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  • Save our souls!

    "Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. 8 Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light. Brother Georgy (nicknamed "Ghost") The House of Labor in Brooklyn - we have written about it many times - is a shelter for the homeless. But the Russian inscription above the gate leading to the small courtyard of one of the houses on 1 Brighton - where the shelter is located - puts everything in its place: it is a shelter for Russian-speaking people. That's its main feature. The fact is that Russian-speaking vagrants are a very special category in the social stratum of the American homeless. They are always (with very few exceptions) deep alcoholics and drug addicts, who found themselves at the social bottom thanks to their irresistible alcohol or drug addiction. That is why this only shelter for homeless Russian-speaking alcoholics and drug addicts in America required more than just providing them with a table and shelter, as other American shelters traditionally do for their residents. And so began the never ending battle for fallen Christian souls. Without sparing any effort, the Labor House began to do everything possible to snatch the rejected by society, lost brothers in Christ from the clutches of Satan, to restore the Faith, Hope, and Love they had long lost, to bring them closer to the Lord. How? Through Orthodoxy! Deacon Vadim (Arefyev), the founder and director of the Workers' Home, now a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, was unable to cope with the compassion that overwhelmed his soul when three years ago he saw with his own eyes how his countrymen who had fallen into despair and “reached the end of their rope” were dying on the famous Brighton seafront (Brighton “Boardwalk”). Unhappy, desperate, their humanity lost long ago, they died of hunger and cold, wallowing in their own vomit and foul language, breaking each other's heads in drunken brawls.... The basis for everything, as one would expect from an Orthodox deacon, was prayer. Every Tuesday evening (winter, fall, cold, rain) Deacon Vadim began to come to “Boardwalk” as if for work. He would unfold his simple (only three icons) portable iconostasis specially made for this purpose, and begin the Divine Service. And the word of God sounded over the homeless arbor, and some scary staggering ragamuffins with unshaven faces, clouded eyes, and hands shaking from vodka and drugs crawled out from somewhere. Most of them, watching, remained on the sidelines, but there were some who, hesitating, joined the Divine Service, ineptly and incorrectly crossing themselves and resembling little children who had just been taught to do so. And Deacon Vadim prayed, addressing the Savior and the Mother of God, for help to all those suffering and addicted to alcohol and drug addiction...And then a chapel was built in honor of St. John of Kronstadt. With the blessing of Vladyka Bishop Gabriel of Manhattan, it was equipped in a tiny (3.5 x 5.0 meters) room rented in a private house in Brighton. Despite the limited space, everything was made “like people”: in front of the altar - a full iconostasis, a lectern with a candlestick, all the walls of images and, of course, the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary “The Unopenable Cup”, the protector of all alcoholics and drug addicts, the patroness of this specially created parish for such poor people. Since then, the services, which always follow the full ranks, gather 25-30 people (more can't fit)... On Sundays, the service is moved to the solarium on the 10th floor of the Home for the Elderly, among whom there are many Orthodox people. On big Orthodox holidays on weekdays, the service is held in the Lutheran Church rented for this purpose. And then there are already two and sometimes three times as many people praying as in the chapel. And these days the parish is called “The Church of the Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary ‘The Irreplaceable Cup’. (A church by that name is planned for Brighton). Here on the basis of this simple chapel and the House of Labor. In front of the entrance to the prayer room was equipped with a small refectory, in the semi-basement - a sleeping room for six beds with bedding (if necessary, two or even three additional places “unfolded” in the prayer room). And each person accepted here heard the Christian mercy: “Live until you stand on your feet. And the bedding, which the residents of the asylum had long since gotten used to, reminded them each time that they were now on the other side of the line that had so ruthlessly separated them (and some of them for many years) from the rest of the people who were well and sober. And that they were loved by the Lord just as much as those “safe and sober” people, in spite of everythin From the very beginning, a clear schedule of rising and going to bed was introduced, resulting in the daily recitation of morning and evening prayers (the Rules), and everyone had to set up an East-facing prayer corner in his or her bedroom. Prayers were used to precede and conclude every meal (later “Lives of the Saints” were read during the dinner meal). And the topics of spiritual conversations, which Father Vadim regularly began to hold with the brethren, were the subject of lively discussions. In addition to all this, in order to exclude the possibility of idle stay of the brothers in the orphanage, as if justifying its name, a working Artel was created for the production of rosaries, kiosks, grave crosses, frames and frames for icons. All of this was immediately in demand in Orthodox churches in America. (Later, the House of Labor came to some monasteries in Russia, Ukraine and Georgia, producing vestments for clergy, and Metropolitan Laurus blessed the Artel to be the representative of these monasteries in the United States and Canada). Those wishing to settle in the shelter were offered a five-day detoxification course at the hospital. Then - an interview, during which he was introduced to the “Rules of Life in the House of Labor”, which he had to sign as a sign that he accepts them. The main point here was that no one was allowed to show up at the orphanage even slightly drunk or on drugs. If this happened, the offender was given three minutes to pack and sent out the door. The verdict was not final: the exile could return after another detoxification course. The principle proclaimed by the Fathers of the Church was at work: “Fallen? Rise up! Fallen again? Rise again!” Those who returned were welcomed with great joy and forgiveness, as in the Gospel story of the prodigal son.... The “Rules” also spoke of the unbaptized, as well as atheists and non-baptizers. An unbaptized person, but interested in Orthodoxy, was taken without a sound. He was unobtrusively tried day by day to convince him to be baptized and accept Orthodoxy. Atheists and non-believers were given a receipt that they undertook not to propagandize the atheistic worldview and doctrines of other religions in the shelter in any form. And there were days when Catholics and Jews, who had joined the shelter (not to kick them out!), lived next to the Orthodox. The Catholics came to the Divine Services, though they did not stand for long, but they prayed intently, baptized diligently in their own way... During its existence, 49 Russian-speaking homeless people addicted to alcohol and drugs have passed through the shelter. Of these, 42 were Orthodox Christians (two of them were not initially baptized and were baptized in the shelter), 4 Catholics, 1 Jew and 2 atheists. Out of the total number, 17 people found a job, rented an apartment and thankfully left the shelter and returned to normal life. 11 people had a breakdown and went back to drinking or into drugs, but found the strength to come back. From them 2 people were among the 17 who returned to normal life, and 9 people, having had another breakdown, did not return to the shelter. Their fate is unknown, probably not very life-affirming. The remaining 23 people, having left the shelter for one reason or another, did not come back. The fate of some of them is known: they found a job, which they are coping with, but they did not give up their addictions...Here are the stories of some of the shelter residents who lived there at the time of writing this article - a kind of sociological cross-section. Brother Georgiy (nickname “Ghost”) , 49 years old, Kiev resident, historian by education (Kiev State University), specialist in general History, formerly a high school History teacher in one of Kiev schools; baptized, Orthodox, but never visited the Temple, never confessed or received Holy Communion; alcohol addict for many years. He came to America with his family (wife, 11-year-old son) in 1996 with refugee status. He worked in a Brooklyn company as a turner (program-controlled carousel machines).... A year later he had a serious conflict with his wife, had to leave his family, got drunk, stayed at his job for a while, then lost his job and found himself on the street...Lived under a bridge in Shibsedbeya...- A mattress, a blanket, a bottle of vodka at night..... The police offered shelter. Every three hours they came to check if I was still alive...Lived in the stadium..... - Big beach umbrella, oilcloth, there was a bed...Lived under a gazebo on Brighton “Boardwalk”...- One morning I wake up, one died, there were three of us...And in general, how many times I thought: “That's it! “That's it! White fever!” In winter 2001, I was dragging a stroller with empty bottles along the highway at night, near the UN building. I felt like I was going to fall down and freeze... In total, he lived on the street for 8 years, and all this time, minus 2 years, he drank heavily (with breaks). During these 2 years I didn't drink, worked as a deliveryman of finished products in an American magazine, but still lived (it became a hard habit) on the street...- The street has its own laws, you have to adapt.... For me, it's like this: there's a field, there's a clearing, there's a crossroads, and there you can get killed.... . I lived in a tent in the woods near JFK airport for most of those 8 years. There was no permanent job (sometimes delivering newspapers for $40 a day), and I lived in poverty. Several times he was taken to the police, but was released “for lack of corpus delicti”. In winter, in order not to freeze, he would drink himself into oblivion..... - A tent, three blankets, heated by candles, cats also warmed me.... Well, a heated mattress, of course, we call it “Hello Landlord!”.... At the beginning of November 2005, I asked Father Vadim to give me a place to sleep, to help me get rid of my alcohol addiction. The head of the House would later say: “Look, who's this ‘bastard’? Running eyes, neck stretched out! The weather was warm, and he was wearing some inconceivable earflap, with one ear up and the other down. We put a plate of borscht in front of him - as if he had never eaten with a spoon or fork. We understood everything. We immediately surrounded him with the utmost care ... “Brother Georgy lived in the Labor House for four months and during that time he never came out of town drunk. - I warmed my soul. I was treated very warmly. Fr. Vadim prayed for me ... Sometimes at night, with the permission of the Home Manager, he would go out to collect empty bottles, turn them in, and contribute his share to the utility bills (they were paid jointly in the Labor House). He liked it at the orphanage. - It's a good place. You trust him. I've slept in other shelters, the police will enlighten you all! You go out for five minutes, there's another raid at the entrance. Once there was no room, I sat on a chair all night, they wouldn't even let me take my shoes off. And there's a telephone! And once they collected money for a funeral, even though he was Catholic. I was surprised. I remember when a fellow died under a gazebo in Brighton, the police put him in a black bin bag... They say they bury them on the island somewhere, in a mass grave.... I got a permanent job at my old place - as a delivery boy for an American magazine. Talking about his vagabond tent life, he lamented: “I could have left my life there. As Father Vadim says: “I wouldn't have had time to confess!” He progressed in Orthodoxy, as he himself put it, “with ant-like steps. - He learned how to approach someone, how to cross himself, how to place a candle. Everyone around helped... Gradually I began to penetrate the content of prayers, asking the Lord to look upon me in prayer ... For 4 months of his stay in the Brotherhood Brother George never missed a single Divine Service, constantly confessed and received Holy Communion.... - Now I can't imagine how it was possible not to pray. I don't pray for two days and everything is bad. My mood changes, my soul is not calm.... And then it is necessary to return to prayer immediately, otherwise this mental discomfort will be replaced by comfort, but it will be another comfort - down-to-earth, comfort of indifference, complacency, negligence.... That's from Satan. I lived with this for eight years... In February, with the blessing of Father Vadim's priest, Brother George was admitted to the altar of the Temple as a servant, for which he thanked the Lord profusely. He fulfills this obedience with Christian humility. - In the altar the soul immediately adjusts to the spiritual mood. There I feel very confident of my place.... Since March he has been living on his own, leading a completely sober lifestyle, regularly coming to the Chapel three times a week for Divine Services, and talking to newly arrived brothers about the Christian way of life in the orphanage. - How many people have been saved from death! How many have been instructed in the way of truth! On Orthodox Easter he washed most of the bottles he had collected, filled them with water blessed by Father Vadim and labeled each bottle “Holy Water” for free distribution to parishioners.... - The soul grows stronger. The feeling that today you are stronger than yesterday, and tomorrow you will be stronger than today.... Brother Yevgeny (Deryagin, in the address - “Mikhalych”) , 65 years old, a citizen of Kharkov, formerly a career military man, lieutenant colonel of the Strategic Missile Forces, a graduate of the F.E. Dzerzhinsky Military Academy of the Strategic Missile Forces in Moscow, Ph. Dzerzhinsky in Moscow, candidate of technical sciences (scientific developments made by him while working on his dissertation were implemented in the troops and still have practical value), master of sports in officer's pentathlon, has awards... He has never had any alcoholic or even drug addiction (in the Soviet military environment it was extremely rare). He came to America in September 1997 on a visitor's visa and two months later, when his visa expired, he became an illegal immigrant. He worked in the Northeastern states as a hotel repairman, a construction worker, a cook's assistant in a restaurant.... He came to Boardwalk in November 2005, when his thirty-year-old son was killed in a car accident in Kharkov. The shock and then depression were so strong that he could not work properly... He spent a week and a half on the Brighton seafront (though, to his credit, he never had a hangover in the morning), and by the end of the second week, he felt that he was dying.... He was sitting on a bench on the “Bordvok” and was quite fit. Apparently, he looked like that, because Father Vadim paid attention to him: “Baptized? Orthodox? He told the priest how in 2001, on the day of his 60th birthday, he received Holy Baptism in St. Nicholas Cathedral in Manhattan, and how, having been baptized, he immediately forgot about it - he did not pray, did not observe fasts, never confessed and did not receive Holy Communion. And even in the Temple for these years was only 2 times. However, he proudly wore the cross, and the feeling of belonging to the Orthodox brotherhood did not leave him for a minute. And then this misfortune with his son.... Father Vadim understood everything. - We can't do without God. He will lend a hand! You just need to believe...He offered Eugene to undergo a detoxification course and invited him to the House of Labor. The first steps to Orthodoxy began. At first he did not understand why the services were so long (he was drawn to the street to smoke), and the prayers were so long.... - I slowly began to see. I began to confess, to receive Holy Communion, to travel with Fr. Vadim to other churches, not only in New York.... I learned a number of prayers by heart. Gradually they ceased to seem long to me, and so did the Divine Services.... And I didn't understand Old Slavonic, so I had to buy a prayer book with an explanation. And once at confession I remembered my old sins, and suddenly tears flowed.... It happened several times. Through Christianity I tried to rethink the death of my son: “God's will is for everything! He has His own Providence. I pray for my son, I give notes... I didn't realize before how he needed it. In January 2006 he found a job as a cook's assistant in a restaurant and in April he was about to leave the Labor Home. Then Father Vadim offered him a paid position as a shelter supervisor. I couldn't refuse. - He brought me to Orthodoxy, was kind, attentive to me.... I accepted the obedience. The job wasn't so easy. -They're all very different - in character, views, determination. That's okay, it's normal. But they're all addicted to vodka, to drugs. I knew how to behave with alcoholics, they're predictable, but drug addicts ... It's the first time I've encountered them. They don't dialog, their actions are often unpredictable.... He got the job done. His vast officer experience of working with people helped. It's true, things happened over the months. There was the theft of a treasury box. We had to scratch the fallen brother out of the police station, who, if Senior had not stated that there was no money in the box, would have faced imminent imprisonment.... There was also the unexpected refusal of the brother entering the orphanage to answer the questions put to him (“Is this a concentration camp or what?”). They had to part with him, and brother Eugene still regards it as his defeat: “He's a drug addict, what's the use? But me... Where was my mercy, my kindness? I didn't find the key... Organizational measures, however, were not very difficult: the arrangement of the Chapel was aesthetically improved, the unfolding of the “camp church” on Sundays was brought to automaticity, the assortment of the icon shop and the catalog of products produced by the Artel were expanded, the financial reporting of all income coming into the House of Labor began to be streamlined, the schedule of duty in the shelter began to be drawn up and strictly followed (the duty officer monitors order and personally carries out wet cleaning of all rooms)..... The most difficult thing was to be an example of Orthodox life for others. No, Brother Eugene still succeeded in something. Setting an example for the brethren, he strictly observed all the fasts. And he did not fall into temptation even when, having a chef's experience, he tried to prepare something especially tasty for the children at the feast, tasting at the same time the tempting odors of fasting. He tried to be an example to others during Orthodox feasts. Having previously familiarized himself with the content of the feast, he would gather the brethren and tell them what Gospel or Old Testament event the coming feast was dedicated to, to whom and for what it would be good to pray on that day. And when Father Vadim spoke about it later, the brethren were already prepared for perception. The Elder was the worst at prayer. He observed the morning Rule... - We put a couple candles in the prayer room - the two or three who slept there that night (the rest of us pray in our basement). And on goes the prayer!..... sometimes evening ones. But during the day he could not always bring himself to get up for prayer. Later in an interview with the author, he condemned himself: - Lamented the lack of time. I'm ashamed to remember! The sin of self-justification! How can there not be enough time for prayer, which is the most important thing for an Orthodox Christian? He told the author that he always catches himself judging others. He lamented: “I try to restrain myself, but nothing works! This is Satan's nature! I do not condemn my dirty, wicked soul! But I recognize a speck in the eye of others... On September 16, he flew home to Kharkov. There his wife was waiting for him at his son's grave. He said that he would gladly return to Brooklyn for six months to work for free on the construction site of the Church of the Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary “The Unopenable Cup”... Brother Andrei, 37 years old, a resident of Kiev, by profession - an optician, a specialist in the assembly of glasses; baptized, Orthodox, however, the temple visited very rarely, at the same time, once a year he necessarily confessed and received Holy Communion, and with his wife, as it was supposed by the Orthodox custom, married in the Church; has never been neither alcohol nor drug addicted ... He came to America five and a half years ago on a “green card” he won in the lottery to earn money. He left his wife and two small children in Kiev. He immediately felt loneliness: “I found myself completely alone in America. . At first everything was going well: he found a job in his specialty in one of the “Optics” stores, earned good money, started saving.... But six months later, disaster struck: one evening, being completely sober (at that time he had not been drinking at all), he left his bag with all his documents in the subway.... It was not easy to recover his green card and social security card, which gave him the right to work, although he knew their numbers by heart: he had to present two official documents with photographs. True, one of these documents could easily be a driver's license, which he could quickly obtain if he wanted, but the second one (which could be his restored Ukrainian passport) immediately caused problems. The thing was that he had not yet registered with the Ukrainian consulate, which immediately deprived him of the right to automatic restoration of his lost passport. He was offered to return to Ukraine and get a new passport there. - Well, how would I get back to the U.S. without a green card? Ask for a visa? And who would give it to me? At that time, the Optika store where he worked was no longer profitable, and the owner closed it. For two months Andrei was paid unemployment benefit, he somehow paid the rent, then he couldn't. Finding himself on the street, he immediately found himself in a certain environment.... - I don't even remember exactly when I started drinking. But I started to get drunk and, which I had never done before in my life, I started to take a hangover..... And I couldn't get out of my drunken state..... One day in March 2002, he was lying on a bench in the park, the police came and took him to the hospital for detoxification. After 5 days he left the hospital and returned to his friends in the park on the same day...Since then he has been drinking heavily for 5 years with short intervals, having been to the hospital for detoxification 18 (!) times over the years.... All the time he tried in vain to restore documents.... During these years I approached the Church of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia (on 18th Avenue) more than once. The Orthodox Church seemed to him something like a quiet harbor, where he could at least temporarily “anchor”, “rest his soul”, look around.... However, he did not dare to go inside drunk, and every time, after standing for a while, he went away. But one day, two years ago, when the service was over, he made up his mind and entered the temple even though he was drunk. - No one reproached me. They warmed me up, fed me, gave me $20, and I drank it right away..... Father George (Kallaur - V.K.) kept urging me to go to the hospital.... During these 5 years he worked a few months as a dishwasher in a restaurant in Queens (he was kicked out for drunkenness); a few months as a builder on the renovation of the premises of a future nightclub in Miami (he drank, but still worked until the end, until the owners for lack of money did not interrupt the renovation); a few months as a plumber in a home for the elderly in New York .... In this job he did not drink, and maybe, who knows, it would have gone on like that, but an elderly Russian woman with whom he shared a two-room apartment died unexpectedly, and he, having buried her (there was no one else to do it but him), could not stand the stress and drank... - The worst thing for an alcoholic is the first drink. Besides, I was out on the street again: I couldn't pay for the whole apartment..... And on the street, my friends, my buddies: “Come on!” At the very beginning of this drunkenness, like a drowning man clutching at straws, I remembered Father George. He was glad to see me, accepted me as his own, and advised me to apply to Father Vadim at the Labor House. Father Vadim told me later: - He came in during the Divine Service. His behavior was unpleasant: he was aggressive, talking rudely to the Elder..... I suspended the service. - If you dare to come to us, you need to detox right away, right now! He paused for a moment, then abruptly: -Father, take off your glasses! I prayed, took off my glasses, and he brought his face very close to mine. - I agree! I understand everything! Agreed! After the service, I took him to the hospital. He was squirming. Any attempts to talk about spiritual things were met with laughter... and kept trying to run away. I said: “If you want to go, we'll go. If not, I'll pray for you.” He jumped out of the car after all... He drank heavily for five months, and one day, in early August 2006, when he was taken to the hospital for the next time, he was diagnosed with pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas - V.K.). They treated him for 10 days, prescribed medicine ... However, there was no money for the medicine anyway, and on leaving the hospital he threw away the prescription.... - I held out one day, then I snapped and drank again. Three days later I started to feel bad. My abdomen started to enlarge, there were wandering pains in my internal organs. I thought I had cirrhosis of the liver. In the hospital, where he urgently went, they found a cyst in the area of the pancreas, closing the stomach. He was operated on immediately. After leaving the hospital, he never drank again.... Father Vadim recalls: “He appeared with brotherly love in his eyes... I saw that this was not yesterday’s sober Andrei, this was something else... He settled in a shelter and thought hard about his life. - Why did the Lord send me this? This disease, surgery? So that I can finally stop? Gave me another chance? And a little later: - He is merciful. He does not give tests beyond his strength. He gave me Hope... He doesn’t confess or take communion yet, he says that “he’s not ready yet,” but he learns prayers by heart and, according to Vadim’s father, “asks the Lord for help.” - And here a very sick boy came to us, a drug addict, from the Church of the Holy New Martyrs. So it was Andrei who hugged him and took him away... The man is moving towards Christ! We are witnessing the birth of a new man... And above the Brighton Boardwalk, 24 hours a day, an endless cry of despair floats and floats: “Save our souls!!!” Vladimir Krylovsky, parishioner of the Church of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, independent journalist, New York. magazine "Orthodox Rus'", Jordanville, December 2006.

  • The rain is falling on the Brighton Beach

    By Elena Chernichkina There's a unique place in New York City (Brooklyn, Brighton Beach, home to a large  Russian-speaking community) called “The House of Labour”. It’s a homeless shelter welcoming Russian-speaking alcohol and drug addicts. They are offered a roof over their heads, food, and encouragement to permanently change their ways with God's help. According to official statistics, approximately 40% of residents succeed.   It all started 20 years ago, on December 2002, when a young woman walked into one of the local Orthodox churches. She approached the pulpit and suddenly addressed the paritioners: - "Did you Orthodox Christians know that while you're praying, your fellow believers are freezing in the streets of rich America? They need your help!”  She was quickly shushed, since only priests are allowed there (it is a special place for reading the Holy Scriptures, and giving sermons). Then she saw that her words were in vain, and left the church. She was walking down the snowy street, disappointed. Had people become so insensible that even in God's temple a plea for help is rejected?  Suddenly the deacon of that church, Vadim, caught up with her.  - “Could you show me exactly where our fellow believers are dying of cold?” - he asked. And Rosa, that was the girl's name, went on to show him. - “It was in December, with blizzard and snow. We're walking with Rosa through Seabreeze-park,” - recalls father Vadim. “Not a soul around. I thought, where is she taking me? Then she came to the bushes and shouted: Vasya, Kolya, come out! Two guys crawled out from behind the bushes. As it turned out later, they were formerly sailors. Their addiction to alcohol had cost them everything: family, home, job, friends. When I saw them, I realized: yes, Rosa is right, there is a problem, Russian-speaking people are dying on these stees, and there's not a soul to help them. At that moment I was struck with the idea to do something for these people”.  Later, Roza and Father Vadim managed to get Kolya and Vasya to a hostel for former sailors in Manhattan. Unfortunately, their story ended sadly: the two men couldn't go a day without drinking and were forced back on the streets.  There were quite a few homeless like this in Brighton. Rosa knew a lot of them and decided to rent an apartment for a couple of winter months so they wouldn't freeze to death. But this charitable gesture was doomed: the new residents set up a brothel there, drinking and partying for two months.  - “I used to go there”, recalls Father Vadim, - “and pray. They'd listen to me, but as soon as I left, they'd go back to doing the same thing. I didn't understand how to work with them, how to get through to them”.  With Rosa, he started going to Brighton Beach and feed the homeless on Tuesdays. For 20 years since, with few exceptions, they continued. On Fridays and Sundays, his helpers take over.  But back to our story. Two years later, in 2004, Fr. Vadim was invited over by the rector of Washington's St. John the Baptist church, Father Victor and his wife. The paritioners there had raised $3,500 dollars to help the homeless. “With this money, we rented a small apartment in Brooklyn and converted it into a Shelter in the name of Saint John of Kronstadt”. (St John created the first “House of Labor” type of homeless shelter in St Petersburg, Russia in 19th century), - says Father Vadim. - “So in this apartment, in one of the two bedrooms we created a small chapel where we could pray.”  In 2005, with the blessing of the Bishop of Manhattan, Father Vadim became a priest.   “In 2008, the Lord gave us the opportunity to buy two houses. We made a church in one, and in the other - a House of Labor after St John’s example. We already knew how to help addicts battle addiction, and with God's help, we did. People found health and restarted their lives with a clean slate”.  This continued until 2013. Then, a disaster struck and they lost both the church and the House of Good Works. New premises had to be found and the rent payments were stabilised only in 2017. It's still in Brooklyn. The charity work carries on. The new location is designed for 12 people, 8-10 stay there most of the time. Unfortunately, the lease is about to expire, and there's no money for renewal. Father Vadim has much hope that people will care enough to help.  We ask Fr. Vadim, - why do you need to treat such people? The addicts themselves often reject your help, why insist? - “I'll tell you this”, he said: “the human soul is an icon of the Creator. We're walking down the street and see an icon that was spat on. An icon! It should be picked up, washed and brought to the church. Because the human soul is made in the likeness of God”.  What follows are a few stories of those who are sheltered here. Anatoly is 60 years old. He came to the U.S. in 2009 from Krivoy Rog, Ukraine. - “I started having problems with alcohol about two years after moving here." he says. - “I started longing for my family, who stayed back in Kryvbas. Plus, I was unsettled, and constantly had to rent a "corner" instead of a real place to live. There's a lot of places like that in Brighton Beach. My drinking was, of course, influenced by the group of people I was hanging out with”.  Anatoly began to go on bouts of hard drunking lasting 5 to 10 days. Then he would go back to “regular drinking”. After a few months he would have another bout. He couldn't keep up at work and got fired  without any discussion. No job, no money. No money, no way to pay the rent. This happened in 2012. - “At the time, there was a church in Brooklyn on Brighton 1 where Father Vadim served," Anatoly recalls. - “Some people took pity on me and advised to go there. They said there is a local shelter where alcohol and drug addicts are helped”.  At the House of Good Works Anatoly was met with understanding, and given hope to recover through prayer and a specially designed rehabilitation program. Convinced by the visible recovery of other residents, he stayed. Indeed, the program was beginning to bear fruit. The addiction seemed to go away, but.... - “In 2017, I decided to return to my family,” - continues Anatoly. - “And I did. Lived with my wife and children for 5 years. But the addiction didn't go anywhere. I fell back into drinking, lost my family and decided to come back to America In January 2022. I thought I'd get a fresh start in the US, quit drinking, start earning money. But the dream didn't come true”. Literally upon arrival he went on a drinking binge and found himself on the street again.  - “An acquaintance told me that Father Vadim is still treating alcoholics although the House of Labor is now at a different Brooklyn location. So I went there. The result - I haven’t touched alcohol in nine months. I can assure you, there's no other shelter like this in Brooklyn or the United States. There are rehab centers that medicate you, but here, people quit drinking on their own free will. And you won’t find another person like Father Vadim, who saves people from alcohol and drugs, and gives back the opportunity to live a full life. He has created a microclimate where, thanks to the faith in God. Those who were abandoned by everyone, including themselves, can find their way back to life here.*** Igor is 44 years old. He came to America in 1997 at the age of 18 with his father, while his mother stayed in Kharkov being averse to moving abroad. For 25 years years since he emigrated, he never visited Ukraine and never saw his mother again. She died alone and he didn't come to her funeral.  At first Igor lived in San Diego, and later moved to Boston. - “I started drinking at the age of 14”, - he recalls. - “And drinking heavily - at the age of 22. I fought the addiction as much as I could. A few times I found the strength to stop drinking, but, unfortunately, not for long. Eventually I got married. Lived with my wife for 5 years, but she couldn’t take it much longer. I even had a business at the time, installing air conditioners and aquariums in offices. When we got divorced, I worked as a paramedic for 9 years (I learned this profession in America)”. Igor recalls that he usually came out of drinking bouts by himself. Being a medical worker, he knew how to do it with minimal loss of health. - “However, later I started consuming 1.5 liters of vodka a day - and there came a moment when for the first time I felt helpless. I didn't have much of a choice - either die or go to a hospital and ask for help. I chose the second option”. By then, Igor was already unemployed and homeless. - “I was referred to detox, where I met addicted guys like me who persuaded me to try a rehab center. I spent 21 days there. It was pretty good: they fed me a lot, we had a gym, soccer and basketball courts, even smoking was allowed. Yes, you had to sit in AA classes all day, but being out of my drinking environment was a huge help in my struggle with addiction. How did I end up with to Father Vadim? I was referred from the rehab in August 2022”.  Igor says the House of Good Works is run on donations. - “In America institutions like this are run on state funding, while the House of Good Works is entirely private, and dependant on donations from private individuals. This is a unique place. They really save people here, including those who have lost everything.  Who's to help when you don't have any money? You come here, get treated for addiction, have a roof over your head, and they keep you well fed. But the best thing is, you are free. When you’re ready to live without alcohol or drugs, you leave. Had you seen me and the other residents before, you wouldn't have recognized us.  After 4 months and 16 days I haven't had a drink, not a drop, and don't have the urge. By the way, there's no way you can't drink alcohol here. If Father Vadim finds out, he'll ask you to leave immediately. He believes  every person can kick this habit if they really want to, and helps people get a fresh start, a chance for a healthy life. I don't think I’ll go back to binge drinking when I leave. ***  Vladimir is 67 years old, retired. Like Igor, he came to the United States in 1997 on a visitor's visa from Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. When his visa expired, he stayed in New York.  “I became an illegal immigrant. I have a wife and two sons at home,” - he says. - “I came to the U.S. to to earn money. Back in the hard 90s, when the Soviet Union collapsed, and the former republics were just trying to fix their economies, andt it was very hard on the people. I went abroad to feed my family.” Of course, Vladimir had no idea he'd stay in the US for 25 years. He wanted to go back as soon as possible. But it didn't work out. To be fair, all these years he was sending money to his family. His wife used it to raise the boys, put them through prestigious schools, and when they started their own families, he helped them build houses, start their own businesses.  “- It was hard for me in a foreign country without my family," he shares. - “I started drinking, lost my job, couldn't pay the rent. They wanted to evict me, but I promised to find work soon and pay off my debt. In Brooklyn, right next to my house there was a church where father Vadim had his shelter. I was practically forced to do there, you might say. Stayed for a few months, and when I felt ready to live without vodka, I moved to Florida for a construction job. When the job was over, with some money on my hands, I fell into drinking again.  So I moved back to New York, and checked into the House of Good Works. I live here for a couple of years now. I’m something of a superintendent, keeping an eye on the residents. I don't drink at all”. Vladimir also does volunter work: three times a week the residents make soup, and distribute it to the homeless on Brighton Beach with father Vadim, regardless of weather.  - I'm about to turn seventy, and my health is seriously failing me," he sighs. - “I dream of returning home to Kazakhstan, to my children and grandchildren. My wife, unfortunately, has passed away. But my sons are waiting for me. I want to live my God-given lifetime in my homeland, with my family.” ***   Zurab came to America from Georgia six years ago. He's just over 50 and also stays at the House of Good Works. Like any Georgian, he tasted wine since he was a kid, he says. When he came to the United States on a work visa, he quickly became homesick and started drinking vodka. One day, intoxicated, he drank hydrochloric acid out of a bottle. - “I was in such a pain that I thought I wouldn't survive," says Zurab. - “The acid ate my stomach... but not completely. I probably have my drinking to thank for surving, as my stomach got used to alcohol over time. My stomach held up, but the doctor said that after such a burn cancer often follows”. The man left the hospital after a month and a half, and was treated at home for another six months. Good people helped him, as he couldn't do anything on his own - neither cook, nor go to the store, or lift a grocery bag... Thank God, his health didn’t falter and the worst fears were unconfirmed.  Such an incident should have discouraged Zurab from drinking forever, but just the opposite happened. Once again, the alcohol took over his life even worse than than before. He couldn't get a job, and eventually lost the roof over his head.  Finally, Zurab ended up in a rehab albeit only for three days, didn't like it and left. The doctor insisted he had a good chance to kick the habit. He just didn't want to. But it was in the rehab that Zurab learned about a church in Brooklyn with a shelter for people like him. “So I went there and stayed since October 2022," he says. - “Haven't had a drop of alcohol all that time. I will say this: whether a person will drink depends on the environment. No one drinks in the House of Good Works. Religion is a big factor in rehabilitation here. Father Vadim comes to us all the time, reads prayers. You can talk to him about anything, he's your spiritual counselor, psychologist, and doctor. You have a choice: either you die in a ditch, or live. We chose life”.  In these four stories, the main characters were left alone and helpless. If they hadn't come to the House of Good Works, their fate would have been sealed. But there's another story, of a woman who cares about these people. Olga emigrated to the US in 1997 and almost immediately started volunteering. - “I remember when I moved to America, I got a job in a second hand store," she recalls. - “And started sending things that were handed out free, to my hometown of Belgorod-Dnestrovsky in the Odessa region”.  One day, she published an ad in the newspaper asking to help the children from the Belgorod-Dnestrovsky Orphanage, and father Vadim responded. That's how they met and began to collaborate. Olga later worked for 12 years in the Coast Guard as an accountant, and as a nurse in a mental hospital.  - “Only three years ago I could fully commit myself to charity works with fr. Vadim”, she says. I help the guys from the House of Good Works with registration and paperwork, getting driver's licenses, get in touch with their families, etc. I donate monthly for the soup distributed to the homeless. Once a week, on Tuesdays, we go out with fr. Vadim and other volunteers to distribute the food to the homeless”.  Olga has two sons, both are involved in her charity work. - “It's hard to work with addicts, sometimes you lose heart seeing people fall back into drinking despite all the help, and hit the bottom again and again. But there are people who manage to get up, start working and earning, start families. When you look at them, there is a hope that people who work so hard to help addicts, do it for a reason”.  Elena Chernichkina

  • The history of St. John of Kronstadt Labor House

    In the second half of the 19th century, there were many poor people in Kronstadt, a port city near the capital of St. Petersburg. Most of them came to work loading ships and could not return home. Father John, being a young priest at the time and at preparing for a Christian mission in Asia, was deeply moved by the sight of Kronstadt poor. Considering all Christians to be one church family, he could not remain indifferent to them, and realized that the flock he was striving to reach is located right here at home. Beginning with private alms, he soon realized that he alone could not cope with the enormous poverty and started looking for like-minded people.  St John of Kronstadt Soon the idea of creating a special shelter, with an emphasis on employment, came to him. Thus was formed the idea of the House of Labor. Let the poor not be beggars and idlers; this is forbidden by Christianity: “He who does not work, let him not eat,” said the strict and merciful Apostle Paul (see: 2Sol.3:10). And Paul himself labored day and night (v. 8). Therefore, everyone should have both shelter and labor: this is where the idea of the House of Labor came from.  For these people, the disposessed citizens of the city of Kronstadt, who lead a miserable wandering life, and had no place to invest themselves in the fall and winter, the Kronstadt church trusteeship established this mission headed by Fr. John.  As Fr. John said, "The arrangement of this house is marvelous, by the grace of God. It begun last spring (1881), with negligible means at first, with God's help and good people..." and became a saving refuge for those in need, and an important milestone in the life of Fr. John, who later in his life gained country-wide notoriety and became known as People's Batjushka (translated as 'priest and fatherly figure'). In 1883, the trusteeship began renting space in a private house from November to April. There were 37 places on bunks for the workers of the newly established hemp-plucking workshop and 15 for everyone else. There was also a lodging house for 110 people, a people's canteen, a reading room and almshouse, a sewing workshop and a junior class of elementary school. Finally, the trusteeship build its own three-story building for the House of Labour, in 1889. At first, the canteen of the House of Labor was leased to a private person (a cook), who was obliged under the contract to “give the poor good-quality food for cheap prices determined by the trusteeship”. But it turned out to be unprofitable in 1890, and the trusteeship took over the management of the canteen. The cook became an employee, and a baker was hired. New dishes were brought in, and provisions began to be purchased under the strict supervision of the board members. The three-story building for the House of Labour For some time the trusteeship supplied the public canteen with vegetables from its cottage, where in summer the orphaned pupils worked under the guidance of an experienced gardener. Private benefactors paid for lunches. In 1890, for example, 9,355 free portions were given out from such earmarked donations. On church holidays the trusteeship paid for the meals. The incapacitated homeless were given a monthly allowance on the 1st of each month. The parishioners of St. Andrew's Cathedral agreed to put money into a “mug” (a collection box) instead of handing out alms. The money collected was distributed among those who could present a certificate of inability to work issued by a doctor. In different years from 80 to 174 people received monthly payments from the mug collection. Later, one-time allowances were also given: clothes, shoes, funds for treatment, burial, return home, etc. Inquiries were made about each applicant, in particular, to find out whether he had applied to other charitable organizations at the same time. Up to 3,000 people were under the patronage of the parish trusteeship during the year. The trusteeship provided support to those in need after the fire of 1874, when many townspeople were left without money or shelter. By the beginning of January, a wooden house was erected to which the needy could move in. In March 1875 in the same house a free elementary public school  was opened, which was attended not only by Orthodox children, but also by Lutherans and Jews. The shoe shop served the needs of the orphan school and provided for free distribution to the poor. The bookbinding workshop, opened in 1884, became a training workshop - the master received a room for work, and instead of rent he took boys of 10-15 years old for training. The basic work of the House of Labor male residents was hemp-plucking and cartouche workshops (where boxes and paper bags were glued) for men. Although the labor was hard and the possible earnings were low, it allowed the needy not to starve to death. In the hemp-plucking workshop, old ship's ropes were shredded into fibers from which new twines, ropes, hammocks and nets were woven. The residents of the House of Labour Over time, 60-100 people worked daily in men's and women's workshops, and their products - shoes, clothes, furniture, tablecloths and napkins, and household items - were in demand at bazaars and shops. Since it turned out that the qualifications of most of the women who came did not meet the needs, very soon sewing and needlework courses were opened at the House of Labor. Over time, a free public school for 200 people with classes for different literacy levels was opened at the House of Labor, and lectures on religious, historical and literary topics were held. Then there was a library with 3,000 volumes, a free reading room and a paid library. A bookstore with literature for children and adults was opened. The school of craft apprentices. On November 2, 1909, a school of craft apprentices was opened in the House of Labor in Kronstadt. Initially 30 pupils were trained in the locksmith department and 8 in the carpentry department. On October 18, 1912 the school of applied crafts was opened. The first floor housed the workshops of the junior locksmith class, a blacksmith's workshop and a workshop for the study of electrical work. On the second floor there were lathe, locksmith and carpenter workshops and classrooms. In 1922 it housed a school of factory apprenticeship, which under different names but with the same number and profile of activity exists to this day. The House of Labor in Kronstadt was not self-supporting and existed mainly on donations. For example, only the personal contributions of Fr. John's personal contributions to the House annually amounted to about 40 (according to other data - 50-60) thousand rubles, which came to him from about 80 thousand annual pilgrims. During the 20 years of the House's existence, he contributed more than 700 thousand rubles to its needs. Although the revolution put an end to the House of Labour, St John’s endeavour didn’t go in vain and  became an inspiration for God-loving Christians and enthusiasts who established similar homeless shelters. We believe it is now our turn to continue St John’s labour of love in the 21st century Brooklyn. Among the hurdles and obstacles, we continue to witness God’s blessings and amazing cases of answered prayers (link), encouraging us to carry St John’s legacy! Source of historical information: https://opora-sozidanie.ru/?p=13834

  • The story of N. battling the gambling addiction

    Dear Fr. Vadim! Bless you! I am grateful to God that I am in Brooklyn and that I live ten minutes away from the Church you built and named in honor of the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary “The Irreplaceable Cup. This is a miracle, because this icon is the most important thing for me in my life. You know better than I do that the icon of the Mother of God “The Unopenable Cup” helps to fight various passions and addictions - smoking, alcoholism, fornication and drug addiction. But few people know that it helps to fight against ludomania (from the Latin word “ludo” - “playing”), i.e. gambling addiction. ...Gambling addiction is an emotional (not to say “mental”) disease recognized in all medical systems of the world ... Because of this severe addiction, life becomes an agonizing existence. Gambling devours everything: relationships in the family, work, relationships with loved ones and friends. It is difficult for a person to be alone with himself, and his whole life goes downhill at a rapid speed! I have never heard that in our temple they pray for those who are sick with gambling addiction (it is also called “ludomania” and “gambling”) - it is a very real and very serious disease. People who have caught this disease need the help of psychiatrists and psychotherapists, only a few can make it on their own, and not without God's help. This disease, in the opinion of almost all doctors dealing with it, is heavier than drug addiction.... ...First of all, this disease is exploited by halls with slot machines (“one-armed bandits”, as they are called).   They breed players who are unable to pay off their debt without playing again and again.    But with the help of the game it is even more impossible to pay it off!   We get a factory of pathological addiction and criminogenic worldview.    It is no exaggeration to say that game addiction is a social phenomenon and a very dangerous one. (www.орепеуеѕ.ги/іgгоmапіуа.html)... This problem needs to be talked about more. If even one soul is saved by my experience, that's a lot. In the United States, 15.4 million people are pathologically addicted to gambling.   3 million gamblers seek help from psychiatrists.   It is established that in the USA avid gamblers lose more than 20 billion dollars annually. In small Sweden there are more than 10 million avid gamblers, whose life is completely subordinated to a painful passion and its name is gambling addiction.   The course of treatment with the diagnosis of “gambling addiction” in a Swedish clinic costs 200 thousand dollars and is successful only in half of cases. Someone said: “There is no greater misfortune than not knowing the limits of your passion.” I've been studying this addiction for a long time, I've seen different players, in principle, there are 2 types of gamblers: The first is people who run away from reality into the world of the game, in a difficult moment in life, say after dismissal from work, loss of a loved one, or after a divorce, a person accidentally finds himself near a machine or in a casino, starts playing and suddenly notices that there is peace. Sometimes such people deliberately go to play in order to get extreme emotions, something “hotter”, lacking in the gray everyday life. ...To put a person on the game, as “on the needle”, - do not need serious spending on advertising or any special techniques of enticement. 8-12 hours of playing with a “one-armed bandit” is enough to form a pathological addiction. This is a big time. No one can play 12 hours at once, but the machine does not need to hurry. Today half an hour, tomorrow - an hour. The victim will not go anywhere. Gambling knows how to wait. The temptation to flip a coin and win a huge sum can capture everyone... (www.орепеуеs.ги/іgгоmапіуа.html)... The other type of players are people of action: gambling, daring, energetic, valuing power over the situation, wanting to win easy money. Their main motive - the desire to win back, because for such people the idea that they are forced to submit to fate, intolerable. They see the way out as the same place as the way in, which means, they believe, the debts formed in the game should be paid from the winnings. But this wrong idea leads to new vicious circles. As a rule, luck accompanies only beginners. And by the way, the worst thing is the first win, it is the hook. A person thinks that he will always win. ....The popular opinion that “a beginner always wins” is not just a gambling myth. In most cases, this is exactly what happens. However, a beginner cannot be “always lucky” just because he is a beginner. It cannot be the reason that his game outcome suddenly ceases to coincide with the mathematical probability of a random result. The reason for the beginner's luck is different. GAMBLING HAS A DEMONIC NATURE, and the fallen spirits (read “Satan” - Ed.), who can influence the events of the sensual world, easily make the beginner swallow this fatal hook.... (Hyeromonk Job, Ргаvoslavie.гu). ...When this diabolical disease begins to develop, the thirst for thrills grows, and it becomes almost impossible to walk away with the winnings..... ...   The gambler anticipates a new triumph and feels a sense of risk.   This mixture of euphoria and fear serves as a drug.   As a result of the addiction, it becomes necessary to play “big”, in which the player risks everything, even his own life.   To facilitate the experience of fear of death, the brain secretes the internal drug endorphin.... (www.орепеуеѕ.ги/іgгоmапіуа.html) ...Debts appear and grow, but the borrowed money is also lost. Suddenly a person realizes that he cannot get out of these satanic web.... ...Gambling is very insidious: the danger for a very long time remains unnoticed not only for others, but also for the victim ...    The first sign of the emergence of the syndrome “game addiction” is the loss of a sense of time.   It seems that - “so, just try and that's it!”.   But an hour, two hours pass, and the person is still playing....   If it is difficult for him to leave the hall with slot machines - we can safely talk about the emergence of “pathology” - game addiction has already clung to him with its terrible teeth. (www.орепеуеѕ.ги/іgгоmапіуа.html)... The things I have seen in the last 10 years would have shocked even a former player like you. I will not name names, but among the players I know there were very interesting, educated and intelligent people. Some died, others lost everything, a few were saved by God's grace.... I remember one young guy, an immigrant from Eastern Europe, who for a long time, several years managed to hide his illness from his relatives, from his wife and gradually brought his debt to several hundred thousand dollars. He was playing poker. He couldn't stop. His wife and children did not support him, she just left. He lost his prestigious job in his specialty. He got a job in a cab and slept in the car: he had nothing to pay for rent. Friends turned away, tired of helping and constantly pulling him out. His parents were far across the ocean, but they sold everything they could, including their home. It wasn't even enough to pay off half the debt. His mother died of a heart attack. He was left all alone. Eventually, this guy threw himself off a cliff into the ocean. ...The road to ruin begins simply with unbelief.   A gambler doesn't believe in God, but in chance, in fortune, in luck, in fortune.   This is used by the devil..... (Hieromonk Job /Gumerov/, Pravosiavie.ru ) I knew a very wealthy and successful Russian woman who held a large executive position, but got hooked on sports betting, then on “one-armed bandits”, then on roulette, then on Internet casinos. Didn't get up from her computer for weeks. Degraded herself completely. Started drinking, and female alcoholism, you know, is terrible. Got into terrible credit card debt. Started stealing from her own firm. I barely avoided jail, but I lost all my family and friends. Ended up on the street, literally homeless. I don't know where she is now or what happened to her. Satan destroys the one caught in this net gradually If he is a believer, he becomes cold to spiritual life, stops going to the temple. Prayer labor becomes a burden to him ... Character becomes irritable and unpeaceful, he often falls into despondency. Extortion of relatives and friends begins - constant requests to lend money with the typical “I'll give it back tomorrow!” ruins the way of life... (Hieromonk Job / Gumerov/ , Provoziavie.ru ) A former American engineer friend of mine was addicted to card games for many years. He lost everything - his job, his money, his house, his friends. He was left with only his wife, who realized that it was a disease and did not leave him. That's what saved him back then. He hung in there for many years, counted the days since his last bet, I even remember saying that he hadn't played “for 3455 days already”. He supported a lot of pathological players and helped them in the GA associations by talking about his experiences. And everything started to go well for him, he had kids, money, a job. Life, as they say, got better. But it was a life like a volcano. One day he had a drink and snapped. He snapped in such a way that in a few days he lost everything he had saved for the last 10 years. But that wasn't enough: he got into massive debt! When he woke up, he was climbing over his veins. But the Lord saved him this time. He survived, and his wife did not leave him again. We need very much the fervent prayer of those whom the Lord has put in love for a close person who is in such trouble... (Hieromonk Job /Gumerov/, Pravoziavie.gi ) For all the misery of the situation.   relatives and friends should not show little faith and lose hope.   Christianity is the religion of resurrection...“ for the faith alone he (the robber - Ed.) entered Paradise before the Apostles, that you may know that not so much his righteousness meant here, as the humanity of God accomplished.” (St. John Chrysostom). This shows that gambling is incurable and although one can resist it for thousands of days and get rid of addiction for many years, one day one can lose his vigilance and return to this pernicious passion, losing absolutely everything in an instant. The devil is always setting his nets and waiting for a person to fall into them again. It is very difficult to convey all the feelings that an addicted player feels, especially waking up in the morning after another loss. These sufferings cannot be conveyed in words. I myself at the age of 30 lost absolutely everything: my job, family, friends and just the joy of life ... ...When the devil holds someone in bondage to sin, he is constantly taking care to darken him more and more with spiritual blindness..... (St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain) To God, as to a doctor, most often turn,   those who are already in a hopeless situation. Before that, no one wants to be called sick. And doctors have not really helped me and my many acquaintances ...Blinding this entrenches in him the skill and incessant urge to sin and sin, so that he, the unfortunate, drawn from sin to greater blindness and from blindness to even greater sin, spinning as in a water gate, and will spin like this all his life until death, unless God's special grace to save him.... The only thing that has helped and helps me to hold on and still be alive, to believe in the future and to preserve my soul, is God's grace and help, as well as the icon of the Theotokos 'The Inexhaustible Cup'. She is truly a miracle worker. Neither doctors, nor “GA (Gambling Addiction)” organizations, nor relatives, nor friends - no one could help me! No one but God and the Mother of God can help a person here. Man himself is absolutely powerless to do anything without His help ... ...We are Thy people, We do all things by Thy hand, and call upon Thy name... (Prayer) When I lived in another, also very large city on the East Coast, I could not pray to the icon “'The Inexhaustible Cup”: it was just physically nowhere to be found, even in such a large church as the one I went to. And so a year and a half ago, in November 2008, I ordered the icon of the Mother of God “Irreplaceable Cup” in Belarus in the Elizabeth Monastery. I myself went and brought it to America as a gift to this church. It was painted by a very talented Belarusian monk-icon painter. The eyes of the Mother of God still stand before me every day. I am sure that now, in our terrible time, this icon helps many people who need it. Last year it helped me to save myself from imminent death. Unfortunately, as you know, Father, I fell off the wagon again last month.... But with God's help I made it through and am still holding on.... Your brother in Christ, N.

  • The Story of Nikolaj Lapich

    A shelter for Russian-speaking homeless people, the St. John of Kronstadt House of Labour is attached to the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary “The Inexhaustible Chalice” in Brighton. The inhabitants come and go... Some, having left a bad habit - back to sober normal life, some, having snapped, return to the street and their old friends - to vodka and drugs. Nikolaj Lapich And it so happens that the inhabitants - both present and former, including those who return to a vagrant life - still remain like family for those who knew them in the church, with whom they prayed together. Parishioners, meeting them in the park or on the embankment, sincerely rejoice at their social successes or grieve and sympathize, seeing a brother in a terrible condition, try to help them as much as they can.... After a while, they see their brother sobering up, returning to the House of Labour, standing at the Liturgy.... This is always very joyful! But often, unfortunately, it happens otherwise. The body can't take the trial of sobriety! The heart remains attached to alcoholic or drug poisoning... that's what happened to Kolya (Nikolai). We buried him in the cemetery of the Novodiveevsky monastery, and the other day we made a memorial service for him at the Sorochiny. Nikolaj Lapich, age over fifty, came from near Grodno (Belarus), had a construction specialty, good at laying tiles, marble.... he tiled the floor in the kitchen under our house church. He went to the Labor House several times, had a breakdown, started drinking again and ended up on the street again.... The last time he had a breakdown was on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He spent the night at home of one of his friends, where they found him breathless on the floor in a small room. The inhabitants, sturdy men who had been through fire and water, who can't squeeze out a tear - they cried! For the first time in the history of the House of Labor before the funeral, the Psalter was read before the funeral all night until morning (many had to go to work in the morning). The brothers made a cross out of wood. A picture of Nicholaj was pressed into it. This Cross stood in the kitchen, like Golgotha, on the floor that the deceased had tiled. The House of Labor has an inner life of its own. Complex characters collide and clash here. One can only guess what passions each inhabitant brings, how much suffering each soul bears in itself, subjected to various habits and passions. How sincere and strong must be the prayer here! And if the brothers prayed all night long, how fervent was their sorrow! Since 2002, this is the 87th deceased of the Russian-speaking alcoholics and drug addicts of Brighton, for whose souls the Labor House fought, for whose souls St. John of Kronstadt invisibly prays. May the Lord rest your soul in the place of the Just.... Fr. Rector, clergy, parishioners of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary “The Inexhaustible Chalice”, brothers of the House of Labor in the name of St. John of Kronstadt in Brighton, editorial staff of the magazine “Rodnik”.

  • Adyan's path to Christ

    My name is Adyan, and I am from Kalmykia, Russia. I lived most of my life in atheism, although there was religious life around me, but not Christian: our family's religion is Buddhism. But by God's will I lived here for eight months among Christian villagers, and it turned my life upside down. Did I feel anything during those eight months? - I just believed it was real, that's all! And that feeling of faith. I can't explain it. - People do not immediately grasp that in every Divine Service, in every Sacrament, this external theatrical part that we observe is actually secondary. It is an entourage. What is primary is something else - the invisible. The priest comes out and says, “Peace be with all!” - the chalice is lifted. If only we realized what is behind these actions, if only we had the spiritual sight, like the Holy Fathers, like St Sergius of Radonezh, St John of Kronstadt, or St. John of Shanghai who came to incredible delight during the Liturgy. He would directly stop the priests with whom he was serving and literally shout: “Christ is in our midst, alive, active!”. Priests would come from all over to perform the Liturgy with him.... He could grab the hand of any one of them and rejoice like a child who saw the Heavens for the first time! And the priests lived it. Every sacrament was perceived so vividly, as children, as a miracle that took place before their eyes. This Saint was truly reborn in Christ! No doubt he had the gift of spiritual vision. We try to grasp with our intellect what is behind the external actions, but the soul sees everything by feeling it in some way. I have already shared my personal experience - the first time I crossed the threshold of the altar.The Cherubic Chant was the most revelatory for me.The priest let me into the altar and said, “Stay in the corner and pray, so as not to disturb anyone.Father George (Kallaur), the founder of the Church of the Holy New Martyrs, deacon Alexander (Bochagov), who is now rector of the Church of the Holy Fathers on 153rd Street in Manhattan, and one servant served.In the rostrum altar no one touches anyone, and I stand in a corner. At some point the royal gates open, the choir sings, and suddenly I feel like I'm in the Moscow subway at rush hour. I'm being squeezed on all sides by bodies, I don't know what is going on. I was in such a panic! And this feeling of the Moscow subway lasted until the end of the Liturgy. The Liturgy ended, and suddenly, as if at a certain stop, everyone got off. I looked at the bishop, he was finishing the Liturgy and could not stand on his feet. He poured all of himself into this Liturgy. He takes a few steps to the chair and suddenly collapses on the chair. He can't move his arm. I approached him: - Father, forgive me, but what was it I felt? What was it? The feeling of the Moscow subway! And he, tired, waved his hand and said: When the choir sang “The Cherubim”. How do you know it was at that time? I didn't tell you that! At that moment, the angelic forces enter the altar. I was so frightened, my hair stood on end. I was thrown out of the altar, I ran out and said to myself: - “Lord, I'll never go in there again! Never in my life will I go into this terrible place: I will be burned to death there! I could feel them with my shoulders. The next time I was in the altar, I felt nothing of the kind. The Lord showed me once, a man of little faith, how real it all was. From my memories of our everyday life, I can testify how that even a simple sprinkling of Holy water in the alleyways has an effect on the guys affected by demonic addiction.

  • Sergey: a miracle in Brooklyn

    Today we read the “Gospel of the Blind Man”, which recalls Jesus Christ's giving sight to a man born blind in Jerusalem in the third year of His public ministry, on the Feast of the Renewal of the Temple. The Lord approached the man born blind, who did not even have eyes, and having made a bead* from His saliva and earth, put it into his empty eye sockets, and the man gained sight. It is very important for us today to experience and feel this Gospel story, to feel that the Gospel is not just a book, but the Lord is knocking in the heart of each of us. And you must not pass by, you must change your life, be reborn in Christ. And here is a brother standing among us, who for all of us was a living confirmation of the Gospel parable. He was not just a man who had closed his spiritual eyes and became spiritually blind and stopped seeing the Lord. He was homeless, an alcoholic, lying unconscious on the street, and had completely forgotten the Lord. It was as if he had torn out his spiritual eyes and thrown them away, no longer remembering the Creator. At some point he was suddenly healed! Spiritual healing, and then physical healing! God heals the body as a consequence of healing the soul, not vice versa. And seeing the healing of our brother Serozhka, we think: “What a miracle! Let's rejoice!”. But we do not only rejoice for him. In his healing we are all healed! This is a clear, living, working example of spiritual healing happening before our eyes! We have, you might say, had the opportunity to put our fingers into his wounds... We hospitalized him. The doctors said: “That's it, we have to say goodbye to him! Father, recite the prayer “For the Exodus of the Soul”.” But he survived! We prayed for him, came to him, smeared him with holy oil. He had a double death sentence: internal hemorrhage, which the doctors could not stop, and complete cirrhosis of the liver. At first the diagnosis of “hemorrhage” was removed, the man came out of the coma and regained consciousness. We continued to pray as much as we could. My brother first confessed in a whisper, saying “yes” and “no” with his eyes, then he received Holy Communion. After a few weeks he was able to confess and receive Holy Communion again. Then one day a Hindu doctor called me and said: - “Father, if you are standing now, please sit down so that you don't fall down. I want to tell you that the liver cirrhosis is completely gone! It's gone! But it never happens, because it never happens! And here I am, as a doctor, testifying that it happened! I say to him: - Doctor, are you saying that a miracle of God has happened? - You, Father, can say that, but I am a doctor and I can't say that, but I completely agree: a miracle! You can't call it anything else! And so our brother slowly, slowly began to climb from earth to Heaven, began to regularly participate in the Sacraments of Confession and Communion..... And now he has really seen, he was yesterday without eye sockets, blind, could not even conceive what the Light of God is.... And now he sees this Light, reaches out to it! And God grant us all such rebirth, such healing from spiritual blindness. Amen. Christ is Risen! Truly He Is Risen! Brothers, we need to understand why the Lord has gathered us all here in the House of Labor. And He has gathered us all for the sole purpose of saving our souls. That is, for the salvation of the soul of everyone sitting here. And the Lord took me by the scruff of the neck and stuck me to you. Think about it: what for the sake of what? So that I could escape hell with you. Why me and not someone else? Because the Lord sees the spiritual pit I'm in. And my task is to say to you: “Guys, let's climb out together!”. That's it! I mean, there is no such thing as a saintly bishop coming here, and you should try to be like him. No, on the contrary. I realize that it's no accident that I'm here. For me and for you, I have the same chance for salvation. I found myself in the Church, you found yourself in the Church, we were thrown a lifeline from the Ship, so that we would not drown in this world, where the waves hit everyone. And now we have been thrown a lifeline! And it was thrown by the Captain of this Ship. And the Ship is the Church of Christ. If you want - cling to the circle and try to swim out, if you want - don't cling, nobody will stop you. But if you cling and cry with all your being: “Lord, save me! I'm dying!”, that's it! Then God rushes to your aid. Then with a rope, you climb up, and God drags you to the deck. And on deck, do you think someone will hold you? They'll wash you away if you don't grab on with your teeth! You'll be overboard in no time! You have to work very hard not to fall out of the bosom of the Church of Christ. This is a special task. How many years have I, a sinner, been in the Church? And I realize that every day is a storm! And you stand there and pray: “Lord, don't throw me overboard from Your saving ship. In such conversations, I always try to convey the essence of what I want to tell you first. Otherwise, all the details of our life seem to be obscured by everyday life. What good things have happened in the Labor House recently? More and more there is a spiritual merging of our House of Labor with the monastery of St. Nektarius'*. The monks are standing up for us in prayer. That's very serious! It's not like us - we prayed, crossed ourselves and forgot! The people there take it very responsibly. Every day the monks of St. Nectarius Monastery offer holy prayers for each of us. They are very impressed with our ministry, they have already brought two cars of all kinds of good things, food and ask us to come to them as pilgrims. I said: - Fathers, we will come and maybe we will help you in some way. They thought about it and said: - Okay, we'll give you some service, since you're from the Labor House. So last weekend a number of brothers went there. Hieromonk Michael called me from there and asked me to tell everyone who worked in the monastery that he was praying for him: - God save him! He was especially impressed by the diligence of the two Alexanders. You know, they are new to us, only four months old, you could say they are newcomers on the Path. One of them had recently received Holy Baptism. And here's an interesting phrase Fr. Michael: I pray that they feel what the monastery has given them. It seems like they have been there for a short time, worked a little, stood at a couple of services, tasted a bowl from the monastery kitchen.... But really, it's a very mysterious thing. You have entered a place where an army of monks is moving, and they can't help praying for you, because you are their laborers. I hope the boys felt what monastic prayer is! They felt that obedience in the monastery without prayer is unthinkable. You have to pray hard before the obedience and repeat during the whole work: “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner! I'll tell you one more thing. Our brothers, brother headman Alexander and brother Sergei Pavlovich, raised their visors and calmly talked to journalists at our request. It is not easy to overcome oneself and answer their questions sincerely. And it turns out that the headman and Brother Sergei Pavlovich entered our missionary ministry lightning fast. How? It would seem that a journalist came, took pictures, asked something, say: “How do you live here, brother?”. And the brother sincerely said: “This is how it is and this is how it is.” And it turns out that the man, without realizing it, immediately became a missionary, because this report was watched by 20 million people in Russia and America. Can you imagine, 20 million people! Some of them are addicted to alcohol, drugs or gambling, and they need to hear how we are recovering from our common misfortune. Not everyone knows about the intercessor of all addicts - the miracle-working icon of the “Irreplaceable Cup”. Of course, everyone perceives everything through the prism of his sinful fall, his hatred or on the contrary, love for the Church of Christ. But I think that through the prayers of the Mother of God, through the prayers of St. Martyr Vonifatius, our patron saint, the patron saint of sober life, many people heard it in the right way. For example, right now I, a sinner, am getting calls from all over America..... I go into a store, a grocery store, and different people come up to me and ask me to help them get rid of various addictions. Now they are calling from Russia, although it's been so long, and the report was only four minutes on Channel One, but people haven't forgotten. That is, they felt that the only way to get rid of addiction is to take the Path to the Lord. Not to some hypnotists or sorcerers, and in general, it is unclear who to turn to, but the other way, the direct road to the Lord! And one of our brothers in this report says so calmly one single phrase: “Without the Lord - nowhere!”. It is interesting how our endeavor, our desire to be saved, has suddenly acquired such a broad missionary sound. Thank God, guys, that we are gathered here today. Let's establish a tradition - every Saturday we gather for spiritual conversation. Spiritual life in our Labor House, like everywhere else, goes in waves: it rises and falls. There is no need to be discouraged, it is normal, it happens in monasteries too. As my close spiritual co-brother monk Vsevolod says: “The main thing is that our spiritual airplane, in spite of the pits and falls, at least a little bit, but still gaining altitude. If we feel that it is flying parallel to the ground, it means that in fact it is slowly but surely losing altitude, we just do not notice it. And the lower it descends, the less and less chance we have to notice it ourselves, because the evil one blinds our eyes, our spiritual eyes, more and more. And then it is very difficult to ascend, and the fall becomes inevitable, and there is destruction, unless the Lord in His mercy does not give us sight, and then we again get a chance to be saved. How? By crying out to the Lord for help again with all our souls... I would like each of us to realize God's Providence for him. We're all here for a reason. And if someone had told me 15 years ago that I would be a priest here in the Labor House, I would not have believed it! It never seemed to me that this was my path - to be together with you, and to be saved together with you. But the Lord has arranged it this way - not by my human will, but by His Providence. I look back on my life and think: “What an interesting Providence! Where the Lord has brought me!”. And I thank Him very much that He showed me your struggle - those of you who have somehow broken through to this Path, who have literally gnawed with blood a nook to Him, and then, falling, falling, sometimes crawling, steadily making their way up. The Lord shows me: Look, a man was dying, but now he is alive! We read the Gospel, and there the Lord says: “Lazarus, get out!”. And here was a four-day old corpse, half decomposed, suddenly got up and walked. And here among you I have seen more than once: a spiritual corpse suddenly got up and walked! That's a real victory over death, a real Easter... And I really want everyone who came here to realize that this is the only chance to defeat death. There's no other! I would like to end by recalling the Old Testament and the story of King Nebuchadnezzar. The prophet Daniel warned him: Do not fall into pride, or you will turn into a beast. And one day the king opened a window in his palace and looked at Babylon and thought: “This is what I am like, I have built such a city”, and immediately turned into a beast and fled into the forests. That's how the Lord humbled him. And this story is very instructive for us all. If any of you, leading a sober life now, thinks that he is doing it himself, he may resemble Nebuchadnezzar. Exerpt from a sermon by the Priest Vadim Arefiev

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