Women's monastery of St. John the Merciful. Women's Convent of St. John the Merciful Bishop Nil Sychev Mstera John the Merciful

In the books of the Suzdal district there are letters and measures of Mikhail Trusov and clerk Fyodor Vitovtov for 1628-1630. in the Strodubo-Ryapolovsky camp, the patrimony of the princes Romodanovsky and in it the churches - Epiphany and Ioannovskaya are mentioned: “for Prince Grigory for Grigorievich, the children of Petrovich Romodanovsky in honor of their father, their ancient pedigree patrimony of the Epiphany settlement on the Mstera River and on the churchyard the Church of the Epiphany of the Lord and God and Our Savior Jesus Christ stone and another church of Ivan the Merciful wood up.”

Let us not consider the Epiphany Monastery for now (the fact that the Church of the Epiphany was a monastery is evidenced by the presence of cells of black priests), but let us turn to the wooden Church of John the Merciful. It is obvious that it was built earlier than the 20s of the 17th century and for the period under review there was an independent church with a separate clergy. However, in 1710, a convent was mentioned at the St. John’s Church, the origin of which is unknown, abolished by the reform of Mother Catherine in 1764. No information has been preserved about how many times the wooden Church of St. John the Merciful was rebuilt.

At the beginning of the 19th century, it was decided to build a new stone church instead of a wooden one, about which the dean was notified and a request for permission for stone construction was sent to the Vladimir Spiritual Consistory. Construction costs were borne by landowner Ivan Vasilyevich Tutolmin. On May 27, 1809, Bishop Xenophon (Troepolsky) of Vladimir and Suzdal signed a charter for the Church of St. John. It specifically stipulated the absence of schismatic icons: “the icons were painted according to the ancient Orthodox Greek tradition of the Church with skillful craftsmanship, and from foreign kunshts, according to schismatic superstition with a double-fingered addition, they were not skillfully carved, except for the Crucifixion of the Lord, and then with skillful work, such as would not be prohibited at all.” It should be noted that the Epiphany Sloboda was quite a problematic place because of the Old Believers who lived here, belonging to sects of various persuasions...

Full text on the forum of the site http://www.vyazniki-local history.rf/forum/23-49-1#268

In Mstera there is... a parish church in the name of St. John the Merciful. This church is located near Epiphany. In the scribe books of the Suzdal district of 1628-30. for the children of Prince Romodanovsky it is written: “their father’s ancient ancestral patrimony is the Epiphany Settlement churchyard on the Mstera River, and on the graveyard there is a stone Church of the Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ and another church of Ivan the Merciful, wooden up, and in the churches there are images, books, vestments and bells and all kinds of church The building is a votchinnikov’s, near the church there are 2 cells of black priests, 2 cells of kryloshans, an elder’s cell and the courtyard of priest Efim...”

From the separate inventory of the settlement of Mstera in 1710 it is clear that there was a convent at the Church of St. John the Merciful with a chapel in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. When and by whom this monastery was founded and whether this church is the same as in 1628, or a new one, no information has been preserved. One might think that it was like a home monastery for the princesses of Romodanov, some of whom are listed as schema-nuns in the synodikon. In 1710, there was also a church in this monastery in the name of Metropolitan Philip. In 1764, the convent was abolished and St. John's Church was converted into a parish.

In 1809, instead of a wooden church, the currently existing stone church in the name of St. John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria. Utensils, sacristy, St. The church is sufficiently equipped with icons and liturgical books. From St. icons are noteworthy: the temple icon of St. John the Merciful ancient letter, image of St. John is decorated with a pearl robe, and the images of other saints depicted on the icon are gilded silver; icon of Nicholas, the miracle worker of Mozhaisk, the icon is decorated with a gilded silver robe; icon of St. Trinity in a silver gilded chasuble; an ancient icon of the Resurrection of the Lord in the same robe; ancient icon of St. Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow; as well as a Deesis of ancient writing and an ancient wood-carved shroud.

According to the staff, the clergy at the church are: priest and psalm-reader. It costs about 1,200 rubles to maintain them. in year. Church houses for members of the clergy. The parish consists of part of the Mstera settlement, 217 households, in which, according to the clergy registers, there are 649 souls and men. gender and female gender 722 souls.

V.S. Berezin, V.G. Dobronravov “Historical and statistical description of churches and parishes of the Vladimir diocese”, issue 5. Gub. mountains Vladimir, Typo-Lithography V.A. Parkova, 1898

In the scribe books of 1628-1230. For the first time, a wooden church in the name of St. John the Merciful is mentioned, “another church of St. John the Merciful is up in the woods.” In the scribe book for 1630, Mikhail Trusov and clerk Fyodor Vitovt reported that for the children of Prince Grigory Petrovich Romodanovsky “it is written ... their father’s ancient ancestral patrimony of the Epiphany settlement on the Mstera River and on the graveyard the Church of the Epiphany of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ stone and another church of Ivan the Merciful, wood up, and in the churches there are images, books and vestments...” In the mid-17th century. A convent was established at the church. Exactly when and by whom the monastery was founded, no information has been preserved. It is possible that this was the home monastery of the Romodanovsky princesses, some of whom are listed as schema-nuns in the synodikon. From a separate inventory of the Mstera settlement for 1710, you can find out that there was a convent at the Church of St. John the Merciful with a chapel in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. It was also said here that in this monastery “... there is also a church in the name of Metropolitan Philip, a tree.” It is worth noting that it was in this monastery that the famous Mstera satin stitch embroidery originated.

In 1764, both monasteries in Mstera were abolished by decree of Catherine II. Church of St. John the Merciful became a parish. At the end of the 18th century, the ensemble of the former convent consisted of wooden churches in the name of St. John the Merciful with the chapels of Kazan and Metropolitan Philip, a hipped bell tower with the main entrance, a stone fence and a small chapel. In 1809, the wooden Church of St. John the Merciful was dismantled and in its place a single-altar stone church with one dome on a low drum was built. The quadrangle of the temple was covered with a domed vault; it was adjoined on the west by a vestibule and on the east by a semicircular altar, with low turrets attached to the corners. The temple was built at the expense of I.V. Tutolmina in the then fashionable style of classicism. In the 1860s. At the expense of the Vyaznikovsky merchant of the 1st guild Osip Osipovich Senkov, a native of Mstera, a cast-iron floor was made in the temple and wall paintings were made. The temple was painted by a team of craftsmen from Palekh under the leadership of V.A. Salabanova. In 1867, instead of the tented bell tower, a new one was built according to the design of the Vladimir diocesan architect N.A. Artleben. The same merchant Senkov donated money for the construction of the bell tower. The main temple icon was the image of St. John the Merciful "from an ancient letter: around the saint are depicted the holy martyr Callistratus, Demetrius, Onesiphorus, Alexander, Paraskeva and the head of John the Baptist; the image of St. John is decorated with a pearl robe, and the images of other saints - with a gilded silver robe." During the years of persecution of the Church, the Church of St. John the Merciful was sealed, and the crosses and bells were thrown down under the cover of darkness on March 30, 1929.

In the early 1930s. the temple was adapted into a club named after the First of May (later it became the club of the oilcloth factory named after Dzerzhinsky). The wall painting is painted over, a stage is set up in the altar, the bell tower and fence are dismantled, the chapel is turned into a shop selling kerosene. At the end of the 1950s. The chapel was also dismantled. Bricks from the dismantling of structures were used to construct a foyer on the north side of the building, and on the west side to construct a movie booth and box office. After such reconstructions, the church loses its original appearance and becomes a cultural institution.

In 2005, the convent of St. John the Merciful was reopened as a metochion of the Annunciation Monastery in Vyazniki. In 2006, a worship cross was installed on the territory of the monastery, and a dome was installed on the restored Church of St. John the Merciful. In January 2007, a cross was consecrated and installed on the dome. Now the convent of John the Merciful, together with the male Epiphany Monastery, are the main attractions of Mstera.

The farmstead was formed on the site of b. parish church in honor of St. John the Merciful. The temple was first mentioned in 1628-1630. By the middle of the 17th century, a convent was established at the church. In 1764, by decree of Catherine II, the monastery was abolished, and the church in honor of St. John the Merciful became a parish. In 1809, the wooden church was dismantled and a stone one was built. During the years of persecution it was closed and in the early 1930s it was converted into a club.

Currently, the Church of St. John the Merciful is a monument of urban planning and architecture of regional significance. In 2005, by order of the Archbishop of Vladimir and Suzdal Eulogius, the monastery in honor of St. John the Merciful was transferred to the Znamensky Convent of the city of Gorokhovets “for the purpose of its construction and restoration with the resumption of monastic life in it.”
Since April 29, 2009 it has become the courtyard of the Holy Annunciation Convent in the city of Vyazniki. On March 11, 2014, by decree of Bishop Nil of Murom and Vyaznikovsky, the metochion was transformed into the Bishop's metochion of St. John the Merciful village. Mstera. The abbess of the metochion is the nun Thomaida (Zuychenko).

The Zagatsky Monastery named after John the Merciful belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. It has a long history, because it was founded in 1625 on the initiative of Irina Yarmolinskaya, the widow of a colonel of the royal troops. There are versions that the monastery is located on the former site of the Yarmolinsky family estate along with other nuns.

The monastery is one of the oldest buildings in Volyn, made in the Byzantine style. The main building of this shrine is a two-tier stone church, on the south side of which there is a building for the brothers to live. The icons of the All-Merciful Mother of God, St. John the Merciful and the Martyr Mammoth, along with part of their relics, are preserved here. In 1637, Irina endowed the monastery with the perpetual use of a pond, a mill, fields and hayfields. Her son and grandson were also generous to the community and gave them two plots of land. Soon, not far from the monastery, a village arose with the name Malye Zagaitsy. In exchange for the use of their land, the villagers helped the monks with rural work. At the beginning of the 18th century, the ancestors of the founder of the monastery converted to Catholicism, after which in 1709 the monastery was forced to convert to union by causing damage to the building. In 1721 it was completely transferred to the union. Under the new abbot, the monastery was gradually restored. Since 1794, the monastery again became Orthodox with enrollment as freelancers. In the period from 1813 to 1853, a theological school was located within its walls. In the middle of the 19th century, the monastery was transferred to the category of three-class, and since 1865 the Kremenets Epiphany Monastery was assigned to it. In 1899, on June 4, during a thunderstorm, the dome burned down and part of the wall of the large church collapsed. Soon, an unknown fire destroyed another significant part of the monastery and the food savings of the monks. The archive contained extremely valuable books and manuscripts. One of the most important rarities was the Bible of the first Slavic edition, printed in Ostrog in 1581 (kept in the monastery until 1914). With the arrival of the Bolsheviks, the monastery was almost completely destroyed. In 1964, it was deregistered as a religious building and transferred for cultural purposes. In the 80s, most of the cells were destroyed. Since October 2001, after the blessing of the Archbishop of Ternopil and Kremenets, repair and restoration work began in the monastery. There was a need for significant funds in order to establish communications, gas and water supply. There was also a problem with the return of lands to the monastery, since the documents on the right to own them were destroyed.

The small convent of St. John the Merciful, in the village of Mstera, Vladimir region, is adjacent to a monastery, restored over the past ten years. In the monastery there is the main Mstera parish. Against such a background, the women's monastery, which has existed for five years, looks modest and even lonely. There are only six sisters here who manage a small farm: a five-acre garden, a couple of goats and chickens.

For the first time, a wooden church in the name of St. John the Merciful is mentioned in 1628-1630. By the middle of the 17th century, a convent was built next to the church, which was abolished in 1764 by order of Catherine II. The church was made into a parish. In 1809, a single-altar stone church was erected in its place. Another half century later, at the expense of the local merchant Senkov, a cast-iron floor was made in the temple, the walls were painted and a tent-roofed bell tower was erected. In 1929, the temple was sealed, the paintings were painted over, the crosses and bells were removed, the icons were thrown into the river, the chapel was converted into a shop selling kerosene, the bell tower and fence were dismantled, an extension was made for a movie booth, a ticket office and a shooting gallery. So the temple turned into a factory club named after May 1. The youth of several generations walked and danced here until the building completely fell into disrepair.

Record by dioceses

Having dismantled the stage in the place of the altar, the sisters discovered the bases of the columns. The reconstruction of the temple began with them. They decided not to remove the Soviet extension, but re-roofed it, and from a one-story extension it turned into a two-story one. Downstairs there is a kitchen and a refectory, upstairs there are two-three-bed cells. There, on the second floor, is the abbess’s room, where guests are usually received. The ceiling height here is about seventy meters, the room is crammed with a lot of things. Icons, a sideboard with dishes, a teapot, glass figurines of angels, a stuffed tiger, stationery, a Casio synthesizer, a guitar (the sisters write chants, post them on the website, perform at Orthodox concerts), an old sofa and a computer connected to the Internet (they use it in mostly mother, and then only to check the mail and website made by a local parishioner).

Mother treats us to green tea and says that there are no photographs of the monastery and the temple preserved. But in the archive there was a historical certificate that listed which 12 icons were in the iconostasis. By the way, some of them were found in a neighboring monastery, but Mother Thomaida does not lay claim to them. “Will they really not give it back if you ask?” - I’m surprised. “Come on,” she waves it off, “God’s will, they will come to us. But I won’t start a war: people are already attached to these icons, the Vladimir Church has never been closed, let them pray. And our temple... people got used to the fact that there was a club here, with fewer people, of course. But sometimes pilgrims come.” It is mainly through the efforts of pilgrims, or, more precisely, workers, that the monastery is being revived. The iconostasis is not yet filled, but some were donated by restorers, some were painted by local artists. Mstera is famous for its ancient school of icon painting and lacquer miniatures.

The sisters hire construction workers using funds from donations. However, this is not a lot of money; the monastery does not even have its own current account yet. The diocese cannot constantly finance the monastery. “Do you know how many of us there are in the diocese? - Mother Thomaida explains simply. - Every more or less serious parish or monastery is assigned a ruined church like this. We have probably thirty active monasteries alone - a record for all dioceses. I don’t even know how many churches there are.”

Three months after the start of the cleaning, the first service took place, on the patronal feast of November 20, 2005. They set up a table, laid out the Gospel, lit candles... Dean Father Ilya, sisters, and pilgrims came from Gorokhovets for the holiday. “There was special grace,” mother recalls. “Something that cannot be expressed in words.”

Now the temple premises are whitewashed and prepared for weekly prayers and memorial services. The sisters hope that they will be able to completely complete the reconstruction, build a bell tower, two cell buildings and an icon-painting workshop.

Mysterious paths

Sisters will work in the workshop, and first of all, Mother Thomaida, a restorer of easel, oil and tempera painting by training. She is not yet forty, in the world she worked at a church, had a family in Gorokhovets (Vladimir region). Ten years ago, her confessor advised her to go to the Znamensky Monastery in Gorokhovets. She obeyed, leaving her 6-year-old son Dmitry in the care of her grandmother. Now the young man is already 17 years old, he is studying at an art school. I couldn’t resist: “Did your son understand your decision?” “He has a lot of questions now,” the abbess answered evasively.

Each nun has her own path. Mother Maria came to the Mstera monastery together with her husband, Father Roman. In the world, she worked as a laundress in a kindergarten, he worked as a carpenter, they raised children... Mother Salome was a secretary at a factory before retirement... The whole life of the 40-year-old novice Nadezhda was spent at the church, largely thanks to her aunt, the church elder. Nadezhda took part in services from the age of 16, did not get married, her brother also retired from the hustle and bustle and became a priest... The old nun Angelina was tonsured at home, although she is registered in the monastery, but due to illness she is on a home regime.

The sisters are engaged in embroidery, housekeeping, go on pilgrimages to Diveevo and Serpukhov and rehabilitate people suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction.

Awareness

Strictly speaking, the private center “Awareness” is engaged in the rehabilitation of alcoholics and drug addicts. But it is mainly clergy who work with lost souls. It all happens as follows. In Nizhny Novgorod there is the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh, where on Fridays they read an akathist to the Mother of God in front of the “Inexhaustible Chalice” icon. If a person who has problems with drugs or alcohol sincerely repents and asks for help, he is first given a condition: to attend the reading of the akathist three times. When the first test is passed, the priest and the psychologist begin to work with the person: consultations, confession, conversations. After such a 30-day “quarantine”, people get the opportunity to live for a month at one of six churches in the Vladimir region. Monastery in the name of St. John the Merciful is one of them. Violators of discipline are punished with stricter control and regulations, penance, and if this does not help, they are expelled from the center. But if the test is passed, then everyone who wishes then gets the opportunity to work in a rehabilitation center.

Now six young women live at the monastery of St. John the Merciful in Mstera from “Awareness”, and 11 men live in the neighboring village of Naleskino. Most women come from good families and have higher education. In the monastery they clean the temple, help in the garden and in the kitchen. And the men - almost all of them - served several sentences in prison. Now in Naleskino they are restoring the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, of which practically nothing remains.

During withdrawal symptoms, no one is given medication or an ambulance is called - only prayers and patience. It is compulsory for everyone to attend Sunday school at the monastery, and a year later there is graduation. “At the final lesson of Sunday school, grades are put in a journal,” Mother Thomaida smiles. - Our school is really a bit like a regular school: music classes, homework. And these uncles and aunts are raising their hands, seriously indignant, why the deuce. Little children, honestly!” “Little children” often marry each other and maintain friendly relations upon returning home. During the year spent here, they go through a difficult path of spiritual formation, looking for themselves and peace in their souls.

Natalya, 27 years old, higher education, accountant with eight years of experience:

“Once my husband brought home heroin, we tried it. Over time, my husband switched from drugs to alcohol, and then left me because I became addicted, lost my job and my human appearance. For three years I was on the needle, my mother started going to church, then to Awareness. She began to understand me better, and maybe that pushed me to understand her. I began to communicate with the “Osoznan” father Valentin, went to the first akathist, but he did not make an impression on me. Three months ago I realized that if I don’t come to the monastery, that’s it. And here I am. I'm rethinking life here. I’m not ready to go back yet, I can’t even be calm about syringes. I hope I have a chance to get out of all this.”

Marina, 25 years old, Nizhny Novgorod, higher education in construction:

“At school I was an excellent student, I was involved in athletics and dance sports. At the age of 18, she began her adult life, worked as a software engineer, rented an apartment, completed railway courses and became a conductor. I tried drugs in 1999. I started with cigarettes and ended with heroin in 2004. All my friends are now either in the next world or in prison for theft. I had to steal too. When I got sober, I became scared, but then the disease overtook me again. At one of these moments, I realized that I had nothing but sorrows, deaths, debts and my mother’s tears. Dad passed away after a heart attack. I'm 25, there's darkness ahead. I looked for ways through hospitals, IVs, stitches, rehabilitation centers - it didn’t help. Mom found out about “Awareness”, went to the “Inexhaustible Chalice” icon, and I went to confession. I've been here for six months now. It was surprising to me that here withdrawal symptoms go smoother without medications than with medications at home. It's harder to cope with the fact that the nightmare is happening in your head. Of course, we ruined our health. In six months I will return to normal life. One of these days, as a test, I’ll go on vacation for a week. I'm scared. All my friends are somehow involved with drugs. Believe it or not, everyone has a higher education: teachers, psychologists, police officers. But I already have a different worldview, I can already separate good from evil. When I come back, I’ll get married and go to work as an architect-designer.”

Alexey Kuzakov, 35 years old, Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region, secondary specialized construction education, 13 years of maximum security camps:

“I have been addicted to alcohol since I was 16 years old, I have been in a rehabilitation center for more than a year. Here I took a sip of pure life. Not the one where I was only interested in money to spend in restaurants and clubs. When the money ran out, I went to crime - robbery, prison. I studied well at school, but didn’t go anywhere, I wanted to stand out in some way, and so I stood out... I was released four times, the last time two years ago. And I realized that I, as a person, am a zero, although I could do a lot. I saw an ad in the newspaper and ended up here. I have changed this year. Have you ever been to confession? I had such sins, I caused such pain without realizing it, I was not at all interested in what people felt. When I realized this, it was as if the weights had been lifted from me. I'm ready to leave here. No one can decide this for you; you have to put aside your doubts yourself. I will lead a sober life for the sake of my family and friends. I have a family, we met in church. In Awareness, many people start families because they can truly support each other.”

Sergei Dyatlov, 36 years old, Nizhny Novgorod, rear military school, 11 years in prison:

“For robbery, I received 11 years in places not so remote. I was 20 years old, and it seemed that life had passed me by. And I decided to live with what I had: denial of the regime, no interests, tuberculosis. In the cold, hungry isolation wards, I felt the power of prayer. Everything I asked from God was given to me. I worked at a furniture factory, my grandmother bequeathed an apartment. But then my wife and I had a disagreement: she wanted money and to go out, I decided, if she can afford it, why don’t I inject myself. Just think, heroin, I’m strong, I’ll quit in a month. So four years passed on heroin. Then I went to different dispensaries, but they took money and did not help. Five months ago I came here to a blessed place. They sincerely fight for every person here, I feel this grace. We are restoring the temple, chopping wood for local grandmothers, our souls are pure and calm. And you haven’t yet seen the faces of parents on Parents’ Day, when they come and see what we are becoming.”

Vacation at the monastery

Valentina Perevedentseva

Not taking a vacation for at least a few days in the summer is a small crime against yourself. But what is the best way to give your soul and body a rest? Someone traditionally goes to the sea, someone is going to visit relatives... And Nizhny Novgorod resident Tatyana Yushchenko, a 43-year-old single mother of four children, spent her short summer vacation last year... in a monastery.

It all started when the director of a private recruitment agency, Tatyana Yushchenko, firmly decided to give a tenth of her business income to good causes - in other words, to make donations. And then I was faced with a problem: where or to whom should I donate? “A few days after this decision was made, while reading the Rossiyskaya Gazeta, I noticed a short article that said that in the Vyaznikovsky district of the Vladimir region, in the village of Mstera, a convent in the name of St. John the Merciful was being restored,” recalls Tatyana. - And the second asked to help the monastery in any way they could - with money or labor. I especially liked this expression: “with money or labor.” I realized that I was ready to help both.”

Tatiana admits that before this she only went to church occasionally, and she certainly never lived or worked in a monastery.

It became interesting. “There is a crisis outside, there are a lot of sins, and I’m mentally tired of the struggle for life. I also remembered: in my youth, when we lived in the village, any stress I had with a hoe in the garden would go away in two days. Now, in the city, I am torn from thoughts and thoughts. My grandmother also said: “There will be difficult times, Tanya, you work more and eat less, there will be no bad thoughts in your head.” Look, we townsfolk have no calluses on our hands, not even the men!” - this is how Tatyana explains her decision to go to a monastery for four days. No sooner said than done.

Getting to know your own pride

She traveled from Nizhny Novgorod to Vyazniki by bus for two and a half hours, and then another forty minutes by local bus to the village of Mstera. “My ideas about Mstera were not justified: I thought it was a small village in the forest - three houses, a wooden church. But the village turned out to be very large and beautiful! To my shame, before the trip I didn’t even bother to look up information about Mstera on the Internet - that’s self-confidence and pride. And only upon returning to Nizhny did I read that Mstera is perhaps the only settlement in Russia where almost every second resident is an artist or icon painter. For example, it was the Mstera icon painters who restored the masterpiece of ancient Russian painting - “The Trinity” by Andrei Rublev!”

From Tatyana Yushchenko's diary
Friday, day two

“I get up at 6 o’clock in the morning, but I woke up earlier because I really want to go to the toilet, but it’s on the street, and it’s a fair distance to it. I really want to go to my own warm toilet. But I stop all thoughts about civilization and run headlong into the street. I must pay tribute, the toilet is new, just built, clean, with expensive toilet paper - my pride subsides. On the way back to the monastery, I watch a sunrise that I remember only in my younger years. And the first grateful thoughts that have not visited me for a long time begin to flash in my head.

Then - washing, morning prayer, breakfast and labor obedience, at 12 o'clock - lunch, you can rest, then work again, at half past four - tea drinking, again labor obedience, dinner at 7 pm and after that evening prayer. After ten o'clock lights out, but there is no strictness in the regime. You can go to bed at least at 1 am, but you will have to get up at 6 am. This is the routine of the monastery.

During the day I manage to get used to and adapt to all the inhabitants of the monastery, help prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner and, of course, wash the dishes after the meal, process several bags of apples for jam and compote. And at the same time I’m still cleaning up the kitchen.

By evening, out of habit, my legs began to hurt from fatigue. I could no longer stand during evening prayer. And suddenly I remembered how recently they showed a program on TV about the life of famous people in a monastery. One actress told how she secretly slept on her knees during morning prayers. Lord, forgive me, but I did the exact same thing. She laid a rug on the floor of the temple, knelt down, bent down to the floor and quietly dozed. My pride was broken, my pride was broken too, but I didn’t care anymore.

There were no thoughts. And when, falling on the bed, I fell asleep, I had a long-lost feeling of good fatigue. A state when you are satisfied with your work and feel the results of your work.”

Revelations at the stove and at the table

Working in the kitchen, Tatiana had the opportunity to feed not only those who live in the monastery, but also everyone who comes to help - the children from the neighboring village where the Ozoznanie rehabilitation center is located, and Father Sergius, who came with them. A conversation with the latter prompted her to think that men and women are two different and incompatible worlds, since women live by feelings, and men are very rational. “I realized that only love connects us,” says Tatyana. - Like a bridge, it connects father and son, mother and daughter, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, son-in-law and mother-in-law, husband and wife, all of us, regardless of age, relationship and status. Perhaps this is God’s providence.”

From Tatyana Yushchenko's diary
Saturday, day three

“I am assigned to help in the kitchen. We prepare the first course - pickle, for the second course rice with stewed zucchini, cucumber salad, tea with gingerbread and cookies. All the women and men gather for lunch. We're a little late with cooking because the lights have been turned off and we can't use the electric stove. Finally, the tables are set and everyone sits down. Before eating, prayer is a must.

Mother Thomaida and Father Sergius are separate, the men have their own table, and we women are at another table. We eat quietly, without talking. When the meal is over, Father Sergius slowly begins a conversation about Alexander Nevsky. After the conversation, everyone gets up, reads a prayer and disperses.

The rest of the day we washed out the jars, put jam in them and moved them to the pantry, and at the same time put things in order there. I didn’t sleep anymore during the evening service. I felt peace in my soul while praying. I had a conversation with God and talked about what had accumulated in my soul and heart. I didn’t complain, I didn’t ask, I didn’t demand, I didn’t beg - I talked. Kneeling in prayer, I suddenly realized the faith of the people who are restoring this temple. All my life's difficulties became so small compared to the courage with which these people carried their chosen cross on their shoulders. This is where we can learn devotion to our purpose! With these thoughts I fell asleep. I slept better than ever."

Better than any training

During her little obedience, Tatyana remembered that, it turns out, she cooks well - especially lean food. “Thank you to the crisis, I taught you!” - she laughs. In response to numerous praises for his cooking - “God bless” instead of “thank you.” And mentally summing up the results of her stay, she realized that she received immeasurably more than what she came for: self-esteem rose without any training or seminars - from honest work, from good fatigue. Doubts have gone, but questions have arisen that city residents so often forget about. And most importantly, she came up with a desire to continue the experiment and make more than one trip to the holy, reviving places.

From Tatyana Yushchenko's diary
Sunday, day four

“The morning started off actively: the service is Sunday, so there is no breakfast, but there will be lunch. And I cook everything myself, I was entrusted with the kitchen and cooking, only the girls from the “Awareness” center helped. We prepared real Ukrainian borscht, boiled dumplings with potatoes for the main course, and the girls made a very tasty salad and compote from fresh apples. The meal lasted for several hours, as pilgrims arrived from Kovrov. They fed and washed dishes - in several shifts.

My soul felt light and warm, I wanted to thank people. I kneaded the dough, and for dinner we all baked poppy seed buns together. It was fun, we laughed, quietly sang church songs. And on Monday early in the morning I had to leave.

Will definitely come back here again. Just when - I don’t know, I don’t like to make guesses.”

Oksana PRILEPINA