BIOGRAPHY

Vasily Ivanovich Adamenko was born in 1885 in the village of Poputnaya in the Sotradinsky district of the North Caucasian Territory, not far from Armavir, in the family of a poor Kuban Cossack. He graduated from a one-class school. From an early age, Vasily was distinguished by his religiosity; he often preached on the banks of the Kuban, where many believers gathered.

On the recommendation of the rector of the stanitsa church, Fr. Nikolai Polyansky, in 1909, Vasily left for Odessa, where he entered the courses of anti-sectarian missionaries, at the same time working as a bookseller at the diocese. He lived at the metochion of the Athos St. Andrew's Monastery, since 1910 he served as a psalmist.

After the courses, Adamenko was a freelance missionary in Armavir, Kuban region, then until 1916 - a missionary in Odessa. As early as 1908, he was inspired by the idea of translating Orthodox services into Russian, he even wrote about it to John of Kronstadt, but did not receive an answer, although he believed that he felt a prayerful answer.

From March 13, 1916, he was a deacon in Ekaterinodar (present-day Krasnodar). Exactly a year later, he was ordained a priest. He served in Odessa, but already at the end of July 1917, Fr. Vasily initiated a petition to the Kuban bishop to transfer him from Odessa to his homeland, which was granted in September. Fr. Vasily was appointed a traveling priest-preacher in Ekaterinodar. During his missionary trips to the villages with the church-wagon, he enjoyed great success, sometimes preaching in the open air, in front of a huge crowd. In 1918-1919, he asked for the blessing of Patriarch Tikhon to work on the Russian translation of the divine services, but the latter said: "I cannot give permission, do it at your own peril and risk."

During the Civil War, Fr. Vasily was in conflict relations both with the "White" authorities, which he sharply denounced for their persecutions and inattention to the poor, and with the "Reds." In 1919, being a priest of the Ilyinskaya Church in Ekaterinodar, he was arrested and sent to Nizhny Novgorod to a correctional home. After his release, he worked for some time in Sormovo, issued and issued passes for railway tickets. On December 11, 1920, he was arrested again in Ekaterinodar, where, after the retreat of the "Whites", he continued to serve and conduct missionary activities, and by the decision of the KubcherCheka he was sent to Rostov-on-Don. The townspeople repeatedly sent a petition to the predrevkom of the Kubcherrevkom with a request to release the priest under their guarantee.

On April 22, 1921, he was sentenced by the Prosecutor's Office of the Cheka in the Caucasus to 3 years of exile. Sent to the Central Provinces of Russia, the city of Tsyarka (Tsyarka?)

After his release from exile in 1924, he served in the Church of St. Elijah in Nizhny Novgorod. During the schism that occurred in the Russian Church, Fr. Vasily, like many clergymen, initially found himself in the camp of the "renovationists." Contrary to the myth spread today by certain ecclesiastical and near-church circles, the "renovationists," whose ideology in practice was open servility to the Soviet regime, and whose reformist pathos was reduced mainly to the possibility of a church career for married clergy, were by no means supporters of translating divine services into Russian and radical liturgical reforms. The only official statement on this issue, made in 1926, declares the need "without introducing any dogmatic and liturgical universally binding reforms, to invite all workers of church renewal to protect the unity of the Church in every possible way; blesses the creative initiative and initiative aimed at awakening religious feeling, church consciousness and public morality." In practice, however, Fr. Basil's activity in translating divine services and reforming parish life (carried out, for all its seeming radicalism, in line with the decisions of the canonical Local Council of 1917-18), evoked a rather negative attitude among the renovationist episcopate. Metropolitan Alexander Vvedensky, having arrived in Nizhny Novgorod, flattered Fr. Vasily in every possible way, but when he returned to Moscow, he declared: "We have had enough of this end-of-city and Adamovism." (Priest Alexander Endeka served in the church on Lubyanka Square and belonged to the few "ideological" renovationists).

In the community created by Fr. Vasily in the Church of St. Elijah, divine services were conducted in Russian, frequent communion, unction every fast, and common singing of parishioners (the choir was abolished). The service was daily, in the morning and in the evening, and night services were often held. The entire Liturgy was served with the gates open, and all the priestly prayers were pronounced aloud by Fr. Vasily. In the church, everything was subject to strict piety, all conversations were forbidden in the altar, and money was not taken for services. On certain days of the week, after the evening service, the parishioners stayed in the church, sang cants and delivered sermons.

Liturgical translations were made by Fr. Vasily himself, by persons who did not belong to the community, and by members of the community. The experience of his predecessors was actively used: a number of passages in the Russian translation of the Liturgy of John Chrysostom are based on the translation of Metropolitan Antonin (Granovsky), the Funerary Stichera of John of Damascus are based on the translations of N. Nakhimov. Biblical readings and psalmodies were not translated – they used the Synodal translation. The translations were tried for singing, discussed and changed many times. Many of the original versions were discarded, sometimes returning to the words of the Slavonic text: "at the right hand of the Father," "arise," and others. Sometimes Fr. Vasily announced: "Pray, the translation of such and such a text does not work." Correspondence, reprinting, editorial and publishing work were carried out by members of the community. During the liturgy, it was allowed to work in the sacristy on translations until the apostle, and then it was supposed to go to church. It was printed in the prison printing house. Members of the community conducted proofreading work and sometimes participated in typing.

The following books were published: "Service Book in the Russian Language" (1924), containing, in particular, the rites of three liturgies, "The Order of All-Night Divine Services in the Russian Language" (1925), "Collection of Church Services, Hymns of the Most Important Feasts and Private Prayers of the Orthodox Church in the Russian Language" (1926; reprinted in Paris by the YMCA publishing house, 1989), and the Trebnik (1927). A significant part of the translations (almost the entire Service Menaion from April to June, akathists, hierarchical services) remained in manuscripts, the fate of which is unknown. Fr. Vasily's translation work was approved by a specialist in liturgics, Professor Mikhail Skaballanovich. I translated the service into Russian to get to know the faithful, but I did not think that it would be implemented in practice so soon," he said, having arrived from Kiev to Nizhny Novgorod and visited the Church of St. Elijah.

In 1924, after Fr. Vasily's wife, having taken all the children (Fr. Vasily had six of them), left him, unable to endure the ascetic way of life of Fr. Vasily, he became a monk with the name Theophanes. He continues to serve in the Church of St. Elijah in Nizhny Novgorod.

In October 1925, he took an active part in the discussion of the language in the work of the Renovationist "Council III", made a speech in defense of the reforms of church life and, in particular, on the introduction of the Russian language into the practice of divine services, as the most useful measure for the return to the bosom of the Orthodox Church of apostates, sectarians and non-believers. Fr. Theophan's missionary activity could not but arouse concern among the authorities and the renovationist episcopate. A decision was made to remove it and liquidate the community and its implementation began. Bishop Alexander (Lavrov), who came for an audit, having attended the service, refused to participate in the reprisal, for which he was transferred by Vvedensky to Vologda. Bishop Alexander was replaced by Metropolitan Hierotheos Pomerantsev (tonsured by Archimandrite Sergius Stragorodsky), who was also instructed to liquidate the community, about which he said on his departure: "I was instructed to disperse you, but I could not do it, since I liked your statutory services in the Russian language."