Father Nikolai

65-year-old Father Nikolai, priest at the tiny parish of Stepankovo outside Murom, is the oldest and one of the most respected churchmen in the Vladimir Diocese. Stricken with arthritis, he asked his former pupil, 21-year-old Father Mikhail, head of Murom’s Religious Educational Center and the youngest priest in Vladimir Diocese, to tell his story.

Born in Karacharovo, outside Murom, in 1931, the cheerful and diminutive Nikolai Stroikov grew up with his aunt, a nun forced to flee her convent during the repressions, and her stories of convent life.

In his youth, Nikolai could have become a monk, a risky business in those days, but possible in theory. In childhood, though, he had a greater desire, to become a soldier. This he did with finesse, and having reached the middle ranks of the officer corps, he retired and followed another calling, the priesthood.

In the 1970’s he settled in Murom, where he served at the Annunciation Cathedral. It was here that he was banned from holding services after observing the misuse of parish finances by the administrator. He was deprived of his means of existence, and retreated to Karacharovo again.

“A lot of people now have started saying, ‘I was repressed.’ For some reason, though, he keeps quiet,” said Mikhail. “Sometimes he talks in the third person, but you can tell that it is from his own life.”

After two years, Nikolai was allowed to take services again. But he was not allowed back into the town. “The Soviet authorities had no need for educated people, especially educated churchpeople,” explained Mikhail. “People could gather round, ask the batyushka [little father] something, and he could tell them something. To prevent such exchanges, to stop him from getting to town, they decided to move him as far away as possible.”

Now he presides over a church in a dying village, to which he walks 6km from his home, often in spite of ill health and extreme cold. Stepankovo has just 12 residents left, all pensioners. With people from other nearby villages joining services, he can muster a congregation of 15-30 people. His only income is from collections at these services.

Aside from his regular work as a priest, Father Nikolai has the unenviable role of confessor for Murom’s three monasteries, a job generally recognized to be morally and physically exhausting. Mikhail noted that one day he managed to confess all the nuns of the Trinity Convent (about a hundred), in the space of 17 hours.

Basically, he is a spiritual healer, able to cheer anyone, from despairing hospital patients to the young and energetic Mikhail.

“He is a person who can inspire people to live,” concluded Mikhail. “I’ve also had some troubles in my life, I was in despair, and he made me believe in life again.”