Gleb Pivovarov

Gleb Pivovarov was born in Uljanovsk (Russia) in 1986. He started school in 1993 and in 2003 finished the “Physics, Math and Information Technology Lyceum,” which was run by the local university. During his studies in the lyceum, he participated in various physics, math, astronomy and astrophysics contests and won a number of awards.

He began attending the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Uljanovsk in 2002. He was confirmed by pastor (and Seminary graduate) Vladimir Provorov in 2003; Gleb led youth group and was an assistant to the pastor in his congregation. In 2003 he began his university studies in the Applied Physics department, but then switched to the department of Culture and Art in 2004. In 2009 he finished his course work by extension while continuing his seminary studies.

In December, 2009 Gleb finished the theoretical part of his Seminary studies. His internship is taking place in Novosibirsk. 

Aleksei Burkhanov

Aleksei was born into a family of engineers in 1985 in Leningrad. His family has German roots – on his mother’s side were Germans from the Baltic states that moved to Russia after the revolution, and his father’s family was from a German village in the Volga region.

Aleksei finished a high school that specialized in art in 2002. He began his higher education parallel to his being in his final year of high school; currently he is a 5th year student at the St. Petersburg Academy of Management and Economics, where he is in training to become a lawyer.

Aleksei was drawn to the church early, and he took the initiative as a 5-year-old to be baptized in Prince Vladimir Orthodox Church in Leningrad. In November of 2002 he made the conscious decision to join the Lutheran church, St. Catherine’s on Vasiliev Island. He was confirmed there in June of 2003. Since 2004 he has been a lector in the congregation and has taken part in many aspects of church life, especially those tied with the leading of worship and care for the altar. He considers his practical knowledge to be significantly greater than his theoretical knowledge and therefore desires to receive theological training.

Aleksei's hobbies are Batik art, philosophy, the study of ancient German languages and the history of Europe and the Mediterranean region.

Aleksei finished the theoretical part of the Seminary education in December 2009. His internship is taking place in Samara.

Denis Shek

Denis comes from Yekaterinburg in the Ural region. He started his studies at the Seminary as a full-time student in 2003, but circumstances did not allow him to finish at that time - he had to return home. But later he was able to return as an extension student and then take the exams with his full-time colleagues in December, 2009, after which he is going to internship.