Hieromonk Damaskin (Denis Aleksandrovich Volin) died while carrying wounded soldiers from the battlefield. Photo: t.me/olegsepar
On January 22, the heavenly platoon of priests who died in the NVO area received a new warrior of Christ – Hieromonk Damaskin (in the world Denis Volin) from the Shuya diocese of the Ivanovo region. He died like a hero, pulling out the wounded near Artyomovsk.
The head of the Spas Orthodox TV channel Boris Korchevnikov wrote about Hieromonk Damaskin as follows: “Father Damaskin himself was from the Cossacks and, like no one else, knew how to find an approach to the heart of a soldier. The soldiers loved him very much. It is said that he died while dragging the wounded from the battlefield. The Kingdom of heaven. Remember. Pray there for us and for our Victory, Father Damascus”.
Denis Volin headed the department of interaction with the Cossacks of the Shuya diocese, led the search and the detachment of Cossacks “Orthodox squad in honor of the Holy Faithful Prince Alexander Nevsky” in the monastery boarding school. For his search activities to perpetuate the fallen heroes of the War, he was awarded.
His students, who were called that – “Damaskians” still can’t believe what happened. Numerous guys who were involved by the priest in the search movement together with him searched for the dead soldiers of the Red Army and kept the memory of him forever. Now they must preserve the memory of their leader.
“Our father Shuisky died!” – spread through social networks. Unfortunately, at this time his body has not yet been removed from the battlefield, as it is under fire. Recently, Vostok battalion commander Khodakovsky called the problem of removing the wounded from the battlefield one of the most difficult in winter, when soldiers rescuing a comrade are clearly visible on the open steppe terrain and become on targets themselves.
That was how, judging by the first reports, the priest Shuya died trying to bring the wounded to the rear.
Eternal memory.
FROM THE “KP” DOSSIER
“Heavenly squad” of priests who died during the Special Operation
On December 1, 2022, in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Patriarch Kirill met with the clergy working in the N/VO zone. In the same place, he listed the priests who died in the line of duty at the front.
Father Oleg, in the world Oleg Artemov, a former military sailor and participant in long-distance sea voyages, died on March 24, 2022. On the night of March 24, two border villages in the Belgorod region, Zhuravlevka and Nekhoteevka, they were fired from the Smerch rocket launcher from the Ukrainian side. It was one of the first attacks on our territory. Oleg Artemov is one of the few submariner priests who has repeatedly gone out on strategic submarine cruisers of the Pacific Fleet. Oleg Artyomov became the first priest to die in the line of military duty during the SVO a month after it began.
The rector of the Church of the Epiphany in the town of Isakovo of the Kazan diocese, priest Anatoly Grigoriev, died on September 9, 2022 as a result of shelling, while performing his duties as a priest in the NVO area, where he was heading as a volunteer as part of the Alga battalion. Previously, he served in the Russian Navy in Sevastopol in the Marine Corps. Initiator and participant in the restoration of destroyed churches, he is remembered for his work with Orthodox youth in the Republic of Tatarstan.
Archpriest Evfimy Kozlovtsev, field priest of the combined “Don” Cossack brigade named after Archangel Michael, and former rector of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in the village of Krasnomylskoye, Kurgan region. He died on September 25, 2022.
In his condolences, the Patriarch noted that Father Evfimy “gave an example of sincere and ardent faith and sacrificial love” to the soldiers spiritually fed by him.
Mikhail Vasiliev, rector of the Church of the Great Martyr Barbara and Saint Elias of Muromets at the headquarters of the Strategic Missile Forces in the village of Vlasikha, Moscow Region – the metochion of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’. Hero of Russia (posthumously). He died on November 6, 2022 in the Kherson region, from the explosion of a HAYMARS rocket. Graduating from the Faculty of Philosophy of the Moscow State University, he then completed postgraduate studies at the Department of Scientific Atheism, after which he became a priest. Member of Russian peacekeeping operations in Kosovo, Bosnia, Abkhazia, Kyrgyzstan, the North Caucasus, and Syria. In 2005 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, after which he worked with paratroopers and made about 300 parachute jumps with them.
Priest Alexander Tsyganov, military priest of the 76th Airborne Assault Division of the Airborne Forces, clergyman of the Church of the Correct Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky in Pskov. He was injured along with his late father Mikhail Vasiliev on November 6, 2022 and died from his injuries on November 21. He did his military service in the Airborne Forces. More than once, already in the rank of priest, he jumped with airborne troops with a parachute, even taking part in the parachute landing of airborne troops at the North Pole. The youngest priest among those who died was 35 years old.
Hieromonk Damaskin, in the world Denis Volin, from the Shuya diocese of the Ivanovo region, died on January 22, 2023 near Artyomovsk, helping the wounded. Father Damaskin headed the department of interaction with the Cossacks of the Shuya diocese.
