Vladimir Antipov

Vladimir Antipov (2nd of February 1910, Ostrov, Pskov Governorate, Russian Empire – 21st of June 1986, Zilupe, Ludza Municipality, Latvian SSR) – an archpriest, the dean of the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Zilupe.  The rural dean of the Rezekne District.

Vladimir Antipov was born in the town of Ostrov, Pskov Governorate. His father was from an old merchant family, and his mother belonged to the noble class. After the 1917 revolution, the family found itself in Rēzekne, on the territory of Latvia. In 1930, Vladimir Antipov entered the Riga Theological Seminary, which he graduated from in 1933.

In December 1934 he was ordained a deacon by Bishop Nicholas of Pechory (Leisman, 1862–1947), and soon afterward, at the Pskov–Pechory Monastery, he was ordained a priest and assigned to the Mikhailova Church of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos. In November 1935 he was transferred to the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Zilupe.

Five kilometers from Zilupe, in the village of Opuli, a chapel was built in 1937 at the initiative of Father Vladimir over a spring renowned for its healing properties. On 15 May 1938 he was awarded the nabedrennik. From October 1943 he temporarily served as dean of the Ludza district. He was elevated to the rank of archpriest. Father Vladimir was a zealous pastor and a diligent steward of parish churches.

From 1964 until his death he had been serving as dean of the Rēzekne district. Beginning in 1965 he also ministered to the parish of St Nicholas the Wonderworker in Lauderi. In 1973, he was awarded the mitre by His Holiness Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov, 1910–1990) of Moscow and All Rus’. In 1984, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his priesthood and his seventy-fifth birthday, he received the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Second Class, and the right to wear a second jeweled cross.

Father Vladimir’s wife, Maria (1909–1997), was the daughter of Archpriest Nikanor Trubetskoy (1876–1959) and the sister of clergymen Nikolai (1907–1978), Ioann (1911–1991), Mikhail (1917–1974), and Pavel (1919–1983) Trubetskoys. From 1953 until 1986 she had been serving as psalm-reader and choir director at the church in Zilupe.

Children: Guriy (1935–1999), Tatyana (1939–2021), Igor (1942).

Archpriest Vladimir Antipov passed away suddenly on 21 June 1986. He was buried in the churchyard of the Orthodox church in Zilupe.

Sources of information:

1) Православные архиереи, священники, диаконы, псаломщики, учителя и регенты, служившие на территории Латвии с 1710 по 2019 годы. Биографический справочник. Щеникова О., Витолс А. (сост.). Гаврилин А.В. (конс.). Риги, 2019. С. 88;

2) Цоя С.А. Рижская Православная Духовная семинария в межвоенные годы (1926–1936) // Латвийский православный хронограф. Вып. I. Прот. Олег Пелевин (ред.). Рига: Синод Латвийской православной церкви, 2015. С. 74–75.