☦Archpriest Mikhail Vasiliev, has been killed during an American HIMARS missile strike on the Kherson region.

☦Father Mikhail died in the morning of November 6, 2022. The website of the Patriarchate says that the Rector of the Church of the Great Martyr Barbara and St. Ilia of Muromets – the Patriarchal Metochion in the village of Vlasikha, Moscow region, Archpriest Mikhail Vasiliev, died in the line of pastoral duties in the zone of a special military operation.

☦Bishop Savva (Tutunov) of Zelenograd was the first to announce the sad news in his telegram channel: “Another military priest died at the front. Father Mikhail Vasiliev, famous in this area. Kingdom of heaven, eternal memory.

☦‘You were the only one. Thank you for everything!” – wrote the parting words of the chairman of the synodal department for the relations of the church with society and the media of the Moscow Patriarchate Vladimir Legoyda.
More details about the death of Mikhail’s father became known from the military commander of the VGTRK, Alexander Sladkov: “Kherson region, a missile attack by the armed forces of Ukraine. He died a warrior father – in the ranks of the paratroopers. Yes, they called him the Father of the Airborne Forces. What can I say… Bold, even daring, honest, not even just honest, but adamant truth seeker. A true friend, a fierce enemy of vices, self-critical, modest, defenseless against injustice, humble. His self-irony is as filigree as befits. Father Michael is irreplaceable. Really”.

☦Archpriest Andrey Spiridonov knew Father Mikhail Vasiliev for more than a quarter of a century. They first met at the Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos in Petrovsky Park, where both began their church journey as altar servers.
– In terms of altar work, I was older than the future father Michael, – says Father Andrei. – After that, he graduated from the Literary Institute and, refusing to enter graduate school, began to study at St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute. And he graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University. And also refusing to advance in a secular career, he decided to serve the Church. I taught him to be an altar boy. And then he often remembered how I taught him to wash the floors. Then we both became priests, met more than once, served together. We were friends. He was a special priest and a person who broke from the general contours. He always strived for a kind of clear, ultimate, maximum service. Sometimes he dared himself, because as a military priest he traveled to different hot spots.

☦Father Mikhail has been in the Donbass since the beginning of the confrontation with Kiev. He helped the fighters both spiritually and financially. During the NMD, he traveled to the combat zone several times.

☦“And he always surprised me to some extent with selfless devotion, dedication and willingness to lay down his soul for the sake of the Russian people, the Church, the country, the military,” recalls Father Andrei.

☦Among the paratroopers, he was absolutely his own person. I even jumped with a parachute during the exercises. True, 15 years ago, his last jump almost ended in tragedy.
– The main parachute did not open and he suffered a compression fracture of the spine, – says Father Andrei Spiridonov. – Father Michael miraculously survived. We saw him two weeks ago on the anniversary of our common confessor, Father Dimitri Smirnov, who passed away two years ago. Father Mikhail told about his plans, a trip to the NVO zone. His mood was fatalistic… And now he remained there, like a true Christian, giving his life for his friends, For the Country, the church and us.

Kingdom of Heaven to a great priest and eternal memory!

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Мария Васильевна (жена)

Russian priest killed by American missile – Church

Veteran Russian military priest Mikhail Vasilyev has been killed in Ukraine, the Moscow Patriarchate said in a  statement on Sunday.

According to media reports, he died of shrapnel wounds from a missile launched by a US-made HIMARS system.

The priest was the rector at St. Barbara cathedral, the Patriarchate’s metochion for Russia’s strategic missile forces.
The 51-year-old cleric had served with the Russian military for decades, the Patriarchate noted.

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