When the priest gives up. How can we help the older generation come to the Church? School benches were placed between the coffins

How can we help our parents - those who are much older than us: mothers, fathers, grandparents - to come to Church? After all, the older generation grew up and formed under the Soviet regime, when atheism was the dominant ideology. They are already rooted in their worldview, in their habits. It is difficult for them to come to the temple, especially the first time. Many of them still treat the Church with distrust.

But on the other hand, is it good when the younger ones try to teach the older ones, especially in such serious matters? How can we help, and how can we be here at all? Is it worth it to conduct clarifying conversations, argue and persuade, or is there another way?

"Any faith imposed by force is an unfaithful faith"

:

- The most important thing is not to tell you to believe, to pray, to fast and not to advise constantly: "Do as I do!" Axiom: "Any faith imposed by force is a wrong faith" - not only for the younger ones, it remains an axiom for the older ones as well.

Arguing is fraught: we will receive too many arguments about a more moral level of society at the time when our parents and grandparents grew up and lived. The concept of respect for elders, caring for the younger, helping the sick and the elderly were brought up and encouraged, just as education with all its ideological deviations was then at a high level.

Love "for fatherly coffins", for traditions and history - an argument to which the older generation will listen

But there is an argument that the older generation listens to: the famous moral code of those times, if we remove the ideological constructions from it, is inherently naive, but in general a correct copy of the basic biblical postulates. We will be able to explain this - interest will appear; we will be able to strive for the fulfillment of the commandments of God by our behavior and non-deceitful sincerity - interest will grow into a desire to find out what kind of faith this is.

Another argument that the older generation will always listen to is love “for fatherly graves”, for traditions and our history.

I have a young priest acquaintance who attracted my grandmother to the temple, together with my grandfather, compiling the genealogical tree of his family. When my grandfather asked why he was doing this, he asks relatives, writes letters to the archives, the father replied: I want to pray for them. This was enough for the old people to come to the temple.

It is a personal example of faith, based on the tradition, culture and history of our ancestors, based, as it seems to me, the main argument in apologetics with the older generation.

In short: don't be obsessive, but be an example.

"If you have recently entered the fold of the Church, learn first yourself"

:

- For me personally, this question was very painful for a long time. The fact is that I grew up in an ordinary atheistic family. Nobody, neither my parents, nor my sister and I believed in God. In 1989, when I was 13 years old, my sister and I decided to be baptized with another cousin. Nobody taught us the faith, and we, children, decided to be baptized for some unknown reason, just to join some mysterious action that would protect and help. But in an amazing way, the sacrament of Baptism changed me, opened the heart of God, and I left the church as a new person, feeling inside the amazing light, joy and even freedom. Since then, my life has changed dramatically, I went to church and was glad that I had found the meaning of life, I no longer saw any other way for myself except serving God. And then it turned out that my parents did not understand me.

"Why do you need that?" - they told me when I was going to church on Saturday and Sunday. They saw no prospects along the way. Church life frightened them and aroused bewilderment, seemed a relic of the past. However, they did not interfere with me and did not forbid me. And when I entered the theological seminary - that was in 1993 - it turned out that the overwhelming majority of the seminarians, as far as I remember, came from unchurched families. There was a paradox: children turned to God before their parents. It seems to me that now this difference has somewhat smoothed out.

I don’t remember exactly what I said to my parents, but I said unequivocally, I wanted them to take this joy - communication with God. I remember sharing my impressions of what I read in the Bible. And since I began to read the Bible, like any book, from the first lines, that is, from the Old Testament, then, not being sufficiently churchly, I spoke with enthusiasm about things that were completely useless in the light of the New Testament, for example, about clean and unclean food. than only introduced his parents and grandmother to bewilderment.

Now I am convinced: if you yourself have recently entered the fold of the Church, then do not try to teach anyone. Learn yourself first. Naturally, my words did not really work on my parents: they did not go to church.

To be honest, I never developed any methodology for converting to the faith of the older generation. It seems to me, in a sense, even artificial and incorrect. If a child tries to teach his parents wisdom, then it looks just crazy. It is obvious to me that if children turned to God apart from their parents, then even more so, parents can turn to God without the obsession of children.

Only a good example can influence. People are always drawn to what brings them good, benefit. And when they see with a specific example and realize that the Church brings good to the soul, then a rethinking begins. My parents turned to God besides some kind of propaganda on my part.

I will also reveal a secret: when I studied at the seminary at the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, I regularly, almost every day, went to St. Each time I carried with me a note with the names of my relatives and prayed for their conversion to God, for the salvation of their souls. During the time that has passed since then, almost all relatives have really turned to God. But this was done somehow imperceptibly.

First, my mother went to church, began to confess, receive communion. Then dad began to walk from time to time. Years passed, and it turned out that our relatives built a temple, the temple immediately took a central place in the lives of many relatives, and my parents settled right next to the temple, dad himself began to confess and receive communion, without anyone's requests or suggestions. Likewise, grandmother, and almost everyone - each in his own way, but came to God.

The most important thing is constant prayer for loved ones, prayer from the heart

I don’t think that it is possible to bring a person to God by means of disputes and discussions. Turning to God is the secret of the human soul. We can only offer a kindly person to our senior, tell us about Christ, about how life in the Church strengthens and nourishes us. But the most important thing is constant prayer for loved ones, prayer from the heart - it bears fruit.

The difference between faith and unbelief is not just a difference in worldviews, it is a difference between two internal states, the experience of the heart. One heart feels God's presence, the other does not. Faith in God cannot be implanted in the soul in a rational and rational way. It is acquired as a revelation, as a personal meeting with God, and then the heart is transformed.

If children turned to God before their parents, then this is already a huge spiritual victory. This is much better than when parents turned to God, but children did not. Usually, parents look more anxiously at what their children have devoted themselves to, so often parents perceive their children to turn to God.

I would like to remember from history. When the Orthodox faith was spreading in Russia, things were especially difficult in Rostov the Great. The first two bishops were expelled. Saint Leonty of Rostov was made the third bishop, but he also failed to persuade the local residents to believe, he was also expelled. Then he settled near Rostov and began to communicate with the children of local residents. Children were attracted by his kindness, and he spoke to them about Christ, about salvation, then baptized them, and after that adults began to dispose of faith. Thus, the conversion of children to Christ became the beginning of the churching of all Rostov. Therefore, the appeal of children to God before their parents is a gratifying phenomenon in the life of modern Russia. Through children, faith will spread to everyone.

"Education" of fathers

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- It seems to me that with regard to older relatives, first of all, you need to take care of the most accurate and complete fulfillment of the commandment to honor parents. This also applies to grandfathers, grandmothers and other older relatives. Because, of course, love must serve as the basis for preaching about Christ. Then our word, spoken about faith, will be “seasoned with salt,” that is, spiritually full and meaningful. This is the first thing.

Second, we should not think that changes in our loved ones will happen quickly and exactly as we expect it. People are all different, and in someone the blessed change of heart happens easily and quickly, but in someone it is difficult and slow. In any case, you need to value the freedom of a loved one and not force his will. Arm yourself with patience and benevolent respect. And this means: do not fool your head with your endless notations, “do not consider yourself to be something, being nothing” (cf. Gal. 6: 3). Learn to listen and serve more, and not be clever and educate.

You can and should tell your family about faith, but this should be done with tact, and not deliberately teaching

Of course, you can and should tell your family and friends about your faith, but you need to do this with tact, and not deliberately, with an "educational" purpose, which can only irritate the father and mother, who themselves taught you to speak once, and now you are trying to teach them something. And even if you say the right words a thousand times, but if there is no simplicity and confidence, if these words do not come from the fullness of your heart's life, then only letters remain.

Only the Lord heals a person's heart, we must remember this. This means that you need to pray with pain for your unbelievers or unchurched relatives and be a living and true Christian yourself. Confirm your sermon by your personal example, remembering that “there is no word wiser than deed” (Saint Mark the Ascetic).

The priest was disappointed to find that his flock was the only one farmer. As he contemplated whether he should conduct the service this Sunday, he decided to ask his member's opinion.
“If I carry a bucket of millet to my chickens,” the farmer began, “and only one comes, I don’t leave her hungry,” he logically concluded.
Moved by this simple analogy, the priest climbed into the pulpit and delivered an emotional and lengthy sermon.
- Did you like the service? he asked at the end of the sermon.
“When only one chicken comes,” the farmer replied irritably, “I don’t feed her the whole bucket.

Two priests meet. One says:
- Imagine, the other day I am leading a service in the church, a woman comes in, not only with her head uncovered, she also smokes in the temple of God. I almost dropped the beer from my hands.

A boorish-looking young man enters the church, walks up to the priest, hits him on the cheek and, smiling maliciously, says:
- And what, father, it is said, they hit on the right cheek, turn the left one too.
Father, the former master of sports in boxing with a hook on the left, sends the insolent man into the corner of the temple and meekly says:
- It has also been said, with what measure you measure, the same will be measured for you!
Frightened parishioners:
- What is happening there?
The deacon is important:
- The Gospel is being interpreted.

The priest in the church:
- Whoever will swear in church, I will fuck off with a stick!
- Forgive me, Father, but you yourself said "fuck * yachu"?
- Get f * ck, damned!

In confession.
- My father, I have sinned - I called one young man "son of a bitch."
“What made you call him that, my daughter?
- He touched my hand without my permission.
- Like this? (touches her hand)
- Yes, my father.
- But after that he stripped me.
- So? - undresses her
- Yes, my father.
“But that's not a reason to call him a son of a bitch.
- But after that he shoved you know what you know where.
- So?
- Yes, my father
“But that's not a reason to call him a son of a bitch.
- But, Father, he has syphilis!
- Here's a son of a bitch!

Father, maybe a glass for the health of the young?
- Sorry, dear, you can't. I'm at the censer.

There are many passengers on the bus, crowding, inconvenience ... One young lady was pressed to the priest, and she exclaimed:
- Wow!
To which the priest replied:
- Not "wow", but the key to the temple! ..

The priest comes home all beaten, his wife asks:
- Father, how?
And he says to her:
- This is not an image, but a candelabrum ...

In the New York subway, a filthy man with an eerily red face sits in a carriage, dressed in only rags, smells of alcohol a mile away from him, and he is reading a newspaper. A Catholic priest in vestments sits down next to the peasant. The man looked up from the newspaper, looked at the priest and asked:
- Tell me, dad, and what causes rheumatism in people?
The priest gave the man a contemptuous look and answered:
- Rheumatism occurs only in those people who parasitize all their lives, lead a dissolute lifestyle, consume alcohol in unmeasured quantities and have long sold their souls to the devil!
The man exclaimed: - "Well, nifiga yourself!" and again buried himself in the newspaper. A minute later, the priest became very ashamed that he had treated the peasant so rudely, not in a Christian manner. In order to somehow smooth over his guilt, the priest in a caring voice asked the peasant:
- Tell me, have you been suffering from rheumatism for a long time?
To which the man replied in a hoarse voice:
- What are you, papa, I have no rheumatism. It's just that the newspaper says that he was found with the Pope.

The new Russian comes to church for confession.
The priest asks him:
- What is your sin, my son?
- Father, I'm too greedy.
- Greed is a great sin. When you leave the church, you must give $ 50 to the first person who gets in your way.
- How? $ 50 to the first person you meet?
- My son, if you want to embark on the path of correction, you must start with this.
The new Russian listened to him. He leaves the church - no one is around! He goes on and sees one girl - high-heeled shoes, a short skirt, cosmetics are almost falling off.
He comes up to her, gives her a $ 50 bill and says:
- Here, take it…
- No, it's not enough, you need $ 100.
- Why $ 100? Father told me that I need to give $ 50.
- Well, father is a regular customer ...

Let go of my sin, Father! Was drunk yesterday ...
- Is your repentance sincere?
- Encoded, father!

Church. Absolution. Father:
- Sinful, my daughter?
- Sinful, father.
- How many times have you sinned?
- Two.
- Go and read the "Our Father" twice, and you will be released.
Next.
- Sinful, my daughter?
- Sinful, father.
- How many times have you sinned?
- Three.
- Go read "Our Father" three times, and you will be released.
Next.
- Sinful, my daughter?
- Sinful, father.
- How many times have you sinned?
- Ten and a half.
- Hm ... Go to bed. Then you will come. I'm not good at fractions.

Once an Orthodox priest and a rabbi became friends. Houses were built in the neighborhood, a common garden, without a fence, planted. And we decided to buy one for two "Zaporozhets". No sooner said than done. They drove in, put them between the houses and went to sleep.
But the priest cannot sleep: the car should be blessed, but he does not want to offend the rabbi. Spun, spun, and in the middle of the night decided: asleep, I suppose, a friend and will not know anything.
I went out into the garden with holy water. Goes around the car, splashes. Comes up from behind, lo and behold, and the exhaust pipe is cut off! ...

What, Father, are your parishioners! They stand at the service calmly and splendidly, and earlier they drove away mosquitoes with their hands.
- And now I put fumitox in the censer. That's why they don't bite ...

In the church after the service, a hefty, shaved fellow comes up to the priest and says:
- Well, you, fraer, in nature, cool sculpt, damn it!
- How do you talk to the priest? Get out of the temple!
- Well, as you know ... And I wanted to donate ten grand to the temple.
- Ten pieces !? Well, you, bro, in nature, a trump sidekick!

All anecdotes are fictional. Coincidences with real people or events are random.

A priest is walking through the desert, and a lion comes to meet.
The priest begins to pray:
- Lord, inspire this lion with Christian thoughts.
Leo kneels down:
- God bless my food!

The priest, who arrived in a small village, asked the boy how to get to the church, where he would read a sermon in the evening.
After the boy showed him the way, the priest suggested:
- Come tonight and bring all your friends!
- What for? the boy asked.
“I’ll tell you how to get to heaven,” the priest replied.
- You are joking! the boy laughed. - You didn't even know how to get to church!

We read about the Old Testament Joseph, who married the daughter of an Egyptian priest.
- Dad, who is a priest?
- Son, this is such a priest ...
David interrupts:
- Is this uncle a priest who eats a lot?

A new priest arrived in the Finnish village and decided to get acquainted with the parishioners by personally visiting everyone's homes. And so he knocks on the door of the peasant Jussi. Jussi's wife's voice comes from behind the door:
- Is that you, my angel?
The priest was a little at a loss, but answered:
- No, but I'm from the same company.

After finishing the service, the priest announced:
“Next Sunday I will be talking to you about lies. To make it easier for you to understand what will be discussed, read before this at home the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark.
On the following Sunday the priest, before starting his sermon, announced:
“I ask those who have read the seventeenth chapter to raise their hands.
Almost everyone present raised their hands.
“It’s with you that I wanted to talk about lies,” said the priest. - At
Mark no seventeenth chapter.

A bus driver and a priest stand at the gates of paradise.
Saint Peter comes out to them:
- You, driver, come in, and you, father, wait a little.
The priest is indignant:
- How so? I have dedicated my whole life to the church!
- So what? Everyone was asleep in your church, and everyone on the bus was praying!

An English priest, walking in a very well-kept garden, sees the gardener at work. Wanting to remind him of the greatness of God, the priest says:
“I see you have a lovely garden, sir. What wonderful creations the Lord creates when a person helps him!
- Ha! You should have seen this garden last year when He worked here alone ...

On Sunday morning, the priest calls his superiors. Like, I'm sick, I can't go to the service, let another one instead of me ... Having received the "go-ahead", the priest gets into the car, goes out of town to the golf club. He gets up an open field - there are no other players, - prepared to beat.
At this time in paradise, an angel asks God if such a thing can be forgiven, because sin is, in fact.
God agrees, really, it's a mess.
The priest beats. The ball flies across the entire area, flies past all the holes and flies straight into the last, eighteenth, hole.
Angel:
- Is this a punishment? ?
Creator:
- Do you think anyone will believe him?

Restructuring. A priest and a cop are coming, complaining to each other about hard times. Suddenly they see - two are fighting furiously. The cop just wanted to separate, how the pop held him:
- It's not time yet, my son, wait ...
Those two are already killing each other - the pop still keeps the cop. Finally, one of the fighters falls dead.
The priest to the policeman:
- Now it's time, my son ... Let's go ... One is yours, the other is mine!

One old priest is so tired of listening in confession
about the adultery of all the people in his neighborhood, that one Sunday
said from the pulpit,
- If I hear that even one more person confesses to adultery,
then I'll leave you!
Since everyone loved him, the parishioners came up with a little trick. If
someone has committed adultery, he will say that he "fell". It,
as it turned out, quite satisfied the old priest. Everything was going well
until the priest died. A week after arrival, troubled new
the priest visited the mayor of the city and excitedly announced
- You must urgently take care of the sidewalks in the city. When people come
to me for confession, then almost everyone says that they fell.
The mayor began to laugh, realizing that no one had told the new priest
regarding word substitution. Before the mayor could explain anything
the priest shook his finger and said in a stern voice,
- I don't know what's funny, but even your wife fell this week
three times.

One young man confesses to a Catholic priest:
- I played the violin a lot and very passionately!
- My son, this is no sin. Go in peace!
Behind him, another young man, during confession, also calls playing the violin a sin.
Then the third, fourth, fifth. Although the priest is surprised, he forgives everyone without punishment.
Then a young girl comes into the booth and says:
- I allowed myself to play like a violin!
The priest jumps out of his cubicle and shouts:
- The whole orchestra of stringed instruments once again to me!

And laughter and sin.
The priest said while smoking weed.

After a long sermon, the priest asked the parishioners if they were ready to forgive their enemies. About half of them raised their hands. Dissatisfied with the result, the priest continued to speak for another 20 minutes, and then repeated his question. This time about 80% of the parishioners raised their hands. The priest preached for another 15 minutes, and again asked if they were ready to forgive their enemies. The weary parishioners answered unanimously, and only one elderly lady abstained.
“Mrs. Jones, are you not ready to forgive your enemies?
“I have no enemies,” the old woman replied.
- It is surprising! And how old are you?
- Ninety-three.
“Mrs. Johnson is awesome, please come forward and tell us how a person can live to be 93 without a single enemy.
A little sweet old woman slowly walked into the center of the temple, turned to the parishioners and said:
- It's elementary. I just outlived these creatures.

The bus driver died somehow. I went to the gates of paradise, knocked, introduced myself to St. Peter. He found his name in his Book, looked at something there and said:
- Yes, you are allowed access to paradise. Here are your clothes made of silk brocade, and a golden staff - come in!
The driver got dressed and entered paradise. Next in line was the priest, who watched all the procedures with interest. Now he said
St. Peter his name, he looked at something in the book, and said:
- you, too, are allowed to paradise. Here are some burlap clothes and a wooden staff. You can come in.
The priest protested:
- But how is that? I'm a priest, I gave my whole life to God. Did I deserve less than some driver?
And St. Peter answers,
- The main thing for us in paradise is the result. You were a bad priest, and people slept in your sermons. And he drove the bus so that thousands of people prayed to God every day!

A priest who did not believe in Darwin's theory was killed and eaten by a stronger and more fit priest.

- Do you want to confess?





“Never,” the old man replied.
- Why?
- Because I am a JEW.

- I'm so happy! I tell everyone

An old man enters the church and addresses the priest:
- I would like to talk to you alone.
- Do you want to confess?
- Well ... Confess so confess.
The old man says that he is 86 years old, his wife died 36 years ago, and during this time he never had sex. But 2 days ago he took one Viagra pill and spent the whole night with two young girls.
- What else? the priest asked.
“That's all,” the old man replied. The surprised priest asked:
- When was the last time you confessed?
“Never,” the old man replied.
- Why?
- Because I am a JEW.
- JEW ??? What are you doing in church and why are you telling me all this?
- I'm so happy! I'm telling everyone!

Good afternoon.
- I wish you good health!
- Are you really a priest?
- Yes sir!

The new priest asks the parishioner how she likes his sermons.
- Amazing. We can say that we knew nothing about sin until you came to us!

Letting go of sins once again, the priest came to the conclusion that the worst sinners are the righteous: because of them, you will easily be left without work ...

Priest in the sermon:
- My children! What must be done first of all to ask forgiveness for your sins?
Shy girlish voice:
- Sin?

Doctor, is this serious?
- I'm not a doctor, I'm a priest.

In the gun shop, the priest chooses a pistol for himself. Seller:
- Father, why do you need this?
- My son, some people do not believe in God, but they really want to see him!

The new Russian asks the priest:
- Father, if I donate one hundred thousand euros for the temple, will I find salvation in Heaven?
The priest, after a little thought, answers:
- I can't give guarantees, my son ... but I think it's worth a try!

In the church, the priest to the young groom:
- To the question "Do you agree to become a husband?" you must answer "I agree", and
not "Whatever happens"!

The priest in the church:
- Whoever will swear in church, I’m a stick @ yachu!
- Forgive me, Father, but you yourself said "otkh @ yachu"?
- Get pi @ dy, cursed!

A beauty with a deep neckline came to confession to the priest.
The priest looks at the neckline and repeats: "Oh, my God!"
A voice is heard from heaven:
"Well, finally you invited me to take a look at something worthwhile!"

A young girl and a Catholic priest are sitting next to each other on the plane. The plane lands and the girl turns to the priest:
- Padre! It is very uncomfortable for me to ask you, but could you help me? The fact is that I bought myself a new expensive razor for women, which needs to be declared. But I do not have money! Be so kind and hide this razor under your cassock, the customs officers won't notice!
- My daughter! - the priest answers. - It's a sin to lie! But my duty is to help people, I will try to come up with something.
The plane has landed, passengers are passing through the customs control lane. The customs officer asks the priest:
- Father, do you have anything under your cassock that would need to be declared?
- No higher than the belt, my son.
- And below the belt?
- And below the waist I have a device for women that no one has ever used.
- Everything is clear, come in. Following!

The thief came to the church for absolution. But by inertia he stole the watch from the priest.
“Tell me,” the priest asked him, “what sins are on your conscience?
- Stole a watch from a good man. Do you want me to give them to you?
- No, they need to be returned to whoever they belong to.
“But he doesn't want that.
- If so, keep them with you and do not be sad.

The priest rose from his knees and announced to the flock:
“Today there is a man here who started flirting with another man's wife. If he doesn’t put five dollars on the dish, I’ll call his name from the pulpit.
When the dish bypassed the worshipers and returned to the priest, it contained nineteen five-dollar bills and two dollars separately with a note: "I'll bring three dollars tomorrow."

God told people that there are 3 days left before the Flood.
Orthodox priest in the sermon:
- We will live with dignity for the last 3 days, and finish the vodka so that it does not disappear ...
Muslim imam in the mosque:
- Let’s find out the taste of forbidden pork, since we still have to disappear ...
The rabbi in the synagogue:
- Brothers and sisters! We only have 3 days left to learn how to live underwater!

After 15 years as a priest in the parish of Father Pasquale, a farewell party was organized. A well-known politician was invited to the evening to deliver a short speech. The politician was late, and the priest decided to say a few words to his flock to take time.
“The first impression I got of the community was from the first confession I heard here, and I thought that the archbishop had sent me to a terrible place. The first person who confessed told me that he had stolen the TV and money from my parents, committed theft at work , had a fascinating intimate relationship with his boss's wife, and occasionally was a drug dealer, and to top it off, he confessed that he had infected his sister with venereal disease.
I was dumbfounded and shocked. But over time, I got to know the rest of the parishioners and saw that not all of them are like that - I saw good and responsible people.
That is how 15 years of my career as a priest passed. "
And then a politician appeared who was supposed to make a long-awaited speech. Apologizing for being late, he began: "I will never forget the day when our priest appeared here for the first time. I was lucky to be the first to confess with him ..."

Two priests set up a billboard on the road with the inscription: "Stop, the end is near! Turn around before it's too late!"
A truck drives past them at great speed, the driver shouts and waves his fist:

Two priests set up a billboard on the road with the inscription: "Stop, the end is near! Turn around before it's too late!" A truck drives past them at great speed, the driver shouts and waves his fist:
- Damned sectarians, you got it already!
The car disappears around the corner, from there you can hear a crash and a loud gurgle.
One priest says to another:
- Looks like you were right, you should have written simply "The bridge is destroyed."

In confession.
- Holy Father, no more strength. There is not enough money, children must be raised. I don't know how to live on .... And I want to eat deliciously and dress well.
- These are all temptations from the devil! Accept what is. And bear with it.
- Holy Father, I saw very luxurious big cars in your yard ...
The priest, interrupting:
- You have noticed everything right! Do you know how much they have? Liters 20-25. And we endure too! Where to go?

Very old man came to the priest, asks:
- Tell me, father, could it be that I turned out to be the father of the child that my 18th wife has given birth to today. But I'm almost seventy already ... Maybe this is a miracle created by God?
“I'll tell you a story now,” said the priest. - I was once in the desert and suddenly saw a lion rushing at me. I raised my cane like a rifle, took aim and, when the lion was very close, shouted: "PU!" The lion fell dead ...
- I understand, it was God's handiwork!
- Not really: behind me was a hunter with a real gun.

The funeral. A young woman is burying her husband.
The widow is in deep mourning, her eyes red from tears.
The priest reads a prayer and pronounces words of consolation to the family and friends of the deceased.
“This is how this world works,” says the holy father. - All of us, sooner or later, will go to another world. Death is a mystery, but in secret there is a door. Today your dear son, husband and father opened this door a little, he left us, but he will remain in our hearts forever. We will always remember his bright image ... And when it will be especially difficult for you ... (addresses the young widow) remember how you loved this person, how warm and joyful you were with him. Remember his face, his hands, his last words ... Do you remember his last words?
- Yes, Father.
- And what did he say?
- From this gun, cow, you will not even fall into an elephant!

The priest was greatly upset that his parishioners donated little. And he decided to do hypnosis.
On Sunday he heated the stove hot in the church, read the sermon slowly and monotonously, took out a shiny pocket watch on a chain and held it so that it swayed.
As the congregation fell asleep, he said:
Money was donated to him, and he decided to repeat the same the next Sunday.
He heated the stove again, did the same, said:
- You are all generous and kind. You are very pleased to donate all the money that you have in your wallet for charitable purposes!
And then it turned out that the parishioners, taught by experience, did not take money with them.
In hearts, the priest said:
- Well, you assholes!
He had to clean the church for a whole week.

- Father, let's save ourselves!
- Don't, God will save me!


- Don't, God will save me!
- Well, as you know, father.


- Don't, God will save me!
- Well, see for yourself ...

- Do not. God will save me!


And God answered him:

During the service in the church, a heavy downpour began on the street and did not stop for several hours in a row. A river came out of the banks. Slowly the church begins to flood. The people are gradually dumping. The pastor stays where he is. One of the parishioners says to a priest standing ankle-deep in water:
- Father, let's save ourselves!
- Don't, God will save me!
The water keeps coming. The priest is already knee-deep in water.
A truck pulls up, a guy sticks out of it:
- Hey, father! Let's get into the car, we'll save ourselves!
- Don't, God will save me!
- Well, as you know, father.
The water is coming. Already up to the pastor's chest.
A boat comes up, a guy looks out of it and says:
- Father, let's get into the boat. Save yourself!
- Don't, God will save me!
- Well, see for yourself ...
The water is already reaching the priest's throat.
A helicopter arrives, a guy sticks out of it and shouts, throwing off the rope ladder:
- Father, get in here! Save yourself!
- Do not. God will save me!
And it covered the pastor with a wave. And he was drowning. I woke up - in paradise.
He immediately runs to God and shouts:
- Why didn't you save me? I counted on you so much !!!
And God answered him:
- Listen, I sent you a man, a truck, a boat, a helicopter. What else did you want ?!

The pastor went to the bar to use the toilet. From the street he heard
loud music, and then suddenly everything was silent, all the dancing stopped
and stared at him. The priest, a little embarrassed, went up to the bartender
and asked,
- Excuse me, can I use your toilet?
The bartender looked at him sympathetically and said,
- I would not advise you.
- Why? - asks the pastor, - I really can't stand it!
- Okay. Just keep in mind that there is a statue of a naked woman with a fig
a leaf!
- Nonsense, - the pastor answers, - I will look the other way.
The bartender showed the clergyman the door and he went to the toilet. Across
a few minutes, he comes out from there, and in the bar, again everything rumbled
and jumped. He went up to the bartender and shouts,
- Sir, I don't understand! When I entered here from the street everything was quiet, and when
returned from the toilet, then got into the nativity scene! What a disrespect for a servant
Gentlemen!
- Nice! You are now one of us. - the bartender says smiling, - What do you want
pour?
- I do not understand anything. Please explain! shouts the puzzled pastor.
“You see,” the bartender says, laughing, “every time someone
lifts a fig leaf on a statue, above my counter flashes
a whole garland of lights! So how about a drink?

- Are children in the temple a problem for many abbots?

- Of course, it is especially relevant in residential areas, where many people with children come to services. Sometimes the liturgy there turns into a continuous cry of children. Mothers with babies zealously try to stand the entire liturgy, well, at worst, they incubate it with children in their arms. It is hard for mothers, and the child gets tired, and all together interferes with the service. I have been to these more than once.

- Do you have recipes at what age to bring children to the service, at what point?

- I have four children, eight grandchildren, the child's scream at the service does not make me nervous. I always remember Christ, who said: “Let the children come to Me and do not hinder them, for such is the Kingdom of God. Truly I say to you: whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a child will not enter into it. " (Mk 10-15-16).

Remember Blok's famous line from the poem "A girl sang in a church choir":

... And only high, at the Royal Doors,
Participant in Mysteries, - the child cried
That no one will come back.

Children have cried and interfered with the liturgy at all times, but with their cry they still praise God, even if they do not realize it. I do not think that children interfere with the service; on the contrary, they show us how imperfect we are, how we cannot teach them to make church life a natural life for them.

If a child is brought to church once every six months, once a year, then it is quite clear that everything scares him there, he is not interested there. If he walks more often, for example, two or three times a month, then he gradually gets used to church life.

There is no need to insist that a child, especially a small child, stand up for service. The task of parents is to make the Church become their child's home and a place where he could feel comfortable.

I know temples that have special children's rooms. Before the service, parents bring their children there, assign them to volunteers from the parishioners. Those are engaged: they read books, tell fairy tales, play, show cartoons. And then, in some churches, it’s not the children who go to the altar, but the priests come to these rooms to the children with the Holy Mysteries. More often, of course, parents take and bring their children directly to Communion.

There is no such practice in my parish, and there is no such room. There is only a porch. I often advise parents with babies that, after venerating the icons and having been at the service for a while, having confessed, they go for a walk in the gallery, on the street, without bothering the child again. This only applies to the smallest children, up to five years of age. At the age of 6, a child may well stand at service for 40 minutes, if, of course, he is prepared, gradually introducing him into the church rhythm of life.

By the age of 6-8, children can read the prayer and listen to the Gospel themselves. Some of my grandchildren even join the choir, sing along to the Cherubic, Creed, Our Father. This is already participation in the divine service. Younger grandchildren with books and toys come. The granddaughter once asks: "Grandpa, can I have a doll?" “You can,” I say. She brings a large doll and says: "I took it so that she would also listen to the service." “Okay,” I approve, “sit next to you, but just don't be naughty.”

- That is, after reaching a certain age, 6-8 years, with proper preparation, the child should be led to the beginning of the service?

- No, what are you! The service begins at hours, often at Matins, and together with the Liturgy there will be as many as three hours of service. Well, what kind of child can withstand that? I recommend that spiritual children come to the liturgy itself. It is short, only 40 minutes, if you do not linger with reading notes and long chants.

In 40 minutes, the child may well be with his parents and not get bored. Another thing is if he is nervous, hyperactive, there are mentally unhealthy children. Of course, then I recommend that parents take a walk in the vestibule and come together to the Holy Chalice.

It is clear that this is some harm for the parents, but here you need to balance the benefits for yourself and the harm for the child. Not finding a place for himself, the child can start to indulge, behave inappropriately, and even make trouble.

A child is a child, and in the temple he remains a child. This must be understood.

A strange people - praying with their feet

“But Mom and Dad also want to pray on Sundays. Everyone around is praying, but I sit in the vestibule and amuse the children again.

- Understand, prayer - it is prayer everywhere. You can pray at home, or maybe it won't work in the church. My late mother, when I was little, could run into the temple for five minutes. Attached to the icons, as she said herself, in order to feel the atmosphere, and goes on to do business. When she came to the temple for at least five minutes, she was happy.

And to pray for hours, forgive me, but such a desire is parental selfishness. Having become parents, we do not live for ourselves, but for our children. Optimize everything. Set the time so that you feel good, the children feel comfortable, and everyone benefits from it. There are usually two parents - dad and mom, if the family is normal. Well, let the mother spend half of the service praying, and the father and the child walking, the other half - the father, and the mother with the baby.

This is completely normal. It’s not normal if you’re busy during the whole service thinking up another way to shut up the child’s mouth, or you nervously flinch, turning to the parishioners and catching their displeased glances, or even twitching. What kind of service is this? What kind of prayer can there be?

They will not "be heard in their verbosity." The prayer "Our Father", pronounced from the heart and the depths of the soul, will replace the standing hours. Trust me.

Our people are strange, they want to stand the prayer with their feet. We pray with our feet. Such ritualism. And it is also imperative to bump your forehead on the icon, take a piece of the miraculous cross with you, picking out at least a drop. This "picking" is our tradition. However, this, and even the crying of children in the church, should be treated with condescension, trying to find a way to keep the church in order. It is important.

Why did the child leave the church

- The Orthodox school is a special atmosphere, but why, after the Orthodox schools, where children follow the text of the service, they leave the church.

- A lot has grown and a lot left. This is true. I often say in sermons that a teenager will be in church if he lives in an atmosphere of love, peace and the grace of God that enters him through his parents. If from childhood the child has learned that his father and mother love him, then the idea that the Lord loves him even more is understandable for such a child.

You cannot bring it to the temple by force, although some manage. I know stories when parents literally dragged their children to services. Children stood, but whatever they did. From the age of fifteen they stopped walking, because you can't bring them by force.

At first they came less often. Six months once. Then they disappeared altogether. If you meet such a teenager, he explains: "It's a shame, there are childhood sins, problems that I don't want you to know about."

He took communion, confessed! But it turns out that the cruelty of the parents, when the mother dragged by the ear, stood by and clicked on the head, or when deceiving the child to the temple, it comes out sideways.

I asked the parishioner: "Mother, how is it that the child does not go to church?" - “The door is closed and will not start. Can't I beat him with a belt ?! " - “Of course, he will give back in five minutes, but above you by a head. You will be good, and he is good. "

The question of being children in the church only seems simple. My grandmother said about children who are disposed to church life, "a gracious child." And there are also "graceless" ones. Not that bad, but rather wrongly brought up. Something about church life was presented to them incorrectly. The church for such children is a distorting mirror that reflects the wrong thing or the wrong way. Perceiving everything wrong, everything in their spiritual life is awkward and crooked. Such children disappear over time.

But time passes and what was inherent in childhood is remembered, emerged, cleared of husk and curvature. After 5 years, our teenager appears: “Father, remember? And you baptized me. " "Of course I remember. Where have you gone, what has now led? " - I say. "And so it happened" - he answers embarrassedly.

But problems turned out in adulthood, when neither dad nor mom, and often doctors, can help. Here there are diseases, drug addiction, alcoholism, early pregnancies, and marriages, whatever.

I had teenagers whom I married at the age of 16. The girl is pregnant, you can't go anywhere. But be that as it may, one day they come to God for real.

- Out of fear?

- Yes, there is no fear. There is a need for the soul. People remember that in the Church, in the Gospel that they read, they received what they cannot receive in the world. No one else, like Christ, will comfort them, will not give them the calmness and peace that they have lost. I have such cases of return. And at a young age, and in adulthood, and at a very mature age, they return.

I remember one day a woman came. She was born in the thirties, she was about eighty, she came with the words: "My grandmother once baptized me, I went to church and folded my hands like this: cross to cross, and they gave me something sweet."

I listen to such an old woman and I understand that the seed has sprouted, albeit late, but gave. The Lord did not leave. Therefore, no one should be condemned. And if a child has left the church, this does not mean that he is abandoned by God. If he left, then there was something wrong in the parents, in the priest, finally, in that church and in its surroundings. It did not mean that love, accessibility and joy of presence that are and will be in the Church.

I'm sorry that I'm without pants

- Often you hear from priests about an atmosphere of love, but how can you understand that you are loved in this church?

- If no one pokes in the back, does not say that she got up in the wrong place, put the candle in the wrong way, kissed the icon in the wrong way, came in the wrong form, if all this was not and is not, then there is love in this parish.

“Father,” one woman says to me, “forgive me for coming to you without pants.” “I don’t understand you,” I spread my hands, “you are talking some nonsense.” Here the woman begins to explain to me in detail what she is wearing, why she now had to come in leggings. And I answer her: "So you came to God, and not to me, well, what does it matter to me that you are in leggings." In general, we always have pareos behind the candle box.

If a person comes to the Church and is calm, no matter how he is dressed, if he sees that he was received with love in the temple, then another time he himself will not wear these leggings. Guys come to us completely in tattoos, with giant tunnels in their ears. When I ask: "My joy, what have you done to yourself?" "Like it should be," - replies. And six months later, he comes with a wired tunnel. In both the first and second cases, he was accepted as is, no one said a word across to him.

Did Christ repel robbers, tax collectors, and harlots? Both the righteous and sinners - the Lord admitted, accepted and loved all of them. And in our attitude to people, we should be guided by the Gospel, and not our ideas about who owes whom and what. The church is the house of God. We are the same guests in it.

If you come to Church and feel the atmosphere of love, stay. If not, then well, there are many temples in the city, look for another.

I myself have been to churches more than once (I came in civilian clothes, people did not know that I was a priest), where they told me: “There is nothing to be baptized here. Look, the abbot has not yet crossed himself and you stand calmly ", or" be baptized where the priest is baptized, and not where you want to ", or" stand on right side... Why did you go to the left? This is the feminine side. " What remains? Only to pity zealous grandmothers, and zealous priests, too, should be pitied.

Sometimes you come to such a church and remember Vysotsky: "in the church there is a stench and twilight." Indeed, darkness, blackness, some lamps are burning, but from the point of view of spiritual life the same darkness and twilight. And you won't understand anything. But, as a priest I know said, "God has a lot of everything."

If we go back to the children, then the house temple is important - the temple of the family. Home prayer should precede church prayer. And if at home no one crosses himself before eating, if they do not read the morning or evening rules, albeit briefly, so what to expect from a child in church? Of course, he will never stand in it.

- How was it in your family?

- We always prayed at home. There was a short rule: Heavenly King, Trisagion, Our Father, prayer to the Mother of God and the guardian angel. One prayer from the morning or evening rules. And be sure to pray in your own words: "Lord, save and have mercy on dad, mom, grandfather, grandmother." We didn’t even give names, we just asked for the health of Simochka and her aunt Katya. Mom sometimes suggested names, and we prayed. Prayer in your own words is not something made up, it is when you talk to God on your own. On your own you tell him what you want to say.

But if these prayers are not there, if on Sunday they jumped up, quarreled and ran to the temple, and you also stand idle in the temple, then it is clear that difficulties cannot be avoided.

At one time we lived as our family in a monastery. In the next room behind the wall also lived the priest's large family. In the morning we got up to pray. That family also got up, but no one prayed at home. The head of the family, an absolutely marvelous father, went into the fields to pray. We will pray, sit down for breakfast, and our neighbors were blown away by the wind.

"Mother, why don't you pray with us?" My mother asked. “So why, I gave them all a penny and let them go to church. Let them pray in the cathedral, kiss the icons, light candles. " All this crowd rushed to the cathedral. To whom and how they prayed, where and what they put - no one checked. With a noise, a hubbub, they returned home hungry, because in the morning they did not eat or drink. Something will be snatched from our table, something will be intercepted on the way.

Two families - two experiences. In both the first and the second, priests came out of the children, and there and there are people who serve God. You see, there are different paths, there are actually many of these paths leading to God. Most importantly, He sees our hearts and thoughts.

A wedding is not a guarantee of happiness

- And how often do you not bless a marriage? Do you give any advice: don't marry this, don't marry this?

- In my practice, there has not been, and never will be. I never said to anyone: "go for this, but that does not suit you." Although I am often asked: “There is a guy (girl). How to be? Should I marry / should I marry? "

My main condition, when they come and ask to be married, is that "there is love between you." It is your own business who you love, whether this person is older or younger than you.

Sometimes I ask how long they have known each other. It turns out that someone took a walk for a week and “that's it, let's get married”, it happens - six months, a year. Usually a month and a half. Then I ask, do they live an intimate life?

"Yes, of course, father, we are modern people!" This is the most common answer. “Dear ones,” they have to answer, “you have already crossed the threshold that leads to the wedding. If you allowed yourself intimate communication, so what do you want from me, a simple priest? It is one thing if you brought repentance; it is another thing to wait for advice. You decided everything for yourself. Do you want me to bless you for this? No, I will not give such a blessing. Because being close before marriage is a sin. "

"So we love each other!" - retorts the interlocutor or interlocutor.

The life of today's youth is very peculiar. When I speak with my own laws and principles, I notice how people's smiles slip. And when you start communicating, it turns out that before this "bride / groom in question" there was still Petya, Vanya, Misha, or Katya, Ira, Masha.

That is why I always say: “If you come to the Lord with repentance, if you pray, if you ask:“ Father, bless you for the marriage, ”then I have no right not to bless you. But I cannot say whether you will be happy / unhappy by choosing this person as your spouse ”. Well, I'm not a prophet, finally. And a wedding is not a guarantee of happiness. A person chooses a life position for himself, he himself bears responsibility for it.

- For many, a civil marriage, registered but not married, and the requirements of the canon are a serious stumbling block.

- You know, Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) suggested to me what to do here. Having lived for many years in England, he often observed people who got married at the age of 30-40, while creating families at the age of 20. That is, they really matured before the wedding. Their right, agree. But what is a priest to do? Reject them from the holy mysteries?

I read from Vladyka Anthony, "that you need to ripen to the crown." This right should not be taken away from a person. The crown crowns you for your labors, for your deed and, as it is sung, "holy martyrs, pray to God for us." Therefore, I betrothed people, read the prayer for cohabitation, especially if they have children. And they live with this blessing. And when they ripen, when they are ready to say “Yes, Lord, forgive us, we have come to you to confirm that we love each other and are ready to be together to the end,” that's when I marry.

I know a huge number of couples who have lived together for many years, have children, but are not ready to get married.

- Does this usually happen in families where one of the spouses is not a believer?

“You’re not going to forcefully seek a wedding. I bless, I ask you to pray for each other, because "let the wife of a believer shine on the husband of an unbeliever," says the Apostle Paul.

There have been millions of such cohabitations throughout the history of the Christian Church. Only the Lord has the right to judge them, especially if they loved each other and were truly faithful. And if He has not yet touched the heart of one of the spouses, can we reject and deprive the other of the sacrament? No, we have no right.

Someone is protesting, they say, let's act according to the canon. Come on, just let us be firm in everything. For one sin - “let him not take the communion for ten years”, for another - “he will be rejected for three years”. He broke the fast - “let not the whole fast take communion” ... But I’m afraid that this canon and I will stay together in the church, or maybe there will be no one.

You see, the canons are correct, they cannot be deleted from life, but we cannot strictly apply them in our life, to every family, well, we must admit, it does not work. We will simply be left without a flock to scare away. All right, without the flock, it is much more terrible that people will be left without help, will begin to perish without spiritual support. We had a case in a parish when a person, having not received support on certain issues in his life, left for a sect. And all is short.

- Do believers often get divorced according to your observations?

- Now in the church there are a lot of such problems. Even at the inter-council meeting they are discussing this. I cannot talk about the statistics of Moscow churches. I judge by my arrival and those whom I myself have married over these 25 years. Little is divorced. In those rare times, drunkenness becomes the reason when it is impossible to live with a man. It happens that they turn on someone on the side. Sometimes they bring repentance.

Therefore, the Lord himself will decide what to do with a person. It's not for us to do this, you must agree.

Confession Should Be Consulting

- Surely you have come across the fact that people come to confession from time to time with the same sin. What can you do here, can you help through confession?

- Confession is a Sacrament. Like any Sacrament, confession changes a person. It's like a second baptism. If we sincerely approach the Sacrament, we name our sin, and not just “stood there, waited for the priest to cover the epitrachilia”. If we enter into a conversation, we tell why there is no patience for my husband, why I got drunk, why I break into children, why a lover appeared and whether to tell my husband about it, and what to do in general. These are problems and they require help from the priest to solve.

Sometimes I arrange conversations for the parishioners. Sometimes in sermons I talk about such “diseases” and about what they are treated with, how to make yourself a person who will be able to perceive his other half as himself.

After all, if you did something nasty, then you did not do it to someone, but to yourself, betrayed your own love by committing adultery. Time passes and a person comes to confession with the words: “You spoke about me at the sermon. Did one of ours tell you? How do you know? I have long been afraid to tell you about it. "

And no one told me anything. You will simply recall a textbook example, and a person recognized himself in it.

- That is, confession sometimes turns into psychological counseling?

- Must.

- Really? So not every priest has a psychological education. Can't especially ardent priests in their zeal break wood?

- Yes, not everyone has such an education. I’ll say more, not every priests know how to enter into a conversation, there are many who do not perceive conversations at all. But I still share the Sacrament of Confession and spiritual conversations.

I inform the parishioners in advance when they can come and talk. I have set days for confession and hours: from 6 to 8 after the service. While the museum is not closed, I can calmly and without haste to accept confessions, to talk about topics that disturb a person. But if I see that there are a lot of people, and I physically cannot cope, then I ask: "Dasha, Igor, Nikolay, but come to me another time."

"And the sacrament?" - Someone would ask. "If you consider yourself worthy, come and take communion, if something remains and torments, then you won't go to the front tomorrow, come this week."

In today's religious practice, everything is really mixed together. People think that once you have come to church, you need to immediately confess, take communion, put candles at all the icons, and serve a requiem. Otherwise, as if in vain came. I understand that many find it difficult to get to church once a week. Everyone has their own reasons. I can't blame people for this, but all in a pile is not very good, frankly, bad.

In Greece, for example, confession is a completely different story. This Sacrament is performed only a few times a year by special agreement with the priest. Moreover, not every priest has the right to confess. As a rule, this is a person appointed to the position of confessor. The Greeks confess once every six months, once a year, and receive Communion at each liturgy or depending on their spiritual condition.

And we have good, valiant, zealous priests, but out of their jealousy, they often unceremoniously wedge themselves into the fate of a person. And in a certain sense they make their parishioners and spiritual children not at all the kind Christians they should be.

When a priest is young, you cannot advise someone, let alone decide for a person. The maximum he can afford is to listen and pray for the Lord to rule.

Burnout of any person, especially a priest, also depends on what and how you will fill yourself. Will you fill your soul with prayer, and your life good deeds and a desire to serve others. The priest does not live for himself. The moment he becomes a priest, his personal life ends, and his personal time becomes a convention. This is the most important thing a priest must remember.

School benches were placed between the coffins

- It happens that a priest has served, his flock has developed, but after some time he is suddenly transferred to a new parish. You need to start from scratch.

- At the end of the eighties, I, a young priest, was appointed to the first church in honor of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called on Vagankovo \u200b\u200bopened in Moscow after perestroika. Until 1989, it housed a funeral supplies store. The building was transferred to the church, we restored it. This was my first temple. Here we opened one of the first Sunday schools in Moscow.

During the two or three years that I served there, the school grew to 500 students. We studied on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 pm. Without ancillary rooms, they conducted classes right in the church. Benches were placed between the coffins, under which children hid, playing hide and seek during breaks in class. The temple remained a cemetery, so on weekends there were always coffins with the deceased who had to be sung the next day. Children perceived life differently than adults.

When I was suddenly transferred to a new temple, it was impossible not to grieve. Why suddenly, when I was just developing my activity, when a parish began to take shape, when a Sunday school appeared, they gave me a completely destroyed church in the center of Moscow ?! You cannot imagine these ruins, which were the church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi.

The building belonged to the museum, it housed various services of the Tretyakov Gallery. When the new depository was built, everyone left here. For three years the temple was ownerless. There is no need to explain what “open windows and doors” meant in the nineties. Everything that was possible: bricks, marble, floor - everything was removed and taken out.

Seeing this desolation, and I was then 42 years old, it was impossible not to lose heart. Then he could not even imagine that in this destroyed, desecrated, disgraced temple the greatest shrine of all Russia - the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God from the gallery's storerooms - would one day be kept, and the building itself, with joint efforts, we will restore to the state in which it was under Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov. Maybe even more gorgeous.

God has his own providences for us. And when the zealous priest just finished building a new church, and it was suddenly transferred once - well, that means God's will. The main thing is not to grieve. A Christian should not have sorrow except for his sins. You need to accept everything with gratitude and say: "Thank God for everything!"

- Why didn't you lose heart?

- My beloved mother supported me: “Well, the ruins - so what? Maybe our grandchildren will see how beautiful this temple is! " The grandchildren saw. She was right. Her support and enthusiasm did the trick.

Sunday school and the children's choir that formed on Vagankovo \u200b\u200bmoved with me. We studied in the recreation hall and were even able to serve in the room that we had at that time.

The parish council was formed. We received the status of a house church at the Tretyakov Gallery. And all the clergy to this day are research workers of the gallery, receive salaries from the state. In general, we are completely merged with the museum and everything that happens in it. Openings, concerts, opening of exhibitions with the participation of our choirs - we do everything together. On our own, outside the museum, we would not be able to maintain such a temple.

Over the 25 years of my reign, the flock has changed by almost 70%. Of those who went to the temple in the first years of service, some left for other cities, someone went to other temples, someone simply died, which is also natural. Thanks to the fact that the skeleton that came with me remained, we have preserved the spiritual family.

What was in the early 90s and now is a completely different story. Those born in the 90s do not remember either the era of Soviet power, or perestroika, or the terrible persecutions of the 30-40s, well, perhaps according to the stories of their grandfathers. And we were fortunate enough to be familiar with those who went through the camps, exiles, who witnessed how icons were chopped down and our church was desecrated, and finally saw it reopened.

These people, including the children of the late rector, Hieromartyr Ilya Chetverukhin, formed the basis of our parish council. They passed on to us the baton of spiritual joy, shared their optimism of perception of life. This ability to accept everything with gratitude to God is a gift that needs to be learned by everyone who opens or receives new churches today.