Archpriest Vladimir Finogenov died suddenly on October 13, 2016.
His wife, Matushka Natalia, was left alone with their five children, the youngest of whom was just one year and two months old at the time. Hard times had come.
By that time, the family had already settled into its own home, and Matushka had to learn how to take care of it herself, including how to heat the wood boiler, because there is no gas in the village where they live. She also had to learn a new trade as a hairdresser in order to live and feed the family.
Every morning begins with Matushka taking the children to their respective schools. Four of them live with Matushka, while the eldest, Maria, is a college student, studying philosophy. She works as a waitress in the evenings and goes home on the weekends.
The family is in need of great financial assistance.
Matushka receives a meager salary and a state pension for those who lose their family provider, though it’s not enough for the family’s many needs, including tuition for the third daughter’s studies at a local institute. A large share of the budget goes towards the children’s education, heating the home, and transportation. They have to pinch their pennies and think through every expenditure.
Without the Fund’s help, they will fall below the poverty line.
Vladimir Finogenov was born to a working-class family on June 4, 1972. He was very weak from birth, with a congenital aortic anomaly. It went untreated at the time and eventually proved to be the cause of his death.
When Vladimir was 5, his mother tragically died. His father became a widower and raised his son as best he could. It as very hard for the father and son after the loss of their beloved wife and mother.
After 8th grade, Vladimir went to a vocational school to learn how to operate a lathe and milling machine. He graduated with honors and found a factory job.
In 1995, he married Natalia Ivanova, and a year later, the couple started going to church regularly to confess and commune. They tried not to miss a single service. Seeing their fervent, sincere faith, the priest whom they confessed to advised Vladimir to go to seminary.
After much hesitation and doubt, Vladimir decided to take this weighty step and entered the Kaluga Theological Seminary as a full-time student. But his studies didn’t work out because the couple was expecting their second child, and he had to provide for his family. Unfortunately, he had to leave seminary, though he resumed his seminary studies in 2002.
In 2004, Vladimir was ordained to the diaconate. It was very difficult to study, serve, and provide for his family, which by that time had three children, but he never complained, instead placing all his hope in the Lord. Matushka had to work part-time at home sewing Baptismal kits and shirts to help her husband.
On January 19, 2005, Vladimir was ordained as a priest and sent to serve at the Church of St. Gurius.
In 2006, the fourth child, the long-awaited son, Theodore, was born. But their joy was replaced with grief when Fr. Vladimir’s father died. Fr. Vladimir took this loss very hard, and his bouts of high blood pressure became more frequent. He fought for his wavering health with all his might, cognizant of his responsibility to his ministry and his large family.
Father always took everything to heart, worried about everything, but he never complained. Upon graduation from seminary, he was appointed as a full-time priest at the Church of the Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, and Love, and Their Mother Sophia in the city of Obninsk.
A new period in the family’s life began. Father and Matushka had long dreamed of having their own home, because they were tired of moving from one rented apartment to another with their young children. Along with his numerous priestly duties, Fr. Vladimir spent 9 long years building a home. He collected everything literally bit by bit and invested every penny into the house, denying himself a lot. The family always lived very modestly.
Fr. Vladimir was actively engaged in educational activities at the parish, offering catechetical talks for those preparing to be baptized and lessons in Orthodox culture. He constantly served molebens at the mercy center and always rushed to help everyone. He really loved to help people who needed care or who had suffered a misfortune.
On August 19, 2015, the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, almost 9 years after the birth of their fourth child, God granted the couple a fifth—a son, Vasily. Father was often ill that year, but he continued to carry out his service to God and people. His health was rapidly deteriorating, but his load didn’t get any smaller.
On October 12, 2016, Father was feeling quite poorly, and he asked to be taken to the hospital. He suffered from severe pain the whole night. Doctors fought for his life as best he could, but medicine was powerless to save him.
In the morning, on the eve of the feast of the Protection of the Mother of God, Fr. Vladimir departed to the Lord as a result of a ruptured aorta and massive internal bleeding.
The terrible news shocked the children, Matushka, and the parishioners who loved him.
