It became known which of the clergy thought about sports before Patriarch Kirill

Father Yuri Rodenkov played with Andrei Arshavin, priest Sergius Akimov was fond of fighting without rules

Playing sports is a godly activity. This is precisely the conclusion that can be drawn from the speech of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ at the next meeting of the Supreme Church Council. As you can see, some of the clergy confirm this with their own experience.

In his speech to the audience, Patriarch Kirill said:

“The Russian Orthodox Church attaches great importance to the physical development of a person… The Church should not stand aside from such an important sector of public life as sports. Because people who are very often baptized and Orthodox are involved in sports, and therefore pastoral, spiritual support for the lives of athletes is really a very important, timely matter… I would ask you to take this into account, especially for those clergy who are supposed to carry out pastoral work with our athletes.” .

Among the current ministers of the Church there are often former athletes.

One of them is Yuri Rodenkov, who once played for football clubs of the highest and first leagues, including even Zenit, where at one time he had the opportunity to play on the field with Andrei Arshavin. He ended his sports career in 2015, and soon after that he entered the theological seminary. Now Father George serves in the church, and in his spare time he trains boys, remembering his previous sporting successes.

Former track and field athlete, champion of Leningrad in sprint races over a distance of 100 meters, Sergei Lukashenko, after graduating from the institute and taking a correspondence course at the seminary at the age of 31, was ordained to the rank of deacon, then to the priesthood, and later took monastic vows and received a new name – Sylvester. For several years, he, the rector of one of the rural churches in the Yaroslavl region, was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

The abbot of the Saratov St. Nicholas Monastery, Nikon, also had a sports background. In his youth, he successfully practiced wrestling and was a member of the Moscow sambo team.

His colleague in the sports “profession” – a wrestler – was the former Archpriest Alexander Novopashin, rector of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Novosibirsk.

And the rector of another cathedral in honor of the same famous Russian Holy Warrior – in Khabarovsk, Father Vasily Didenko, being a student at the Institute of Physical Education in his youth, was fond of boxing and even took a prize at one of the Spartakiads of the peoples of Russia in this sport.

Priest Sergius Akimov in his youth was fond of fighting without rules. Then it was time for a reassessment of values, and the former wrestler exchanged his sports uniform for a priestly cassock. Akimov received a parish in one of the villages of the Tver region. He organized a sports club at the temple, trained the boys himself, and took his team to competitions. After some time, I realized that my old passion had not gone away, and, having received permission from my clergy, I returned to the ring and began performing in regional competitions.