Athonite Elder Raphael (Berestov) Has Reposed in the Lord in Greece

Hieroschemamonk Raphael (Berestov), a well-known Athonite elder, has reposed in the Lord in his 94th year of life.

Father Raphael spent the final days of his earthly life in a hospital in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece, where he had been hospitalized following a stroke. Physicians performed a craniotomy, but despite all efforts, on July 22, 2026, the elder peacefully reposed in the Lord.

In his youth, after a serious illness, he made a vow to take monastic vows, and in 1961 he entered the Trinity-Sergius Lavra as a novice, where he labored in ascetic struggle for more than twenty years. In 1966 he received the monastic tonsure, in 1993 he was ordained a hieromonk, and in 1994 he received the great schema. At various times the elder fulfilled obediences at a mountain skete in Abkhazia, at Valaam Monastery, and at the Krestovaya Hermitage in the Caucasus, and from the late 1990s he labored in ascetic struggle on the Holy Mountain of Athos.

Father Raphael was widely known among believers throughout the post-Soviet space as a zealous spiritual father. In his sermons he spoke out against ecumenism, warned against accepting digital identification documents, and spoke at length about the necessity of repentance and spiritual sobriety.

Hieroschemamonk Raphael is one of the figures in the book by Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov), "Everyday Saints."

As the Union of Orthodox Journalists reported, one of the most senior clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had previously reposed in the Lord. The deaths of well-known spiritual fathers and elders invariably become significant events for the Orthodox flock, which venerates their ascetic lives and spiritual legacy.

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