Towards the end of his life, Fr. Valery would tell his wife: “Our life is like a fairy tale. The main thing is that we serve God, our children and our home. What else do we need? Live and rejoice.” He would say that the hustle and bustle will never end—first you need to give everything to God. Reading Fr. Valery’s biography, you can see that he lived a righteous, quiet, inconspicuous, and most importantly, God-pleasing life. 

The future priest Valery Yurievich Eliseev was born on November 21, 1967, in Chimkent, Kazakhstan, in a family of workers. His family was non-religious, and he came to faith on his own. At the age of 6, he went through a serious ordeal. He was very attached to his mother, and when she became seriously ill, it was an unbearable blow for him. His mother was left paralyzed after surgery. It’s perhaps thanks to the prayers of her young son that she lived, but she was seriously ill for the rest of her life. 

Three years later, there was another blow—his father left his mother, and little Valery became the man of the house. He felt responsible for his mother and sister, so he couldn’t continue his studies after middle school, but took on any job he could to help the family. In difficult situations, he would go to church to pray, but it took years for him to finally come to God. 

Fr. Valery met his future wife in 2001. He was 33, and Nadezhda, his future matushka, was just 19. They were on the same wavelength from the very first day, as though they’d finally found each other. Many of Matushka’s relatives were against it, but Nadya and Valery were steadfast. They had to prove their love and fight for it, so they were married just three years after they met. Nadya’s father had forbidden her to be baptized, but after meeting Valery, she received Baptism. It was her husband who led her to faith, having sown in her heart the love for God that he himself had. 

They got married on September 10, 2004, and a difficult time began in their lives. Matushka Nadezhda had to take on the whole burden of caring for her sick mother-in-law. 

In 2008, they moved to Diveevo to be near their beloved St. Seraphim of Sarov and their beloved monastery. Matushka remembers that they arrived at Diveevo as though they’d always lived there. 

Like most young families, they really wanted a baby. They prayed a lot for the gift of a child, but Nadya couldn’t get pregnant. They traveled around to a number of monasteries, and when they went to Diveevo, they stayed forever. After years of prayer, their long-awaited son was born. There’s an idea that God might not give pious couples children right away because he wants them to show works of faith. 

As a sign of gratitude to God, Valery decided to go to seminary, to become a priest. 

He received his first and only parish, of the Holy Protection of the Mother of God, in the village of Natalino in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, 55 miles from Diveevo, where Father was destined to serve for 7 years, until his repose. They settled in and began to get to know the people. 

Fr. Valery would always say: “The most important thing in life is to be with God!” 

When their son Seraphim grew up, he started helping his father in the altar. Their joy doubled in 2018 with the birth of another son, Sergei. He was born weak, and practically never left the hospital in his first year, but thank God, in the end he was fine. 

Fr. Valery devoted all his free time to his sons—riding bikes, going swimming, and skiing in the winter. Father played sports all his life and led a healthy lifestyle, so he taught his children to play sports too. 

Another thing that Fr. Valery loved was beekeeping. As soon as they moved to Diveevo, he started an apiary. 

On October 29, 2021, Father started to feel some pain around his heart, but he didn’t think much of it. And on the morning of October 30, something terrible happened. Father simply never woke up. He was buried in Natalino next to his mother’s grave.

Священник: Priest Valery Eliseev
Матушка: Eliseeva Nadezhda Vyacheslavovna
Дети:
Eliseev Seraphim 02.06.2012
Eliseev Sergey 02.11.2018
Место жительства: The family lives in the village of Natalino, Nizhny Novgorod Region.
Ежемесячная сумма помощи от фонда: 324$