Guided by serendipity, local minister finds success

“For me it was a big surprise,” said Maxim, a Sunset Park-based wedding minister, as our conversation began. “I never planned to do this.” We sat across from each other in a spacious, sunlit lounge of the new condo where he lives with his family.

It took two tries to meet him. On the day of our first appointment a special event happened: his second child was born.

When we met again, the conversation turned long and candid. Maxim shared the story of his path, from a modest immigrant searching for his place in a new country to a man who found not just a job but a calling.

Childhood and faith

Maxim was born and raised in Kaliningrad, Russia, where he lived for 24 years.

“I don’t remember what I wanted to be as a child,” he said. “Everything good that has happened to me in life always came by chance.”

In his family, faith showed itself through traditions: Easter, blessed eggs, icons at home. But he discovered God more deeply and consciously while studying at university.

It was his wife who brought him to church. “She said: ‘I believe in God. It’s very important to me. I won’t force you, but you should know this,’” Maxim recalled. Those words marked the beginning of his spiritual path. Faith developed from tradition to a personal relationship with God.

He notes that he did not come to faith because of tragedy or hardship. His parents were kind and educated, raising him with strong values. “I wasn’t an alcoholic or a drug addict, I didn’t have a ruined life,” he said. “But faith became an addition to what I already had and made me a different person.”

Emigration and a new life

In Kaliningrad, the couple were married in a Protestant church ceremony (a religious but unofficial rite). The next day Maxim left for the United States, having won the green card lottery.

He already knew which city he would call home. New York had been his dream ever since his first visit as a student.

The first months were difficult: a foreign city, no relatives or friends. He took a job with a company importing food from the post-Soviet region, but the work brought no joy.

“I went there just for the money,” he admitted. “For six months I was alone, and it was very hard, almost like depression.”

When his fiancée joined him in New York, they registered their marriage, and the loneliness ended.

“With her arrival, immigration took on new colors,” Maxim said. “Life here became easier, and I could accept this city.”

Back in Kaliningrad his wife had organized weddings, and she continued in that field after moving. The civil ceremonies at City Clerk’s offices looked monotonous and dull to her. She saw an opportunity to make weddings truly heartfelt. She suggested Maxim try officiating.

He didn’t hesitate long and the license could be obtained online in five minutes for $48. That was how he became a wedding minister in New York.

Online weddings

Real change came during the pandemic. When New York shut down, so did the Marriage Bureau.

Maxim watched Governor Andrew Cuomo’s briefings every day. At one of them, a reporter asked how people could get married under lockdown. Cuomo replied that since everything was moving to Zoom, weddings would too.

That changed everything. Online weddings became legal, and Maxim suddenly had a flood of clients. In a single year he officiated more than a thousand ceremonies. What had been a chance profession became his life’s work.

While New York’s executive order permitting online marriages expired in 2021, workarounds have kept the option alive. Couples can still marry virtually through states like Utah, which permanently allow remote ceremonies. Maxim now helps international couples navigate those channels, giving people who might otherwise be blocked by distance or politics the chance to wed legally.

Weddings he’ll never forget

Over the years Maxim has collected countless stories. He laughs remembering an online wedding where the bride and groom appeared onscreen dressed as a crab and a shrimp.

Some are more moving, like the New York jail ceremony where the groom arrived in the usual orange jumpsuit but, before the vows, pulled it off to reveal a plain white T-shirt. On the shirt, drawn in marker, was a suit and tie. The gesture was simple, naive, and, for Maxim, unforgettable.

Another time an Italian couple chose to marry inside the Museum of Modern Art, directly in front of Van Gogh’s Starry Night. The museum staff let them in before opening hours, and their dream came true: they exchanged vows beside the painting.

A neighborhood that became home

All these years Maxim has lived in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. At first he rented a room from acquaintances, later moving with his wife into the newly built condo on Fourth Avenue. The building replaced a former gas station and now offers sleek finishes and modern amenities that reflect the wave of luxury development in the neighborhood.

“I don’t know another neighborhood where I could live besides Sunset Park,” Maxim said. “Everything is close: three subway lines, twenty minutes to Manhattan, almost the same to the beach. Costco and Industry City are nearby, and the huge cemetery feels more like a green park for walking.”

The neighborhood has changed over time. New buildings have gone up, and a new social scene has emerged in the converted warehouses of nearby Industry City. Since the war in Ukraine began, many more Russian-speaking families have arrived.

“Before, we almost never heard Russian on the street. Now you hear it all the time,” he shared.

The future and a Christian community

Beyond weddings, Maxim is also building his spiritual life. He leads small home groups, Christian gatherings, and runs a Telegram channel. On Sept. 20, he plans to hold a family conference with a pastor, the first step toward creating a vibrant Russian-speaking church in New York.

He is also expanding his online wedding service to help couples around the world marry legally in the U.S., even if their own countries block them. He recalls one couple — she was Ukrainian, he was Russian — who could not wed in any consulate because of the war. Only through an online U.S. ceremony were they finally able to marry.

Maxim’s story is one of faith, love, and the ability to build bridges between people. In a vast city like New York, he has found his place and now helps others find theirs.