Metropolitan Kirill conducted the funeral service for Archpriest Anatoly Togulev.

      On November 1, on Dmitriyev Parental Saturday, the funeral service was held for the rector of the Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God in the Kazan settlement of Sukhaya Reka, Archpriest Anatoly Togulev. Father Anatoly passed to the Lord on October 30, 2025, in his 59th year of life.

      By the blessing of Metropolitan Kirill of Kazan and Tatarstan, the Requiem Liturgy in the Smolensk church was celebrated by the dean of the 3rd district of the city of Kazan, Archpriest Alexey Kraevsky, and the abbot of the Kizichesky Monastery of Kazan, Hegumen Pimen (Iventyev).

      The funeral of the late clergyman was led by Metropolitan Kirill. Concelebrating with His Eminence were the secretary of the Tatarstan Metropolia, Hieromonk Kirill (Korytko); the dean of the 1st district of Kazan, Archpriest Vladimir Samoylenko; the dean of the 3rd district of Kazan, Archpriest Alexey Kraevsky; the abbot of the Kizichesky Monastery of Kazan, Hegumen Pimen (Iventyev); the abbot of the St. John the Forerunner Monastery of Kazan, Hegumen Alexey (Yatseyko); and clergy of the Kazan diocese.

      The chants were performed by the episcopal male choir under the direction of Denis Rogov.

      At the service prayed the widow of the deceased priest, his relatives and close ones, spiritual children, and numerous parishioners.

      After the funeral, the hierarch addressed the faithful with words of consolation:

      All year long our entire diocese has been praying for the health of Father Anatoly. When he fell ill, both priests and parishioners began to offer fervent prayers. When the joyful news came that Father Anatoly had become better, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Everything seemed well; His Holiness Patriarch Kirill awarded Father Anatoly another honor... And then suddenly came the news of the clergyman’s passing.

      Only the Lord knows when a given person will pass into eternity. The Lord God gives a person life on this earth and takes his soul when the time comes. The Lord is Almighty. He is the Creator. He is all-knowing, merciful, and loving toward mankind. He calls a person when he is ready to return to the heavenly abodes.

      The passing of Father Anatoly is a great loss for all of us. Humanly speaking, we grieve and weep, and there is no need to be ashamed of that. Parting from a loved one is always accompanied by pain and sorrow. After a loved one departs, an unhealed wound remains in the soul. But for a Christian, death is a birth into eternal life. A person is born twice: on this earth and in eternity.

      Today is the birthday of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and of the venerable elder Father John of Kronstadt. But in the Church calendar the commemoration of these and other saints is not observed on the day of their earthly birth, but on the day of their repose — that is, their birth into eternity.

      The memory of Father Anatoly, who left us only three days ago, will live in our hearts. And this church will be a place of special prayer for his immortal soul. Prayers will be offered not only by his wife, children and close relatives, but by all who will serve here, all who hold this church dear, who cherish the years Father Anatoly spent with his parish. He built up this place with great love, cared for each of you, heard confessions, administered Communion, baptized, and conducted funeral rites for your loved ones, seeing them off into eternal life. Father Anatoly’s soul was united with the parish, with the people for whom this house of God was a home.

      Today we all feel such pain as if a part of our heart had been torn out. We feel a great loss. But as Christians we understand that Father Anatoly has gone to where each of us will come in our time. Today we heard the touching prayers that are sung in church when a priest departs into eternity. And Father Anatoly himself, in sending off fighters and parishioners from this land, has a hundred times offered Requiem prayers. In these sacred texts it is said: “I do not know whither I go.” By these words the Church conveys to us the feelings of the departed.

      None of us knows what awaits us ahead, but we firmly know that God is merciful. Our God is a God of love, mercy and bounty, and He meets each person with mercy who bore no malice in his soul.

      A priest cannot bear evil within him; he is called to bear only goodness and mercy, conveying blessing and God’s grace from Heaven to earth.

      We firmly believe and know that for his love of God, for his service to the Holy Church and to all of you, dear brothers and sisters, the Heavenly Father will receive Father Anatoly’s soul into the eternal dwellings and will grant him a church greater than this one, will give him a throne brighter than that which is here in the altar. We believe that Father Anatoly, together with Father John of Kronstadt, with hierarchs, holy martyrs and confessors, will unceasingly offer the Divine Service at the Throne of God.

      During these forty days, when the Lord God passes judgment on the departed, let us fervently pray in church and at home for the repose of Father Anatoly’s soul. Let our prayer be heartfelt, real, and sincere. We believe that after the forty-day trial, Father Anatoly will remember us all before the Throne of God. We hope that by his prayers the Lord will not leave us orphans, that a good priest will come here, and that God’s people will continue to receive consolation here.

      Father Anatoly’s name will always be spoken in this holy church. In many churches the memory of founders and laborers is preserved for centuries. We remember that the Kazan Cathedral on the site of the apparition of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was founded by Archbishop Ieremiah. We recall that Patriarch Hermogenes, while still a priest, carried the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. We remember Bishop Feofan, who labored greatly to have the majestic Kazan Cathedral rebuilt. The memory of these people lives on, and the prayer does not fade.

      Let us pray for Father Anatoly, whom we send into eternity as a spiritual father on this Parental Day, on Parental Saturday. May the Kingdom of Heaven be granted to Father Anatoly; thankfulness for his labors, for his pure heart and zeal in God’s work. May the Lord God receive his soul into the abodes of the righteous.

      I thank you all, brothers and sisters, for your prayers! I wish you God’s help, health, and consolation in these difficult days of our lives.

      Archpriest Anatoly Togulev was buried in the cemetery in the settlement of Kadyishevo.