Ivan Glukhov (1927–1999) was born in the Kouleshovo village near the old Russian town of Tula, in a family of peasants. His parents, humble, undustrious and benevolent people, brought him up in the atmosphere of Orthodox piety. He was particularly influenced by his mother Eudokia, that he continued to love and deeply respect throughout his life. In the thirties his family moved to Moscow. In 1945 Ivan graduated from school and entered a technical college, where he studied civil engineering. In 1948, after college, he became a technician in Moscow housing administration All this time he remained a zealous parishioner of the Tikhvin Mother of God church in the Alexeevskaya village, where he was a sacristain.

In 1951 Ivan Glukhov, wishing to get a degree in theology, entered the Moscow Theological Seminary. On his graduating from the Seminary in 1951, he was accepted into the Moscow Theological Academy, where he took a Candidate degree in Theology, writing a research work on “Christian Teaching of Evil and its Manifestations”. The academic council granted him a scholarship and appointed him as inspector assistant. He taught catechism and Russian Church history at the Seminary, and later, since 1972, the history of sects at the Academy. In the same year he was appointed as lecturer.

Ivan Glukhov was decorated with the Orders of Saint Vladimir of the third degree and Saint Sergius of Radonej of the third and second degrees and received from the Patriarch an honorary diploma for his academic achievements. In 1995 he went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In his last years he was a parishioner at the All Saints church in Moscow, where the funeral service was held for him. He was buried at the Blagovestchensk village cemetery.

Ivan Glukhov was an exacting teacher and a strict examiner. To pass his exam, students had to show a solid knowledge of the subject and memorize hundreds of quotations from the Holy Scriptures. The course on catechism he taught to the first year students enjoyed immense popularity. It laid the foundations for the truly Orthodox outlook and made the approach to other subjects easy and natural. His students compared this course to traffic regulations – the knowledge of it makes your journey through life much safer. In his lectures Ivan Glukhov enlightens his students’ souls with the true Orthodox teaching, appealing to their best qualities and guiding them to the Truth. He has never strayed from the teaching of the Holy Fathers, which was particularly manifest in his discussions with the oecumenists and the representatives of other confessions. His listeners gratefully remember him as an outstanding pedagogue with vast erudition, who generously shared his knowledge with them, an outgoing, responsive and sympathetic person.

The present “Orthodox Catechism” is an extensive and detailed guide to Orthodox confession introducing the reader in the true doctrine of faith, hope and love. The teaching of Christian faith is epitomized in the Creed, containing, as in a nutshell, the most important Christian truths. The teaching of Christian hope is contained in the prayers, the Lord’s prayer and the Beatitudes in particular. The teaching of Christian love is found in the Decalogue.

Glukhov’s “Orthodox Cathechism” is an introduction into the Orthodox teaching which, true as it remains to the Holy Fathers, reflects the author’s deep reflection, his personal faith, hope and love to God, as well as his ardent desire to instill these virtues in the hearts of his audience.