December 31 will mark 20 years since the demise of Alimpiy (Gusev), Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia. For all who remember Bishop Alimpiy, the last day of the calendar year is very special. This is the day of prayerful remembrance of someone who himself was a tireless man of prayer all his life. A day of memories, mostly silent. The anniversary prompted those who remember him to put those memories into words and images – on December 24, an evening in memory of the Metropolitan, who was an example of ardent faith in God, unceasing prayers and a self-demanding lifestyle, was conducted at the House of Clergy at Rogozhskoye.
The evening turned out to be sincere and simple, like Bishop Alimpiy himself, from the very beginning: it was hosted without a pre-written script by Archpriest Alexey Mikheev, the eyes of those speaking at the pulpit were full of tears, hot tea with pies were offered to the guests. In the Small Hall of the House of Clergy, close relatives of the Metropolitan, his brothers-in-arms in the church field and public affairs, and those who got to know him only later through his biography gathered.
The ministry of Metropolitan Alimpiy started during the period of decline of Soviet Russia, when long years of fighting against God bore their bitter fruits a hundredfold. The shepherds had to care for 6 to 7 churches. It was mainly the older generation who stood at the prayer, as the state did not welcome young people in churches and did everything possible to ensure that they did not appear there.
The Old Believer spiritual center at Rogozhskoye in the 1980-s bore little resemblance to the contemporary one. Life here was concentrated in the Church of the Intercession, the bell tower and the former mortuary chapel, which housed the Metropolis. Despite the status of being in the capital and daily divine services, episcopal services were unusual: the head of the Church, Archbishop Nikodim (Latyshev), spent a significant part of his time in Moldova. In the period before the installation of Fr. Alexander Berestniov as the rector of the Intercession Cathedral, it was necessary to call priests from very remote parishes to serve at Rogozhskoye. One such “called from afar” deacon was Alexander Gusev, the future Metropolitan Alimpiy, who came from the city of Nizhny Novgorod (then Gorkiy) to serve on Palm Sunday at Rogozhskoye.
Already when he served as a deacon, he managed to pass the petitions of litanies through his soul in such a way that those praying in the church had tears, as did the deacon himself. Witnesses of the first steps in his ministry were his nephews, children of his brother Fr. Leonid (later priest-monk Liveriy). The episcopal ministry of Metropolitan Alimpiy took place during their youth. His nieces Irina and Anna shared their memories at the event. Irina (mother Irina Lisurenko) opened the evening with her talk. The memoirs of Anna (mother Anna Dumnova) were read by her son, reader Andronik Dumnov.
The path of Alexander/Alimpiy from his service as a deacon to the episcopal cathedra was sweeping. Archbishop Nikodim (Latyshev) gave his blessing for the priestly ordination of deacon Alexander two months before the archbishop’s demise. Bishop Anastasy (Kononov) ordained the deacon as a priest and soon performed his monastic tonsure. “Such urgency was needed so that the authorities would not interfere with the consecration. In those days it was possible,” Mother Irina Lisurenko explains.
Next month priest-monk Alimpiy was ordained a bishop, and 2 months later after this ordination, Vladyka Anastasy also passed away to the Lord. With the participation of the bishop of the fraternal Romanian Old Believer Church, His Grace Kiprian, Bishop Yevtikhiy (Kuzmin) and Bishop Timon (Domashov) elevated Bishop Alimpiy to the dignity of archbishop.
Understanding the severity of the shortage of priesthood, Bishop Alimpiy visited 30 parishes in the first month and a half of his archiepiscopal ministry, calling Christians everywhere to the service of the church. Many responded: in the first months of his archiepiscopal service, more than 20 priests were ordained.
A professor at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory and the Moscow Theological Academy, member of the Union of Composers of Russia Nikolay Grigoryevich Denisov spoke about the interest to the Old Believers in the academic community in those years. One of the brightest events associated with Metropolitan Alimpiy was the international congress held on the occasion of the 2000th anniversary of the Birth of Christ, in which the Moscow Conservatory participated. The Congress brought together scholars and experts in church singing from all over the world. At the suggestion of Nikolay Grigoryevich, they visited Rogozhskoye. Here they were met by the Metropolitan himself and the choir of Old Believer clergy.
“For most of the guests, that was the first meeting with the Old Believer hierarchy, with Old Believer live singing,” recalls Nikolai Grigorievich. “Today the whole world knows Metropolitan Korniliy. And then scientists were mostly interested in what the head of the Old Believer Church looked like.”
Metropolitan Alimpiy had the opportunity to participate in such important events in the history of the Old Believers of the twentieth century as the canonization of Holy Hierarch Ambrose of Belaya Krinitsa in 1996, and the ordination of Metropolitan Leontiy (Izot) in Romania. Metropolitan Alimpiy himself was part of history: in 1988, he, Archbishop of Moscow and All Russia, was elevated to the rank of metropolitan. The Moscow Archdiocese became a Metropolis. During the 10-year archiepiscopal ministry of Alimpiy, about a hundred communities were founded, six bishops and 50 priests were ordained.
The everyday life of Metropolitan Alimpiy was very simple and modest. An employee of the Metropolis of those years, Anna Guseva (Dumnova), recalls: “People arrived in Moscow by train from various places early in the morning and immediately came to the Metropolis, where entry was open to everyone. Here they took blessing, resolved their problems, and had meals. “The Metropolitan took food once a day and shared his lunch with the staff of the Metropolis and the guests.”
The participants of the memorial evening remembered the night prayers of the Metropolitan, his cassock, frayed on the shoulders from the devout sign of the cross, the way the representatives of the Patriarchate welcomed him, and much, much more. A striking highlight was the selection of episodes from the film about the lives of Metropolitan Alimpiy and Archpriest Leonid Gusev “He chose the good part” (directed by Alexey Lobanov, 2015). More than once, both at the final tea and after the event, the idea was raised to continue the series of memorial evenings. Already Apostle Paul exhorted to remember those who led you, who preached the word of God to you; and, considering the outcome of their life, imitate their faith. Imitate their faith for the sake of our own salvation.
