Valery Lukyanov is a clergyman who has gone from a monastery reader to protopresbyter. At the time of his death, he was considered the oldest clergyman of the Russian Church Abroad. Served God for over half a century. For many years he was the rector of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral built in his design in the US state of New Jersey.
Biography: early years
Valery Semenovich Lukyanov was born on December 21, 1927 in Shanghai. He has Tatar roots from his father, who hails from Kazan. Mother is a Siberian. Parents met each other at the front during the First World War, after which they moved to Vladivostok, from where they had to flee from the Red Army first to Korea and then to Shanghai.
The Lukyanov family was a believer and regularly visited the local Resurrection Church. Within its walls, Valery first began to sing in the church choir. From an early age, he went with his parents to preach to St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco. Years later, he personally directed Lukyanov on the path of the priesthood.
At that time, Shanghai was divided into three concessions, three spheres of influence: English, French and Chinese. Each had its own administration, police, schools, and military contingent. The Valery family lived in the territories that were under the control of the Fifth Republic, now - the areas of Xuhui and Luvan. There he was born and passed his early childhood Valery. Since childhood, he spoke four languages, including Russian, despite the fact that the first and only time he visited his historic homeland only in 2002.
Parents sent their son to a Franco-Russian school. At that time, only Russian children studied in it. In 1938, Valery's father got a job in the British concession. The family changed their place of residence, and he went to study in the classical English gymnasium of St. Francis. In 1945, Valery completed the full course and received the Certificate of Maturity.
At that time, life in China was hardly calm. After the bourgeois-democratic revolution, which radically changed the political image of the Celestial Empire, the country was gripped by internal conflicts. All this violated a peaceful life. With the outbreak of World War II, much has changed in Shanghai. People starved and stood idle in lines.
When Valery graduated from high school, China was embroiled in a military confrontation with Japan. Soon, under the leadership of the Communist Party, the People's Liberation War began, which lasted four years.
Lukyanov spent all this time in Shanghai. After high school, he continued his studies at the Higher Technical Courses at the University of Harbin. He left China only in 1949, when martial law was declared in the country. Together with his family, he was evacuated to a refugee camp, which was located on the Philippine island of Tubabao. There, six thousand Russians from Shanghai found salvation from the Chinese Communists. The initiator of the forced evacuation was Vladyka John. There was unbearable heat on the island year-round, which affected people of their ages.
A year later, Valery managed to go to the sister and her American husband in the States, where his parents had already moved. In 1950, he was drafted into the army for two years. Excellent knowledge of several foreign languages helped Lukyanov a lot: he was sent to serve in the engineering troops, in the statistical department of the General Staff in Washington.
After the army, he entered the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, where he studied at the Faculty of Civil Engineering. Upon graduation, he received a bachelor's degree with honors.
Career in the world
In the period from 1955 to 1968 he worked as an engineer in a number of American construction companies. He obtained the right of private practice as a civil engineer in the states of New York and New Jersey. Subsequently, this was useful to Valery when he devoted himself to serving God.
Service to God
Lukyanov left the construction for the sake of the church. Back in 1959, he was first ordained a reader, and then to the rank of subdeacon. Then his duties included serving the bishop. He easily combined the work of an engineer with the service of God. Three years later, Valery was ordained to the rank of deacon, and later - to the rank of priest and dignity of presbyter.
In 1968, Lukyanov was appointed rector of the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky in New Jersey. Over the years of service, Valery wrote several spiritual books, among which:
- Sunday service;
- “The spiritual quality of public prayer”;
- “Under the cover of the Mother of God - to the feet of the Savior”;
- "Joy of the Lord: A Compilation of Spiritual Works."
The temple of St. Alexander Nevsky, in which Lukyanov reigned for many years, was small. And over the years, the arrival has only increased. In the mid-80s, when a wave of Russian emigration began, everyone in the church began to run out of space. In 1989, it was decided to build a new church. Work on its construction was led by Valery Lukyanov himself. With a degree in civil engineering, he personally developed the temple design and supervised subsequent work. In 1997, Lukyanov was elevated to the rank of Protopresbyter for his efforts to build the new Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.
He has many awards, including:
- Order of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco;
- Order of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God;
- medal of the participant of the IV All-Diaspora Council.
In 2014, he petitioned the ruling bishop for retirement. Four years later, Lukyanov died.
