Archpriest Ruf Tobolov passed away on this day in 2023. In the 1990s, I worked as an editor for the Russian-language biweekly journal of Holy Trinity Monastery. Fr. Ruf visited Jordanville. I interviewed him in the second half of the 1990s when he had already settled in Russia. In the name of the Russian Church Abroad, the adjective “Russian” signified the fight for the liberation of Russia from the militant atheist regime. However, when Communism collapsed, very few people moved there. At the time of perestroika, those who left Russia with the White Army mostly died or were in very old age. People from World War Two, apparently, were so traumatized there that they concealed these memories forever. Those who grew up abroad were a different case. On the one hand, they did not suffer directly from the Soviet regime, and on the other, they were brought up in a highly patriotic way. Fr. Ruf, born in 1940 in Inner Mongolia in China, belonged to this category. After the Communist Party’s takeover of China, the descendants of the Transbaikal Cossacks had to leave the country, either to the Soviet Union or to the West, mainly to Australia. In 1962, the Tobolovs came to Australia. Three years later, Ruf came to study at Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary in Jordanville, NY. In 1970, Ruf returned to Australia, and like many other Russians from Inner Mongolia, he worked in the construction business. In 1973, the diocese vicar, Bishop Constantin of Brisbane ordained him a deacon. Seven years later, Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesenskii) ordained him a priest. In 1984, Fr. Ruf became the rector of the Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. The wooden church building was built in 1956, and under Fr. Ruf’s supervision, the stone church was built in 1993. Metropolitan Vitaly performed its great sanctification. When Fr. Ruf moved to Russia, there were parishes of the Russian Church Abroad. However, Fr. Ruf ignored them and joined the Moscow Patriarchate. In his own words, he came to Archbishop Veniamin (Pushkar’) of Vladivostok and Primorsk and asked him: “Do you think I can serve here? I came out of conviction. I'm tired of hanging around in various foreign countries. My grandfather is a hero of Russia; he went through two wars: the Japanese and the Boxer Rebellion. I want to live the rest of my life in Russia. Australia is now in [spiritual] recession. Now, you won’t surprise anyone [there] or enlighten anyone. He who goes to church will go. And whoever doesn’t go, you won’t attract him with anything. And in Russia, there is a rise.” In the Russian Far East, Fr. Ruf restored the church in the village of Khmylovka. In 1998 he became a Russian citizen. However, in 2010 he decided to retire to Australia, where he passed away. Memory eternal! Source: “Archpriest Ruf Tobolov reposed in the Lord,” Australian and New Zealand Diocese (ROCOR). |
