, is the construction of a temple in the Kirovsky district of Volgograd. It took a lot of effort and even more time to get the authorities to transfer the land to the ownership of the diocese and register it for construction.
However, not so long ago everything was successfully resolved. The builders should start working soon. Solving the issue of the construction of the temple, in parallel, the priest worked for three years almost seven days a week at the Voroshilov cemetery, burying the dead, and then was transferred to the chapel at the railway station, which in 2013 was damaged during a terrorist attack.
As the priest said, some time after the explosion, the worker of the church shop told that the policeman who blocked the path of the terrorist and died often talked with her about the afterlife, as if he felt that the inevitable was about to happen …
Photo: v-34.ru
I must say that there were many difficulties in the life of Father Gerontius. Once a priest was even attacked.
“That morning, two years ago, I ran to communion with a sick person. I ran with the thought that I had to be in time, did not notice anyone around. I only remember that at some point I received a blow to the back of my head and fell on the asphalt, says Father Geronty. - I think this is simple hooliganism. The motives of the criminals remained unsolved.
Sorrow is a medicine from God
For more than 15 years, Father Gerontius has been guiding lost souls on the right path. Today, as Father says, people have begun to devote more time to the church and the salvation of the soul, this is largely facilitated by the political situation in the world.
- The West is showing aggression towards Russia - a country that vetoes all wars, any disorder in the world. What is happening pushes people to church and to God. Without going to church, participating in the sacraments, a full-fledged revival of the spirit of the Russian people is just a formality.
Awareness of faith comes to the people more and more, because the enemy is closer to us, and people are more seriously thinking about the meaning of things happening.
The hieromonk notes that parishioners turn to him with various problems, often people come who have suffered from the actions of healers and healers. The priest explains to them that magic and occultism are spiritual deception, and demons come to heal people.
Such an alliance can literally destroy a person. Many come to church as the last resort, in complete despair, disillusioned with life and unable to cope with the problems that have piled on them.
- Everyday problems arise as a result of human misbehavior. God puts up barriers around us so that we ourselves find our mistakes. If you walk and feel that it hurts, then this is the wrong way. Need to change direction. The Almighty gives the cross to a person according to his strength and himself helps to bear this burden. Sorrow is like a bitter medicine that we must accept from God with gratitude, realize what we are wrong, and correct ourselves,”says Father Gerontius.
- One of the mechanisms of influence on the salvation of the souls of parents is a child. If adults do not understand, God allows children to get sick. Thus, the Lord does not punish the little ones, but the parents for their sins and instructs them to return to church.