Father Akaki
Father Akaki, civil name Andrei Kuznetsov (October 17, 1873 – January 30, 1984 Heinävesi) was a Russian Orthodox monk who died as the oldest person of Nordic countries and Finland's oldest man ever before Aarne Arvonen.[1]
As a teenager, Kuznetsov went to a monastery because he wanted to avoid the Russian Army.
Kuznetsov went to Solovetsky Monastery on the island in White Sea. He worked as horse keeper and as stable boy. In 1898 he went to Petsamo's Pechenga Monastery where he became a monk in 1913 after 15 years of being in the monastery. He took the name Akaki after Akathist the Bishop of Malta.
Petsamon monastery became the centre of culture and spiritualism. Monk Akaki continued as stable boy.
Monastery life was disrupted during the Winter and Continuation War and the monks moved in 1942 to New Valamo monastery in Heinävesi, where the Valaam Monastery monks were transferred because of the war. Father Akaki took care of horses until the age of 90 when the monastery stopped keeping horses.
Akaki lived very ascetic life with a very meager diet. Bible and praying was his daily ritual even until the age of 100.
At the age of 100 he could still walk to the church. When Akaki reached the age of 107 he got a letter from Heinävesi municipality where he was invited to the primary school's first grade because the computer program made a mistake because it could not recognize the centuries from each other. The mistake was very funny to Akaki.
Akaki died at the age of 110 and 106 days on January 30, 1984 in the last night of his last eucharist.