Murder of Fr. Alexander Zharkov 1997

The Murder of Fr. Alexander Zharkov 




PHOTOS:


taken from ROAC History in Photos
http://www.st-elizabet.narod.ru/foto1993_97.htm

Archpriest Alexander Zharkov consecrated the City Hospital No. 3 (Vavilovyh St., 14) in the name of St. the Monk Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth
February 5, 1993

<<< Hospital of the Holy Martyr Elizabeth.
View from the North
and Svetlanovsky Prospekt.

Consecration of the place under the future church of St. Elizabeth
and the installation of the cross on the foundation of the temple took place
March 9, 1993. Moleben for consecration served as Bishop Simon of Tikhvin, then vicar and secretary of Metropolitan John (Snychev).
Father Alexander said:
"Well, now, since the cross is worth - we will build a temple!" The cross is the main thing. "

<<< Fixed cross, hoisted
on the site of construction of the future temple
(the picture was taken when the temple was already mostly built, and the cross was kept inside).


Foundation under the church of St. Elizabeth
began to lay on December 6, 1994.

<<< Temple in the spring of 1996.

The masonry of the walls to the drum of the dome was completed on December 9, 1995. The brickwork of the dome drum was completely finished on March 20, 1996.

<<< Temple in April 1996

Unfortunately, while the temple was under construction, nobody did almost any photos, and this initial stage of life of our church and the parish is poor with photographic materials.

<<< Temple in May 1996

The first all-night Vigil and the Liturgy in the unfinished church took place on July 17 and 18, 1996, on the patronal feast of St. prepmts. Elizabeth, among the forests, construction debris and debris of bricks. It was very cold, but very good.


<<< Father Alexander at the All-Night Vigil 08/17/1996

Vigil on August 17; The candle is carried by Vasily, now - the prior of our parish 
Hieromonk Grigory (Lurie)

The All-Night Vigil 08.08. 
"Peace to all".

Anointing at the All-Night Vigil 08/17/1996.
In the background is daughter Fr. Alexandra Larissa.

Liturgy on July 18, 1996.

On June 30, 1997, Metropolitan Vladimir (Kotlyarov) of St. Petersburg liberated Fr. Alexander from the reign in the church of St. Elizabeth and transferred him to Vsevolozhsk, and in his place appointed another priest. 

Father Alexander immediately went for the staff.
At the parish meeting it was decided that these unexpected griefs show us the will of God - to leave the Moscow Patriarchate. On June 24, Fr. Alexander, through repentance in complicity in the ecumenism and sergianism of the MP, was admitted to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (it is significant that the reception was carried out in the house church of St. Elizabeth). 

On August 15 we, with the help of a construction company working on the erection of the temple, closed the church, and the patriarchal priest and his parish no longer served in it. Father Alexander was intensely engaged in registering the parish in the jurisdiction of the ROCA, but the Justice Department was dragging out time. September 6, according to the denunciation from the MP in the chapel for funeral services at the morgue came the employees of the Economic Police, but found nothing; about. Alexandra was taken to the interrogation, but released, realizing that they were trying in vain: in the chapel they did not find any "mountains of gold", Father did not resemble the rich "tycoon", and it was clear that, as one policeman put it, that Fr. Alexander "just someone there is in the way." 

On September 9, the head physician of St. Elizabeth's Hospital sealed our chapel, he received a letter from Met. Vladimir with slander on about. Alexandra; The head physician did not believe the letter, but chose to close the chapel, for fear of scandal and trouble. 

On the morning of September 14, Fr. Alexander, shortly after leaving the house, was killed by two shots in the chest and in the head. The body was found on the roadside on the outskirts of Tsarskoe Selo.

<<< Tsarskoe Selo.
The place where the body was found about. Alexandra


The funeral of Fr. Alexander took place in the church he built on September 20, 1997. 

Despite the fact that almost a week passed since the death, and that the body underwent medical examination and transportation, there were no signs of decay. The funeral of the priest was performed by the priests of the ROCA Fr. Alexander Shchipakin and Fr. Alexy Tarkhov.



The grave of Fr. Alexandra at the cemetery in Gatchina

Our temple in September 1997

Father Alexander is buried in the old cemetery in Gatchina, next to other relatives. 

On the day of his memory, on September 14, and also on his birthday, on February 12, we always travel all over to serve a requiem in his grave. Father Gregory and other our parishioners are at the grave of Fr. Alexander on other days, especially before the beginning of important matters or in difficult periods of life, and ask the priest for prayer. Father helps us;
the first miracle was already that on the day after his martyrdom, on September 15, our parish began to register, and 10 days later we received a registration that was used before our transition in the jurisdiction of the ROAC. And in general, all that we managed to achieve later in our church life, as we believe, was through the prayers of Fr. Alexander.

When Fr. Alexander was killed, we met in the ROCA with the hostile attitude of St. Petersburg priests who, without knowing Batyushka at all, began to write slanderous denunciations against him in the Synod of the ROCA. Obviously, this was the result of envy, because The First Hierarch of the ROCA, Met. Vitali, when he learned about the death of Fr. Alexandra, then he said that Father was undoubtedly Saint. martyr for the Church and faith, and blessed the abbot of the Church of All Saints in Paris, Archpriest Benjamin Zhukov on September 21, the day of the Nativity of the Virgin, the day after the funeral of Fr. Alexander, serve him as a moleben as a holy martyr. Thus the veneration of Fr. Alexander not only in our parish, but also among other Orthodox. Very soon, in our parish, service was made to Father Alexander, and a book was written about him . Slanders of envy were not successful, but only led to the fact that our parishioners began to stay away from them at some distance. However, almost from the very beginning of our stay in the ROCA, we realized that this was only a temporary stop in the way, because already then it was clear that the ROCA as the True Orthodox Church would not last long, which was confirmed at its Bishops' Council of 2000 In the expression of. Gregory (then still Basil, he was ordained a reader by Bishop Evtikhi (Kurochkin) on October 23, 1997, on the 40th day after the death of Father Alexander, when the only ritual liturgy served by the clergy in our church was: "We came to the deathbed of the Church Abroad, to take her last breath. "

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Interfax report:
http://rocorrefugees.blogspot.com/2008/04/murdered-clergymen-monastics.html