FAITH CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT ACTIONS

We were told that the Raifa Monastery can't be visited only once. The idea is that once you've visited this «Christland» (this is what Kazan residents call this famous place) once, you will keep coming back. As to us, we have nothing against this popular belief and would love to visit Superior Vsevolod sometime again

FAITH CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT ACTIONS

— Can we climb the bell-tower? — the photographer and I asked the Archimandrite Vsevolod, while he was giving us a tour of the monastery yard, energetically talking about where, what, how is being done here, as well as about his plans.

— You could, but no one has climbed there for the last twenty years. The building is old, and we don't have the time to repair it. I promise we'll have it fixed by the time of your next visit, — smiled the Archimandrite.

The bell-tower is probably the only spot left out of the vigorous activities undertaken by the Superior of Raifa Monastery. The Raifa Monastery itself has long since become an exemplary model in Tatarstan, visited by all guests of honor of Tatarstan immediately upon arrival. The President also likes to spend time here.

— He must like it here, — explained Father Superior Mintimer Shaimiyev's preference. — When he comes through our doors he forgets that he is the President.

— Now that would be a miracle.

— Our monastery is a miraculous place, actually. Here, at the lake, even the frogs don't croak, not to bother this sacred cloister. Some French visitors asked us if they bring some croaking frogs from France would they croak here? They brought the frogs, and they don't croak any more. Moreover, our monastery is located on the premises of the Volga-Kama State Natural Preserve, so they decided to relocate some beavers here. All of them were marked with an electronic chip. It turned out that all beavers that have a family live on the other side of the lake, and the single ones live close to us. There is no way to explain it.

This is not the end of the Raifa Monastery miracles. The main wonder for us was an orphanage set up at the monastery several years ago. Now there are 18 orphans, but their life is nothing like life in an orphanage. They call Raifa Monastery their home, study at a regular high school, bring over their friends and visit them themselves.

— If some of them decide to get married, we will make them a wedding, — said Archimandrite Vsevolod, noticing my sincere surprise when we were looking at the gym and rest areas at the orphanage. — You see, we don't want to raise sad children that would know nothing but muttering prayers and wouldn't be adapted to the worldly life. Who needs it? Look at my assistant, hierodeacon John. He can easily switch from grammatically correct Russian into English and then into French. Many don't believe that he is a monk.

Actually, John became a monk after he met the Archimandrite several years ago, and before that, he was studying philology at the famous Tartu University in Estonia and in Denmark. Maybe thats why John speaks smoothly and evenly.

— Look at what is going on in the world! Wars and conflicts everywhere. Here everything is pure and sensible, — contemplates John walking with us along the lake.

— But Superior Vsevolod is not trying to hold up his charges in the walls of this safe cloister.

— He is right. These children are going to grow up one day, and they need to be adapted to this life, no matter how bad it is.

The monastery does everything possible to make sure that the kids learn more about the world around them. I've heard that when Anatoly Chubais came to the monastery and asked the kids where they would like to go, little Roma, everyones favorite, all over sudden said that they want to go to Disneyland. Everybody thought it was a joke, what can you expect from a kid. Some time later Raifa received a fax from Chubais with a suggestion to estimate the cost of a trip to the Paris Disneyland for all the kids at the orphanage. By the way, the Archimandrite was a little worried that the kids would fall for the many temptations there. But they didn't. They turned out to be surprisingly conscientious. Probably, Father Superior Vsevolod is doing a good job raising them.

Chubais is not the only one who likes to visit Raifa Monastery. Walking along the halls of the orphanage, I've noticed many pictures of Alexander Pochinok who used to come to Raifa when he was the Minister of Taxes and Revenues, praying to raise tax revenues; actor Alexander Kalyagin, who had his church wedding at the monastery; singer Yury Shevchuk, who likes to visit the kids at the orphanage.

— This is Mother Anastasia, — the Archimandrite waved at an elderly nun who was watching TV with the kids. — She can beat anyone at table tennis.

To tell you the truth, Mother Anastasia doesn't look like a sports champion. But the kids probably see her as their relative, as part of their home.

The monastery overall feels like home. Maybe it is the smell of the bread thats baked here? Or the linden icon stand carved by the kids? Its hard to say, but there is definitely a blessed aura at the monastery.

When the celibate priest Filaret moved from Moscow to Kazan in 1613 and founded the Raifa hermitage, it couldn't have possibly come to his mind that at the beginning of the ХХI century his follower the Archbishop Vsevolod would organize such a fairy-tale here? Seven years ago, the monastery was almost destroyed. Nobody could imagine back then that the never tiring Archimandrite with his brother-in-arms would manage to fully restore from the ruins the magnificent Trinity Cathedral that was built in 1904-1910 by Architect Malinovsky, as well as the cathedral baptized in the name of the miracle-working icon of the Georgian Blessed Virgin, the main relic of the Raifa Monastery. The plans include at least restoring that bell-tower so that we could climb it and from the level that is a little bit closer to God see what people can do with His help. Vsevolod's energy can be envied. As he always says, there is no faith without actions.

— You should come back on January 19th, the Epiphany. We have a real fairy-tale on ice here, with ice sculptures, and in the middle of the lake we make a very big ice-hole in the shape of a cross and baptize people there. Last year we had a New York Times reporter here, she looked at all this and jumped into the water herself. She was so happy then, you can't imagine!

We were told that the Raifa Monastery can't be visited only once. The idea is that once you've visited this «Christland» (this is what Kazan residents call this famous place) once, you will keep coming back. As to us, we have nothing against this popular belief and would love to visit Superior Vsevolod sometime again. We also wonder what his charges will become and what will become of little Roma.

Mikhail DOVZHENKO