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Having found that being an actor involved taking on roles that were contrary to his beliefs and ethics, Victor began looking for a job that even in the totalitarian Soviet regime would entail less ethical and moral compromise. Responding to a notice by the Maxim Gorky Literary Institute for young writers, Victor was accepted based on a few literary critiques he had written in his application, and was only one of two people accepted as student literary critics. In his third year at the Institute he was offered a position at the literary journal ''Molodaya Gvardia'' (Young Guard). Beginning as an editor in the department of critics, he soon was promoted to senior editor of prose.
While on the surface, Victor was a successful member of the Soviet establishment, after hours he actively kept relations with political dissidents, writers, scholars, and [[clergy]] who were not satisfied with the status of human rights in the Soviet Union. Among his friends were such writers as Vladimir Maximov, [[w:Bulat Okudzhava]|Bulat Okudzhava]], Valerii Leviatov, Evgeny Ternovsky, and [[Alexander Solzhenitsyn]].
Having hoped that the field of literature would provide more freedom of conscience than that as an actor, in 1974, Victor was presented with the manuscript of a book ''Voina'' (The War) in which Stalin was rehabilitated and glorified and of which his boss stated that its editing is limited only to the level of "commas". Victor resigned from his position with the "Young Guard" that day.
His interest in Orthodoxy continued to grow and under the guidance of Father George Benigsen he read and studied and with his wife became parishioners at St. Nicholas Church in Saratoga. In January 1978, Victor and Barbara had their first son, Christopher Kirill. In November their second son, Philip Michael, arrived while Victor was teaching at the Defense Language School in Monterey. In May 1981, the family moved to New Jersey where Victor became the assistant editor-in-chief of the Russian paper ''Novoye Ruskoye Slovo'' in New York City.
In the autumn of 1982, Victor answered the call to serve the Church full time when he enrolled in [[St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York)|St Vladimir's Seminary]] in Crestwood, New York. Then, in the spring of 1983, the Sokolov family welcome their first daughter, Tamara. On the recommendation of the [[seminary]] dean Protopresbyter [[Alexander Schmemann]] Victor was [[ordination|ordained]] early a [[deacon]] on [[November 21]], 1983. His ordination as a [[priest]] came on [[April 18]], 1984. Then, he and his family began his ministry at the [[Ss. Cosmas and Damian Adult Home (Staten Island, New York)|Cosmos and Damian adult home]] on Staten Island, New York while completing his seminary education.
Following his graduation Father Victor was the priest at Holy Resurrection Church in Vancouver, Canada for a short time before serving at Mar Elias Orthodox Church while teaching Russian language and literature at the University of British Columbia. It was during his service in Canada that the Sokolov family grew again as two daughters, Anna and Maria, were added to the family.
