With faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection, we share news of the repose of Sergei Nemtsov, an alumnus of St. Vladimir’s Seminary. Sergei fell asleep in the Lord on April 21, 2026, in Moscow, Russia.
Sergei was born in Soviet Russia on September 12, 1951, into a family of geologists. At 16 he was accepted into Moscow State University, but withdrew in protest after the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. This event spurred his lifelong search for truth over propaganda, which he recorded over the decades in a series of poems. After a lengthy spiritual search exploring Eastern religions, yoga, and meditation, he encountered Christ in the Gospels and was baptized into the Orthodox Church at 27.
In 1982 Sergei escaped the Soviet Union and found his way to Europe, where he was blessed to meet with Metropolitan Anthony Bloom. Shortly after this encounter he had the opportunity to travel to New York and visit St. Vladimir’s Seminary. Thanks to a scholarship from the Tolstoy Foundation, Sergei was able to enroll as a seminarian at St. Vladimir’s, where he studied from 1984–1987.
Sergei Nemtsov (middle) serving at Three Hierarchs Chapel as a seminarian.
Sergei raised two children with his wife Cathy, Ksenia (a beloved member of staff at St. Vladimir’s Seminary) and Andrei, and has one grandson, Alexander. Sergei lived as a faithful Orthodox layman, returning to Russia in 2009 to spend his last years in his homeland.
May the memory of the servant of God Sergei be eternal!
