MOSCOW, May 22. /Corr. TASS Andrey Ermilov/. Starting Monday, the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, brought the day before from the Italian city of Bari to the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior, are open to everyone for veneration. Thousands of believers have been waiting in line since the morning.
The TASS correspondent walked the entire route: from the Crimean Bridge to the temple.
One route - one queue
The road to the shrine begins the same for everyone - from the Crimean Bridge, which is located next to the Park Kultury metro stations on two lines at once - Sokolnicheskaya and Koltsevaya. The first security checkpoint is located right under the bridge, from which the line actually begins.
After passing through the metal detector and showing the contents of their bags to police officers, pilgrims join the general queue. Attempts to bypass it on the roadway are immediately stopped by the police, who politely ask not to violate traffic rules.
To avoid crowding, the queue along its entire length is divided by “gates”: at each cordon, groups of pilgrims numbering about 100-120 people are formed. As soon as one group passes the cordon, law enforcement officers push aside the barriers, and a new group takes the place of the one who just left.
Only pilgrims with musculoskeletal disorders and infants can shorten the route. A separate passage has been organized for them at the corner of Volkhonka and Soymonovsky Proezd, next to the Kropotkinskaya metro station.
Prayers, introductions and preparation for the session
You will have to spend more than four hours in line. Most people read prayers to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Others take turns getting to know their neighbors and striking up conversations. There are many topics: from stories about pilgrimage trips and advice to novice pilgrims to discussions of dacha affairs and everyday problems.
There are exceptions. For example, a girl with a physics textbook in her hands. “I’m a first-year student at Baumanka, we have a session very soon. Studying, of course, is hard, and I decided to ask St. Nicholas for help. But relying on God's help, I continue to prepare for exams, and in order not to waste time, I decided to take a textbook with me,” she explained.
Pressing questions
Of course, after a few hours of waiting you can get hungry. Many in line unwrap sandwiches, chocolates, and fruits wrapped in foil.
But there is another option - there are bright yellow tents all along the line. Everyone will be able to eat buckwheat porridge, mashed potatoes, sausages, drink hot tea and coffee. The prices are quite affordable - lunch will cost about 130 rubles. There are also dry closets here.
If someone suddenly feels unwell, they must inform the police or volunteers standing along the line. They will transmit the information, and an ambulance, which is on duty nearby, will immediately arrive at the pilgrim’s location. There are several buses for older people where you can sit and relax.
The last meters to the shrine
On the territory of the temple, pilgrims will have to undergo another, more thorough inspection. Entry with piercing and cutting objects is prohibited; volunteers ask pilgrims to turn off Cell phones and other devices.
In the church, a line of people wishing to venerate the relics collides with a line of people wishing to submit notes for the health and peace of their relatives and friends. They move towards each other, and the pilgrims become confused about where to go next. Volunteers separate the flow of people and help to navigate.
Approaches to the ark with relics are organized on the left and right. The organizers ask not to delay. Considering how many people are still waiting in line, no one has any objection to the request. Most cross themselves three times and venerate the relics; many place crosses and icons with the face of Nicholas on them.
Earlier in an interview with TASS, the head of the press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', the rector of the temple St. Sergius Radonezh in Moscow, Alexander Volkov gave all the pilgrims very important advice. According to him, “the main thing that should be inside a person is his humility and willingness to make some effort.” He noted that “without spiritual achievement, the correct result is impossible.”
MOSCOW, May 22 - RIA Novosti, Anton Skripunov. The queue on the first day of the stay of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Moscow begins in the area of the Park Kultury metro station. Under the Crimean Bridge, volunteers are asked to approach the metal detectors with their bags open. Seeing a huge number of people along the entire Prechistenskaya embankment, pilgrims almost run to the frames.
For the first time in history, the relics left the Italian city of Bari. The shrine will stay in the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior for 52 days - until July 12, where it can be venerated from 8.00 to 21.00. Then she will go to St. Petersburg for two weeks, and from there she will return to Italy.
Every day, 400 volunteers provide access to the relics. They stand not only along the line and in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, but also near the nearby metro stations - Park Kultury and Kropotkinskaya. You can recognize them by their bright green jackets; they simply and politely (probably hundreds of times a day) explain where you need to come to worship the shrine. They also help elderly and disabled people cross the road, patiently listening to their stories.
Several thousand believers formed a multi-kilometer queue at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior to venerate the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker brought from Italy.Along the entire line, approximately every hundred meters, there are toilet stalls and green tents where you can buy food and drink. The assortment is modest: buckwheat with sausage, tea, coffee, cookies, etc. The Moscow authorities kept their word - the prices are truly affordable. So, buckwheat will cost one hundred rubles, tea or coffee - 30 rubles. The price of water - and the line goes under the sun along the roadway - is 50 rubles.
The experience of previous bringing of shrines is clearly taken into account: it is felt that all actions were streamlined by both volunteers and the police. Pilgrims are “divided” into sectors of 100-150 people. When free space appears in the next sector, people from the previous one are launched there. Therefore, you can calculate the approximate number of people. In the middle of the day there were clearly no more than five thousand of them.
Theology among the masses
Prechistenka offers a picturesque view of the Moscow River. Because of this, one woman fell behind her family. “Let me through (to the next sector), I was just taking pictures!” - she cries to the policeman. “No, it’s not allowed,” he snaps.
Indeed, there are no “VIP passes”. Bypassing the queue, only wheelchair users and people with disabilities on crutches can get to the relics, and only upon presentation of a document confirming their disability. Mothers with babies also have unhindered access. A separate entrance is provided for these groups. But they also want to get to the shrine as quickly as possible in the main queue.
“Let the woman through! She’s disabled, we even have a certificate, we came from Siberia!” the pilgrim in a lemon-colored headscarf is indignant. The policeman calmly replies: “Understand, every fifth person standing here has the same certificate.”
“If only I had known that this was possible, I would have made a certificate too!” he says offendedly. Old man in a worn denim jacket. “Stop saying that! It’s bad to be disabled!” replies the Siberian woman. “Yes, I know everything... I’m just a disposable one!” he cheers up.
To while away the wait, some quietly pray, some take photographs of everything around them, others lean against the barriers and smoke. Despite the fact that pilgrimage groups from the dioceses will arrive only on Tuesday, people from all over Russia came to pray to St. Nicholas today.
“I specially came here from Krasnoyarsk to pray to the saint,” says Tatyana. For this purpose, she and her daughter rented an apartment for a short time. She explains why she came to the relics right now, despite the fact that they will be taken away from Russia on July 28th: “It’s hot in the summer, and I still have a course of chemotherapy planned, I want to be in time.” It was she who tried to get through the barrier on the basis of a certificate.
“Well, we will stand until victory. It’s not for nothing that we came here from far away,” she says to those around her.
Here a young woman in a stylish checkered dress intervenes in the dialogue: “There are no happy people here, everyone comes here with their troubles. You understand, when you stand here before the saint, you are being tested. As you stand here, so will you be rewarded.”
“But I think that this approach (pilgrimage as a test - ed.) is wrong!”, a grandmother in a gray scarf is distracted from reading the akathist to Nikolai Ugodnik.
“Correct, correct!”, objects the woman standing behind.
Watchers in crosses
Despite the fact that traffic is limited near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, there were no traffic jams on Prechistenskaya Embankment from 12 to 17 hours. One of the lanes is occupied by police paddy wagons. Pilgrims from other cities are a little unaccustomed to the noise of cars, but they patiently endure this test. When a motorcycle with large speakers drove past the line, from which one of the songs of the German rock band Ramstein was loudly playing, only a few paid attention to it.
In line, knowledgeable pilgrims immediately suggest going online and looking at all the information about the duration of the shrine’s stay and how, who and where to go. Priests of the Eastern Vicariate of Moscow are on duty along the entire line.
Vicar of the eastern district of the capital, head of the Synodal Department for Charity of the Moscow Patriarchate, Bishop Panteleimon (Shatov) walks along the entire line. “Christ is risen! Well, how are you, my dears, tired of standing here?” - he asks the pilgrims. Believers approach him for a blessing and ask something. One man from Taganrog complained to the Bishop about something for a very long time. He listened to him patiently.
“The priests of the Eastern Vicariate are on duty along the line that stands at the relics, from seven in the morning to ten in the evening. The clergy of the Moscow Regional Diocese are also on duty. They keep order in the line and answer people’s questions,” explains the bishop.
"Soon there will be horror"
Already in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior itself, believers are asked to stand in twos and pray in advance, not at the relics themselves. People approach the ark from both sides without any delay; those who hesitate are politely taken by the arms and led to the shrine.
“We call it the elbow game,” jokes one of the volunteers.
The flow of people moves quite quickly. Today, access to the shrine began an hour earlier than planned - the temple was prepared to receive pilgrims after the patriarchal service.
“I stood there for about three and a half hours. From half past twelve. But when you pray, read books, akathists, on the contrary, everything goes by quickly,” a pilgrim shares his impressions on the threshold of the temple.
Someone, just leaving the temple, lingers on its steps to thank Nikola Ugodnik for passing the test. The Russian Orthodox Church expects the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker to be venerated more people than the belt of the Virgin Mary - 3.5 million people. There will probably be a lot more people in the coming days.
“Hello, I’m at the “Park of Culture”, standing at the relics. When do you still get to see St. Nicholas the Wonderworker? Today the line is long, but in the next few days it will be absolutely terrible. Think carefully!” one of the pilgrims shouts into the phone to the entire line .
For the first time in history, a particle of the relics of the most revered saint by Russians, Nicholas the Wonderworker, was brought to Russia. The shrine will remain in Russia until July 28.
Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis agreed on this during a historic meeting in Havana. From May 22 to July 12, they will be available for worship at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, and after that they will be transported to St. Petersburg, presumably to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
The event was unique; for almost a thousand years the relics lay in the temple under a multi-ton marble slab in the Italian city of Bari. The shrine was brought to Moscow in a special ark on May 21, the day before in memory of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The very next day, believers could venerate the shrine, which 18 thousand 600 people did. In the first days, the flow of pilgrims was so large that the Patriarch’s press secretary, priest Alexander Volkov, had to gather journalists and explain the rules of pilgrimage: do not strive to worship in the first days and do not create a stir, do not look for easy way to the shrine. “If in Moscow we cannot stand in a three- to four- to five-hour queue, then why do we need all this? The point is for a person to make some, at least short, pilgrimage to the shrine, to spend at least some time and his physical strength and would make some effort to worship the holy saint of God. Otherwise, there would be no point in this worship. Like in a store: you came, took something for some money and went back. This is not a store, and the church,” said the priest.
4 hours average queue time
It seems that the organizers have thought of everything. A special website nikola2017.ru, where you can see where the line begins today, read the rules of access to the shrine, find headquarters telephone numbers, and read about the saint. Following the instructions, I look at the summary of the status of the queue on the website. At 12.00 the end of the line should be looked for in the Frunzenskaya metro area.
The guidelines are, of course, conditional; the number of people trying to bow cannot be predicted. At 16.00 it was easier to find the end of the line at the Park Kultury station. At the turnstiles at the exit there are two girls in light green capes - these are volunteers. You can ask them for directions. “Straight ahead and to the right, you’ll see there,” they advise. At the exit from the metro, you are greeted again by the “light green” girls. They tell in more detail: “Straight ahead, there’s a traffic light and a bulldozer, cross the road and you’ll see.” A traffic light and a bulldozer were found, but the end of the line was not.
I'm trying to be a volunteer showing the right path. While we are walking, I ask the pilgrims why they need this search. They laugh it off. But one of them, Marina from Moscow, says that her dream is simple - to get married. Her dream is in tune with the majority of Russians, for whom family is one of the main reasons for happiness, as well as children and health (VTsIOM).
More than two thousand law enforcement officers monitor the safety of pilgrims. Polite guards in camouflage tell you how to find the entrance. The guard regulates traffic, giving priority to pedestrians. Volunteers help throughout the line. On duty" ambulance". For those who did not have time to grab a sandwich with them, paid meals were organized in the field kitchens.
Some pilgrims are on duty at night, special buses have been prepared for them, but there is no point in spending the night, on average the queue moves from two to four hours, the press center of the headquarters told RG. - There are volunteers on duty inside the temple who can also provide the necessary assistance. You should venerate the shrine once, without lingering.
Access to the relics is open until July 12, daily from 8.00 to 21.00. If there is a large flow of pilgrims, the organizers advise you to queue up before 17.00 in order to get to the temple before closing.
Nikolai the Wonderworker, aka Nikolai Ugodnik, aka Nikolai Myralikiysky - lived about 1600 years ago. According to his life, he performed miracles during his lifetime. A bag of gold was thrown to a ruined rich man who could not marry off his three daughters. He saved sailors from storms and drowning people from certain death. He spent his large inheritance to help those in need. It is believed that Nicholas the Wonderworker became the prototype of the kind old man who brings Christmas gifts.
What are they asking for?
Nicholas the Wonderworker is considered the protector of travelers, the needy, the unjustly convicted, widows and orphans. Most often, a saint is approached with a request to heal from a serious illness, help in a hopeless situation, relieve need, get married, or maintain peace in the family.
Who skips the line
Preferential passage can only be used by people with disabilities who can use wheelchairs or crutches. A disabled person in a wheelchair can only be accompanied by one person. Take your passport, disability certificate and IPRA with you ( individual program rehabilitation or habilitation). The passage for disabled people is located at the intersection of Ostozhenka Street and Soymonovsky Proezd (on the corner near the Vanil restaurant).
Help "RG"
Who is last?
If the flow of pilgrims is moderate, the queue starts from the Park Kultury metro station - at the exit you should turn right and walk to the Crimean Bridge to Prechistenskaya Embankment. Please note that the passage from the Kropotkinskaya metro station is closed. If the number of people wishing to touch the shrine is large or very large, the queue will be extended along the embankment towards Luzhniki, then you will need to go to the Frunzenskaya metro station, and possibly to the Vorobyovy Gory.
What to take with you?
To stand in line with relative comfort, do not forget to take extra water and sandwiches. An umbrella will come in handy to protect you from both rain and sun. It is wise to check the weather forecast and dress accordingly. The main thing is convenient. If there medical indications, do not forget to take your medications with you.
Archpriest Igor Fomin on how to respond to criticism of the queue to the relics of St. Nicholas, whether it is necessary to “torture” young children by standing at the shrine, and whether there will be any sense in standing if a person does not care about Christ.
Why did we “privatize” St. Nicholas?
– Father Igor, the most frequent one about the queue to the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker: why stand there if in Moscow alone there are 25 churches with pieces of the relics of the same saint. What to answer to this?
– The Church is an organism, a community, and we are a part of this big, big single organism. The Church unites us in the Eucharist, in prayer, and it gives us the opportunity to all participate together in one great celebration - this is the veneration of the relics of St. Nicholas.
Moreover, we know that there are many local Orthodox churches in the world. But it is Russian Orthodox Church- it so happened - he especially resorts to St. Nicholas. What is this connected with? It is very difficult to say, maybe we are very similar to him, although he has never been to Rus'.
- With what?
– Perhaps, with his ardor, and in any issue, even in such as strangling Arius, and in mercy too. In a word, we have “privatized” St. Nicholas and are only benefiting from this. The Church gives us the opportunity to all touch the shrine together, overcoming certain difficulties: difficulties in the form of a queue to see the relics.
– Is there a particle of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in your church?
- Yes! By the grace of the Lord, we received this piece from the man who built us a temporary temple - the Church of St. Nicholas. This was for us great gift. But I still urged all my parishioners to definitely go to the relics in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
I will serve there, but my family and I will definitely also go into line, we will stand like everyone else: we will not have a VIP passage on the left, right, above, below. Because standing in line is a small feat.
– Can you explain in what sense this is a feat?
– The relationship between the saints and us, the still militant Church (“The militant Church” is the name given to Christians living on earth today, “The victorious Church” is Christians who have reached the Kingdom of Heaven - ed.), This, in my opinion, is always a parent-child relationship. And the relationship between God and man is parent-child. We see how the Lord shows mercy to us, and we must understand how to show gratitude in return.
It seems to me that here lies the answer to the question, why stand for many hours at the relics in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Because a parent always does something extraordinarily good for his child, and the child, brought up and taught, wants to somehow say “thank you” for this. How will he do this? He can make mom and dad a sandwich; can draw the parent some kind of scribble; or make something absolutely stunning, wonderful from your wallpaper, so that you then have to do the renovation all over again.
The child thanks the parent completely ineptly, but from the bottom of his heart, in such a way that it is much more expensive than some diamond earrings or luxury cufflinks or Swiss watches. That’s why parents and grandmothers keep our children’s drawings, not Picasso, but something terrible and incomprehensible, or clay crafts, which if you don’t say that they are a vase, you won’t even understand. But it was made by a child for his mother’s birthday at the age of 5-6, and it is valuable!
Anyone who has somehow, even a little, been connected in prayer with St. Nicholas understands that the saint fulfills petitions. No matter how terrible, strange or joyful it may be, he fulfills our requests...
- Why is this terrible?
– Because we do not always ask for what is necessary and necessary, but St. Nicholas almost always fulfills these requests, this is an amazing moment.
- It's your personal experience?
– This is a pastoral experience, let’s say, what I see, what both the parishioners and the people around me are begging for, and then they don’t know what to do with it...
Not capable of a feat - not capable of a good deed
– But no matter what we ask, standing in line is our small feat! Does St. Nicholas need him? No, not needed. Does God need him? Probably not needed either. When a child plays with blocks, parents do not need this game. But when the baby calls you to play with him, you go, although you would rather lie down to rest and read a book, or prepare for tomorrow. You play and understand: really, what a wonderful game! Now we have built a house out of cubes for some Cheburashka. And this Cheburashka, it turns out, plays very cutely with Gena the Crocodile. For parents, this is touching, wonderful and wonderful. And if suddenly a parent sees that in this house Cheburashka is “selling” drugs to Crocodile Gena, then, naturally, he will tense up and think: “Or maybe he should take care of the child, come to his senses?”
The Lord sees what we play here on Earth. Are we playing smart and reasonable philosophers who say that we should or should not stand in line? Are we playing those simpletons who are standing in this line? Or some super-duper theologians? The Lord is watching all this.
Our “game” of standing in line will probably not be condemned by God, but will be an addition to St. Nicholas’s prayer for us.
Therefore, I think we need to stand. You need to look at yourself: will you experience irritation, or, conversely, tenderness, will you have patience or sacrifice to help someone in this line?
I remember when we stood to the waist Holy Mother of God, the people around were completely different. They stood in the same place where they stand now - where ships sail with music and dancing people. Some drank energy drinks, others played games on the phone, cards and the like. And... it was wonderful.
- Why?
“Because it would be better for young people to stand here than to sit on the backs of benches and spit through their lips.” And then, we don’t know how this standing at the shrine will touch their hearts. Maybe this memory, someday and somewhere, will have such an impact on them that it will become a decisive, turning point in their life. Let's say a person starts getting married to some beautiful girl and will suddenly mention that he was standing in line for the belt of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and this will be the last and decisive argument to strike her heart. We don't know how this will respond. But the fact that this is a positive thing is undeniable.
– There is another important objection: that it would be better if people spent the hours spent on the queue visiting hospices, hospitals, orphanages and some other useful activity. What can I say?
– By the way, we can hear this not only from the lips of opponents of the Church and atheists, but also from the lips of church people. It seems to me that a person who is not capable of the feat of standing in line is not capable of the feat of going to a hospice. If he is not able to prove himself here, then he will not show himself in another, more difficult area, such as caring for seriously ill patients and helping in orphanage. Moreover, I want to make a distinction: the help in the orphanage is active, and not with gifts, not handouts that no one needs.
Believe me! It’s a completely different thing to come and give at least a small part of yourself to a specific child who most needs attention, and not sausage or a toy. I say this responsibly, because we not only go to orphanages in Moscow and the Moscow region, but also outside the Moscow region, where children wear different shoes. Even there, they still need, first of all, communication.
And I think that it is very good for city residents. With us, everything is scheduled in seconds: sleep in seconds, food in minutes. Probably, only unlimited time is allocated to social networks, which disappears, and everything else is very seriously regulated. We are never left alone with ourselves, we are afraid of it! We arrive at the dacha, and until the TV is turned on, it seems to us that the silence surrounding us is killing us. We city dwellers don’t know how to wait, give us everything at once! If the clinic closes 2 minutes earlier or opens a minute later – that’s it, we start shouting in panic: “Where is the justice?!” « How long will this continue?!” We have no patience.
And the queue stops you very well: wait for an indefinite amount of time - some stand for an hour, some for three hours, some for five. You don't know how long you'll be down. Be alone with yourself, pray! Yes, let’s say you’ve already read all the akathists, all the prayers, you’ve already been on social networks, you’ve taken a selfie. Now just wait and pray. Don’t even pray, just keep quiet, be alone with yourself.
You probably remember the wonderful story about how to the Metropolitan Anthony Surozhsky a nun came and said: “Father, I’ve been praying for twenty years, and God doesn’t answer me.” He said: “Have you tried to be silent to hear the answer? You don’t give God the opportunity to speak to you.”
The queue also predisposes us to this. Be alone with yourself in the crowd - it will bring untold benefits!
Photo: Efim Erichman Parents are ascetic, and children cry?
– Father Igor, many people put children on the waiting list – children over one year old who cannot qualify for benefits. Some kids get tired, they cry, it’s hard for them. But they didn’t choose this standing - they just came with their parents! It turns out that parents are active, and children cry. How to be here? Should I take children or not?
– I think that we should definitely take it. Even small children. But they need to be prepared for this.
- How?
“We need to explain to them where and why we are going, what will happen, what you can pray for.” Moreover, this is not done right the day before, while you are tying your shoelaces. This is done in advance. You need to say: “We go to pray for this and that. Maybe you have some need, maybe you have something to thank God for and show such a feat?
We also stood in line for the belt of the Virgin Mary with small children. Everyone was very inspired and determined to survive to the end. But it became cold and wet, and we still left the line. However, we thanked the children in every possible way for going, showing their feat, and even giving them a gala dinner at home. The child survived as long as he could! Some adults can’t stand it, they start to get nervous, capricious, and hysterical, and what can we say about children!
Thank God, our Lord is not a bureaucrat, that is, it is not necessary to defend from the very beginning in order to receive grace. Remember the story of how one saint reached Jerusalem, but considered himself unworthy to enter the holy city, and only took three pebbles from there and left. And suddenly the Jerusalem Patriarch Sophrony says: “Stop the pilgrim from Georgia! He took away all the grace!” It's the same here. God looks at our intentions. He understands that everyone has limited strength. The most important thing is what we are striving for.
Next time the child will go not for 30 minutes, but for an hour and a half. And, God willing, when he grows up, this event will remain in his memory. So there is no need to approach the queue in a chastising manner: stand, kiss, read the akathist - and that’s it, I will be happy! Not always. If you approach it in such a mechanical, market-based way – I’ll tell you, you’ll tell me – then nothing will happen.
– How should we react to the words of critics of this line that many people are standing without really knowing why? Or do they treat the relics in a pagan way: “I will venerate myself, the saint will fulfill my desires, and then I have nothing to do with the Church”?
– “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans” - we know this saying very well. Now you don’t care about the Church, but you can venerate yourself, everything you ask will be fulfilled, and after that you won’t be able to live without the Church! You will come to a place where everything you have accomplished will be filled with life and meaning.
Critics who say that there are pagans there... Well, now they are pagans, and tomorrow they will be believers. Now they are in a state of consumption, like small children - they eat, put on, wear, tear, scratch, spoil everything, and the like. And then they grow up and begin to treat your work with such respect that you are amazed. It’s the same here: a person will stand, stand, and then in life he will definitely meet God.
– Do you know such examples among your parishioners? Whose lives changed after coming into contact with the shrine.
– One of the first benefactors of the Foma magazine, who financed the magazine for several years and gave it life, and at the same time undertook absolutely incredible feats: when he did not have the means to pay for the magazine, he sold his apartment and gave money.
So he organized a pilgrimage trip to Jerusalem, and not the first one, but on all the previous ones he went, rather, as a skeptic: he looked at our faith. Arriving at the Jerusalem Temple, he venerated the Stone of Anointing, like everyone else, so as not to stand out from the crowd. But, according to him, he rose from this Stone of Anointing as a completely different person! He rose as a believer.
There are many such cases. Human rebirth is a real miracle. As it was with the Apostle Paul: today he was still a persecutor, and suddenly after three days he turns from Saul to Paul, to an apostle. I am completely sure there will be a lot of people in the queue who will completely change their lives.
Will there be those who have fallen away from the Church? There will definitely be, and this is not surprising. The last chapter of the Gospel of Matthew tells about the Ascension: how many saw this, turned around and left, fell away from the Church. Only a handful of students remained.
And for others - that’s it, the “feeding trough” is over: He stayed with us, we tumbled in miracles, ate some bread, ate our fill of fish, it was interesting, educational, intellectual, fun, good for us, but we are not able to go further. Yes, there will be those too. That's life! They will disappear for a while, then they will come, and there is nothing terrible here for the Church. This is painful for God as a loving Father, but the Lord gives us free will, and we have the right to use it as we please.
Photo: Efim Erichman Traffic jams, blocked streets and poor organization...
– Let's go back to the critics again.
- With pleasure.
– You’re talking about free will. The free will of some people is to stand in line on the Moskva River embankment to see the relics, while the free will of others is to drive around the city center as usual. They don't want to stand. But they are forced to endure inconvenience because of those who want to. Even some church people are indignant at this, they say, couldn’t they have brought the relics to the temple on the outskirts of the city. What can you answer here - about traffic jams, about streets blocked for two months?
– Yes, it is really inconvenient for some people. But if previously some streets were completely blocked, now this is no longer the case: traffic is partially blocked. And even if this creates inconvenience for someone, I think it will also count as some kind of feat.
And then, pay attention: it’s summer, the children have gone on vacation, the adults have gone on vacation. So everything was very cleverly planned in bringing these relics.
There is another point: we are always dissatisfied with something. There will always be those who are dissatisfied: why they blocked it, why they didn’t block it, why It is raining, why doesn't it work?..
– How do you feel about what they say “they make money from shrines”? Starting with the fact that along the line there are tents where they sell oil, icons, akathists, and ending with the fact that imaginary beggars and scammers often gather around such lines? That is, that bringing a shrine becomes a reason for someone to earn money.
– Firstly, there is no forced purchase of a ticket. There is no such thing that you will not go to the temple if you do not buy a candle or icon. The person chooses himself. He can make sandwiches at home, take a thermos and come. And the other knows that he cannot live without comfort, and therefore is ready to pay 500-1000 rubles for the food that will be offered to him on the embankment.
But in addition to all kinds of paid dishes, there are also free ones: tea is free on buses, volunteers deliver water and food, free literature is distributed. The youth department of the Moscow diocese, together with the Commission for Missionary and Catechesis, printed almost half a million leaflets for free distribution. Currently, 50 thousand books about St. Nicholas are being prepared for printing. So there will not only be profit from the outside, but also very serious work of the Church among the people who will come.
There will definitely be some professional beggars. How else can we be moved to mercy? You probably won’t be able to do it any other way! After all, beggars do not appear where there is good food, but where people need it.
– Do you mean that givers themselves need to give?
- Yes, to at least show mercy in this way, to deprive yourself of something! Mercy is always deprivation. I was always very impressed by Sarov in this regard. I've been there several times, it's a closed city where everyone knows each other. And even there is a beggar! Where did it come from and why is it there? No one knows. Beggars are the litmus test of society. We think that we are corrupting them with handouts, and, probably, thoughtlessly paying off beggars is a truly illiterate approach. But when you approach alms wisely, then the beggars immediately become necessary for you.
– Do you think it’s worth entering into discussions about the queue to the relics at all? Let's say you are standing, and your parishioner demonstratively refuses to do so - is it even worth arguing about, proving something?
– No, I think that if a person asks such a question, of course, he should try to answer. For example, one could make the following argument. Lord in Holy Scripture says to the friends of Job the Long-Suffering: “I will not listen to you, but if your brother Job asks for you, I will listen to him, My saint.”
Yes, I cannot directly turn to God for one simple reason - I am bad, I am very correct, like Job’s friends, who can be called religious dogmatists. Personally, I am bad, I need the intercession of the saints, I want to make friends in them who would say: “Lord, let’s listen to him, fulfill his request.” And the Lord will definitely listen to His saint, Saint Nicholas.
But if a person is trying to humiliate you in the form of a question, it’s probably not worth discussing. You have to say: “Brother, that’s how it is - I’m a fool, you’re smart” - and walk away.
Be happy with everything!
– Father Igor, what is your personal attitude towards this saint? Do you have any stories related to his help?
– Firstly, the temporary temple that we built was consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas. Until 1979, the skeleton of the old Church of St. Nicholas remained on this site - it was demolished just before the 1980 Olympics so that it would not spoil the view for the Olympians who were supposed to walk here. The temple was demolished, the cemetery was razed to the ground, the village was destroyed and a park was built. It turns out that before the 1980 Olympics the temple was demolished, and before the 2014 Winter Olympics we began to restore it.
And probably everyone has events in life that are connected with St. Nicholas. It’s too early for me to talk about anything here, actually... But I mentioned that I would like to become his friend. Not because I am so selfish, I want the Lord to hear me, but still I folk wisdom I listen: “Tell me who your friend is, and I’ll tell you who you are.”
Photo: Efim Erichman - Last question. What would you wish for those people who will be standing in line?
- What do you wish? You can wish everyone to become better.
I wish that all your wishes come true - but not even those that you ask for, but those that are really necessary. And so that you see God’s providence in this. Someone, perhaps, will find a job, someone will find friends, someone will find their “half,” someone will give birth to their first child, and someone will simply say: “Lord, I want to learn your language, in which You spoke in earthly life,” and another will ask for the opportunity to build a temple and so on. You can ask for absolutely anything! And another person will say: “I don’t need anything. I just want to be next to you, Saint Father Nicholas. Everything is fine with me, I have everything. I am happy with everything!".
So I wish, first of all, that all our requests will be fulfilled, but at the same time, that everyone will be content with what they already have. So that everyone is satisfied with everything that happens in his life.
Interviewed by Valeria Mikhailova
Touring shrines
On May 22, a solemn service was held in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior dedicated to the arrival of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Moscow. The relics of one of the most revered saints in Russia have arrived for the first time: for the last 930 years they have been kept in the Italian city of Bari. The arrival was agreed upon during a meeting between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis in Cuba in February last year.
The bringing of Christian shrines to Moscow became regular practice. In 2014, the Gifts of the Magi were brought to the KhHS, and in 2011 there was a long line for the belt of the Virgin Mary. For some, the opportunity to touch relics is a form of pilgrimage, but most visitors consider it necessary to approach the relic to ask for a miracle, happiness and well-being.
Who is Nikolai Mirlikiysky
He was a Roman bishop who lived in the city of Myra - now the city of Demre in Turkey. Biographies show him as a meek man, but a fiery Christian: he destroyed pagan temples and on the First Ecumenical Council slapped Arius, recognized as a heretic.
Nicholas is a saint, equally revered by both Orthodox and Catholics. In Europe, he became the prototype of Santa Claus, and in Russia he is considered the patron saint of children, students and travelers. Perhaps this is the reason for the tradition of lighting dryers and chocolates near his relics.
Who was standing?
On the first day, more than 18 thousand people came to the relics. It is stated that until July 12, more than a million pilgrims can visit the temple. The organization has involved more than 2 thousand police officers, as well as 10,000 volunteers who help pilgrims find their way, and also respond to complaints from citizens dissatisfied with the closures in the Prechistenskaya embankment area.
On May 23, the line began next to the Crimean Bridge; people were allowed into the temple from 8 a.m. to nine in the evening. People did not stand in a continuous line, but in groups separated by airlocks - this made it possible to avoid a crush. Between them there are food points, ambulances and buses where you can take a break.
Among the pilgrims there are more pensioners - mostly grandmothers in headscarves, gathered in groups and separated by fences. Going through the entire line takes 4–5 hours. Many people note that it is easy to stand now - the weather is good, and there are not many people yet. They remember that they had to stand in a 10-hour line in the bitter cold to get to the Virgin Mary’s belt.
What are people saying?
Timur
Student of Moscow Architectural Institute
“I stood there for about five hours, from 10 am. It felt like it was worth it, because I didn’t lose anything - I only gained. I came to ask for help in writing a project and thesis. After the visit, a stone was lifted from my soul and I feel calmer. I changed my mind a lot while I was standing in line - that’s also good. I think it should help. I am a believer and have gone to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on previous occasions.”
Lyudmila and Natalya
Doctor and saleswoman
Lyudmila: “We came to a great saint and a great man who really existed and really lived on this earth. We felt incredible...
Natalia: “...grace. If only you knew what smell came from a particle of it.”
Lyudmila: “For us, he has now become a real, some kind of saint, some kind of symbol. The appearance of St. Nicholas in Moscow - an important event not only for pilgrims, but also for Russia as a whole. This new stage healing, development and opening of the country."
David
Artist and traveler
“I wanted to come here yesterday, but there was no opportunity. This morning I slowly got up, got on the subway and arrived. The main thing is that people are rushing all around, but I was in no hurry - as a result, I walked through the entire line in three hours. It was much faster than before: I went to venerate the cross of St. Andrew the First-Called, and the Gifts of the Magi, and the belt of the Virgin Mary. Such relics make it possible to strengthen faith and health, because Nikola, of course, hears, so the believers who come here for a reason don’t do it in vain.”
Alexei
Trade worker
“Perhaps I’m not a very religious person, I don’t know all the prayers and I don’t go to churches often enough. But still, for me, as a Christian, it is very important to venerate the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. I live in Moscow, so it didn’t cost me anything to come here. I came to the temple with two ancient icons saints who consecrated me.”
Nikolai
Civil servant
“I consider Nicholas my patron. There is simply Nikolai summer and winter, I have a winter one. I love this saint, and they named me, perhaps, in honor of him. I came to venerate the shrine for the first time; I did not stand at the belt of the Mother of God and the Gifts of the Magi. We all have a soul, and it is very important that such relics are brought to Moscow, because a pilgrimage to them helps to purify it. I know that St. Nicholas is the patron saint of travelers, and I’m just about to go on vacation in a week. Before this I wanted to go to Italy, to Bari, but since the relics were brought here, I will have to choose a new place.”
Sharig
“I came to Moscow for work and dedicated my day off to visiting the relics of St. Nicholas. How spiritual person I try to devote my days to some holidays. And then there was such an event, I decided that I had to go. God is in us, inside, and we must try to pray for ourselves and for our loved ones. I’m not local, so I monitored everything on the Internet in advance, found out what and how, and in the end everything worked out - I came here at two, I left at seven.”
Anna and Alexander
Students
Anna:“I didn’t expect there to be so many people. It's great that everything is so well organized here. There are a lot of grandmothers around, probably because they have more time and they have families, children, grandchildren - who will pray for them, if not grandmothers. And today I had a day off: I woke up and decided that if there was an opportunity, I should go.”
Alexander: “They advised me to go, so I went. I can’t call myself a religious person, but I still decided to touch the shrine.”
Anya: “Yes, many people come here specifically to ask for something important, for a miracle. I didn’t have this - I just wanted to touch the relics. I still walked into the temple, went up to the casket, and the priest took me and knocked his head on it - and it immediately felt so good. I immediately felt lightness and fun.”
Inna
“I am an Orthodox Christian, and recently my friends and I came to Moscow and found out that such an important event was taking place here. It seems that the relics were not taken anywhere for 900 years. I was lucky enough to visit the temple in Turkey where he was once buried. I generally like to travel: last year I was in Rome, sometimes I travel around Russia, and in the summer I also want to go somewhere. And we came to Moscow with friends for an Aerosmith concert. There were a lot of pensioners in the queue. It seems to me that this is due to the fact that we are all sinners and the closer our end comes, the more we begin to repent of our sins and draw appropriate conclusions. I think we will all come to this.”