Born February 27, 1934 in Leningrad.
In 1936, his father, deputy chief editor of the Leningrad branch of Izvestia, was arrested as an "enemy of the people" and exiled to Norilsk. A mother with a baby went to her husband, she was allowed to live in the settlement with her two-year-old son less than a year and then ordered to leave. In 1937, a mother with her son Victor in her arms went across the country to her mother of many children in the Pskov region, then to the city of Vyksa, Gorky region. Next - the village of Lezhnevo, not far from Ivanovo, where the family survived the years of the Great Patriotic War. At the end of the war, Victor and his mother returned to Pskov.
At the age of thirteen, he ran away from home. First he ended up in an orphanage, then in a vocational boarding school for orphans in Tallinn, which he graduated in 1950 and then entered the Leningrad Industrial College.
At the end of the technical school - service in the army, work in the specialty, but the soul ached: "not that, it's not that." From childhood, Victor fell in love with the theater, and then he finally realized: he wants to become an actor.
He studied at circus studio in Moscow, he worked as an entertainer in the ensemble of the Northern Fleet. Graduated in 1960 theater studio at the Yaroslavl Drama Theater. F.G. Volkov. He worked as an actor in the provinces, was an extra at the Leningrad State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater. CM. Kirov. Since 1962 - actor of the Leningrad academic theater drama them. A.S. Pushkin, then - Leningrad State Academic drama theater them. V.F. Komissarzhevskaya. In 1966 he entered the Leningrad Institute of Culture. N.K. Krupskaya, from which he graduated in 1971, having received the specialty of a director. In 1975 he graduated from the Higher Director's Courses at GITIS (Moscow). He worked as a director in Maikop, and then on Leningrad television. And again - the understanding that the cause he serves is not to his liking.
He began his church path as a church watchman at the Leningrad theological schools, where he later received a spiritual education (by the decision of the rector of the Theological Schools, Archbishop Kirill (Gundyaev), he was immediately enrolled in the third year of the Leningrad Theological Seminary).
On May 18, 1980, he was ordained a deacon by Archbishop Kirill and served in the churches of St. Seraphim of Sarov at the Seraphim Cemetery, Spaso-Pargolovsky and the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God at the Smolensk Cemetery.
In 1985 he graduated from the Leningrad Theological Academy.
On January 6, 1987, he was ordained a priest at the Nikolo-Bogoyavlensky Cathedral by Archbishop Meliton (Soloviev).
From January to September 1987, he served in the Prince Vladimir Cathedral, then until 1999 - in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and since 1999 - again in the Prince Vladimir Cathedral.
Already a clergyman, Father Victor continued to write poetry, published three poetry collections, and was a member of the Russian Interregional Union of Writers.
Father of nine children. His son Gleb also became a priest.
Passed away December 30, 2007.
Circle one
"We all come from childhood" - this common phrase, as applied to each fate, has its own meaning. When I listened to the story of Father Viktor Grozovsky about his difficult childhood, I finally understood (and I have known the priest for a long time) why he is such a purposeful and cheerful person.
In contrast to Western psychological prescriptions, Russian experience constantly convinces: especially cheerful and active people are not those who were spoiled and indulged in everything in childhood, but those who had to overcome difficulties from a very young age.
For Vitya Grozovsky, these difficulties began at the age of two. He was born in the city on the Neva in 1934. Father in 1936 was arrested as an "enemy of the people", exiled to Norilsk. My father was the deputy editor-in-chief of the Leningrad branch of Izvestia, that is, a rather prominent person, one of those who were the first to be repressed in the 1930s. Father Victor wrote about this in verse:
Walked grief on the heels
Gulag and dungeons,
"enemies of the people" here and there,
Son - with bare knees ...
A mother with a baby went to fetch her husband, she was allowed to live in the settlement with her two-year-old son for less than a year, and then ordered to leave. Victor found out about the fate of his father only a few decades later - in the certificate of rehabilitation it was written: "He died in 1941." The cause of death was not specified.
In the terrible year of 1937, the mother went across the country with a baby in her arms to her mother of many children - to the Pskov region. But even here she did not have to live long, the old woman soon began to “hint” to her unfortunate daughter: “Lyudochka, look how everyone is looking askance at you. And the attitude of the people towards our whole family has changed, but the children still need to learn, to go out into life. "You better go to your aunt in the middle of nowhere. No one knows you there, somehow you will live with Vitya."
Again I had to get ready for the road - to the city of Vyksa, Gorky Region. It was difficult to live there, her mother worked at the "sawmill", the work was hard, but poorly paid ... And so, just before the war, driven to despair, she went to look for a place in the wide world where she could find a normally paid job, and send his son to school. She reached the city of Ivanovo, then the war found them and their son. Then I had to move to the village of Lezhnevo, not far from Ivanovo.
Victor's father's most vivid recollection from the wartime: when his mother went to work, she left the boy's common portion of bread for lunch for safekeeping - she put it under the pillow. And the hungry Vityusha, while his mother was gone, scraped off crumbs of bread from this edge with a knife. Then he confessed to his mother that he didn’t want to deprive her either, and he really wanted to eat, so he came up with such an “operation”.
We asked the priest: when the seeds of faith were planted in him, and he answered: “As a child, during the war, I remember that my mother knelt down every day and read:“ Mother of God, Virgin, rejoice, blessed Mary, the Lord is with you. This stuck in my memory, although I was baptized at the age of 13, when I came to visit my aunt in Pskov."
The war ended, and the mother nevertheless decided to return to her homeland - to Pskov. Here the trouble began again. As the writer Viktor Astafiev, who has been "sick of war" all his life, wrote: After the war, "Russia turned into a huge burial ground" - death continued to mow down people, now hunger and disease were its assistant.
Many decades later, reflecting on what happened to the country, Father Victor saw in this God's punishment for apostasy from the faith and wrote a piercing to the pain poem "Order":
In a godforsaken village
I met one grandfather.
He was an altar boy in a church
Which is no longer there.
In a distant torn, I remember childhood
She stood on the hill
Church like a bride
So loved by me.
Now I'm looking up
The church disappeared without a trace.
Who demolished it and whose decision? ..
The old man told me then:
"Father Demetrius, you don't remember
I was a father in your days,
I was just a servant -
So we served alone.
And then one day from the area
The order came: to close our temple!
We are a miraculous icon
Let's pray to the Savior:
"Saved the Almighty and the Lord,
Protect from adversaries! .. "
Suddenly Andrei Dadyko burst in,
And with him dark-haired behind.
Andrew is a famous blasphemer,
I saw another for the first time
They grabbed the Savior - and into the bogus,
They gouged out the right eye
Then about the stump - an icon in chips,
Then the people cried out
But the paws of the demon were tenacious -
And the shot extinguished the storm.
The black-haired one shot, the one from outside,
He was trembling with fear and anger.
And then I thought a sinner:
"I wouldn't have hit it by accident"...
Then they took the father,
Taken somewhere in the area
And soon the holy temple was blown up,
We sit in the dark, even if the eye is...
And who are you, however, will you be?
Oh yes, Shibaevs, I forgot ...
Pray if you don't forget
May the Lord give me strength.
Now forgotten by God
We are living our life
I don't know when we were full
That's it, dear man.
And he, having inhaled, rose groaning,
He stroked the cross on the grave.
Then his face suddenly lit up.
It was like hearing a blessing.
And I looked up at the top
Where the wonderful temple of God stood...
Tell me: whose decision is this,
Who blew up the Russian soul?
This poem, seemingly describing a specific situation, develops into a symbol - troubled Russian life. "So it was with me and with the country" - anyone who lived at that time could say ...
Victor's mother was exhausted in order to somehow make ends meet, but all the same, hunger made itself felt more and more strongly. And so the boy decided, as it seemed to him, to Noble act- he decides to "liberate his mother" from taking care of himself and "look for a place in the sun" himself, - he ran away from home. So from the age of thirteen began an independent life.
First, he ended up in an orphanage, where hunger was even stronger than at home, and there was enough crime ... But Victor attracted the attention of educators - he really wanted to study. At that time, a vocational boarding school was organized in Tallinn for orphans whose fathers and mothers died during the war. And Vitya got there. He studied "excellently" in all subjects. For his excellent studies, he was awarded a huge volume of "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy. Then he decided to visit his mother, - her fate threw her all the way to the North Caucasus ...
After graduating from college, Vita Grozovsky was offered to go to Leningrad to enter an industrial technical school. So he returned to his hometown. He graduated from a technical school ... He went through the army. He began to work in his specialty, received a higher humanitarian education in absentia, but his soul ached: "Not that, everything is not that." From childhood, Victor fell in love with the theater, and then, finally, he realized that he wanted to become an actor.
Second circle of life
The acting fate of Victor was very whimsical and diverse. He could also become a circus performer (he studied at a circus studio in Moscow), he could become a famous entertainer (his voice and "social" data were always excellent) - and he was one - in the ensemble of the Northern Fleet, when he served in the army, he was an extra in Mariinsky Theatre, a dramatic actor in Aleksandrinka and at the Komissarzhevskaya Theatre, staged plays in Maykop. Then he graduated from the Higher Directing Courses and worked on Leningrad television. Father Victor spoke best of this period of his life in his poems:
I've been killed hundreds of times
About the same number of people are married.
Did not retreat in open battle,
He was defeated, but he was also over ...
I was a slave in ancient Rome
And the king's cardinal,
Caressed by strangers' wives,
He lived for money, but not for ...
Earth predicted movement
And under the kings he climbed into slaves,
Often I wanted revenge,
Often went without...
Threw himself at the mills with a spear
And "Idiot" was quite
Life on the couch was lying around,
Decided the question: "To be or not..."
I lived a lot of destinies
He was naive and cunning...
Let me be rewarded for everything
Simple title - Actor.
Viktor Grozovsky always treated the theater in a Gogolian way, as "the pulpit from which people need to be reminded of the Truth." Actor Grozovsky deliberately did not participate in vulgar and blasphemous performances. He left the Komissarzhevskaya theater, for example, because modernism was alien to him, and the old classical approach to theatrical art- so he returned to Alexandrinka.
But even with an elevated attitude to the theater, the feeling of inner emptiness was constantly oppressing, the feeling that something important had not yet come. This is beautifully stated in the poem "Search":
I'm looking for You Lord
Among the faces of the saints.
I'm looking for You Lord
Between the faces of the drunk,
On land and sea
On a high mountain
Whether in joy, in sorrow,
In a backwater hole.
Among the ice of Antarctica
And on New Earth
In a heart full of resentment
And in the cooled ashes...
Where are you, Lord, Lord,
Call back, call back...
I hear Your voice, Lord:
"You pray, you pray!"
I call you Lord
visit, visit,
Your wisdom placer
Light up, light up...
The first response to the search for the Lord was a meeting with the one that was intended for him by Him - at the age of forty he married mother (then still, of course, not mother) Zinaida, who filled and still fills the life of Father Victor with human happiness.
The first year of their life together began with trials. The first child was born, the girl was baptized in the church. The television received a notice of dismissal. So my father lost his job. They lived with their family on random fees - for lyrics for songs that someone took for performance.
third circle of life
The path to the priesthood of Father Viktor Grozovsky, like many priests of that generation, lay through the church watchman's booth. True, Viktor Grozovsky worked as a watchman not at the temple, but at the Theological Schools. The former actor and director sat in his lodge for a year, and suddenly he heard: "Write an application, Vladyka has blessed to accept you for the third year of the seminary." It was a real miracle, because only up to thirty-five years of age were admitted to the seminary, and Victor was already forty-two.
The rector of the Theological Schools at that time was the current Metropolitan of Smolensk Kirill (Gundyaev), he blessed the seminarian Grozovsky to organize poetry evenings within the walls of the spiritual institution, and secular spectators were invited to these evenings (for the first time in practice). The most outstanding was the evening dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Blok. Father Victor's attitude to poetry, as well as to the theater, was always sublime. Collective image a real poet created in the poem "Poet":
Great poet on a pedestal
When he stood on the ground
Almost always he was in disgrace
And glory, honors did not know
His poems are the conscience of the people,
which he neglected...
After graduating from the Theological Seminary and studying at the Academy, Father Victor began the priestly ministry. Petersburg parishioners immediately drew attention to the fast, impetuous, very lively and, it seemed, very young (and he was already well over forty) priest. And in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and in the Prince Vladimir Cathedral, the priest delivered such sermons that touched people to the core. Some of these sermons have turned into poetry.
Confused, confused
What schemes to follow?
Well, when you think
Completely confused.
Follow God - ashamed:
So much progress all around...
And my heart is so sad
And I want miracles.
Follow the Democrats
Road straight to hell
For the red guys
I went - now I'm not happy.
Or maybe scientists
And go smart?
Their ranks are not united -
Happiness is not to be found there.
I'll follow the businessmen
Wealth is in their hands
Projections were bold
Yes, they crashed.
Apparently no luck
There is no strength to fight
End of patience
The spirit of lies is unbearable.
We fight for life all our lives
Well what nonsense...
Maybe we should pray?
No time to pray.
Go, maybe repent?
So there are no sins - why?
This is how people toil -
Completely confused.
Hoping for the best
Not believing in him
Oh, how many tortured souls
Lost in Russia.
For a bright future
Our people fought
And as a result -
Well, it's the other way around.
Where there is a cemetery, there is a graveyard,
Where there is a temple, there is a casino...
What a monster we are
I would have known for a long time.
Forgive, forgive us Lord
Confused, sorry.
On this earth - we are all guests ...
Savior, understand!
The sermon-poems of Father Victor are striking in their diversity: here is a generalized image of a generation, as in the poem just quoted, and written in the spirit of Vysotsky, "role-playing poems" - with "heroes of our time", and patriotic lyrics, and a diary of travels around the world, and philosophical reflections, and lyrical sketches.
Two books of verses by Father Victor were published in St. Petersburg, a third is being prepared for publication, Father Victor reads his poems on the radio, songs have been written to the words of the priest. The priest also writes articles, answers questions, his interviews appear both in periodicals and individual publications. Father Victor carries out priestly service in the Prince Vladimir Cathedral in St. Petersburg - he is always surrounded by parishioners who love him, who feel the great human warmth that comes from the priest.
Yesterday, February 27, Father Victor turned seventy-one years old, and he is still young at heart. Of his nine children, two already serve the Church. And the youngest daughter - Gelya, she is twelve years old, was sent as a constant consolation in life, she gathered in herself both maternal and paternal talents. She writes music, and has already won first place on international competition"I'm a composer."
We can say that Father Victor has already entered the fourth circle of life - in his children and grandchildren. And he called the last book: "Hey, come, Lord!".
Viktor Iosifovich Grozovsky(1934-2007), archpriest, poet.
In 1936, his father, deputy chief editor of the Leningrad branch of Izvestia, was arrested as an "enemy of the people" and exiled to Norilsk. A mother with a baby went to fetch her husband, she was allowed to live in the settlement with her two-year-old son for less than a year, and then ordered to leave. In 1937, a mother with her son Viktor in her arms went across the country to her mother of many children in the Pskov region, then to the city of Vyksa, Gorky region. Further - the village of Lezhnevo, not far from Ivanovo, where the family survived the years of World War II. At the end of the war, Victor and his mother returned to Pskov.
At the age of thirteen, he ran away from home. First he ended up in an orphanage, then in a vocational boarding school for orphans in Tallinn, which he graduated in 1950 and then entered the Leningrad Industrial College.
At the end of the technical school - service in the army, work in the specialty, but the soul ached: "not that, everything is not that." From childhood, Victor fell in love with the theater, and then he finally realized: he wants to become an actor.
He studied at the circus studio in Moscow, worked as an entertainer in the ensemble of the Northern Fleet. In 1960 he graduated from the theater studio at the Yaroslavl Drama Theater. F. G. Volkova. He worked as an actor in the provinces, was an extra at the Leningrad State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater. S. M. Kirov. Since 1962 - actor of the Leningrad Academic Drama Theater. A. S. Pushkin, then - the Leningrad State Academic Drama Theater. V. F. Komissarzhevskaya. In 1966 he entered the Leningrad Institute of Culture. N. K. Krupskaya, who graduated in 1971, having received the specialty of the director. In 1975 he graduated from the Higher Director's Courses at GITIS (Moscow). He worked as a director in the city of Maikop, and then on Leningrad television. And again - the understanding that the cause he serves is not to his liking.
He began his church path as a church watchman at the Leningrad theological schools, where he later received a spiritual education (by the decision of the rector of the Theological Schools, Archbishop Kirill (Gundyaev), he was immediately enrolled in the third year of the Leningrad Theological Seminary).
On May 18, 1980, he was ordained a deacon by Archbishop Kirill and served in the churches of St. Seraphim of Sarov at the Seraphim Cemetery, Spaso-Pargolovsky and the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God at the Smolensk Cemetery.
In 1985 he graduated from the Leningrad Theological Academy.
On January 6, 1987, he was ordained a priest at the Nikolo-Bogoyavlensky Cathedral by Archbishop Meliton (Soloviev).
From January to September 1987, he served in the Prince Vladimir Cathedral, then until 1999 - in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and since 1999 - again in the Prince Vladimir Cathedral.
Already a clergyman, Father Victor continued to write poetry, published three poetry collections, and was a member of the Russian Interregional Union of Writers.
Father of nine children. His son Gleb also became a priest.
"While the soul is still alive" (2001),
“Hey, Lord, come!” (2003)
"I will sing to You" (2004),
"Once again about love" (2007).
“If a child falls ill in an Orthodox family (priest’s advice)”,
"Television, children and the Orthodox family",
"What should be the bride and groom (about premarital relations)",
"ABOUT Orthodox education and books,
"A child in an Orthodox family",
How to spend Sundays and holidays
"Orthodox education of boys of adolescence (priest's advice)",
"Orthodox education of girls of transitional age".
In 2000, an audio cassette of Fr. Viktor Grozovsky "Rhymed Sermons".
Poems about. Viktor Grozovsky was often heard on the waves of the diocesan radio "Grad Petrov" and on the air of "Orthodox Radio of St. Petersburg", his articles and interviews appeared in the media.
“Dad always said: “Strive for God.” His words, so eloquent, will forever be remembered. For us, as well as for his spiritual children, he was a support, a hope, a stronghold of faith. Such a person cannot die. His words are in our memory, his thoughts are in our hearts, his weeping and pain are our weeping and our pain for the soul, for our immortal souls.
Dad has been writing a lot lately. Now, having taken a book of his poems, I understand why he wrote so much before his death. He wrote for us, his family and his spiritual children.
Dad loved all of us very much. Sometimes, looking at us, he was adamant in his words. We could not always understand the depth of his love. He did not know how and could not show us everything that he felt. But his poems are permeated with this love. They contain all the thoughts of his overworked soul. In them is pain for us and consolation, in them is his hope for the help of the Lord.
He always wanted all his sons to follow his example of loving the Lord. He dreamed that his children would choose for themselves the path of serving God, just like himself.
Glory to you, Lord, that you love us so much and sent us such love and such a strong prayer book in the face of the pope!”
From the memorial word of the eldest daughter
Archpriest Viktor Grozovsky Lyubov
On December 30, 2007, the famous St. Petersburg priest, cleric of the Prince Vladimir Cathedral, Archpriest Viktor Grozovsky, died.
Viktor Iosifovich Grozovsky was born on February 27, 1934 in Leningrad. He studied at an industrial technical school, then at a circus studio, wrote poetry, worked as an actor at the Alexandrinsky Theater and the Komissarzhevskaya Theater, and as a director on Leningrad television. Father Victor began his church path as a church watchman at the Leningrad Theological Schools, where he later received a spiritual education. By the decision of the rector of the Theological Schools, Archbishop of Vyborg Kirill (Gundyaev), he was immediately enrolled in the third grade of the seminary. On May 18, 1980, he was ordained a deacon and served in the churches of St. Seraphim of Sarov at the Seraphim Cemetery, the Spaso-Pargolovsky and the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God at the Smolensk Cemetery.
In 1985 he graduated from the Theological Academy, and on January 6, 1986, in the Nikolo-Bogoyavlensky Cathedral, he was ordained by the vicar of the Leningrad diocese, Archbishop Meliton (Soloviev) of Tikhvin, to the presbyter and appointed to the Prince Vladimir Cathedral, where he served from January 1986 to September 1987. Then, until 1999, he served in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and from 1999 until the end of his days - again in the Prince Vladimir Cathedral.
In 2004, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, for diligent service to the Russian Orthodox Church Archpriest Viktor Grozovsky was awarded the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh III degree by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.
Being already a clergyman, Father Victor continued to write poetry and published three poetry collections. The father of nine children, Archpriest Victor, together with his mother Zinaida, was an example family life for many Petersburgers.
The funeral service for Father Victor took place on January 2, 2008 at the Prince Vladimir Cathedral. The funeral service was led by the abbot of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Archimandrite Nazariy, who was co-served by the rector of the Prince Vladimir Cathedral, Archpriest Vladimir Sorokin, and numerous clergy of the St. . Father Victor was buried at the Smolensk cemetery.
Rest, Lord, the soul of the departed servant of Your Archpriest Victor!
| 03-01-08 Funeral service for Archpriest Viktor Grozovsky in St. Petersburg
On Tuesday, January 2, 2008, Archimandrite Zacchaeus, Rector of the Moscow Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr, took part in a memorial service for the newly deceased Archpriest Viktor Grozovsky. On December 30, 2007, the famous St. Petersburg priest, cleric of the Prince Vladimir Cathedral, Archpriest Viktor Grozovsky, died, where he was buried. The memorial service was led by Archimandrite Nazariy, the abbot of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and numerous clergy of the St. Petersburg diocese served with him. Father Victor was buried at the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg not far from the chapel of Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg.
Viktor Iosifovich Grozovsky was born in 1934 in Leningrad. He studied at an industrial technical school, then at a circus studio, wrote poetry, worked as an actor at the Alexandrinsky Theater and the Komissarzhevskaya Theater, as a director on Leningrad television, then as a church watchman at the Leningrad Theological Schools, where he received a spiritual education (by the decision of the rector of the Theological Schools, Archbishop Kirill (Gundyaev ), now the Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, was immediately enrolled in the third seminary course). Ordained at the Cathedral of the Epiphany on January 6, 1987 by Archbishop Militon. He served in the Prince Vladimir Cathedral from January to September 1987, then until 1999 - in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and since 1999 - again in the Prince Vladimir Cathedral.
Being already a clergyman, Father Victor continued to write poetry and published three poetry collections. The father of nine children, Archpriest Victor was an example of family life for many Petersburgers.
Rest, Lord, the soul of the departed servant of Your newly-departed Archpriest Victor!