Andrei Vakarov was born in 1899 in the village of Gorinchovo in Maramaroš County which today is part of Transcarpathia, Ukraine. He was a relative of the Carpatho-Rusyn peasant Joachim Vakarov who received a martyr’s crown in 1904 by the Hungarin authorities for his promotion of the banned Orthodox Faith. Andrei entered the new monastery in the village of Iza and became the spiritual son of St. Alexis Kabaluk who in 1926 blessed him to journey to Mount Athos in Greece to continue his monastic life. There he joined the St. Panteleimon Monastery where he became the spiritual son of St. Silouan the Athonite, (canonized in 1987) and came under the influence of St. Sophrony Sakharov (canonized in 2019) and the other elders of the monastery. It was from St. Silouan that he learned humility, obedience and the continual practice of the Jesus Prayer. He was tonsured a monk on March 30, 1928 and given the name Avvakum, in honor of the Old Testament Prophet Habbakuk.

With the rebirth of Orthodoxy in Carpatho-Russia in the early part of the 20th century, St. Panteleimon’s monastery grew with the addition of over 30 monks from the Carpathians. This was essential for the survival of the monastery since all support and new vocations from Russia ended with the Russian revolution of 1917. In a letter written by St. Silouan in April, 1934, he shared his impressions of Father Avvakum and these new Carpatho-Russian novice monks:

“The Carpathians are thriving here and living well. I thank God greatly for sending them
here to us to glorify Him. When they come to me, I say to them: ‘How the Lord loves you
that He brought you to the Holy Mountain, where all the roads bear the graces
of the prayers of the Saints, and how the Mother of God loves Holy Athos!’
And they just sit there and smile; their hearts are joyful, and you can see that the grace of
God is comforting them"

The life of a monk is a demanding one involving long hours of manual labor to support the brotherhood along with hours of prayer to attend to the inner life. Monk Avvakum served in many obediences (task/jobs) in the monastery: working in the barns and mills, caring for bees in the apiary and eventually becoming the steward of the monastery handling its finances. He was ordained a priest in 1959 and twice was proposed to become the abbot of the monastery which he declined out of humility. During the 1960s and 1970s St. Panteleimon’s Monastery went through a serious decline and was on the verge of closing but it was Father Avvakum’s perseverance and dedication that the monastery was saved and since the 1990s has undergone a dramatic rebirth.

He led a modest, unassuming life among the brotherhood of the monastery quietly living an ascetic life. He dressed simply and willingly performed the most menial tasks in the monastery. It was observed that on Wednesdays and Fridays he ate nothing only drinking tea after sunset. A man by the name of Yannis Ipsilantis who knew Father Avvakum for many years wrote this reminiscence:

“Father Avvakum was a good Christian who constantly helped people, and he was much loved for this reason. He led a very modest life while performing great feats of obedience and prayer. Father Avvakum worked very hard for St. Panteleimon’s and was one of the people who saved it and preserved it….He lived a holy life”.

Father Avvakum suffered from cancer and peacefully fell asleep in the Lord late in the evening of September 29, 1972. In keeping with the Athonite practice, he was buried the next day in the monastic cemetery of St. Panteleimon’s. He is venerated by many as a holy elder and accounts of miraculous healings through his prayers have been recorded. Father Vladimir Kuku a priest of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine documented his healing in 2017 after a pilgrimage to St. Panteleimon’s Monastery and praying before the relics of Father Avvakum. The Nun Theodora (Orlova) is an icon painter in Ukraine and painted a portrait of the Elder in 2019 honor of the 120th anniversary of his birth. She recorded the incident when a woman visited her icon studio and saw the portrait of Elder Avvakum. The woman fell on her knees in front of his portrait and began to pray asking for his intercession for her daughter who was suffering from cancer. She later returned to tell Nun Theodora that her daughter had been healed.

Some Teachings of Elder Avvakum

The Jesus Prayer is the foundation of wisdom and a weapon against the enemy.

Reading the Book of Psalms is spiritual medicine. Read several sections each day as much as you can.It will strengthen you greatly.

One ought to work and pray in such a way that one is invisible to people, but noticed by the Mother of God.

Keep the fast on Wednesday and Friday, and pray.

One must love all people as the Lord does. If we keep the commandments of the Lord, we will be blessed.

Nature is the beauty of God. God created all things. One must have love for everything created by God.

We all live here for a short time, like guests; we are here today, but tomorrow we might not be alive. But there, in heaven, we will have eternal, everlasting life. Happy is the man who, here, in this short life,
will make himself worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven, where there will be everlasting and eternal joy.

For further reading:

Elder Avvakum of Mount Athos
The Friends of Mount Athos
International Institute of the Athonite Legacy
Oxford, 2021

- Father Edward Pehanich