Paul In Russia

100-Year Anniversary of the Canonization of Saint Ioasaf

The Russian Orthodox Church on Friday the 16^th of September 2011 celebrated the 100- year anniversary of the canonization of the Belgorod Saint Ioasaf.  The Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill arrived late afternoon to Belgorod to perform the blessing on the new temple of St. Ioasaf and to conduct the Saturday divine service.  Pilgrims came from other regions of Belgorod and the Ukraine and entered Belgorod’s Cathedral Square from five different directions for the blessing to the new temple named after St. Ioasaf.

 

 

Patriarch Kirill gave a short speech at the Belgorod airport to the people that greeted him and told them that he was happy about the economic and social achievements as well as the political stability. He pointed out that many of the old churches in Belgorod have been reconstructed and several new churches have been built. The Patriarch is sure that all the success in Belgorod is connected with Saint Ioasaf blessing the Belgorod region.  The Patriarch gave another speech at the Belgorod City Theatre by Schepkin and after his speech there was a play titled the "Life of St. Ioasaf".

A Brief History of The Holy Saint Ioasaf

Ioasaf Gorlenko came from a wealthy family. He studied religion for 8 years in a Kiev monastery and then became a monk. He spent his life serving people in need. He helped people during the winter by buying firewood and then cutting the wood in the evenings and bring it to people who could not do it for themselves. There are stories about him visiting the sick and the sick recovering shortly afterwards. The Holy Priest Ioasaf died on December 10^th in 1754 and his body was kept opened in the Svyato-Troitsky Cathedral. Two months later the body still had not spoiled and the natural color remained. His coffin was placed in a near by cave and two years later the coffin was re-opened and they saw that the body had not decomposed and remained the same as the day he had died. The Holy Priest Ioasaf’s body remained in the Svyato-Troitsky Cathedral for 150 years, where people came to pray to him. In 1920 his body was taken to Kursk then Moscow by the Soviet government. The body was eventually put into The History of Religion and Atheism in Leningrad museum. In 1991 it was brought back to Belgorod where it stays now in Preobrazhensky Cathedral, which is located in downtown Belgorod.

Svyato-Troitsky Cathedral, photo by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii

The Svyato-Troitsky Cathedral & The Temple St. Ioasaf

The Svyato-Troitsky Cathedral is recorded in documents, which date back to the end of the 16^th century. The cathedral was located on a white hill called Belaya Gora. At that time the cathedral was built out of wood. In 1690 cathedral was reconstructed out of brick and re-opened 17 years later in 1707.

In the 18^th century the Svyato-Troitsky Cathedral became the main building of Belgorod because it also became a monk monastery. Everyone going through Belgorod would try to stop by and visit the cathedral.

Saint Ioasaf knew he would not live long when he went to visit his parents. In December 1754 on the way back to the Belgorod Eparchy he got sick and passed away. Thousands of people from Belgorod and other regions came to say good-bye to him but the officials were waiting for the Bishop of Pereyaslav to come to the funeral, but the Bishop could not make it in time. Two months after the funeral for Saint Ioasaf, people started to see that his body was not decomposing. In February 1755, three months later, he was put in a special cave that was constructed under the Svyato-Troitsky Cathedral before his death. The cave was locked. Three years later monks went down to the cave and saw that the body was still not decomposing and Saint Ioasaf clothing had not spoiled.

Approximately 157 years the most sacred place in Belgorod was Saint Ioasaf cave that was situated under the Svyato-Troitsky cathedral.

The opening of the relics of Saint Ioasaf led to his canonization in 1911.
Two hundred thousand people came for glorification of St. Ioasaf in a time when the population of Belgorod was around one hundred thousand people.

The Great Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich with the Great Princess Elisaveta Feodorovna came to visit the cathedral on the 4^th of September in 1911. On the 17^th of December in 1911 the Tsar Nikolai II with his family came to Belgorod to attend the service at the Svyato-Troitsky Cathedral for the canonizing the body of the Belgorod priest Ioasaf as a Holy Saint.

On the 17^th of September 2011 approximately 10,000 pilgrims came to Belgorod’s Cathedral Square to celebrate the 100- year anniversary of the canonization of the Saint Ioasaf.

Shortly before the Soviet period the cathedral was turned into a national museum then into an orphanage. The orphans started to destroy the cathedral. Eventually the cathedral became a military base, by 1927 only the walls of the cathedral were standing. In 1930 a bomb destroyed the remaining walls of the cathedral. A cemetery for the monks, teachers and famous people of Belgorod was located not far from the cathedral and this cemetery had also been destroyed around 1930.

The Svyato-Troitsky Cathedral site underwent an archeology investigation, which was completed in 2010. In 2011 the City Architect Program in Belgorod started building a new temple on the former foundation of the Svyato-Troitsky Cathedral. The new temple will be named after the Holy Priest Ioasaf who is the first and only saint in Belgorod Russia. Today this temple is situated by two of the largest main streets in Belgorod, which are named Svyato-Troitsky Boulevard and Bogdan Khmelnizky Street.

There is a statue of Ioasaf located on the Svyato-Troitsky Boulevard about a 5 minutes walk west of the new temple.

 

 

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Norm & Linda Manzer arriving to Belgorod Russia from Moscow & Natalia Tihoivanova the Russian exchange student they hosted 19 years ago. September 10, 2011

Article & Photography by Paul J. Hechtman & Natalia Tihoivanova

Norm Manzer from St. Helena, California makes his 32nd trip to visit children and families in need. Norm's first trip to Russia was after the fall of the Soviet Union on behalf of his Calistoga Rotary Club to accompany a Russian exchange student back to the United States.

Norm and his wife Linda hosted Natalia Tihoivanova, who was the Russian exchange student 19 years ago in Saint Helena High School.

The conditions of life in Russia on Norm’s first visit were harsh in compassion to life in the United States. He felt a need to help people in some way. This was the start of what has become a life long commitment to helping others.

Since his first visit to Russia Norm and his wife Linda have for the past 19 years been participating in programs, which help Russian orphans and children with disabilities. Norm and Linda are members of the Grace Episcopal Church in St. Helena. They help organize, along with other members of their church the annual rummage sale event to raise money for their projects in Russia.

Each year that passes Norm tries to help more children and families that he comes in contact with. He is able to do this from the generous contributions that the members of his congregation make for the sole purpose of helping children in need living in Russia.

Four years ago Norm and Linda went to the Children’s Poly Clinic in Belgorod City to talk to some doctors to find out if there were any families who were in need of financial help. The doctors gave the names o f four families who might be in need of help. Norm and Linda contacted these families 4 years ago to find out what their needs were and made a contribution to each of the families. Norm always tells the receiver of a donation “we are the messengers delivering the donations from members of our church family”.

Natalia, Tamara, Dima Kozhushkov, Norm, Linda, and Lubov, September 11, 2011

On 11th of September Norm & Linda went to visit 16-year-old Dima Kozhushkov.

Four years ago Dima became unable to walk. His mother Tamara and grandmother Lubov try to strengthen his legs but Dima was in extreme pain when they work on his legs. They said Dima is in need of physical therapy, and this week Dima will be going to a special center to get physical therapy on his legs to help stretch his muscles. Dima’s legs are in a lot of pain, which makes it difficult for him to exercise his legs. His grandmother and mother are doing the majority of physical therapy.

They live on the 5th floor of an apartment building, which has no elevator in the building. So they are not able to take him for a walk even in a wheelchair now.

Tamara said that they are able to leave Dima by himself for a few hours during the day.

A teacher comes to Dima’s apartment to help him with his studies. When Dima has a medical problem a doctor will come to Dima’s apartment. If Dima needs to go to the hospital it takes four people to carry him down the stairs. This is why Dima’s mother and grandmother are not able to take him out of the home to enjoy being outside once in awhile.

(Left to right), Daniel, Anya, Linda, Natalia (Nastya's mother), Natalia, Andry (Nastya's father), Victoria (Nastya's English teacher), Slava's grandparents Marina & Michael,  Nastya,Norm & Slava.  September 11, 2011

In the afternoon on Sunday September 11th in Belgorod City Norm arranged a picnic at the Hotel Belogorie with two of the families that he met 4 years ago. He met with 15-year-old Nastya Rastorgueva and her parents Natalia and Andrey. He also met with 8-year-old Slava and his grandparents Marina and Michael.

Special thanks to managers at Hotel Belogorie for going out of their way for setting up the picnic area and making it a nice atmosphere for everyone.  Norm and Linda greatly appreciated your hospitality.

Nastya Rastorgueva September 11, 2011

Nastya is dependent on the help of her family because she has minimal muscular ability for movement. Nastya is able to walk with the use of a brace but for only a brief period of time. She also has a walker, which she uses often to get around the home they live in.

Natalia & Nastya (left photo), Anya & Nastya (right photo) September 11, 2011

Nastya needs lots of physical therapy and the usual visit to the therapist is 20 minutes and if she gets a massage it is only 15 minutes. Natalia said that Nastya needs a minimum of one hour with the physical therapist.

Her mother Natalia said that Nastya goes to school once in a while to participate in school activities with other children. All of her studies are done at home and the teachers come to their home to give Nastya her lessons. Natalia said that the teachers in school make her work hard on her studies and that Nastya is a good student.

Slava Chernyh & Norm September 11, 2011

Slava Chernyh at age 2 was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. He was born 6 weeks before he was expected and had to spend 3 months at the hospital before being able to go home.

During this period of time Slava was having seizures and was diagnosed with Epilepsy Syndrome.

Doctors told members of the family that Slava would never be able to talk or walk.

In June of 2008 Slava had a special type of surgery, which helps him to walk. Slava spent 3 weeks in a cast.

Three years ago Slava was walking with the help of having surgery and a metal brace. He will have to go through more surgeries as he grows and he will have to use a brace.

Slava also has Atrophy of the Retina and speaking problems.

His grandparents Marina and Michael are raising him. Marina tries to get the best medical help for Salva so that he can have a chance to be a normal boy. Marina spends hours giving Salva massages to help him have the ability to move better.

Marina said that some of the medical is covered by insurance and some of the programs that Salva needs are free. The replacement of braces, extra physical therapy and medication are not free or covered by insurance.

Slava, Natalia, Anya & Daniel, September 11, 2011

In memory of Oleg Gorbatenko photo taken in 2010

(Left to right), Natalia, Norm, Nadya & Lena (Oleg's mother), September 11, 2011

Director Yulia Alexeevna Drozdova, Nina (Art teacher), Linda, Norm & some of the children at the Social Rehabilitation Center for Children in Belgorod Russia, September 11, 2011

 

On Sunday the 11th of September Norm and Linda made their second visit the Social Rehabilitation Center for Children in Belgorod region, where children and teenagers from age 3 to 18 are placed here when domestic problems occur in the family.  Norm & Linda made a donation of school supplies and some other necessities that the center needed on behalf of the members of the Grace Episcopal Church in St. Helena.

The Social Rehabilitation Center for Children opened in 2003 when the first children came to live here. The staff members are trained to provide medical, psychological and pedagogical rehabilitation for the children and their families. The purpose of the center is to help children and families that are in a difficult situation and to help bring that child back to their family.

The government of Russia for more than seven years now has provided help for children so that they can adapt to life better. This is accomplished by providing a home-like environment and a caring staff. The staff tries to give all their attention, care, love and their own life experiences to the children. They work together with the children to clean up the territory, help with minor repairs, take care of flowerbeds and vegetable gardens that they grow together. They have picnics, parties and have the children participate in concerts and shows.

The center celebrates a lot of holidays, which help make the children happier. They also provides a school for the parents to help them find a way out of the difficult situation that they are in and to help them from losing their child. The center also has a Women’s Club, which is a support group for mothers that are having difficulties with their child.

All of the work that is being done at the center is oriented to benefit the child and to work with the parent so that the child can return home. The center also provides a 24-hour crisis phone line for parents and children for immediate psychological and pedagogical help.

Norm & Linda’s gifts and donations from the members of his church and all of the volunteers that participate in the rummage sale to help children in Russia were greatly appreciated by all of the children and their families.

Special thanks to the following stores for providing a discount for the school supplies and other necessities that were purchased for the children living at the Social Rehabilitation Center in Belgorod Russia.

"Shans", Rostukov Street, 36G, Belgorod, phone 8-800-555-00-10

"Detsky Mir", Narodny Bulvar, 82, Belgorod, phone 8-800-333-00-00

 

October 2011 Norm wrote the following: The wonderful story of Yan – a most unusual name in Russia. No, he is not Asian, but a most very normal small orphaned boy of 13 – compared to our larger and older boys who are 19 and one who is 15.

Yan has been living in the Pokrov Orphanage for a year now. He had been living with his mother and grandmother. His mother died when he was 12, and his grandmother could not keep him, hence the only option was the orphanage. Mama Svetlana had tried to find an adoptive family in Russia, but Yan refused to be adopted. Instead, he had heard about our Grace Home and had asked to visit it. Yan even said to her, “Mama Svetlana, if you let me live in the Grace Home I can fry potatoes, I can boil pelmeni (Russian raviolis), and the big boys can teach me everything else.”

Mama Svetlana explained to Yan that the Grace Home was for boys 16 and older, but that he could come for dinner. When he did so, he then asked if he could spend the night. When Mama explained that there were no empty beds, he said he could share the sofa bed with the one boy who had returned from the law school for the weekend, and so he did.

The next morning Mama was up first and she noticed that Yan was not in the sofa bed. She looked into the other bedrooms and he wasn’t there either. But, in the living room she noticed that all of the stools for the dining table had been lined up against the wall behind the table. She looked under the table, and sure enough Yan had made a bed for himself on those wooden stools with a blanket over him. When he woke up, Mama Svetlana explained that those stools were so uncomfortable that he could not sleep there, but Yan replied, “Mama, if you would let me live in the Grace Home, I would sleep on those stools every night with no problem.”

Yan was very lonely at the orphanage, and while Mama Svetlana wanted to do anything to make Yan happy, she knew she did not want to force a 13 year old into the family setting of 19 year olds. Nineteen year old boys say and do things that 13 year olds are not yet doing, and with her experience with these children she did not want to force that issue. Yan continued to live at the orphanage and visit the Grace Home on occasion.

A short time before we began enjoying our lunch with the Grace Home Pokrov family, Mama quietly told us the story of Yan, and said that she had invited him to join us shortly when his Saturday classes ended. Soon thereafter this bright and cheery small boy came into the room and met everyone. He was all smiles and not at all shy. He started talking about his classes for that day as he ate his lunch sitting opposite Linda and me at the table. He was a most engaging boy that you were immediately drawn to and who instantly put a smile on your face.

You might recall that our ministry team leaves birthday cards with the foster parents for each boy and for the parents, to be presented on respective birthdays throughout the year. We find some very nice American cards (this year some beautiful cards with various scenes of horses on them) and they are blank inside. Russians have a very unique talent in writing the most beautiful sentiments of well wishes when they send you a letter or card. I don’t know if this is a genetic thing or something they learn in school, but it is remarkable. How they can go on and on with such beautiful words is most touching when you receive a card from them. So, after 19 years of receiving cards and the sentiments from our Russian friends, I try to do the same for our boys and foster parents.

So, as we are seated across from Yan during lunch, I ask him, “Yan, when is your birthday?” And with a big smile he says, “In three days, on September 6”, as he holds up his hand with three fingers in the air. Svetlana and I immediately looked at each other and excused ourselves to the other room to prepare a card for Yan. Mama Svetlana had a nice cake on the table for dessert, so when we returned we told Yan about our tradition of having birthday cards for each of the boys – and that today we wanted to celebrate his birthday with this cake, and I presented him with the birthday card we had just written. What a surprise this was to Yan, and the smile on this face was as wide as the table.

As I handed the card across the table to Yan, I told him, “Yan, as you receive this card I want you to know that there is a difference between Russian and American culture at a time like this. In Russia you immediately put the card out of sight and only when you are alone in your room in private will you open it. But, in America we open the card or gift immediately and show it to everyone. Which of the cultures to you want to practice here today?”

Yan smiled, and to everyone’s surprise he replied, “The American culture.” And so Yan opened the card and began to read it to himself. After just a moment he stopped and looked down from the card. With that, Mama Svetlana reached over and took the card from Yan and began to read it to all of us. Yan watched intently as she read it, and it appeared that we could see a large tear forming in each of Yan’s eyes as she conveyed our message of happiness and best wishes to this little boy. And when she finished reading it, Yan dropped his head onto the table and was crying silently. We were also sitting there with tears running down our faces.

Mama Svetlana then explained to everyone. Unlike most of the children at the orphanage, Yan had lived in a loving family setting for 12 years, and for the first time in a year he had just experienced the love and tenderness that had been a part of his prior life with his mother and grandmother. Needless to say, we sat there with even more tears. Mama Svetlana tried to get Yan to raise his head up from the table, but he refused. He was overcome by the emotions of this special moment in his young life.

Following our lunch, the boys cleared the table and tidied up the living room while Mama Svetlana led us to her adjacent flat where she and Igor have lived for many years. She wanted us to see the progress of the cacti and succulent plants that we have given her as gifts in prior visits. Russian women are crazy about these kinds of plants. As Linda and I stood with her in her flat, the only other person there was Yan. He had followed us to her flat, and if you touched Yan, he would immediately move against you like a magnet. This little boy was starved for love and affection. And as we left Svetlana’s private flat, Yan again asked her if he could move into the Grace Home and claim the extra bed. Mama said that this was something that would need to be discussed with the other boys.

As we returned to our GH flat, we again gathered in the living room to take a group photo, and Mama Svetlana brought up the subject to the boys of Yan’s interest in moving into the home. She presented it subtly with the option of his coming to make some overnight stays, and a couple of the boys said, “Yeh, it would be OK for him to come to spend a night or two here,” but no one said it would be OK for him to become a member of the family. Needless to say we were disappointed, but we also understood the dynamics of the family setting and the possible difficulties if Yan were to move in with the older boys… As Linda and I sat at Svetlana’s table with our boys, we raised the issue of our boy, Yan, and the dilemma of his needs and the prospect of a 13 year old boy living in a family with much older boys. During the course of our two hours at the table, we asked each boy of his thoughts on this subject. Each one of them had a life experience to share with us, but the unanimous consensus was – In the course of our lives in the orphanage there were times when we were the new boy, and it was very unsettling on each of these occasions. But, there was always a caregiver or an older boy who would step forward to take us under their care and to show us how to adapt and to live comfortably in our new setting. It is the responsibility of each of the older boys in the Grace Home to welcome Yan into the family and to do the same for him as has been done for us.

Early that next morning Svetlana called Mama Svetlana to see if we could catch an early train for the two hour run from Moscow to Pokrov so we could have lunch in her office with Yan and our Grace Home boys. Mama Svetlana welcomed us to come, and Svetlana and I dashed off to the railway station for our two hour stop-and-go run on the local commuter train. Mama Svetlana had a car waiting for us at the Pokrov train station, and who came RUNNING to greet us but no one other than our little boy, Yan. He was so excited to see us, and of course we couldn’t hug and kiss him enough in our excitement as well. He was talking to us a mile a minute, so much so that Svetlana couldn’t even translate for me.

It was a ten-minute ride to the orphanage, and Mama Svetlana and three of our boys; Dima, Sasha and Anton were there to greet us. All of the boys had left their school classes to be with us for this family meeting over lunch. Even though we had just seen all of them several days before, our return was like a family reunion. As we took off our coats and chatted, Mama Svetlana cut up some of the most beautiful fresh pears for us to enjoy. She then said, “Uncle Norm, I will never forget the day we first met. You had never been here before, but you knocked on the front door and announced that you had some crates of fresh fruit for the children in the trunk of your car. The door guard came up to my office to get me, but I couldn’t imagine what he was talking about. No one had ever brought us fruit before, so I didn’t know what to make of it. Ever since that day, so many years ago, people have been bringing us fruit like these pears we are eating. Somehow you started a tradition that has been most welcome and helpful to our children.”

Two of our boys then went below to the dining room and brought up a most wonderful hot lunch with blessings from the cooks – the same lunch they had prepared for all of the children. Needless to say, I had seconds. We talked about many things, as everyone was in such a good mood. After our wonderful lunch, we all gathered on the other side of the room on a couch and a couple of chairs. Our three Grace Home boys were seated on the couch. Svetlana and Mama Svetlana and I sat in some chairs at an angle to the couch, and Yan sat in a chair at the far end of the couch facing all of us…Our conversation about Yan and our Grace home was a good one, involving each of the older boys as well. I felt sorry for little Yan as he sat there looking and listening to everyone. It was as if he was on trial, and he was sitting there in the witness chair taking it all in. After all, it was his life we were discussing, even if we weren’t using his name that often. Yan didn’t say a word. He was all eyes and ears.

As I felt that there was a favorable consensus developing amongst the boys, I then asked if they were able to make a decision while we were all together. With that, the oldest and largest of the boys, Sasha, said “No, this is a decision that needs to be made by the family, and it needs to be made in the family setting at home.”

And so it was to be. Our time together had been good, but Sasha had decided that they needed to give it more thought and that they would discuss it at home without us and without Yan...While in Belgorod we were eager to learn about what was happening with our boy Yan in Pokrov. We called Svetlana, and she said she had just spoken to Mama Svetlana. They had their family meeting, and all of the boys agreed to welcome Yan into the family immediately. In fact, it was the biggest boy, Sasha, who had wanted to delay the decision that led the discussion at the home and stepped forward to be the guardian and mentor to Yan. It was Sasha who showed Yan his bed and showed him where to place his clothes.

When we returned to Moscow and Svetlana’s, we called our Grace Home Pokrov and spoke to everyone. We told the older boys how proud we were of them to include Yan in the family, and we got to listen to Yan’s excitement of being a part of the Grace Home family that he dreamed to be.

We can only pray that Yan’s life, and that of all of our boys, will be better as each day unfolds.

 

Linda, Dima, Norm and Yan, October 2011

 

It is the 66^th anniversary of Victory Day this year. Russians celebrate this holiday from the 1st of May through the 9^th of May. The main event takes place in Moscow, but parades take place in every city throughout Russia on the 9^th of May.

In June of 1939 the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was signed.  Germany and the Soviet Union had declared publicly that they would not attack each other.

On the 22^nd of June 1941 Germany had invaded the Soviet Union.  During this period of time the USSR lost 23 million people in the next four years.

There is no family in Russia, which was not effected by this war.  The new generation of Russians tries to remember the horrors of war because they still remember the stories of their grandparents.

Every year Russia celebrates the 9^th of May as a Victory over Fascism and the loss of life during this period of time. As the older generation passes away a new generation will take its place. It is important to remember the past so as to prevent this great tragedy happening again to any country throughout the world.

The annual Victory Ball in Belgorod is dedicated to the Russian Military Glory Day.