MINOR PLANET NAMED AFTER RUSSIAN ARCHPRIEST

Photo: orel-eparhia.ru

Archpriest Vasily Ermakov. Photo: orel-eparhia.ru

Orthochristian.com – Bolkhov, Orel Province, Russia – September 2017

A minor planet, registered as No. 24604 (1973 SPF) in the international catalogue of minor planets, has been named “Vasilermakov” in honor of Archpriest Vasily Timofeevich Emerkov of the town of Bolkhov in the Oryol Province, 200 miles southwest of Moscow. As the site of the Orel Diocesereported yesterday, the decision to honor the priest was made by the Committee for Naming Minor Planets of the International Astronomical Union on February 22, 2016.

The official certificate from the Russian Academy of Sciences was brought from St. Petersburg to Bolkhov on Thursday by pilgrims who had arrived for the commemorative celebration in honor of the well-known priest. They attended the Divine Liturgy for the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in Holy Trinity Cathedral in Bolkhov, handing the document to His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of Orlovsk and Bolkhov.

The orbit of the minor planet was detected in 1955, and the planet itself was discovered on September 27, 1973 in the Crimean Astrophysics Observatory by astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh (1935-2017)—an outstanding Soviet and Russian scientist, famous for having discovered 268 asteroids. The discovery was registered in 2001. Tamara Nikolaeva, a spiritual child of Archpriest Vasily, took care to perpetuate his name in the naming of the celestial body, which took 16 years. The name of the planet is listed in the international scientific publication “Ephemerides of Minor Planets,” published by the Institute for Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The minor planet Vasilermakov is located in the so-called “asteroid belt,” which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It has a diameter of 4.3 miles (bigger than Bolkhov), and the semimajor axis of the orbit is 8.82 astronomical units.

Lyudmila Chernykh also discovered minor planet No. 16395 (1981 US14) “Ioannpravednyj,” named for St. John of Kronstadt, minor planet No. 4485 “Radonehskij,” named for St. Sergius of Radonezh, minor planet No. 5612 “Nevskij,” named for St. Alexander Nevsky, and others.

The official certificate from the Russian Academy of Sciences will be kept in the Archpriest Vasily Ermakov memorial house in Bolkhov.

Archpriest Vasily Ermakov (1927-2007) was a native of Bolkhov. While serving as rector of St. Seraphim of Sarov Church in Seraphimovskoe Cemetery in St. Petersburg, he became one of the most famous and authoritative St. Petersburg clerics, leading many to God. He regularly visited Bolkhov in the last years of his life and was one of the initiators of the revival of the spiritual life in the town and of the restoration of a number of churches.

A street was also named for Fr. Vasily in Bolkhov in 2009.

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