The Rector of St. Philaret’s Institute, Aleksey Mazurov, has passed away in the Lord

On the 8^th of April, 2024, at the age of 54 and after a lengthy illness, the Rector of St. Philaret’s Institute, Aleksey Borisovich Mazurov, has passed away in the Lord. Aleksey Mazurov was a well-known scholar, cultural and educational activist, specialist in the History and Archaeology of medieval Russia, and professor who held a PhD in History.

Over the course of his life, Aleksey Borisovich wrote more than 130 scholarly articles and was an honoured worker in the field of higher education in the Russian Federation. He was an expert to the Russian Foundation for the Humanities, a member of the Patriarchal Council for Culture, a laureate of the Makariev Prize and many other governmental and church prizes for scholarship, education and enlightenment, as well as a Deputy of the Moscow Region Duma (5th and 6th convocations).

After graduating from the Faculty of History of the Kolomna Pedagogical Institute (now the State University of Humanities and Social Studies) with honours in 1992, Aleksey Mazurov taught there for many years, and from 2004 to 2019 was the University’s Rector. He also headed the Kolomna Archaeological Service from 1991 to 2000 and taught at the Kolomna Orthodox Seminary from 2002 to 2004. In 1996, Aleksey Mazurov defended his dissertation for doctoral candidacy, and in 2002 his doctoral dissertation, entitled “The Evolution of the Ancestral Lands of the Grand Duchy during the Process of Creating a Unified Russian State: Kolomna from the 14^th through the first third of the 16^th Century”.

Aleksey Mazurov was named to the Rectorship of St Philaret’s Institute in January 2020, and before this he headed the State Exam Commission of SFI’s Faculty of Theology for 10 years. Aleksey Borisovich himself always valued the freedom and motivation of the people who work and study at SFI, seeing in St Philaret’s Institute a “unique and self-created” institution of higher learning, with its own, brightly shining countenance. He liked to say that education is first and foremost, tradition and people, while a university is a friendly collection of teachers and students, gathered so as to receive knowledge, and in the case of a theological institute, also the knowledge and perception of God.

Having received his assignment to the post of Rector with great humility and appreciation, Aleksey Borisovich was exceptional in the execution of his post. Work with him was always fruitful and joyful, and we all saw the way in which he truly flowered in his position. Everyone remembers his presentations and public lectures. Many of us remember particularly the excursion led by Aleksey Borisovich to sites historically related to St Philaret of Moscow in Kolomna, which he prepared as a present for the teachers and employees of our Institute in December of 2022. It was clear that work at SFI became an authentic church ministry for him, in which he could put all his experience in education and scholarship into action. During the four years in which Aleksey Mazurov led SFI, and in many ways thanks to his efforts, our Institute received church accreditation – the product of many years of hard work on the part of our entire team. For most of this period, Aleksey Borisovich was aware of his serious illness; he participated in the life of the Institute, led a full spiritual and cultural life, and continuing to labour in the less-than-simple field of church and humanities education up until his final day.

Aleksey Mazurov came into the church at Christmas in 1996, and for many years was a member of the Transfiguration Brotherhood. Both in the Brotherhood and in his professional life he was a person who didn’t fear any sort of responsibility or burden, even when it was physically difficult for him. His family and minor brotherhood in Kolomna, of which he was chairman during the last year of his life, he organized as a true spiritual household.

We will continue to pray for our newly departed brother Aleksey and will remember him always. For us this is an interior calling, a spiritual necessity, and a privilege.

May the Lord grant peace to his soul in the habitations of the righteous!