Priest Nikolai Babkin is an active representative of Orthodoxy in the Internet space. He maintains social media accounts on his own, and replaces long and familiar sermons with lively and sincere communication with subscribers.
Biography
Nikolai Babkin was born on November 4, 1989 in the Komi Republic. His father Mikhail Babkin was a priest, and Nikolai decided to choose the same path in life for himself.
He began to receive an Orthodox education at the Syktyvkar Theological School, which he graduated in 2007. Then he studied at the Nikolo-Ugreshskaya seminary. In the last years of this institution, Nikolai seriously thought about becoming a monk. In his opinion, he could not cope with the work of a priest. Close friend Alina (who would later become his wife) supported Nikolai in this decision.
However, Nikolai Babkin's mentor advised him not to rush, to consider the decision from all sides. As a result, in 2012 he was ordained a deacon, and soon a priest.
Insta-missionary Nikolay Babkin
The young priest began in a small church in the village of Obukhovka (Belgorod region). His parish was small, but even then Nikolai actively used social networks. For example, on Instagram he had about 40 thousand subscribers, on VKontakte about 9000 friends. Babkin uses modern methods of communication for missionary work. He broadcasts live and answers questions, does not bypass simple everyday questions and tries to intelligibly explain many superstitions.
You can also see the young priest on the Spas-TV channel, many broadcasts are saved on YouTube.
Despite his active life on the Internet, Nikolai Babkin is sure that it would be incorrect to compare missionary activity on the Internet and in the parish. Online, you can draw attention to values and show ordinary people the life of church ministers.
The ROC has a special department that monitors the relationship between society and the church. It was here that special guidelines for Orthodox blogging were developed, which are now considered a new kind of apostolate. The main thing for a priest is to remember about high responsibility and strictly select content (photos, texts, etc.).
The priest Nikolai Babkin can find answers to many questions, the blog even has permanent headings. For example, about family, spirituality. There are answers to questions and an almost humorous tag "Babkanadvosayasala", highlighting superstitions and near-church issues. Bringing some delusions to the point of absurdity, the priest should cure them to destroy. And this technique works, as practice has shown, much more effective than ordinary sermons.
Nikolai Babkin's readers note that he is democratic - he does not block those users whose views differ from traditional Orthodox norms. He does not claim that his faith is better than other religions and gives any privileges. At the same time, he does not tolerate insults, protects both the family and the subscribers.
Sometimes there are also curious cases in such a seemingly serious matter as the work of a priest. For example, Nikolay often recalls the service “On the victory of Christian Russia in football over Catholic Spain” ordered by someone. On his instagram, you can find a photo of the note that Babkin briefly commented on: "They asked for it." Football fans remember that the Russian national team won that match, it is possible that the support of believing fans helped it a little.
Now N. Babkin's blog has 154 thousand subscribers. The priest's wife Alina also maintains her blog, her audience is only slightly smaller - almost one hundred thousand.
Working with disabled children and their families
Another area of activity of the Babkin family is helping disabled children and their parents. Father Nikolai took a special course where they talked about helping and supporting children with autism and their families. Such education is given in St. Petersburg at the Institute of Practical Psychology.
Then they began educational work - they told ordinary parishioners how to communicate with such children, what scares them and what makes them happy. Many children with this condition attended their services.
Later, a Family Support Center appeared in Obukhovka, where various specialists provide consultations: teachers, psychologists, breastfeeding consultants, etc.
Now Nikolai Babkin and his wife serve in the Nikolsky Church in Otradnoye.
Personal life
According to Nikolai, he was a full child from childhood and was ashamed of his complexion. Then youthful prejudices were added, which prevented him from establishing his personal life - he could not communicate with girls.
His friends helped Nikolai - they directed the young man's attention to social networks. And, of course, they did not forget to cheer. As a result, the acquaintance with Alina took place in a closed group for Orthodox Christians on the VKontakte network.
They talked for some time on the Internet and were more and more convinced that they had found each other. At that time, Nikolai studied in the Moscow region, Alina lived in a small town. And yet, after 2.5 years, they got married.
Alina is a teacher by education - she graduated from college, having received a diploma as a foreign language teacher. After the wedding, I decided to get a higher education - I chose pedagogical psychology. She also, like Nikolai, actively uses modern technologies: she led an online course for women, where she covered issues of Orthodoxy, and actively uses instagram.
Nikolai and Alina have three children: Ksenia, Nikodim, Melitina.
