This man turned 78 years old, but at the same time he retained the vigor of his body and clarity of mind. Anatoly Berestov is a well-known and authoritative personality among believers; to date he has helped hundreds of sick and needy people. Berestov is a physician by training and once held the position of chief pediatric neurologist in Moscow. Many people know Anatoly Berestov not only as a spiritual mentor and priest, but also as a powerful neuropathologist who understands a number of mental pathologies, as well as the nature of human addictions. The rehabilitation center he created helps hundreds of drug addicts and alcoholics cope with their addictions.
Despite the fact that Berestov was brought up in a classic communist family of atheists, various miracles and God’s providences often happened in his life, which helped him convert to faith.
Prophetic joke
As an adult, Anatoly Berestov recalled a very revealing story from his childhood, when his own words, dropped near the church as a joke, became prophetic. One day he and his brother Mikhail walked past a church after school and saw people coming out of there carrying birch branches. This action seemed very funny to the two inexperienced guys, and Anatoly jokingly told his brother that when they grew up, he would become a priest, and his brother would become a monk. The guy could not even imagine then that with these words he determined both his future life and the fate of his brother Mikhail.
After graduating from school, Berestov entered the paramedic school and began working in his specialty. Then he was called up for military service and served in the city of Podolsk. When he received his leave, he came to Moscow and always visited his parents’ house.
Anatoly Berestov grew up in an atheist family and joked that he would become a priest
Anatoly Ivanovich Berestov was born on September 11, 1938 in Moscow. The family was not religious. However, this did not prevent the future priest from being haunted by miracles from childhood.
September 11, 1938
birthday of Anatoly Ivanovich Berestov
For example, when young Anatoly was a pioneer, the following happened. He and his brother Misha were walking in the vicinity of the Rizhsky station.
There was a church nearby. And suddenly people with birch branches began to come out from there.
Raised in an atheistic family, the brothers ridiculed believers. After all, this is so ignorant - in the age of science! Just like in the Middle Ages! Laughing, Tolya hit his brother on the back and joked:
“Well, it’s okay, you will be a monk, and I will be a priest.”
Anatoly Berestov
clergyman
The words turned out to be prophetic. Father Anatoly, as we know, is indeed now a priest. And his brother Mikhail became a monk - now he is the schema-monk Raphael.
Fateful prediction of a nun
By that time, Anatoly’s brother, Mikhail Berestov, had become a believer and turned to the church. On this basis, disputes often arose between the brothers, since Anatoly refused to take religion seriously. During one of the regular discussions, Mikhail said that he no longer intended to argue with his brother about God, because soon Tolik himself would understand everything and know the truth.
Shortly before meeting his brother, Mikhail had a chance to visit the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where he met with a nun. She said that soon brother Anatoly would become a believer. Since the nun was a fairly authoritative person in her environment, Mikhail decided not to rush things and not to put pressure on his brother. He simply gave him the Gospel, hoping that Anatoly would read it over time.
Deciding to Serve God
Meanwhile, Anatoly Berestov became seriously interested in medicine and decided to receive higher education in this field. To do this, he entered the Second Moscow Medical Institute. The young man studied well and was one of the best students. In his second year, during the curriculum, he was recommended to read one of Vladimir Lenin’s works entitled “Marxism and Empirio-Criticism.”
The book did not have the desired effect on Anatoly. Instead of strengthening the foundations of atheism and communism in the guy’s mind, she caused him to completely misunderstand. Berestov began to wonder if this work is recognized as the height of philosophy, then what is the meaning of life?
It was during this period that he remembered the Gospel that his brother gave him. Anatoly came home with the firm intention of reading it, but, unfortunately, he could not find the book in the house. Having searched all the places where she could theoretically be, the future priest decided to mentally turn to God and asked to give him at least some sign.
Literally immediately after this, there was a knock on the door, and a neighbor appeared on the threshold, who had come to return that same Gospel. She said that she took it from Mikhail to read and forgot about it, and only now remembered and came to return the book.
For Berestov this was a kind of sign; he read the entire book and believed absolutely everything that was written there.
The man hired to kill Anatoly Berestov repented to him
And life presented strange “surprises” that tested Anatoly Berestov’s strength. For example, once they tried to take away part of the premises of a rehabilitation center by force.
At first they approached the matter carefully - they communicated through one of the institution’s employees, but then they began to act more aggressively:
“At first he persuaded me to give them part of the premises for a fee.
Then the militants themselves showed up and gave me a week to think about it, threatening to kill my family if I didn’t yield.
I showed them the door and informed the police.
They knew about it immediately. Some “well-wishers” called the center and said that they would soon kill me.
On May 8, 1993, after a service in the Tsaritsyn Church, I left the church and saw a man lying on the porch with severe signs of beatings.
Seeing me, he stood up and asked: “Are you Anatoly Ivanovich Berestov?”
I need to talk to you” - “We’ll talk to you when you get back to normal, but now you need to go to the hospital,” I said. To which he replied: “I was supposed to kill you today, but after I found out that you were a priest, I refused. And I paid for it..."
Anatoly Berestov
clergyman
Successful career in medicine
Simultaneously with the knowledge of God's teaching, Anatoly continued his studies at the institute. When he was in his second year, it became known at the educational institution that the guy was visiting the temple. This became the reason for organizing a special meeting. They wanted to expel the student from the institute, considering that visiting a temple was immoral behavior unacceptable for a medical student. But his fellow students came to the defense of the young man, who, fortunately, considered that expelling a talented student because of his faith was at least stupid.
Thus, Anatoly Berestov remained at the medical institute. After graduation, his career was very successful. He chose neuropathology as his main direction. In 1966 he became a resident, then a graduate student. He then became an associate professor of medical sciences, and soon a professor. For a long time he taught at a medical institute. Beginning in 1985, for 10 years, Berestov held the post of chief neurologist in Moscow.
Personal life of a priest
The story of the future priest’s marriage and subsequent married life was also not without miracles. After graduating from medical school, he was in love with his future wife and firmly intended to marry her. At this time, his spiritual mentor was one famous elder from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. He strongly advised Anatoly to abandon the idea of getting married, and to choose the path of a monk, since this was precisely the fate destined for him. But the young man did not intend to give up and took a blessing for marriage from the highest-ranking bishop.
Then the elder confessor said that Berestov would live with his wife for only 10 years, and then she would die, leaving him with two children. Paradoxically, all the elder’s words turned out to be prophetic. Berestov's wife died in 1977.
Many years later, in 1991, Anatoly received the rank of deacon and began to serve in the Tsaritsyn Church. After 2 years, in 1993, he was finally tonsured a monk, and in 1995 he was ordained a hieromonk.
The elder predicted to Anatoly Berestov that after the death of his wife he would become a monk
One day, a spiritual mentor advised Anatoly Berestov to become a monk. But he could not afford such a radical step. After all, he had a beloved, he seriously intended to get married. What kind of monasticism can there be here!
I had to ignore the elder’s advice. Anatoly Ivanovich took the bishop’s blessing for marriage.
10 years
the wife of Anatoly Berestov was supposed to live
The spiritual mentor was not happy with this decision and predicted that the marriage would last ten years. Then Anatoly Berestov's wife will die.
There will be two children left. And then nothing will stop you from becoming a monk, as was required from the very beginning.
Everything happened as the seer said - in 1977 Anatoly Ivanovich buried his wife and was left with two children.
Appointment to a leadership position
Since 1991, the priest has gained experience in managing rehabilitation centers. It was this year that he was appointed to the position of director at a children's center for the rehabilitation of patients with cerebral palsy.
At the same time, until 1996, Father Anatoly Berestov did not leave medicine - in the status of a professor of science, he worked at the department of nervous diseases at the medical institute.
Rehabilitation center of Anatoly Berestov
Over time, he came up with the idea of creating his own center, where he could provide spiritual and psychological assistance to victims of various occult organizations and sects, of which a lot appeared in the country in the late 90s.
In 1996, Hieromonk Anatoly Berestov received the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch himself for this good cause. Thus, the Soul Care Center named after Righteous John of Kronstadt was created. As originally intended, it provided assistance to all those who became victims of pseudo-seers, Satanists and other sectarians. People who had been subject to hypnosis and mass zombies for a long time converted to the Christian faith and received spiritual food for healing. Since the head of the center was a neurologist with considerable experience, he understood and knew how to provide psychological rehabilitation to such victims, and, if necessary, psychiatric care.
Multidisciplinary assistance to those in need of healing
In 1998, an extraordinary event occurred at the center: many people who had suffered from the activities of one of the satanic sects were admitted for rehabilitation. The problem was that almost all of the victims turned out to be drug addicts. After this incident, Anatoly Berestov, whose center had previously dealt only with spiritual rehabilitation, realized that he had to provide help to drug addicts and alcoholics.
Since then, he has developed a special program for drug and alcohol addicts, which has been successfully used for more than 10 years. The most amazing thing is that, according to Berestov, after rehabilitation, healing occurs in more than 90% of all cases.
COURSES ON NATURAL VISION RESTORATION
God delivers from all addictions!
His closest assistant, a young man named Artem, helped me MEET HIEROMONK Anatoly (Berestov).
“Who would have thought that the Lord would not only give me, such a sinner and a hooligan, a chance to get rid of my drug and other addictions, but also perform the functions of a close assistant to such an amazing person,” Artem told me with enthusiasm. — Being a doctor of medical sciences, a famous doctor, Anatoly Ivanovich left worldly life and devoted himself to saving unfortunate, lost people, creating the spiritual care center of the Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt at the Krutitsky courtyard in Moscow. This center now has regional offices throughout the country.
Father Anatoly received me the same day I arrived in Moscow. We had this conversation.
Both the doctor and the priest
— Father Anatoly, how did it happen that you, being a doctor of medical sciences, became a clergyman, a hieromonk?
“I became a believer a long time ago, from my second year at the institute, and since then I have always dreamed of becoming a priest. My dream came true only in 1991.
— Do you regret leaving official medicine?
- But can you really say that I left the profession? My specialty now is on the border between spirituality and medicine. And I have a lot of doctors who I look after and advise. And it’s hard to say who I am now more - a doctor or a priest. Both together. It exists inseparably, seamlessly.
— Father Anatoly, tell us about your center. Do you help only drug addicts or do people come to you with other problems as well?
— We help people get rid of any addictions: sectarian, occult, drug, gaming, tobacco and alcohol, because their essence is the same - spiritual. According to Christianity, any addiction is an expression of the highest manifestation of sin - passion, when a person becomes a slave to his sinful inclinations, a victim of his passions. And therefore doctors cannot cope with these problems. A person can restore his spiritual beginning only in the Church, when he turns to God for help, repents of his sins and fully realizes his dependence on passions. Of course, we help him realize this. Then the person confesses, receives forgiveness of his sins, and receives communion. And here something simply incomprehensible happens: very often, after the first confession and communion, the craving for drugs, alcohol (although less often), and gambling disappears.
As for drug addicts, we work with them according to our program, focused on accepting Orthodoxy. And the results, of course, are amazing. You don’t have to believe in them, or you can believe in them...
— How many people have you undergone rehabilitation, how many have you been able to return to normal life?
— Since the summer of 1998, more than five thousand drug addicts have passed through us. Of those who undergo rehabilitation, 85% become healthy. They actively enter society, connect with families and normalize their relationships with loved ones. True, now the situation has changed dramatically and worsened. Now, out of the hundred with whom we talk, a maximum of 35 people remain for rehabilitation. We work with them, and the results are the same - 85%.
- And what is the reason for this situation? Does the situation in the country affect her or is this a purely personal problem?
— Yes, the decrease in the percentage of people who want to work on themselves is directly related to the social situation in society. Young people coming to us today no longer have any moral core or moral values. They do not know any prohibitions, they have no ideas about good and evil. They believe that everything is allowed to them. And television plays its destructive role here, promoting the postulate - take everything from life.
Every Saturday I hold a spiritual conversation in the temple for all those who have come for the week. And I always wonder: which of them was brought up in a religious spirit from childhood? Nobody. I ask, who knows who God is, what prayer is? Nobody. Who studied the Law of God? Nobody. Sometimes one person will raise their hand. Who knows what chastity is? Nobody. Neither they nor their parents even know the meaning of this word. It turns out that this wonderful Russian word has completely dropped out of the vocabulary of the Russian people. And you ask: “Do you know what sex is?” Ooh, forest of hands. Can you imagine the spiritual state of our population!
Drug addiction is a spiritual disease
— Father Anatoly, tell me, what is drug addiction from a medical point of view and from a spiritual point of view?
— From our point of view, drug addiction is a spiritual disease. This is not a biological or mental illness, but first and foremost a spiritual one. The development of this dependence is based on a person’s lack of spiritual education. Child development today follows a deviant, distorted pattern. The human soul is programmed for a sinful lifestyle and, in accordance with this, a special human psychotype is formed, oriented towards committing sin. And against the background of this deviant behavior, various spiritual vices are already formed. It's not necessarily just drug addiction. This includes fornication, smoking, alcoholism, prostitution, gambling addiction, satanic, sectarian, occult and other addictions. All these addictions have one root - lack of spirituality, a godless lifestyle. And although all people who have the above addictions answer positively the question: “Do you believe in God?”, there is a huge gap between their faith and true faith. After all, faith without work is dead. But they have no concept of faith, of Christianity, of God. Our unfortunate children are abandoned by their parents, abandoned by society, abandoned by the state.
— What preventive measures can be taken to combat this scourge? What should parents whose children have already started using drugs do?
— At all conferences, meetings, round tables, when it comes to the prevention of drug addiction, I say that we need to start with the development of the spirituality of young people. Parents themselves need to become church members, and in schools it is necessary to introduce not the subject “History of Orthodox Culture”, but the Law of God, and actively teach it to children. Then we'll do something.
In second place is the active fight at the state level against smoking and alcoholism among young people and the entire society. Look, our children start smoking, on average, at the age of 11. When scientists examined how smoking affects the development of drug addiction, it turned out that children who smoke have a chance of becoming drug addicts 55 times more often than non-smokers. And at about the same age, at 12 years old, children begin to drink alcohol. And when scientists compared groups of smokers and drinkers with a group of non-smoking and non-drinking teenagers, it turned out that the first group had a 100 times greater chance of becoming drug addicts. This is how great the importance of smoking and consumption of even low-alcohol products such as beer and gin and tonics is for children, adolescents and young adults. Therefore, at the state level it is necessary to raise the fight against smoking and alcoholism in children, otherwise the problem of drug addiction cannot be solved. I propose everywhere to ban the sale of alcohol and tobacco products to teenagers under 21 years of age. And for violating this law, it is necessary to punish those who sell or those who get children drunk, right down to the parents.
The fight against drug addiction - prevention, treatment, rehabilitation - needs to be addressed at all levels: from family and school to society and the state. And I believe that the president should take the reins in this matter. If the government and our power structures do not realize this, do not join in an active struggle and do not give the green light to the Church, then nothing will work out for us.
— What, Father Anatoly, are the other reasons that prevent young people from getting rid of drug addiction?
“We have a terrible problem in our country today: the legal state drug market. Through our pharmacy network, medicinal substances containing small amounts of drugs are now completely freely sold without prescriptions. These are codeine-containing drugs. In addition, tramal-containing drugs and poppy seeds, which are sold as a confectionery product in grocery stores. From this confectionery they learned to extract the heavy drug desomorphine, on which drug addicts live from six months to two years, well, maybe three years at most. Whereas people live on heroin for five to six years. They also live from one and a half to three years on codeine-containing drugs, because they have learned to chemically extract the same terrible drug - desomorphine. And all this is sold completely freely.
God even heals AIDS
— Father Anatoly, can you give examples of some miraculous healings, when a person got rid of a vicious addiction and some associated diseases, AIDS, for example?
- Yes, we have many such examples. I said that often, even after the first confession and communion, people lose their craving for drugs. This is observed in approximately twenty percent of cases. That is, every fifth person who comes to the center for the first time and goes through confession and communion loses the craving for drugs, and sometimes for smoking or drinking. There are many such cases, hundreds. This, for example, happened with Artem. He came against the backdrop of heroin addiction, in 2001, I think. Moreover, he came without any desire, only because his parents brought him. But after the first confession and communion, he was stunned, his spiritual state changed dramatically, immediately, and he perceived this as healing. Although, of course, we had to tinker with him, because, having stopped using drugs, he began to drink alcohol. And for a month or two he drank continuously, but then he stopped drinking that too. And now he is a very active person who helps me in the rehabilitation of drug addicts and is the head of a group of former drug addicts in our monastery. As for incidental healings, often when people begin to lead a spiritual lifestyle, they get rid of hepatitis C, B, and sometimes there is, I cannot say healing, but the disappearance of a positive HIV reaction. I also observed this often. It is difficult to understand these cases, but we, believers, perceive this as a direct impact of the grace of God and a miracle.
— And with those who contact you for the first time, do you only work with them or do you have assistants?
- Well, of course, I don’t work alone. We have doctors, psychotherapists, psychologists. There is a biofeedback room that helps us well in the rehabilitation process. There is a group of catechists who help our clients study the laws of God and lead them to keep the 10 commandments and to know the fundamentals of the church. It is very important that priests help drug addicts realize their deep sinfulness. And if we succeed, then 90% of the issue can be considered resolved.
— Father Anatoly, can we say that you have some kind of methodology, that you have not some kind of spontaneous process, but a clear program of working with addicted people? And what is the essence of this technique?
— The main essence of our methodology is active churching, bringing a person closer to God, developing his Christian spirituality, changing his lifestyle and way of thinking. It is also important to remove a person from the narcotic social niche. We achieve this in different ways. It turns out that even in a metropolis it is possible to carry out rehabilitation on an outpatient basis. The majority of our clients undergo rehabilitation this way.
— Is all your work with drug addicts free of charge?
- Yes, we don’t demand money from anyone.
- What do you live off of then?
— Through donations, mainly, and through church activities and services. Of course, it’s very difficult for us, we can barely make ends meet, but that’s okay, we survive with God’s help.
— When can I get to you for a conversation, Father Anatoly, and how can I find you in Moscow, how can I contact you by phone?
- On Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday I hold a service at 17:00. On Sunday I serve Liturgy at 10 am. We are located at the Krutitsky courtyard near the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery at the address: 1st Krutitsky Lane, 2-a. You need to look for the spiritual care center of St. Righteous John of Kronstadt of the Moscow Patriarchate. You can call us at 676-67-63 from 12 to 17 hours, except Saturday and Sunday.
It was God's providence
— Father Anatoly, were there any cases in your life when you clearly felt the hand of God over you, when God saved you or someone close to you from something terrible, when events happened that were incredible from the point of view of common sense?
— There have been such cases, many times. Once, when I was still working in medicine, I was a consultant to the Russian Ministry of Health and the USSR Ministry of Health, I was invited by air ambulance to Sukhumi, Abkhazia, to visit a seriously ill child. He drowned, he was resuscitated, and he was in the Republican Children's Hospital. I arrived, looked at the child, and made a diagnosis: severe hypoxic encephalopathy, death of the cerebral cortex. I also reprimanded the doctors - here everything is clear to your resuscitators and neurologists, why did they still need to call me. The doctors were embarrassed and said that they called me only at the insistence of my parents. This was in Sukhumi, and they took me to Gagry to spend the night, to the relatives of this sick child. When I entered the courtyard of their house, an elderly woman came out to meet me with a large dish of lobio in both hands. Seeing me, she opened her mouth in surprise, gasped, waved her hands, and grabbed her head. The dish fell and broke, I didn’t understand what was wrong. Then it turned out that when this misfortune happened to the child, and he did not come out of a coma for several weeks, his grandmother had a dream where someone’s voice told her: “Call consultant Anatoly Ivanovich Berestov from Moscow,” and she sees my face. They didn't know if there was such a consultant, but they insisted that they find me. And her reaction to my appearance was due to the fact that she saw me in a dream. They persuaded me to take the child with me to Moscow. I took him, even though I didn’t believe that anything could be done to help him. And then the unexpected happens: in Moscow his consciousness returns, and we discharge him from the hospital as a normal person. This was a real providence of God. Another incident that shocked me occurred in the summer of 1996, when I was already serving in the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov at the Institute of Transplantology. I baptized one family of four: husband, wife and boys 13 and 14 years old. Both boys suffered from epilepsy, and their mother had severe multiple sclerosis. She could no longer walk on her own; she was brought in a wheelchair; she could only move with support from both sides. And so, when I read the prohibitory prayers necessary in preparation for the Sacrament of baptism, prohibiting the devil from possessing a person’s soul, both children collapsed in an epileptic fit. Everyone rushed towards them, and I said: “Stop. Do not be afraid. Now this attack will pass, and it will be the last in their lives.” Well, indeed, they soon came to their senses and stood up. This was 10 years ago. And over the years, these young people, and they are now quite adults, have had no more seizures. After I baptized the children, their mother was brought to me. I baptized her and offered to help her return to her place. And she suddenly says: “Oh, no need, I’ll get there myself now.” It turned out that her ability to walk had returned. And I watched through the window as she walked without a stroller, although she was supported by her hands. As a neurologist, I know that if a person with multiple sclerosis stops walking, then no medical means can restore his motor abilities. Again the Lord Provider helped. And there are many such stories. So many.
— Father Anatoly, what are the plans of your center and your personal plans?
— My plans are to continue this ministry, develop it, help in the establishment of Orthodox regional rehabilitation centers throughout the country and abroad, in Orthodox countries. We have already helped create such Orthodox centers, bypassing the so-called 12-step programs, in many cities, ranging from Vladivostok, Kamchatka and Magadan to Yekaterinburg, Longepas, Varna in Bulgaria and Serbia. They just called from Serbia and said that they are planning to open the third Orthodox rehabilitation center this year. This is the result of the fact that I visited this country twice this year and carried out relevant work with activists of the anti-drug movement. They will work according to our methodology.
Not just a spiritual savior, but also a highly qualified physician
The most common and terrible diseases of our time are HIV infection and cancer. Those who are faced with a similar misfortune are looking for all kinds of support, and the Anatoly Berestov Center provides it. Despite the fact that it is very difficult for an ordinary person to believe such statements, the priest says that their center has experience in treating AIDS. During repeated prayers, the disease recedes, and HIV infection goes into a kind of “dormant” state, which allows the infected person to live a long and fulfilling life. Berestov states that at one time he counted 18 people who came to the center with this terrible disease and were healed, and after 1997 he simply stopped keeping such statistics.
The same thing happens with cancer patients. In addition to healing prayers, Father Anatoly offers those who turn to him for help consultations with his acquaintances oncologist-surgeons, because Berestov still has strong connections in the medical field, and he is considered a very authoritative neurologist to this day.
Father Anatoly opposes sects and esotericism
Father Anatoly is also known as an ardent opponent of all non-Orthodox movements:
- occultism;
- esotericists;
- sect.
And the like, which in Orthodoxy is considered to be deeds not from God.
Father repeatedly spoke in the media and criticized various mystical sciences.
One day he was invited to speak on the radio. The topic was about sorcerers, psychics, etc.
The priest began to speak on this topic, and soon they called the studio. They reported that they were speaking from a group of psychics and promised Father Anatoly astral death.
What was meant by this is not clear. Still, the astral is a vague concept, and it is freely interpreted by various teachings.
In fact, the following happened. Father Anatoly returned home and noticed that something was wrong. Either someone invisible will knock on the door, or drum on the ceiling. Somewhere there is laughter, then neighing.
Not only the priest, but also his son noticed strange sounds. Came in to ask what was going on. Strange noises occurred for about forty minutes, and then the priest stopped them with the help of prayer and holy water. That's where it all ended. No death occurred.
Books written by a priest
Anatoly Berestov is a priest and an active public figure who also manages to publish his own books. This amazing person has a number of original publications in the field of child neurology and pediatrics. He also wrote many original works that are devoted to such current social problems as drug addiction, alcoholism, and the occult.
And, like a real doctor, of course, in his works he could not help but touch upon such a problematic issue as the relationship between the church and medicine.
Among his works published over different periods of time, the following are especially popular among readers:
- "Conversations with an Orthodox doctor."
- "Spiritual foundations of drug addiction."
- "Sorcerers in Law."
- "The Occult Defeat of Man."
