On 14 September at 7pm the Pokrovsky Gates cultural centre will host the presentation of the book “Bear One Another’s Burdens: The Life and Pastoral Struggle of Hieromartyr Sergey Mechev” in 2 books. Book 1 contains: Biography, Memories; Book 2: Conversations, Sermons, Letters (St Tikhon Orthodox University of the Humanities University Press, 2012).
The publication is an attempt to collect all the materials related to the life and spiritual feats of one of the greatest pastors of the Russian Church of the twentieth century, Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev (1892–1942). The son of "Moscow’s Batiushka" St Alexey Mechev, St Sergey continued his father's work during the beginning of the persecution, preserving and increasing his pastoral heritage. The community of the church on Maroseika Street in Moscow, led by Fr Sergey, was one of the most amazing phenomena of Russian church history in the past century. Continuing during the years of persecution, it became the "salt" of church life, thanks to which many people have discovered faith and the Church.
The publication includes a detailed biography of Hieromartyr Sergey; articles about his ministry and his flock; memories of Fr Sergey and the Maroseika church; and Hieromartyr Sergey’s own sermons, interviews and letters. Many materials are published here for the first time, and all material previously published has been re-edited. A significant number of pictures, many of which are published for the first time, complete the story of the shepherd and his flock. This edition, prepared jointly with the church of St Nicholas in Klennikah, is devoted to the 120th anniversary of the birth of Hieromartyr Sergey and the 70th anniversary of his martyrdom.