Fr. Andrei Eremeev reposed on March 5, 2013, leaving behind his disabled wife and two children.

In the small Moscow suburb of Kievsky in a tiny two-room apartment lives the wonderful family of Matushka Olga Eremeev, including her two daughters and elderly mother. Matushka is completely paralyzed, and they’ve had disappointing news in recent years. Her sickness is progressing, and if before she could get into her wheelchair by herself, now her hands have completely failed her. She can’t even hold a spoon.

It’s completely up to her daughters and mother to take care of her. They can’t hire any help because they can’t pay, as the lion’s share of the family budget goes towards medicine for Matushka and her elderly mother.

Not long before his death, Fr. Andrei managed to remodel the apartment according to his wife’s needs, even making changes to the layout so Matushka could move around the home in a wheelchair. But the building itself has no elevator, which further complicates the already-difficult life of this family living on the third floor.

Matushka says she never could have imagined her beloved husband would depart for eternity first, because she’d been preparing for her own exodus for many years.

The older daughter, Anna, started college this year. She lives at home, traveling 2.5 hours to get to school. The younger daughter, Maria, is in eighth grade, and also has an English tutor.

Thanks to the Fund’s long-term assistance, the family’s financial situation is quite stable, but without continuing support, they will fall into destitution. The girls still have many years of schooling ahead of them to prepare for their own life and enter into adulthood.

Matushka prays she will be able to see her daughters grow up and always thanks those who lend them a helping hand.

Fr. Andrei Petrovich Eremeev was born on October 28, 1977, in the village of Zimnyaya Stavka in Stavropol Krai, in an ordinary Soviet family. He received Holy Baptism at the age of 10, but as his family remained non-religious, the future pastor’s path to faith continued years later.

After school, Andrei graduated from the Moscow Technical College of Railroad Transportation, then the Russian State Open Technical University of Transportation. Then he worked for several years in various secular institutions.

Andrei and Olga got married in 1996, and it was marriage that gave rise to the spiritual growth of the future pastor. A year after their wedding, Olga was diagnosed with a benign spinal cord tumor.

Some “well-wishers” advised Andrei: “Drop her now, before it’s too late, before you have any kids. There are hundreds like her.” But he dismissed all these temptations, telling these people: “Olga will be my one and only.”

On July 4, 2004, he was ordained to the priesthood in the Holy Dormition Church at Novodevichy Monastery.

The family suffered afflictions one after another. Matushka Olga’s illness progressed and she underwent a string of operations, but her treatment gave practically no relief. The doctors forbade her from giving birth, but by the grace of God, two daughters were born in the family. They were God’s blessing, a real miracle.

Fr. Andrei obediently bore this cross. He never lost heart, but always smiled at everyone, for which the parish called him “Father Sun.” “Sometimes I would tell him: ‘You’re so unlucky. What a burden you’ve been given,’” Matushka Olga says. “But he would always answer me: ‘What are you saying? I’m the happiest man alive!’”

It was the will of God that Fr. Andrei should change parishes four times during his short priestly life. He would say that it’s very difficult to change parishes, like tearing out a piece of your own flesh every time. But, on the other hand, now he’s commemorated in more parishes after his death.

From December 2011 until his death, Fr. Andrei served in the Church of Sts. Faith, Hope, and Love, and their Mother Sophia in the village of Kokoshkino outside Moscow, and in the last year of his life, he was responsible for youth work in the deanery. He was always very reverent about his priestly office, saying the Lord gave him the gift of the priesthood and he wouldn’t trade it for the world, whatever sorrows it might bring him.

Fr. Andrei’s health was getting worse by the year. He had become swollen and was gaining weight despite the fact that he ate almost nothing. But he had no time or energy to focus on his own health—he had to take care of his disabled wife.

On March 5, 2013, Fr. Andrei suddenly died from pneumonia.

 Из рубрики «Вы помогли»:

Сбор матушке Ольге Еремеевой закрыт (2016 г.)

Приобретение домашнего подъемника для матушки (7 декабря 2015 г.)

Отдых в Черногории (21 июля 2014 г.)

Благодарственное письмо от матушки Ольги Еремеевой (30 сентября 2013 г.)