Speech given before the funeral service in Bose for the late Archimandrite Anthony (Barvinsky)

We appear at the tomb of the most humble and modest monk, the most reverent and most splendid clergyman and a man of rare kindness of heart, so that on behalf of our entire family - workers in this spiritual city - in a short word we express the feelings of regret that excite us about our dear loss and at the same time bring a feasible tribute of filial sincere gratitude for those highly edifying lessons of everyday life and true Christianity wisdom, as taught to us by our unforgettable spiritual father, who died in Bose, Holy Archimandrite Anthony. A lot has changed before Fr.'s eyes. Archimandrite Anthony of generations who worked in our school for the benefit of theological science and spiritual enlightenment in general. As young men, full of strength and the brightest hopes, many entered into the shadow of the holy Brotherhood, which from ancient times served as a blessed cover for our Academy: here they matured to the extent of their age, filled with all wisdom and serving the Holy Church and the Fatherland, and from here, guided by the touching and touching hymns of the Church, many have already gone on the path of the whole earth. And young men, and mature men, and elders, whitened with venerable gray hair, all who served and are still serving in our Academy, could not help but experience the irresistible charm of the highly sympathetic personality of the late father's confessor, Archimandrite Anthony. Fulfillment of Christian duty during the days of Holy Pentecost, secret conversations in confession with Fr. confessor, in which both a wide practical life experience and a tender soul, filled with boundless, all-forgiving paternal love, and inexpressible in words, but completely touching and penetrating to the most sensitive strings of the heart, tender sadness and deep regret about the oppressive doubt or sin of a sincerely repentant person, made an indelible deep imprint on all his spiritual children in the soul and established an almost forever living the family connection of the latter with their confessor. Many spiritual children of the deceased, upon leaving our educational institution, but remaining in the service in Kiev, did not want to change their confessor and, as we know, came to him every year to enjoy a calming, edifying conversation with him in the spirit. And we must admit that the power of the moral charm and beneficial influence of our late spiritual father on his spiritual children did not lie in eloquent conversations and convincing arguments (the late Father Archimandrite was not skillful and strong in words and could not even be considered a talkative person), but in the direct, so to speak, influence of his entire highly sympathetic bright personality, as an edifying, rare example worthy of imitation and full and deep respect. a pattern of life and activity. The son of the glorious Brotherly monastery from a young age (among us, thank God, there are also living witnesses of his first steps in the monastic field), brought up in the harsh school of monastic exploits in the various obediences of his native monastery under the indelible influence and charm of the ever-memorable, most famous in the history of the Russian Church and Russian theological science (for example, Demetrius, Archbishop. Kherson, Anthony, Archbishop of Kazan 1, Philaret, Bishop of Riga, Mikhail, Bishop of Kursk, Sylvester, Bishop Kanevsky), the deceased Fr. Archimandrite Anthony remained in the monastery for a long period of years the living direct custodian of its best traditions and our Academy, which was closely connected with it in his life. Father Archimandrite Anthony was a faithful and most devoted guardian of his glorious monastery. He took all the events that happened in it very close to his heart. Bringing the cathedral church to its present splendid internal appearance was a matter of his constant care, ardent care and very vigilant vigilance, which extended to the point that he denied himself the necessary rest. The daring sacrilege in the monastery, aimed at stealing jewelry from the miraculous, revered Brotherly Icon, plunged him into a deep feeling of inconsolable grief and caused genuine bitter tears about the insult to the shrine and the loss of jewelry. In a word, the deceased Fr. Anthony considered the joys and sorrows of his dear home to be close to himself, his own, and experienced them vividly and impressionably. As the abbot of the monastery, he was always a submissive and precise executor and interpreter of his plans, intentions and orders, a rather long series of abbots of the most diverse characters and views who passed before him. Even orders, which for some reason, in his opinion, did not promise the monastery benefits or good results, sometimes did not meet persistent objections on his part, and this is not at all because his weak character was reflected here (as some of the dissatisfied brethren subordinate to him sometimes explained), or his obsequiousness to his superiors (which was never in his character), but because monastic humility and unquestioning obedience to the will were brought up in him from a young age the abbot made him silent in these cases. This is on the one hand. On the other hand, he always had a deep faith that everything that comes from the will of the abbot, for the prayers of the Heavenly Patroness of the monastery, will ultimately be turned to the benefit of his dear monastery. A deep connoisseur of the Church Rule and a zealous executor of it, Fr. Archimandrite Anthony demanded the same from the brethren subordinate to him. He could not stand deviations from the Rule, confusion in the orderly flow of worship, sloppiness and excessive fussiness, and the shortcomings he noticed caused reprimands and reproaches on his part in a fatherly tone. The deceased himself, in his slender, splendid figure, appeared before the praying people as an example of high religious disposition and made a deep impression on them with his noble movements and euphonious voice. He was a most reverent performer of church services and a rare reader of the word of God and church prayers. Monastic exploits of the deceased Fr. Archimandrite Anthony were hidden from our eyes, but his severe feats of abstinence during the days of Holy Pentecost and especially Passion Week could not escape the attention of the pilgrims who often visited our monastery. Many of us witnessed with what incredible efforts, sometimes reaching the point of complete exhaustion, the deceased usually served the last days of Passion Week and celebrated the bright holiday of Christ with us. It was with all these high qualities of soul and heart, as well as rare conscientiousness in the fulfillment of his direct monastic and official duties, that he impressed everyone who knew Fr. Archimandrite and especially his spiritual children were left with an irresistible, deep impression. All of us, his spiritual children, passionately and sincerely loved and deeply respected Fr. Archimandrite Anthony. At all our modest fraternal celebrations, Fr. Archimandrite Anthony was a dear, welcome guest. All of us, like loving children, sincerely rejoiced at his every career success, and the day when his splendid old head was decorated with the Archimandrite’s miter - an honor that the deceased had hardly ever dreamed of in secret - was a holiday for our entire academic family. And the deceased repaid us in return: he honored all those who worked for the benefit of theological science and showed signs of love and due attention and respect not only to the oldest and most honored of us, but even to the young, just beginning their academic ministry. Love, according to the Apostle, gives away nothing less (1 Cor. 13:8). Paying due tribute to our deceased spiritual father and accompanying him to the place of his eternal rest, we are morally obliged to preserve our love for him even after separation from him, having inscribed deep on the tablets of our hearts the unforgettable name of Fr. Archimandrite Anthony. We need to do this especially because if on the way to the mountainous villages his pure soul encounters any obstacles, then it will undoubtedly only be our grave sins, so generously, so lovingly and so humbly taken on by him here on earth. Let us fervently pray to the merciful Heavenly Father that He may give Fr. spiritual Archimandrite Anthony in the villages of heaven with the righteous and at the same time blot out from the book of life his sins - our sins - an obstacle both for him and for us to eternal bliss. Archbishop Anthony, when he was rector of the Kyiv Theological Academy and rector of the Bratsky Monastery, had the late Fr. archim. Anthony was a cell attendant. When he was tonsured a monk, he took the name of his revered abbot.