Sergei Maslennikov: biography and controversial work

Discovering something very important, interesting and hitherto unexplored, the ordinary layman Sergei Maslennikov was baptized in 1994 and completely immersed himself in the study of the spiritual heritage of Christians. Practically leaving all his worldly affairs, he studied the works of St. for three years. Ignaty Bryanchaninov and various interpretations of the Holy Scriptures of the holy fathers of the church. Then Maslennikov Sergey Mikhailovich began his violent creative writing activity, which was very well-designed and "untwisted." Many are still puzzled how this happened.

Maslennikov Sergey Mikhailovich: Biography

On the personal website of the writer you can see his full biography, we will focus on the key points, because they are limited to a small article. So, he was born in Chaikovsky, Perm Region on July 26, 1961, graduated from high school (in 1978) with a gold medal, then entered and in 1983 graduated from the Ural Electromechanical Institute.

In 1982 he decided to marry Sergei Maslennikov. His biography indicates that two children were born into the marriage. Then he worked from 1983 to 1986 as an electrician and chief of the site in the Tobolsk distance of signaling and communications. Then, in 1986, he lived in Sverdlovsk (today's Yekaterinburg) and until 1994 he worked at the combine of fish gastronomy - first the head of the electrical department, then the chairman of the trade union committee, and then the deputy director for trade and. about. Director.

Novice

In 1999, he became a novice of one of the monasteries of the city of Yekaterinburg, and was invited to head the Department of Sales in the Yekaterinburg Diocese. Maslennikov Sergey Mikhailovich all this time continued to study the works of the Holy Fathers and at the same time held "Lessons of Morality" for schoolchildren of Yekaterinburg.

Since 2002, he began to work as an altar boy, chorister and reader in the parish of the Vladimir icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in the city of Yekaterinburg. And along with this, he carried out the announcements and the Sunday school for adults. For this he more scrupulously studied the works of St.. Ignaty Bryanchaninov. For five years - from 2003 to 2008 - he chastised about 200 hours of lessons from the series "School of Repentance".

Achievements

Since 2005, Sergei Maslennikov was a senior teacher of the newly established parish priest of the "School of Repentance", for which he specially designed the training program and even taught the teachers.

Since 2010, he began to work on the compilation of the works "Christian Virtues" and "Passions - Diseases of the Soul", which amounted to 8 books with a circulation of 300,000 copies. He gave lectures on "Asceticism for the laity".

In early 2015, for the book "Reconciliation with Christ" Sergei Maslennikov became the winner of the All-Russian Literary Prize and was awarded the medal of St. Blg. Prince Alexander Nevsky.

Prohibition on the distribution of books

And now we come to the most interesting: in 2015, the publishing council of the ROC withdrew the bar and banned books by Sergei Maslennikov. The situation was commented by Oleg Vasilyevich Kostishak, Acting Head of the Secretariat of Scientific and Theological Review and Expert Evaluation.

According to him, the review of S. Maslennikov's works was indeed conducted for several years, and some of his works were given a church stamp. But the further in the forest, as they say in the people, the more wood. After reading his latest works, the writer made specific comments, which he ignored. These his works were called unsuitable for Christians, and for those who are not mature in the spiritual life of people even dangerous (according to Kostishak OV). Priest George Shinkarenko commented on the situation: "Many people who have heard references to the authority of the holy fathers may think that their teaching is being interpreted here, but in fact, the teaching of the Orthodox Church is fed through Maslennikov's personal spiritual experiences, and, unfortunately, the result is a distortion of understanding Way of salvation. " According to the priest, this state of affairs was led not only by his individual erroneous opinions or inaccuracies, but, in general, his person's incorrect system of views on the entire Christian life.

Errors

Sergei Maslennikov has no theological education and is not a clergyman, and the path of his spiritual knowledge is doubtful enough. All his mistakes occur mainly not at the evil intention, but more from spiritual illiteracy, as he tries to explain those moments from Scripture that are not so easy to explain. Spiritual practice, recommended by the writer, according to researchers, is not well and can lead a person into a difficult spiritual impasse. The author constantly refers to the words of St. Ignaty Bryanchaninov, although in the interpretation of his writings he commits gross and sometimes unacceptable mistakes.

Maslennikov's ideas about passions and virtues were made up of a mechanical and formal comparison of the sayings of the holy fathers, but the Holy Scripture, creations of holy fathers and liturgical texts require a long organic understanding. A good example is the "Diary of the penitent", often propagated by him, where he consciously classifies sins. "I do not know how an experienced confessor can allow such a diary to be filled, with sins that it is disgusting to read, not to list them out loud then? Total control over the state of the soul on the part of a person who is not a priest is not good at all! ", Shinkarenko said.

Opinions of the inhabitants of authoritative monasteries

The reviews of the revered clergy of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Optina desert and the Valaam Monastery, which sent their reviews, were united in a negative evaluation of the works of Maslennikov. A common place in the reviews was a certain "stereotyped" approach, which makes it impossible for a living and blessed repentance in the formation of the personality. They note that an attempt to love the Lord God without austerity (deliberate self-restraint, self-sacrifice and the fulfillment of difficult vows) and repentance can result in spiritual hedonism (sensual pleasure - spiritual and physical), that is, asceticism for the sake of asceticism, and repentance for the sake of repentance is grim sectarianism.

Conclusion

The remarks concern both his books and speeches, but one can add that at some point S. Maslennikov's books can be useful, but only if one looks at his work as a whole. Therefore, the distribution of the works of this writer is suspended through the book church network.

There are also more severe reactions to the writings of Maslennikov. Their authors unanimously say that it is very strange and completely illogical that a person without a proper education teaches asceticism and theology.