RUSSIA: May 2, 2015
Priest Mikhail Kurochkin Reposes in the Lord

On May 1, 2015, Priest Mikhail Kurochkin, a cleric of the Diocese of Tobolsk and Tyumen, Russia, died at the age of 62. The day before, he and his matuskha, Elena, were in an auto accident in the outskirts of the city of Tyumen. His wife suffered injury and trauma.

Fr Mikhail, the brother of His Grace Bishop Evtikhy (Kurochkin), was born on November 12, 1952. After graduating from Moscow Theological Seminary, he served as the driver for Bishop Maksim (Krokha) of Omska and Tyumen. After his marriage and ordination, Fr Mikhail served in parishes of the diocese; from 1983-1988, he was the Rector of the Church of All Saints in Tyumen, then, along with five other clergymen of his diocese, including his brother Hegumen Evtikhy, joined the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. He then commenced serving at a house chapel of Archangel Michael. Fr Michael often hosted pilgrims from abroad visiting the holy sites of Tyumen and Tobolsk and served as a guide. Among them were the future Metropolitan Laurus, First Hierarch of ROCOR, and His Eminence Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany.

After the reestablishment of canonical unity within the Russian Orthodox Church in 2007, Fr Mikhail joined the Diocese of Tobolsk and Tyumen of the Moscow Patriarchate, and was appointed Rector of Archangel Michael Church in Tyumen.

Fr Mikhail was known for his kindness, pastoral love, innocent sense of humor, simplicity and zeal for the Lord. He is succeeded by Matushka Elena and three daughters.

Photo: Peter Zemlyanykh