Archpriest Andrei Tkachev is a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church who leads an active missionary work. TV host and author of books. Much has been said to them about the family.
Biography of Andrey Tkachev
Born in the Ukrainian city of Lvov on December 30, 1969. At first he studied in a regular high school, as a teenager he began to study Christianity.
In 1984, after finishing the 9th grade, at the insistence of his parents, he entered the Moscow Suvorov School. The faculty of special propaganda was one of the most difficult. The specialization was in Persian, which is very difficult to learn. But not because of the difficulty, but because of the unwillingness to study, the future archpriest was expelled.
After college he was drafted into the army, where he first read the book "Poem of God". Upon returning home, he first worked as a loader in a grocery store, and then as a watchman in a church.
One of his friends was fond of church music, invited Andrey to monasteries in order to pray and listen to the church choir singing. They studied the Gospel and Orthodox literature together.
How Andrey Tkachev got into the Russian Orthodox Church
In 1992, Andrey's spiritual father advised him to enter the Kiev Theological Seminary as an external student. There Andrei met high-ranking clergymen who greatly influenced his future.
For two years, while Tkachev studied at the seminary, he served in Lviv churches.
Then Andrei Tkachev was expelled from the seminary for missing classes. He explained this by the fact that he was very busy with church affairs. Now the archpriest says to himself that he is self-taught. But the result of his work shows that the lack of seminary education did not affect his activities in any way.
In 1993 Andrei Tkachev was ordained a deacon, by the end of the year he was ordained a priest. Until 2005, he served at the Church of St. George and taught at the Lviv Theological Academy. He also taught the Law of God in high school in secular ethics lessons.
Moving to Kiev
In 2005, Tkachev decided that he could attract even more people to the church. To this end, he moved his family to Kiev. This was necessary in order to take an active part in various television and radio broadcasts with an Orthodox bias.
At first, Tkachev did not know which parish to serve. Therefore, he read sermons wherever he was invited. In the church of Agapit of Pechersky, the parishioners very much asked Andrei Tkachev to remain their abbot, since the previous one fell ill. And Tkachev was the rector of this church for 8 years.
In parallel with the service in the church, Andrey Tkachev hosted a program on the Kievan Rus channel - television with the name “For the Coming Sleep”. I also read sermons on the TV show "The Garden of Divine Songs" on the same TV channel. Also, on the radio Era FM, there was an author's program "Guide with Father Andrey".
Later Andrei Tkachev began to write a column in the newspaper Segodnya, became the author of the Ioninsky Monastery magazine and the Orthodox Internet publication for young people Otrok.
In 2008, the first book "Look, the sky is getting closer" was released. The second book, Thoughts on Repentance, was not long in coming and was released in 2009. The book "Letter to God" was released in 2010.
Andrei Tkachev spoke openly with a pro-Russian position, which in the future became the reason for his hasty departure from the country.
In 2013, Andrey Tkachev became the head of the Missionary Department of the Kiev diocese, and in 2014, when a coup d'etat began in Ukraine, he had to leave the country and transfer to Moscow.
Andrei Tkachev continued his active preaching work in Russia.
Andrey Tkachev's wife
The priest has a wife and 4 children. But he prefers not to talk a lot about his family, like many public figures. When unrest broke out in Ukraine, his family received direct threats. Some consider the priest to be harsh and categorical. Often his opinion does not coincide with the opinion of the majority. That is why he is trying in every possible way to protect his family from the public. There is not a single photo of the Archpriest with his family on the Internet. It is not so easy to find information about the Tkachev family, but we still managed to find out something.
Andrey Tkachev got married when he was just entering the Kiev Seminary, in 1992. The priest speaks openly about the fact that he and his wife are raising 4 children, but he does not like to discuss his personal life. He is honest with the audience and parishioners, but the conversation on some topics is closed. Andrey Tkachev never mentions the age and names of his children and wife. When asked direct questions about the family, he turns the conversation into another direction.
However, his sermons on how to live in a family are definitely noteworthy. Father Andrey's wise advice on starting a family, raising children and relations with his wife helps young people not to make mistakes. His work is very important especially at this time, when the family has ceased to be a value, when debauchery and lack of commitment are promoted at every corner. It is thanks to such preachers that the value of the family may be restored.
