Iliodor

Sergei Michailovich Trufanov (Russian: Серге́й Миха́йлович Труфа́нов; formerly Hieromonk Iliodor or Hieromonk Heliodorus, Russian: Иеромонах Илиодор; October 19, 1880 – 28 January 1952) was a lapsed hieromonk, a charismatic preacher, an enfant terrible of the Russian Orthodox church, panslavist, and actor.

He is known primarily for his semi-autobiographical book about Rasputin. In this work he was supported by Maxim Gorky, since 1902 a friend of Lenin. Gorky hoped that Trufanov's story on Rasputin would discredit the Tsar's family and eventually contribute to the revolutionary propaganda. Sergei Trufanov was born in stanitsa Mariinskaya and grew up in a small cottage near the Don river as the son of a local deacon. He was one of thirteen children; according to himself five died young of starvation. At the age of ten he went to school in Novocherkassk. At the age of 15 he entered the local theological seminary. Five years later he graduated and went to the capital to attend the St. Petersburg Theological Academy.

In 1903 he was ordained a hieromonk under the name Iliodor; two years later he graduated from the academy. There he met Father Gapon. Iliodor worked with the poor and expected that the clergy, not the revolutionaries could change the country. He was discovered by Theofan of Poltava and met Rasputin. Iliodor was appointed a lecturer at the seminary in Jaroslavl, but returned to the capital within a year. He was invited to the Peterhof Palace but scandalized his audience in a sermon, defending a land reform, which should be ordered by the Tsar. The Russian aristocrats and the Most Holy Synod were shocked with his behavior. The Synod decided to ban Iliodor, but Rasputin and the Tsar defended him. Instead Iliodor moved to Volhynia and lived in Pochayiv Lavra, the center of Panslavism. In a paper he attacked the revolutionaries and the Jews. According to himself Iliodor turned against the right-wing Union of the Russian People and the Black Hundreds movement, because they believed in the Tsar's autocracy.

He gained notoriety for attacking the prime-minister Pyotr Stolypin, industrialists, and local politicians. Then he was prohibited to preach by the Most Holy Synod. In 1908 he was rescued by Bishop Hermogen and appointed in Tsaritsyn, where the URP had founded its first branch and Iliodor gathered huge crowds. Iliodor created Holy Spirit Monastery in 1909. In the year after he was forbidden to preach any longer and exiled to Minsk. He was invited to Tsarskoye Selo to meet with the Tsarina; not in the Alexander Palace, but in the house of Anna Vyrubova. Iliodor was allowed to go back to Tsaritsyn on request of Rasputin. Stolypin demanded Iliodor had to be banned to Novosil, and the Tsar agreed, but the abbot escaped and went back to Tsaritsyn.