For the first time, the death of his uncle, who died of a serious illness at the age of forty, made him think about the meaning of life of Vladimir Golovin. The nephew was very grieving over the untimely departed relative. It was then that the future priest thought about what life and death are, about what awaits people after the end of the earthly journey.
From the biography of Vladimir Golovin
Vladimir Valentinovich Golovin was born in Ulyanovsk on September 6, 1961. In the same year, the boy was baptized. Vladimir received the most ordinary school education. After graduation, he worked as a mechanic at a local mechanical plant.
In 1979, Vladimir entered the Moscow Theological Seminary. Since 1982, he served as an altar boy in one of the churches of Ulyanovsk.
In 1984, Golovin married Irina Vitalievna Cherkasova. A year later, he and his wife had a son, who was named Stanislav.
In the fall of 1986, Vladimir was ordained deacon by the Bishop of Kazan and Mari Panteleimon. Subsequently, he served in Udmurtia, in the Trinity Cathedral of Izhevsk. After some time, Vladimir Golovin was transferred to the temple of the Yaroslavl miracle workers, which is located on the Arskoye cemetery of Kazan.
In the spring of 1987, he was ordained a priest. Serving in this capacity was held as rector of the Sretensky church (Mari ASSR, Orsha district, the village of Big Kuchka).
In the fall of 1988, the bishop of Kazan and Mari, Anastasius, appointed Golovin the rector of the parish in Kuibyshev.
Since 2003, with the blessing of the Archbishop of Kazan and Tatarstan, Father Vladimir communicated with pilgrims who arrived from various cities of the country and foreign countries.
Father Vladimir leads many hours of sermon, gives parishioners spiritual instructions. He devotes himself and his days to serving people without a trace. Golovin enjoys unquestioned authority among ordinary people and government officials. He is very sensitive to any person. Father Vladimir devotes much time to organizing the work of all the structures of his parish.
Twenty-eight-plus years of priesthood service have received many church awards. Golovin has many letters of thanks. He was awarded medals from representatives of the authorities and public organizations.
Golovin served as chairman of the parish council, was dean in his district, and headed the department of church charity and social ministry of the metropolis. Father Vladimir was a member of the Council of the Chistopol diocese, was the confessor of the community at the church of the Holy Martyr Abraham.
Under the strict guidance of Vladimir Golovin, a lot has been done:
- nine new congregations are open;
- four Sunday schools organized;
- large-scale reconstruction of the place of suffering of Abraham of Bulgaria;
- the territory of the temple was equipped and ennobled.
The abbot ordered that a fence be erected around the temple. There is electricity and gas, telephone and internet. The parish library works. Father Vladimir oversees the publication of the parish newspaper and selects many publications for the website himself. With the participation of Golovin, prayer rooms were opened in the Central District Hospital and in a boarding school for the disabled and the elderly.
The parish, led by Father Vladimir, holds numerous spiritual and moral events in many organizations. Among them:
- city libraries;
- children's shelter;
- district hospital;
- boarding house;
- district military commissariat;
- Department of the Interior.
Golovin always believed that cooperation with public and military-patriotic organizations should be an important aspect of service.
Vladimir Golovin about himself
Being invited to the program “Slovo” on the channel “Spas”, Vladimir Golovin told the audience about his life, telling how he came to the decision to devote himself to the church. Much has been said to them about the family.
Archpriest Golovin believes that his birth and the path of service were given from above. It so happened that Golovin’s grandmother decided to show her son Valentin, who at that time was not Vladimir’s father, the places where he was born. They reached the village on foot. Along the way, we passed a well erected in the place where Nikolai the Wonderworker appeared to people many centuries ago.
Just on that day, a holiday was celebrated in the name of this saint. At the well there were many people who were dispersed by police. But the people did not want to disperse. Vladimir’s grandmother took water in a well and treated her to a son. Then Valentine raised his head and on the tree among the cracks I saw the faces of the saints. People standing nearby predicted Valentine that his son would subsequently serve the church.
The spiritual education of Vladimir was mainly dealt with by his grandmother. It was she who introduced him to the temple. Then more than once she took him with her to church service. When the boy confessed to Pelageya Ivanovna that he wanted to attend church regularly, she handed him the Gospel and asked him to read this book aloud as often as possible. She herself was not trained in literacy. Grandmother raised Vladimir in the spirit of caring for church shrines. Before taking up the Bible, he had to wash his hands thoroughly.
After the death of his beloved uncle, Vladimir decided that by all means he would try to comprehend the meaning of being. He began to study spiritual literature. However, books that went through Soviet censorship did not provide an answer to his questions. But from the manuals on scientific atheism, the future priest, oddly enough, learned a lot of interesting and useful things: there were many quotes from the Old and New Testaments. The boy missed criticism while reading.
In subsequent years, Vladimir was confronted with misunderstanding on the part of schoolmates and teachers. But he stood the moral test and ridicule. Since then, his main goal has been church ministry.
