A Visit to St. Mitrophan's and NM Grand-Duchess Elizabeth

(with new section added to the end of this article)
Today I visited the third church Matushka Irina had written down for me--the Church of St. Mitrophan of Voronezh. Here is his icon, near the top of the church, facing the main street.

Can you tell that the whole top half of the church had been destroyed by the Bolsheviks, and was rebuilt in the 1990's?

This one was the most like Holy Epiphany so far, in that it has only one altar and so the shape of the church inside is cross-shaped, and larger than some with 3 altars. The altar area was newly-done in mosaics, and the ceilings and walls were all newly frescoed like a Greek monastery (also similar to Holy Epiphany's frescoes).

This is the church's last priest before the Revolution, the Holy New Hieromartyr Vladimir Medvediuk. When he was ordained a priest and sent to this church in the 20's, he zealously guided his flock against the rampant revolutionary spirit, Renovationism, and atheism that existed. The Renovationists, who supported the Bolshevik regime, were forcefully seizing churches right and left. They tried to take Fr. Vladimir's church by waiting until he had left the church. In those days--as now once again in Russia--churches were open all day, every day. But Fr. Vladimir would not give them the chance: when he left for the day, he locked the church and took the keys home with him.

Failing this way, the Renovationists then invited him to their bishop. Fr. Vladimir went.

"Hand over the keys!" cried the bishop.

"I won't give them, Vladyka, I won't give them! answered Fr. Vladimir.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you like a dog!"

"Kill me," answered the priest. "You and I will stand before the Throne of God together"

"Oh, look what a fellow we have here," said the bishop, but he didn't insist further. And the Renovationists didn't succeed in seizing the church.

In 1925 the authorities arrested him, and, showing him a far-fetched and invented accusation, they began to threaten him with imprisonment in a concentration camp. The only way he could be freed, they said, was to agree to collaborate with the OGPU. Fr. Vladimir agreed and was freed. The mission they gave him was basically regarding the locum tenens of the Patriarch, Metropolitan Peter, which he fulfilled; but the further he went the more his conscience bothered him and the more agonizing it was to endure his situation. Neither zealous serving in church nor pastoral conscienciousness could calm this burning spiritual pain. Finally Fr. Vladimir made up his mind to cease contact with the OGPU and went and confessed his sin to his spiritual father. In 1929 one of the OGPU investigators summoned him to an office in Great Lubianka and demanded an explanation. Fr. Vladimir explained that he was not going to work for them any longer. For 72 hours they tried to talk him into changing his mind, but Fr. Vladimir decisively refused, saying that it didn't matter anyway--he had already told the priest about everything in confession. On the 11th of December they arrested him for "divulging confidential information." On the 3rd of February 1930 the OGPU sentenced him to three years imprisonment in a concentration camp, which he served out in building the White Sea-Baltic Canal. In the meantime his family was evicted from their house, which is what he feared the most, but by God's providence they found refuge with another family. Fr. Vladimir was able to join them after his three years were up, but was arrested again and shot in December of 1937, and buried in a mass grave at Butovo Firing Range (Polygon). He was added to the number of the Holy New Confessors and Martyrs in the year 2000.

(Translated and/or summarized from days.pravoslavie.ru. There's more about two other New Martyrs in his Life, but I didn't have time here.)
________

(signing off now but will add Part Two of today's visit later to the end of this article.... Here it is:)

On the side of the church facing the courtyard, you can see an icon of Holy New Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth.

This church has a strong connection with St. Elizabeth: before the Revolution she had founded an orphanage nearby, and the church still supports orphans. It also established a Sisterhood in the name of St. Grand Duchess Elizabeth, carrying on her work: I saw quite a few women in church wearing white nursing headscarves, of the kind you would think of a nun wearing these days, with a red cross on the scarf at the forehead, and in the back, instead of being triangular and pointing downward, the scarf is cut straight across--again, like a nun's, only shorter and white. There was a poster on the church door, too, something about medical sisters (nurses). It was quite amazing to see such headgear--I hadn't seen anything like it in the United States since I visited the Catholic Mercy Hospital in Portland, Maine, when I was a child. The Church here in Russia appears to be very active in society. In this church there was, for example, not only boxes with slots on the top for donations for rebuilding the church and to help the sisterhood, but also a very large box smack in the middle of the narthex where you couldn't not notice it marked for orphans and homeless or poor people. There was also a box on the wall to contribute to their Orthodox radio station, "Blagovescheniye" -- "Annunciation." Among the offerings in the archives of this station, which you can download and listen to, is an interview with director Pavel Longin, talking about the film Ostrov.

It seems that there are several nearby churches that share rotating clergy and publish a common bulletin. Those who can read Russian can find out more about this very spiritually active group of parishes at http://www.blagodrevo.ru/.

Across the courtyard/garden from the church is another building, used for trapeza and clergy, and I think, church school. It's a very large brick building newly-built, and over just one place, there is a small onion-dome with a cross on top. One of the priests very kindly let me see inside, where there is a new chapel and baptistery dedicated to New Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth. Here is her icon in the corner, behind the Cross.

As I stood looking at this beautiful iconostas, I asked the priest if the chapel we were standing in was old. He replied no, it was all newly-built. I said, "Amazing--the icons look as if they are very old." "They are," he said. "Families took them and hid them when the Revolution broke out, and so they were saved. Then, when the church was re-opened in the 1990's, the people brought them back."

There is a beautiful children's book (in English) about this very thing, called The Miracle of St. Nicholas, telling about a newly-restored church in Russia and how, after the fall of communism, the whole parish, who had been in hiding, came back, each parishioner bringing back an icon or some other precious church belonging. On this day I saw an example of it. Here is the amazon.com web page for those who would like to read it to their children:

http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Saint-Nicholas-Golden-Books/dp/1883937183

____

After visiting St. Mitrophan's, I returned home. It was a long walk back to the nearest Metro station, and all in all it took me an hour and a quarter to get back home. I took a rest for a while, then was delighted to find Namesday e-mails from family, and a call from friends at home, and even one from my iconographer-friend, Maria, at the parish of St. Nicholas v Klennikakh. All those warm wishes made my day truly wonderful--thank you all!

Till next time,

Dimitra

St. Dimitrios Day 26 October/8 November

Thanks to the fact that my students had a vacation this week, I did, too, so I was able to go to Vespers Wednesday night and to Liturgy Thursday morning :)


The church of St. Nicholas v Klennikakh even has a wall fresco of St. Dimitrios, shown here, in the smaller chapel of St. Nicholas.







The chapel looks something like this (but I think this picture was of one of the chapels downstairs....)














After Liturgy, I browsed the magazines in the church bookstore a little. There was an interesting one called "Orthodox Conversation" (Православная Беседа). As I thumbed through the pages, suddenly my eye caught a picture of someone familiar..... but who could it be, on the pages of a Russian magazine......?

Well, if it isn't Nikolai Lokhmatow of Holy Epiphany in Roslindale, Massachusetts, USA! Hello, Nikolai! :)

The picture was taken at the Sretensky Monastery, at, I presume, the Reunification events.

The distance between Moscow and Roslindale seemed to melt away.... Once again, I felt comforted--it's a small world, after all...

Of course, I bought this magazine :)

(I'll try to get a better picture in this spot later--I see the resolution isn't perfect.)


After leaving the church, I took the Metro to work to pick up my paycheck and to do a few other errands. As I arrived at the stop I get off at for work, Novoslobodskaya, I found myself much closer to the far wall of the station that I usually am, so I was able to get this picture of the mural on the wall. Like a lot of the Metro stations, it is left-over soviet art, but this piece is striking....


...because one can't help but notice the resemblance to the Virgin and Christ-Child.... and the Dove for the Holy Spirit...

and the inscription: "Peace in all the earth" is just so much like the Angelic Nativity song: "Peace on Earth," isn't it?

Furthermore, the hammer and sickle and star, though present as a technical necessity, are almost completely hidden.

(You can click on any photo to enlarge it.)


(Here's a better photograph from Wikipedia:)

I wondered.... could the artist have been a secret Christian, fighting to keep Holy Russia alive through his art, or was I just reading too much into it? I decided to look him up, and found the name was "Pavel Korin." Here is the article about him from Wikipedia. Was I right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Korin

(After the Wikipedia article there is more to the blog entry for today....)


"Pavel Korin was born in the village of Palekh to a family of a professional icon-painter Dmitry Nikolaevich Korin on July 8 [O.S. June 25] 1892. In 1897, when Pavel was only five years old, his father died. In 1903-1907 he studied at the School for Icon Painting at Palekh getting a formal certificate as a professional icon-painter. In 1908 he moved to Moscow and until 1911 worked there at the Icon shop of the Don Monastery.
In 1911 he worked as an apprentice to Mikhail Nesterov on frescoes of The Intercession Church at the Convent of Martha and Mary (Marfo-Mariinsky ) on Bolshaya Ordynka street in Moscow. Nesterov insisted that Korin gain a formal education in easel painting and arranged his admission to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1912. Pavel graduated from that school in 1916, having been a student of Konstantin Korovin and Leonid Pasternak.
In 1916 he worked on frescoes for the mausoleum of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna at The Intercession Church at the Convent of Martha and Mary. In accordance with the wishes of the Grand Duchess, he travelled to Yaroslavl and Rostov to study traditional frescoes of antique Russian churches.

Portrait of sculptor Sergey Konenkov, 1947
In February 1917 he started to work in his attic studio on Arbat Street in Moscow and worked there until 1934.
In 1918-1919 he taught at the 2nd State Art Studios (2-ые ГСХМ). In 1919-1920 he worked at the Anatomic theatre of Moscow State University, as he thought he as a painter needed deeper knowledge of the human anatomy. In the evenings he copied paintings and sculptures of the Museum of Fine Arts.
In 1923 he travelled over Northern Russia, visiting Vologda, Staraya Ladoga, Ferapontov Monastery, Novgorod. In 1926-1931 he worked as an instructor of painting classes for beginners at the Museum of Fine Arts.
In 1926 the Convent of Martha and Mary was closed by the Soviets and all the art there was to be destroyed. Pavel and his brother Alexander managed to smuggle out and save the iconostasis and some of the frescoes. On March 7 of that year he married Praskovya Tikhonovna Petrova, a disciple of the Convent of Martha and Mary.
In 1927 Korin's aquarelle Artist's studio and his oil landscape My Motherland were bought by the Tretyakov gallery, showing some recognition from the Soviets.
In 1931 Korin's studio was visited by Maxim Gorky, who supported Korin since. In 1932 Korin followed Gorky to Sorrento, painted Gorky's portrait and visited Italy and Germany.
In 1931 Korin started to work as the Head of the Restoration Shop of Museum of the Foreign Art (former Museum of Fine Arts later Pushkin Museum). He held this position for until 1959. After this he held the position of the Director of the State Central Art Restoration Works (ГЦРХМ) until his death. As one of the most senior Russian restorers of the time he contributed enormously to the saving and restoration of famous paintings.
In 1933 Korin moved to the studio on Malaya Pirogovka Street in Moscow where he worked until his death. Now the building is Korin's museum.
In the 1940s he painted many portraits of members of the Soviet Intelligentsia (including Leonid Leonidov, Mikhail Nesterov, Alexey Tolstoy, Kachalov and Nadezhda Peshkova (Gorky's daughter in law)). He painted the fresco Match to the Future for the Palace of Soviets in the Moscow Kremlin and a Triptych devoted to Alexander Nevsky.

Farewell to Rus, preparational drawing showing the composition, 1935-1959
In the 1950s Korin worked on mosaics for the Moscow Metro. His mosaics decorate the stations Komsomolskaya-Koltsevaya, Arbatskaya (Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line) and Novoslobodskaya, and also the Main Hall (Актовый Зал) of Moscow State University. He also won an impressive list of Soviet awards in the 1950s and 1960s:
Stalin Prize - 1954 for mosaics for the station Komsomolskaya-Koltsevaya,
Lenin Prize - 1963 for portraits of Martiros Saryan, group portrait of cartoonists Kukryniksy, Italian painter Renato Guttuso
Member of Academy of Arts of Soviet Union - since 1958
Gold medal on World's Fair at Brussels - 1958 for the portrait of Martiros Saryan,
People's Artist of the Russian SFSR 1958
People's Artist of the USSR - 1962 ()
Order of Lenin - 1967
Pavel Korin died in Moscow on November 22, 1967 and was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Photo of Korin's studio showing the canvas for the Farewell to Rus drawing, 1960s

[edit] Farewell to Rus
The biography of Korin shows an accomplished Soviet painter and a prominent art figure, but the job he had considered the main work of his life was left unfinished. During his student years Korin was impressed by the life of Alexander Ivanov, who spent most of his adult life on creating a single painting The Appearance of Christ before the People (1835-1857). Pavel decided that he should live by Ivanov's example and devote his whole life to a single large painting. He starts with preparing of a very accurate life size copy of Ivanov's masterpiece (1920-1925), the initial name for The Painting was Bless my Soul, Oh Lord (Благослови, душе моя, Господа).
In 1925 Korin witnessed the intercession of Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow in the Cathedral of the Dormition of Moscow Kremlin. All people of importance in the Russian Orthodox Church, usually suppressed by the Soviets, were present. After the event Pavel decided that his magnum opus would be named Requiem, or Requiem for Russia, and would depict the intercession of Patriarch Tikhon and show the Russia that was lost after the October Revolution.

Beggar, Etude for Farewell to Rus, 1933
Korin feverishly paints people present at the burial service for Tikhon, often the last survivors of families of Russian nobility, or dissident priests, soon to be destroyed. Rumors about the dangerous painting soon became a matter of NKVD interest. In 1931 Maxim Gorky advised Korin that the name Requiem for Russia was too strong to be accepted and recommended a change to Русь Уходящая - literally Rus that is going away, but usually translated as Farewell to Rus. Gorky argued that the painting showing the last parade of the Orthodox Church, showing the tragedy and at the same time the misery of all those people who soon will disappear into irrelevancy is an acceptable and even desirable for the Government. Korin agreed with the new name of the painting.
For forty years Korin worked on the painting. He produced dozens of large (more than the life size) well finished paintings that he preferred to name etudes for the Farewell to Rus masterpiece, worked on composition. He ordered a huge canvas, designed a special stretcher for it, spends years coating the canvas with multiple layers of the special underlays. Korin was combining the ancient methods of the icon paintings with the science of art restorations and claimed the painting prepared by his methods should survive hundreds, possibly thousands of years without the need for restoration.
He had not put a single brushstroke on the canvas - forty-two years of the preparational work was not enough for Pavel Korin. It might be considered an extreme case of procrastination, but the huge canvas became a popular art exhibit in the Korin Museum. Many consider it as an art masterpiece in its own right, similar to the Black Square of Kazimir Malevich."
________

Amazing, isn't it? I have more first-hand to show and tell about iconography and iconographers here and how the art of iconography was passed down from master to apprentice secretly during soviet times, but it will have to be for another day. Meanwhile....


One of my errands was to mail a card to Kisya and Olga Alexandrovna, who don't have Internet. I finally got up my courage to go into a post office and face the possibility of having to respond to an unintelligible-to-me stream of Russian. As in most places, there was a line. While I was waiting, I looked at the display in the window where the clerk was. (Sorry, this is a pretty bad no-flash cell phone picture.) In the window were all sorts of greeting cards--for the New Year, and yes, even Christmas, birthdays and what-have-you. The reason I took the picture, however, is to be found in the lower right-hand corner: there, among all the greeting cards, was an icon of St. Panteleimon, also for sale! How do you know that you live in an Orthodox country? When you can go buy an icon at the Post Office! :)

That's all for now, folks, it's getting late. Stay tuned and my love to everyone.
___________

An Unexpected Friend...

(for James) Here is the icon of St. John the Russian on the wall of the entry-way downstairs in the church of St. Nicholas "v Klennikakh." As I wrote below, when I saw his icon, I stopped feeling so homesick. I thought: it could not be without meaning that I am seeing him here...

They tell me he is revered here, along with St. Silouan of Mt. Athos.

I would have put this picture up earlier, but when I went to get the photo from my camera, I couldn't find it for a while. Sorry for the delay!

The New Holiday

We just had a long weekend here, celebrating the new holiday of "Day of National Unity," on the 4th of November. It replaces the old celebration of the anniversary of the October Revolution on November 7. Note that the new holiday is not on November 7th, but November 4th. This is none other than the day of the Kazan' Icon of the Mother of God, when She defeated the Poles. The statue commemorates Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, who rallied Russia's volunteer army against the Polish invaders during the Time of Troubles in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. "The Commemoration of the Deliverance of Moscow From the Poles by the Kazan Icon was established in gratitude for the deliverance of Moscow and all Russia from the incursion of the Polish in 1612. The end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries is known in Russian history as "the Time of Troubles." The country suffered the onslaught of Polish armies, which scoffed at the Orthodox Faith, plundering and burning churches, cities and villages. Through deceit they succeeded in taking Moscow. In response to the appeal of His Holiness Patriarch Hermogenes (May 12), the Russian people rose up in defense of its native land. From Kazan, the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God was sent to the army headed by Prince Demetrius Pozharsky."

Is there a silent, parallel message being given here, about the deliverance from a more recent "Time of Troubles"? Слава Богу за Его великую милость! Glory to God for His great mercy!

The Little Things in Life

I had just about run out of my favorite make-up, but fortunately, found some foundation of the same beautiful Evening-in-Paris-like packaging as a recently-found lipstick. FFleur, it's called. Not sure what the extra "f" is for...

So, is it made in Paris?

Russia?

Taiwan?

What???

Casper, Wyoming?!

You mean "foundation" is the "foundation" for Russian-American relations...? ;)

Sunday, 28 October 2007

Saturday, 27 October 2007

St. Nicholas "V Klyonnikakh"


On Saturday I went here to vigil. It's one of the 3 churches in Moscow that Matushka Irina (Holy Epiphany) wrote down for me before I left, as recommended churches, and to give the priests there her regards, because she and Fr. Roman knew these priests. The "klyonnikakh," I'm told, is some kind of tree. Almost all the churches here have some sort of nickname, to distinguish them from other churches of the same name. It's also called "Marosyeika," from the name of the street that it's on.




On the ground level, as you go in, there is the candle-counter/bookstore, then further down the hall are the incorrupt relics of St. Alexei Mechov, who was the rector of this very same church in the early 20th century and who was clairvoyant. He died in 1923. His son, St. Sergii, was a New Martyr. It was just awe-inspiring to think that the very church you were standing in had not one but two saints!




As I was about to walk up the stairs to get to the actual church, I had a sudden attack of homesickness. Just then I looked up at the frescoed wall, and what did I see but a very large fresco of St. John the Russian! After that, I felt there must be something right about this and felt more at home. I went upstairs for Vigil and put up candles for family and friends there. I met a very nice young lady named Vera who pointed me to the nearest Metro station after vigil.



Sunday morning, I went there again for Liturgy. The church is rather unusual, in that it is in several sections, separated by walls with arches in them. So you have the altar area and about 20 feet in front of it, contained, I think, in the taller section you see in the right-hand side of this picture. The rest of the church extends back from it--as you look at this photo.... towards the left. So as you're in one section, you can hardly see into the others. The whole church is beautifully frescoed (new). I got to meet the rector briefly, Fr. Alexander Kulinov, an older, very kindly priest. There is a choir loft there. Next week I hope to in-choir (joke) whether they might allow another singer (me).


After church, Vera and three of her friends and I stopped briefly at McDonald's (!) because one of them wanted a lot of coffee without a lot of money. But they then took me to a more Russian place called Moo-Moo. Though it has a "cow" theme, inside it was a brick-cellar location very reminiscent of the old Deli 1 in Portland--or maybe of the cafe under the Roma. It serves an array of traditional Russian food. So I had some Greek salad, of course ;), a very interesting concoction where they carefully removed the leg of the chicken and left the skin intact--re-stuffing it with the chopped chicken meat mixed with who-knows-what, and then a great Russian blin filled with tvorog, or farmer's cheese, with raspberry jam on top. Yum! They give you free caramels with your tea--these are unlike any I've had before--soft like butter rather than the hard stuff in the U.S. that will break all your fillings!



During the long lunch we had, one young man was telling lively stories. One was about this lady who decided to donate her library to the church. The priests and his helpers thanked her, then opened the boxes of books. To their surprise, they saw titles like "Marxism" or "Applied Atheism"! One by one they looked at each title and exclaimed, "Blasphemous!" and threw each book away right over their shoulders into the trash!



Another amusing story he told was about, I believe, his own little son, who is only 3 years old, and who has two older sisters, with, of course, one more person of the feminine gender, his mother. With Daddy at work, the little boy hears only the women/girls speaking all day. So one day Daddy comes home and the little boy says, "Папа, сегодня я пошла с Мамой в магазин." Papa replies, "Вот--ты--мальчик! Скажи: "Я поШЕЛ!" :)



After Mu-Mu, we went to the famous Sretensky Monastery. This is the one that Archimandrite Tikhon, who visited Holy Epiphany on the occasion of the translation of Metropolitan Philaret of NY's vestments to Moscow, is from. First we went to its bookstore, which is a whole separate building. Me! In that bookstore! Ah, yes, you can imagine. Actually, I only bought a calendar or two, a beautiful Orthodox date-book for 2008, and a likewise, a beautiful miniature book of the Sayings of the Optina Elders. And the November issue of Slavyanka Magazine. And one little item for my future grandchild. Books in Russia are unbelievably INexpensive, so going to the bookstore here doesn't mean losing your paycheck. Unless of course you stayed long enough.... ;)

Sretensky Monastery is right in the middle of the city--just across the street are stores and businesses. But it's surrounded by the traditional high wall, and inside--it's another world! Here is a picture of one of the icons that adorn the outside of the wall at various intervals: this one is of St. Alexis the New Royal Martyr.













Inside the Monastery walls...


beautiful grounds with gardens all over....



(yes, roses in late October)














a monument ...



















to "the Orthodox
Christians who were tortured and killed in this place in the years of revolt and trouble. Consecrated 8 September 1995 by His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' Alexii II."

We went inside briefly. There was another, very small gift shop/bookstore in the front, where I found a beautiful glass Holy Water bottle with a cross on top, and also a little vial of perfume oil from some bush called "Siryen."










It's already at least 4 o'clock, so we say good-bye to the Monastery and go out the main gate... and back out into the "world" --what a jolt after the peaceful gardens!

S Prazdnikom! С Праздником!

1/14 October Holy Protection Покров Пр. Богородицы

This is the Church of the Holy Protection--the smaller of two churches standing side-by-side within the walls of Pokrovsky (Zhensky) Monastery. In the lower part is the chapel of St. Matrona, where her holy relics lie. The upper, main church had been blocked off and closed when I first got here--they were renovating it precisely in time to be finished today, their Feast Day.

I got over to the Monastery none too early this morning--I was absolutely exhausted from teaching all day yesterday and then going straight to vigil--all this with a really bad cold.

So when I got there there the usual line was about 4 times as long! (Not like in this particular picture, taken earlier). I wasn't sure whether the line was waiting for the icon of St. Matrona (outside), or whether it was waiting to get into the church--in which case, the latter was hopeless. I decided to park myself as near as possible to the church doors, so at least I could hear some of the service and see the entrance! There were about 4 security guards there, keeping everyone out. There were a few people already in the entryway of the church, going up the inside steps, and, oddly enough, people seemed to be trickling back out. No one seemed to know just what was going on, or whether we could get in...

I was partly getting annoyed and partly amazed that security guards would be keeping people out (though, considering the unbelievable crowds--like, imagine Pascha at Holy Epiphany and at least double it--I suppose there has to be some kind of crowd control) when.... I got to see the lighter side of the guards. Suddenly one of them came down the steps towards us, looked at all the crowd, looked again, threw up his arms and laughed, and said, "Twenty people." You could see he felt sorry for everyone. Immediately I was just about squashed and being carried almost off my feet by the press of the enormous crowd, all trying to be the first to get through the small gateway. The "twenty" people got through and the gate closed just in front of me. Two guards started loudly telling people to push back. I was crestfallen. I prayed that the gates won't close in front of me to get into the Kingdom of Heaven! Then I prayed to the Mother of God to please let me in, even though I hadn't been waiting in line for hours the way the others had.

After 5 or 10 minutes, the guard came down again and said, "20 people." Again, I was suddenly being pressed by the crowd so hard that I began to understand how people's ribs could get broken in large crowds. I was moving--not on my own two feet, but by the press of the crowd, towards the little gate in front of me. Would I make it before the guard shut it again? ... YES! Just barely, as they were shutting the gate again, I got through--though my pocketbook almost didn't make it--I had to pull it hard to get it, too, past the people.

So, I got in! I was so happy! It was beautiful--heavenly. It's a very small church by Russian standards. The iconostas is actually semi-circular. As you can see, there are icons of the Apostles at the top of the iconostas, cut out and looking up to the Ascended Christ. If you double-click on the picture it might come up bigger, actual size. I was not actually in this main part of the church, but in the right side-chapel, dedicated to the Holy Apostles. They are connected by an archway, so I could see the left part of the iconostas, and everything that was going on in the very front of the church. I felt so happy to have gotten in--I was just basking in the beauty of it all.

The original iconostas must have been destroyed by the Bolsheviks, because this one is all "new" -- as is the case here, most newly-painted icons are in a more traditional style than their 19th-century (or earlier) counterparts. The original frescoes were still on the ceilings, however--I love them! They are scenes from the life of the Saviour and of the Apostles, complete with the chapter and verse written under each scene. It was like being inside a Bible story book! There was a lot of Baroque carved and gilt ornamentation, especially around the little shrines, with small signs posted near the large wall-icons asking people not to touch the gilding with their hands. It was all just newly-finished.

The picture doesn't really give the feel of it, because there were the two side-chapels--tiny little things, like, the whole altar of one was probably just big enough for one person to get into, but what we don't have at Holy Epiphany is the side chapel and the walls between the side-chapel. It's not a complete wall--you can walk through to the main church through a big archway.

The nuns sang beautifully--simply and clearly. Near the end, however, they progressed to something very complicated--I marvelled to hear these nuns suddenly singing diva virtuoso stuff! And you should have heard the priests (lots!) sing when they came out for the Little Entrance--best I've heard except in San Francisco. I got a little sound clip of it if I can put it on here....

After the Liturgy everyone started singing a wonderful little song to the Mother of God. It went like this (in 3/4 time):

Радуйся, Радосте наша!
Покры (?) нас от всякаго зла
Честным Твоим омофором.

(drat--doesn't seem to be a way to upload a sound clip into this blog...)

They sang that over and over again--it was very touching and very Russian!

I think there was also a Procession of the Cross--almost everyone went downstairs (out). I wasn't sure, though, and didn't go out because it was so hard to get in. I was able to get a prosfora and a little icon.

Finally went home, just in time! It was snowing when I left the church! Really coming down. Now it sounds more like rain again, though. Yuck.

Till next post,

Love,

Dimitra/Mom

Tuesday 2 October 2007

This morning I bought a new Metro (subway) pass for the month of October. This time I made sure that it covered the 4 forms of transportation: Metro, bus, trolleybus (bus with tires but hitched to electric wires overhead), and trolleycar.

Tonight, I walked a while from the Metro station towards home, but then a bus came pulling up and I decided to try out my new bus-capabilities. As I got on the bus, I asked the driver if she was going to Pokrovsky (Holy Protection) Monastery (up the street further, very near my apartment building, where I would have to get off). She said yes, so I started to put my pass through the ticket-spitter-outer. Moscow busses have turnstiles and ticket processors, just like at the entrance to a Metro station. She quickly stopped me: "Zhenschina! Ma'am! We're very close... You want Matrona? --just stand here at the front of the bus." In a minute we were right in front of Pokrovsky Monastery and she motioned to me to get out at the front, without punching the ticket. So highly is St. Matrona venerated in Moscow and all of Russia!

(More later on St. Matrona... If you look closely at the side of the Monastery wall, you will see that there are two large icons on it: on the left is the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God, and on the right is St Matrona. These are clearly visible from the street.)

Hello from Russia

Dear, dear Friends ! Sorry I haven't set this up sooner, but of course it was quite overwhelming being plunked smack down into a new country, and at the same time starting work, which, unfortunately, has to come before writing blogs! ;)

So, I have quite a lot to catch up on, and it will probably come little by little. Stay tuned and hopefully a little bit will be added each day.

The plane trip went well.... it seemed very surreal to be flying here, to have said good-bye to Sasha, Misha, and Edward at Logan Airport. Mostly, I didn't at all feel as if I were saying good-bye--I'm with you in spirit, thinking of everyone all the time--but I did completely "lose it" and start crying as I hugged Sasha.... The plane was an hour late taking off, therefore, an hour late arriving, too. Yorik as as good as gold the whole flight! The really interesting thing was that the entry in Tsaritsa Martyr Alexandra's favorite little book, "Day by Day," the entry for the day was about St. Peter walking on the water and how we have to trust the Saviour and look to Him; and when we do that we can even step out onto something that seeminly will not support us. I read this as I sat in the airplane, supported only by air..... It made me feel better, too, about flying off into the unknown, far away from family and friends.....

Waiting at the airport in Moscow was not too much fun with two HUGE, over-weight suitcases... I never did find the carts so I had to lug them by hand. There were a couple of English-speaking Midwestern business types in front of me in the line through Customs. A simple wave of the passport and I was through. Finally I found the Language Link people at the other end, outdoors--they had been waiting the extra hour, too! It was the faithful and amazing driver, Artyom (Artem), and also a brand-new LL intern from the States. Artem managed to pack my two HUGE suitcases, the other intern's, as well as our own persons into a small, little Russian car--oh--not to forget poor Yorik in his carry-case!! He was so good--he didn't make a sound during the whole time. And he even more or less preferred to remain in his carrier, until we got to the apartment.

Here in the picture you see one of the first sights outside the airport. How strange to see a sign that says, "Moscow--St. Petersburg!" You know, not "Boston, 128" or something. I was very pleased to see that there were lots and lots of trees and everything was very green--not how I had envisioned Moscow. Later I found out it wasn't Moscow, but Zelenograd, aptly named. The buildings there were certainly different from the US: every building was colored and decorated--none of this uniform gray concrete or tan brick. Things are different in Russia! (more to follow, got to get to work, stay tuned...)