Pavel Adelheim went through severe trials in his life. His close relatives were repressed. The future priest spent part of his youth in de facto exile in Kazakhstan, where his mother lived after his release. Adelheim chose the ministry of the church as his life's work. He is known for his criticism of church leadership and good deeds to alleviate the suffering of ordinary people.
From the biography of Pavel Anatolyevich Adelheim
The future priest and church publicist was born on August 1, 1938 in Rostov-on-Don. The fate of Adelheim's relatives was tragic. Pavel Anatolyevich's grandfather came from Russian Germans. He was educated in Belgium and owned estates near Kiev. In 1938, my grandfather was shot.
Adelheim's father was a poet and artist. He was also shot, but already in 1942. Mom was arrested and convicted after the war. After serving her sentence, she was exiled to Kazakhstan. When his mother was arrested, Pavel lived in an orphanage, and then - in a forced settlement with his mother. Childhood, filled with severe trials, could not but influence the formation of the personality of the future priest.
On the path of spiritual quest
Subsequently, Pavel moved to his relatives in Kiev. In 1954 he became a novice of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. When the young man turned 18, he entered the theological seminary in Kiev, but three years later he was expelled for political reasons. A little later he was ordained deacon to the Tashkent Cathedral.
In 1964, Pavel Anatolyevich graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary and became a priest in the city of Kagan (Uzbekistan).
In 1969, Adelheim was arrested. He was accused of distributing samizdat, which contained theses that defamed the Soviet system. For a year, Pavel Anatolyevich was in the internal prison of the KGB (Bukhara). He was released in 1972.
After liberation
Since 1976, Adelheim served as a cleric of the Pskov diocese. In the early 90s, he opened an Orthodox school and an orphanage for disabled orphans at the church.
In the last years of his life, Pavel Anatolyevich served in the Church of the Holy Wives of Myrrhbearers. He was engaged in journalism.
In 2008, Adelheim sharply criticized the fundamental provisions of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church. He argued that the norms of the Regulations on the Church Court contradict both the principles of Russian legislation and the fundamental principles of the Church. Adelheim also criticized the highest church authorities for deviating from the fundamental principle of conciliarity and imposing his opinion on the Orthodox community. The church leadership advised Father Paul not to bring unreasonable reproaches to public discussion.
Father Paul's life support was his family. Adelheim was married and raised three children.
An authoritative priest in Orthodox circles was killed in his own house on August 5, 2013 with a knife. According to official information from law enforcement agencies, Adelheim's body was found near the temple where he served. The alleged killer had previously lived with the priest for three days.
