Anchorage Daily News

The Rev. Kondraty Sozontovich Fefelov, one of the founders of the Russian Old Believer community in Nikolaevsk, died May 6, 2008, at his home in Nikolaevsk. He was 71.

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Fefelov

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Rev. Fefelov served as a priest at St. Nikolas Church for more than 22 years until the fall of 2005, when Alzheimer's made it impossible.

A service was held May 8.

He was born Oct. 4, 1936, in Russia. When he was 8, his father and oldest brother were taken by the Russian Communists. He escaped with his family to China, where he met and married his wife, Irina Karpovna Reutov, in 1956.

He grew up always seeking the true religion. He taught himself the church songs and readings in the old Slavonic language. After communism spread to China, they were forced to move to Hong Kong. From there, they went to Brazil to live for five years. With help from the Tolstoy Foundation, they came to America, settling in Oregon.

After six years, the family moved to Alaska in 1969 to save their religion and traditions and to avoid the temptations of the big city. They arrived in Nikolaevsk in the spring of 1969. The Fefelovs had $600 and seven children.

After one week, they built their first cabin, which they shared with another family. There were no floors, only bare ground and one kitchen. Four more children were born in Nikolaevsk.

It was very difficult to raise a large family, and jobs weren't readily available. In the winter, the Rev. Fefelov built boats in Homer and fished in the summer. Fishing and hunting provided their food. They also owned three milk cows, pigs and chickens and had a big garden.

After a few years, life got a little easier. They opened their own boat building shop. The Rev. Fefelov owned a grocery store, gas station and the first telephone in the village, which people shared.

He built more than half of the houses in Nikolaevsk and did a lot of volunteer work around the village. He was chosen to be a "priest," but he was not officially ordained.

Still seeking the true religion, six families traveled to Romania and discovered the Old Rite Orthodox Church in its pure, unchanged form, where they were baptized. The Rev. Fefelov studied to be a priest and was ordained in 1983.

People helped him build a church in Nikolaevsk and in Oregon. He also built a church in Khabarovsk, Russian Far East, and helped them financially.

He was preceded in death by his oldest son, Feodor Fefelov.

Rev. Fefelov leaves his wife of 51 years, Irina K. Fefelov; his children, Deonisy, Feodosia, Pelagia, Nikita, Raisa, Kira, Ludmila, Faina, Felisata and Joseph; 47 grandchildren; 32 great-grandchildren; and many others from Romania, Russia and Australia who knew and loved him and will never forget him.

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