Athanasius Vasilyevich Turuntayevskikh, the future Fr. Alexander Orlov, was born in 1878 into the family of Archpriest Basil. Athanasius refused to eat meat from the age of five.
He later went to study in a theological seminary. However, atheism was widespread among schoolchildren in those years, and Athanasius fell into its nets. And soon leaving the seminary he abandoned the spiritual path and entered medical school.
He later went to study in a theological seminary. However, atheism was widespread among schoolchildren in those years, and Athanasius fell into its nets. And soon leaving the seminary he abandoned the spiritual path and entered medical school.
Athanasiu’s fall was not hidden from his mother. On her deathbed – she died at the age of 56 – she told him: “Leave your atheist comrades, change your character and God will not abandon you.” The death of Athanasius' mother had been exactly prophesied by a fool-for-Christ, which made a strong impression on him, the more so in that a good provincial doctor had said that she would recover.
After the death of his mother Athanasius began to become interested in theology, the philosophical approach to religion, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and life after death. But he was burdened by the fact that he had been so attracted to atheist ideas, and he was constantly pursued
by the thought: “you will not be forgiven”. The thought gnawed at his brain:
“If you wish to receive forgiveness, offer yourself as a sacrifice to God”. In despair he decided to commit suicide. His nearest relatives did not let him out of their sight, but followed him day and night. Many priests tried to convince Athanasius to abandon his plan, but without success.
He took a raw thong from a harness, put his head into a noose and stepped off the stool…
But just at that moment a fiery streak of lightning flashed before his eyes, and for the rest of his life he remembered the voice which he heard: “Now you are mine. There is no repentance in the grave.” And then he heard the powerful laugh of the devil.
At that moment he repented and came to on the floor – the end of the raw thong was swaying on the ceiling, and a noose hung round his neck. On hearing the noise his relatives ran up. His godfather, who was a priest, confessed him and gave him communion. He sincerely repented and the thought of suicide never entered his mind again. Another priest, a friend of his father’s, said to him: “Athanasius, Satan told you the truth – there is no repentance in the grave. But you are not yet in the grave, and you can still repent.”
Athanasius imposed a strict fast upon himself and intensified his prayer.
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Many years later, Fr. Alexander rejected the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius. He was a mitred protopriest with the right to wear two crosses, and the people stood up for him through thick and thin in his conflicts with the authorities, who watched his every step. The MVD boss declared openly that he wanted to get him. And they began to threaten him with prison and execution for his fierce sermons against atheism.
In 1930 he was arrested and spent three years in a camp on the Pinyuga road. Since he refused to be an informer, he was constantly receiving new arrests and imprisonments. He ran away, but had to hide continually from the authorities.
Fr. Alexander sought an answer to his dilemma in the Gospel. He found it in Luke 14:26-27, “If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross,
and come after Me, cannot be My disciple”.
These few words made his decision clear and firm – to leave his family, because he was not allowed to serve honorably as a priest under Soviet power and his conscience did not allow him to become a traitor.
In 1935 he left his family, his wife and four children – his youngest son Nicholas was only six years old. Constantly hiding from raids and persecutions, he imitated death. He left his clothes and documents on the river bank with a note which read, "Tired of living under the Soviet regime!"
Upon finding his things, everyone decided that he had drowned. Fr. Alexander, however, swam across the water and disappeared - he then wandered around cities and villages. In Omsk, he changed his name to "Orlov" and secretly served in Siberia.
Fr. Alexander zealously served the Catacomb Church until his death, at the age of 99 years old, in 1977. He was known to have cast demons out of people and was seen, with the Holy Angels when serving in the Altar.
