Cleric of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Archimandrite Raphael Karelin

An outstanding theologian who criticized ecclesiastical modernism and ecumenism, the publicist, the priest of the Georgian HRC, Archimandrite Rafail Karelin, is considered a very original and interesting church writer of our times. He became the author of several books: "In Search of Truth", "The Way of a Christian", "The Secret of Salvation" and many others.

Archimandrite Raphael Karelin: biography

In the world, Alexander Nikolayevich Karelin was born in Tbilisi on December 29, 1931 in an intelligent family, where his father was an engineer and his mother a teacher. Immediately after graduation, he decided to go into monastic life. This happened at his own will, since he was always interested in the truth, and any kind of deception or the illusion of deception did not endure. He recalls how in his childhood his mother took him to the circus, and for some reason he did not like the tricks terribly: the inverted mirrors seemed to him a distortion of life, and all sorts of buffoonery did not cause any joy, but rather the opposite - cast sadness. Therefore, even at a conscious age, he came to monastic life.

Initiation into the monks

In 1954, he was ordained a monk, and in the same year he was ordained a hierodeacon and a hieromonk. After that, he began to serve in the church of St. George the Victorious in the village of Ilori near the town of Ochamchira in the Abkhazian ASSR.

It was during this period that Hierodeacon Raphael, at the request of the parishioners, began to perform the demoniacal readings. These encounters with the demoniacs, or rather their affective state and savage obsession, remarkable strength and hatred of the Christian faith made him turn his attention to the study of demonic reality and the hostile power threatening all of humanity.

Sukhumi

Time passed, Raphael Karelin moved to Sukhumi and began to serve there in the Preobrazhenskaya Cemetery Church. It was during this period that the future archimandrite met his first spiritual father, Archimandrite Seraphim (Romantsov), who, having a special spiritual experience, with attention and sensitivity to all people and evangelical love, was able to reach the most important heights in his vows and became a holy elder. His name was canonized in 2010. Saint Seraphim disguised love and care for people under moderate rigor, so he had no unreasonable admirers.

Teaching path

Archimandrite Raphael Karelin was also acquainted with Metropolitan Zinovy (Mazhuga), who was numbered in the saints in 2010. He was known for his love of Jesus' prayer and had the amazing ability to combine active administrative activity with incessant prayer.

In 1975, Father Raphael became a teacher of the Slavonic language at the Mtskheta Theological Seminary and a temporary performer of the inspector's duties.

In the early 80-ies he often visits the holy places and monasteries of Russia. And he especially loved the Pskov-Caves monastery. At that time, his spiritual father was Shihigumen Sawa, whose canonization was already being prepared by the Orthodox Church. This elder was known for several cases of healing of mortally sick people.

Around the same time, Father Raphael, in absentia, finishes the Moscow Theological Seminary and receives a blessing from Shiiigumen Sawa for writing texts on a spiritual theme. Then Archimandrite Raphael Karelin becomes a teacher of the Slavonic language, the history of religion, asceticism and theology at the Tbilisi Theological Academy.

Last years of the priestly service he holds in the church of St. Alexander Nevsky in the city of Tbilisi. And since 1988, Archimandrite Raphael Karelin, because of the deterioration in his health (poor vision), does not carry out such an active activity, but he does not stop writing spiritual literature either.

Archimandrite Raphael Karelin: site

A huge list of books, all kinds of articles and talks, as well as audio and video materials can be viewed on the special site of Archimandrite Raphael. And we must pay tribute to him as an author, since everything he writes about is being read with great interest. He opens his eyes to many things. It can be the psychology of family life, the upbringing of the younger generation or something else. For each question, he can always give a concise answer, which may seem to someone too philosophical or unreal. However, this is only at first glance, so Archimandrite Karelin, first of all, makes a person think and live a spiritual life, which means that he sows the very grain that will certainly grow with the right approach of people to any life problem.

Disagreements with Osipov

Many are beginning to seek some disagreement in the views and teachings on different spiritual topics of such theologians as Archimandrite Raphael and AI Osipov. In some forums, whole discussions began about which of them is right. But do not go into this deeply, because each of these spiritual writers will be right in their own way. And in this there is nothing reprehensible, if someone in the open will express his opinion.

Archimandrite Raphael Karelin about Osipov spoke, in particular, because of the article "Eucharist and priesthood". There, he did not like some of the statements. But if we provide a field for the dispute between these two titans of theological literature, they will never argue with each other, since they also do not have complete knowledge of the spiritual world, and therefore they can also err in some way.