Biography of Rafail

After graduation, he entered the Faculty of Philology TPI. At this time, his spiritual fracture occurred - an appeal to God. In the city, this is what Archimandrite Rafail himself writes about this period of his life: in the last grades of the school, I became interested in metaphysical issues. At that time, religious literature was very difficult to get. I accidentally fell into the hands of the book of the works of St.

John Chrysostom, which struck me with a novelty and depth of thought, as well as a brilliant style. This book has largely determined my further spiritual path. I did not receive any religious or anti -religious education in the family. My father was an atheist. He said that in his youth he lost faith, but never spoke off the religion offensive, which was then in fashion. He was generally distinguished by great tolerance and respected the beliefs of other people.

His spiritual inner world has still remained a mystery to me. My mother was a believer, but at that time she did not show her religiosity - she was, as it were, a believer “for myself” and believed that the children, when they grow up, would figure it out in these matters. I remember two religious experiences of my childhood, which especially crashed into my soul and memory.

My grandmother Evdokia led me-then a 5 or 6-year-old child-to the temple. Of course, I did not understand anything what was happening there, but in my soul I felt contact with some invisible force, with a secret that the temple keeps in itself. I did not understand what was happening around, but I felt that the extraordinary was happening in my own soul and something was changing in it, that I am in contact with the unknown new world.

For some time I was impressed by this event, but gradually it weakened and disappeared from my memory. I remembered and how I survived it again many years later. My second religious experience was reading the gospel, or rather excerpts from the gospel. I caught a cold and lay in bed for several days. And, here, on the windowsill, near my headline I saw a book - it was the gospel belonging to my grandmother.

I opened it and began to read it. And again I was seized by a sense of the presence of an invisible spiritual world. It seemed to me that some bright stream came from this book, and as if someone transferred me to those places and times when Christ preached. Now I am convinced that the Gospel should be given to read to children. Although they cannot understand it at the rational level, they are able to survive internally, mystically, and maybe their experiences are deeper and direct than later, when with age the soul is covered with sins and passions, like a layer of dust.

After graduating from school, I entered the institute. During this period, I had a desire to devote my life to God - to accept monasticism. At that time, there was not a single active male monastery in Georgia, monastic tonsure was performed secretly. Most of the monks after the revolution were physically destroyed, some monks managed to arrange for the guards of the monuments through the monuments of the monuments at closed monasteries and even conduct worships.

Some of the nuns were attached to the singers at the current temples, but they dressed in worldly clothes so as not to attract attention. I also wanted to get secret tonsure, but the Providence of God judged differently. I was unexpectedly called by the rector of the Alexander Nevsky Church Archimandrite Zinovy ​​Mazhug subsequently Metropolitan Tetritskarai.

He said that one parish has no priest and therefore, the service has not been completed there for a long time. He suggested that I accept a dignity. This coincided with my desire to become a monk and I agreed. Then in Georgia there was no spiritual seminary and for the training of practical worship I was sent to Mtskheta to the Olginsky monastery, where Igumenia Angelina Kudimova taught me, which for many years was a charter.

I remember this old man with deep gratitude. In the period - gg. Due to the catarrhal disease of the throat, he could not continue the priestly ministry in the temple and returned to Tbilisi for treatment. C to gg. From a year, due to illness, the eyes were forced to leave the ministry, both at the Academy and in the temple. Since the year, he began literary activities, which he continues to this day.

The author of a number of books and brochures. Some of them are translated to Georgian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Romanian and other languages.