Posted on 04/11/2011 7:11:47 AM PDT by marshmallow
Moscow, April 11, Interfax - Hegumen Iov (Talats), patriarchial metochion's rector of Transfiguration Church in Zvyozdny Gorodok (Star City), gave evidence that neither Yury Gagarin, nor Sergey Korolev were atheists.
"Yury Gagarin baptized his elder daughter Yelena shortly before his space flight; and his family used to celebrate Christmas and Easter and keep icons in the house," Father Iov said in an interview to the April issue of Foma magazine.
He also recalled that Gagarin urged the authorities to reconstruct Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.
"Sergey Korolev lost faith for some time but eventually regained it through suffering and temptations. Of cause, he could not make it public but he used to pray and confess. Now I am trying to find out who was his confessor," Father Iov said.
As a child, Father Iov was dreaming of becoming a cosmonaut. Even as a priest, he completed a series of cosmonauts' training to better understand these people. He sees the Russian cosmonaut teams off to Baikonur and meets the crews returning from space.
In monastery (Father Iov is a monk at the Trinity Laura of St. Sergius), he has a telescope, binoculars and many books on astronomy.
According to Father Iov, sins are preventing people from further outer space exploration.
"I was once asked, "Father Iov, why do we fail to move further on in space?" I answered, "We have already damaged the Earth; so do you want to damage the whole Universe? Look, what's going on around here - robbery, murders, violence, deception and we shall carry our wickedness further on. Therefore, God does not let us move on. While we are in the process of moral growth, we shall not go far away from the Earth," the priest said.
God Bless Gagarin!
From what I have read of him, he was a simple country boy, much loved by all colleagues
While he was a “Soviet”, I admire him from being the first KNOWN man in space
In my childhood, along with Armstrong, he was one of my “rock star idols” as I was ridiculously space obsessed.
Glad to know that Gagarin knew God in his lifetime on this planet. May he be with Yahweh right now.
**** neither Yury Gagarin, nor Sergey Korolev were atheists.****
Which USSR Cosmonaut was it that went into space and said he did not see God anywhere?
However, some doubt exists as to whether he actually said these words.
From Answers.com
After the flight, some sources claimed that Gagarin, during his space flight, had made the comment, "I don't see any God up here." However, no such words appear in the verbatim record of Gagarin's conversations with the Earth during the spaceflight.[17] In a 2006 interview a close friend of Gagarin, Colonel Valentin Petrov, stated that Gagarin never said such words, and that the phrase originated from Nikita Khrushchev's speech at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, where the anti-religious propaganda was discussed. In a certain context Khrushchev said, "Gagarin flew into space, but didn't see any god there".[18] Colonel Petrov also said that Gagarin had been baptised into the Orthodox Church as a child. It is also known that Gagarin has said the following words: "Someone who never met God on Earth, would never meet Him in space".
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.