Father Sergiy Baranov

The Liturgy from our skete is ready! ​Blessed Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God! The recording of our night Liturgy is finished, and we’ve titled it Anamnesis. You can now listen to and watch the full recording across all platforms: VK YouTube Rutube Dzen ​Recently, Father recorded a preface explaining why we decided to take this step and how this recording reflects the life of our community. You can watch it here. People have been asking us for a long time to share this, so that those far away could stay connected to what happens in the skete every night. We recorded an ordinary weekday service, not in a studio, capturing all the nuances and authentic ambient acoustics of the church. Father sings the lead melody, accompanied by the sisters. ​Anamnesis (Greek) means remembrance — a return to the origin, to what the soul knew before birth. In Christianity, it is the fulfillment of Christ's words, "Do this in remembrance of Me." We created a surreal visual accompaniment for the recording because the Liturgy is, first and foremost, the Liturgy of the angels running parallel to our earthly one, and we wanted to convey this otherworldly atmosphere. ​Father does not read sheet music; he simply sang simple melodies as they came to his heart, and the sisters picked them up in harmonies. As Father Andrey says, we half-speak the Liturgy, speaking in a whisper, intimately, standing before God. We consciously step away from theatricality and artificiality. The Liturgy is a reflection of how we live. Our credo is to be authentic, natural, and not play a role, because the truth of a person is far more valuable than external form. ​We aren't sharing this as a standard to follow. Even if it seems unmusical or "incorrect," people asked us, and we created it with love.

August at the hermitage. Our Ruling Bishop, Iriney, Bishop of Orsk and Gay, often visits us—he comes to serve the Liturgy, rest, talk, fish, and enjoy some pilaf. Not many know, but officially our hermitage is named an Episcopal Metochion. During his last visit, Vladyka gave us a promised fishing rod for our angler, Sister Tamara, as well as an outdoor grill. Before this, we cooked on the outdoor grill for guests and sisters right over coals on bricks. You can watch a video about this Sunday here. There are many pilgrims in July and August—everyone has finally escaped the cities to breathe the steppe air and pray together at the night services, and we are glad to welcome our guests. After the service in the starry church, you step out under an incredible starry canopy of heaven, and it feels like nothing else is needed except this sky, the steppe wind, and the night services. As usual, our 'beacons'—young people from the 'Mayak' Supported Living Home, graduates of the Gay Boarding School for Children with Disabilities—are also visiting us. We are currently recording our hermitage Liturgy, while the Orthodox gymnasium supported by the hermitage is already hard at work preparing for the school year. While the heat persists, there is no hint of autumn yet, though it always arrives imperceptibly and unexpectedly. Donate to the hermitage / Submit a prayer request / Order books and gifts from the hermitage For pilgrimage inquiries, please call: +79102025579

Do not leave Christ ​Remember what Father Seraphim of Sarov told us, "Satan hates us so much that if God only allowed him, he would tear us into small pieces and scatter us across the entire universe. God does not allow him." He hates us with a fierce hatred, and that is why we must constantly cling to God. With God, there is no fear; just as a little child stays close to their parents and remains safe... We must not step away from our parents, and we must not leave Christ, or else it will be terrifying. ​Father Seraphim said, "Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, Christ is the same". And the grace of God is the very same. Even now, if anyone wishes to live like St. Seraphim of Sarov, everything is possible. To tell you the truth, people are living like that even today, and there are saints among us right now. If the Church stops bearing saints, it will lose its purpose, it will no longer be needed, and the end of the world will come. Therefore, there will be saints until the very end. ​Photos from the night service in the cave church of Venerable Seraphim of Sarov on the patronal feast day of the skete.

​Tomorrow is the commemoration day of our beloved saint, Venerable Seraphim of Sarov. A cave church in the steppe at our skete is dedicated to him, and Father will serve the Divine Liturgy there for the feast. You can submit a prayer list for the service at the skete here: o-sergiy.ru/order-online ​On July 31st, the All-Night Vigil will be held at the Tabynskaya Church at 5:00 PM, and the Divine Liturgy will be served at the steppe cave church at 11:15 PM. ​...Father Seraphim of Sarov is also deeply revered on Holy Mount Athos, as he is the most prominent hesychast among the Russian saints... We often perceive Father Seraphim as if detached from the entirety of his ascetic labor, from all his years of tears, sighs, and sorrows—seeing him, as it were, only through the final outcome: "Rejoice, my joy, Christ is Risen!" Yet this is what he achieved in his spiritual life. It was preceded by a vast amount of tears, pain, and grief... "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." There is no other way. Everything else is just the fantasy of people who do not know true spiritual life. Hieromonk Andrey (Baranov)

In 2020, Father Sergiy was diagnosed with a thyroid tumor. Medical tests in Yekaterinburg indicated a malignant tumor. They were sent to the Cancer Institute in St. Petersburg, where the malignancy was also confirmed. Understanding that Father Sergiy might not have long to live, Father Sergiy and his wife (matushka), with the blessing of the ruling bishop, made a vow that Father Sergiy would take monastic vows. Miraculously, the cancer passed. The priest survived, but the monastic vow remained. The bishop could not tonsure him at that time because their youngest child was still a minor. Now, with all the children having reached adulthood, they have fulfilled the vow they had made. ​Today, on July 21, 2026, with the blessing of Bishop Iriney of Orsk and Gay, Father Sergiy was tonsured a monk with the name Andrey, in honor of Saint Andrey Rublev.

Blessed Feast of the Holy Trinity, the Birthday of the Church! And just now, the night Liturgy has been served for the patronal feast of our house church — the Day of the Holy Spirit. Here, the green grass is not inside the church, but all around it, as far as the eye can see — the entire steppe greens today and sings of God. ​Every weekday night and Sunday morning, Liturgies are celebrated in the skete. You can make a prayer request on the website o-sergiy.ru. God save you for your support!

Blessed Feast of the Holy Trinity! #archpriestSergiyBaranov #TabynHermitage

Silence. Your photos of silence in the comments 👋

Blessed Feast of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women! We’ve created a short video about something that has been on our hearts today. We embrace all our sisters on this channel! 🩵 ​On the Day of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, we honor the women who remained faithful to Christ. Today, we remember St. Mary Magdalene and the other women who came to the Savior's Tomb with myrrh and were the first to learn of the Resurrection. This is the "Orthodox Women's Day," dedicated to love and devotion. #TabynHermitage #archpriestSergiyBaranov all links: https://sergiybaranov.taplink.ws/

Before Christ, each of us entered death as if entering a black hole, a Great Unknown. There was no one who had ever come back. There is a common saying among unbelievers and doubters, "Who has ever returned from there? Who can provide proof?" This is the most sensitive point of temptation—this lack of trust in a blessed eternity rather than oblivion, where a person enters the unknown and vanishes, losing his consciousness and his very self. ​Humanityl had no experience of returning from the beyond—there was only a partial experience on the eve of Christ’s Resurrection, when by His power, Lazarus and the son of the widow of Nain were raised. But on his own, a person would step across the threshold of death, and the gates would slam shut behind him. And suddenly, the Victor over death returns from there, most convincingly, as the Church sings, "He shattered the gates of death." He does not simply return alone; He brings out the souls of the righteous with Him. ​It is very difficult to believe when you lack personal experience. Yet, sometimes even when we lack our own experience, we have the experience of the Church, which is worth trusting because the Church is holy. We often naively trust one another, despite being imperfect, deceitful, and prone to error. ​But the Church of Christ is, first and foremost, Christ Himself, and following Him, the saints, who inspire trust through their great righteousness and integrity. We find ourselves thinking, "This person could not deceive me." ​In the mystery of prayer, a person suddenly begins to understand with great conviction something that no one else could explain to him. He cannot even explain how it happens himself. And when a Christian suddenly begins to clearly realize that death has been defeated, he becomes more courageous in the face of it. Death no longer triggers hysteria, panic, or loathing. Suddenly, it begins to fit into the Providence of God—the Providence of that very God who Himself consciously passed through the gates of death. #archpriestSergiyBaranov All links: https://sergiybaranov.taplink.ws/

Christ is Risen​! ქრისტე აღდგა!