Almshouses. Island of Mercy and Hope

The history of the hospital, located on Leninsky Prospekt, 27 (former Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya Street) and now called the Central Clinical Hospital of St. Alexis Metropolitan of Moscow, dates back to 1900, when the Moscow City Duma allocated a plot of land on Kaluzhskaya Street, opposite the Neskuchny Garden, for the construction of a complex here hospital and almshouse buildings. The well-known philanthropist, merchant widow Alexandra Ksenofontovna Medvednikova bequeathed the money for the construction of the hospital. Ivan Loginovich and Alexandra Ksenofontovna Medvednikov belonged to an old Irkutsk merchant family, but lived most of their lives in Moscow.

According to the spiritual will of A.K. Medvednikova, who died in 1899, two-thirds of her capital was transferred to the city of Moscow for charitable purposes. These funds were used to build a gymnasium building in Starokonyushenny Lane, a complex of a shelter for epileptics near Kanatchikova dacha, but most of money was intended for the construction of a hospital complex "for terminally ill Christians, without distinction of rank, sex and age" and an almshouse attached to it.

The hospital complex was built in 1902-1903 according to the design of the Academician of Architecture Sergei Ustinovich Solovyov. Along Bolshaya Kaluga Street there are two large buildings: an almshouse - with a church Tikhvin icon Mother of God and sick leave - with the Church of the Kozelshchanskaya Icon of the Mother of God (now - St. Alexis). Buildings with apartments for doctors and staff, utility buildings, a glacier and a chapel were built in the depths of the property. All buildings were designed in the neo-Russian style; the influence of Rostov church architecture of the 17th century is felt in the architecture of house churches. The interior paintings of the temples were made by the workshop of the Pashkov brothers, the mosaic panels and tiles decorating the facades of the buildings were made in the workshops of the Stroganov School.

The hospital and almshouse were equipped with last word equipment - the buildings had water supply and sewerage, electric lighting and ventilation, as well as a steam-water heating system. The hospital was designed for 150 people, the almshouse for 60. Sewing and binding workshops were arranged for patients, where they could work at will, as well as a library. A school was provided for the children in the hospital.

The complex of charitable institutions named after Ivan and Alexandra Medvednikov was solemnly opened in December 1903 in the presence of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. In 1908, with funds bequeathed by benefactor Alexandra Karpovna Rakhmanova, another almshouse was built, with a separate entrance from Kaluzhskaya Street. The author of this project was also the architect S.U. Solovyov.

In the Soviet years, almshouses were abolished, and the sick were placed in the former building of the almshouse. House churches and the chapel were closed shortly after the revolution and adapted for hospital needs. In 1924, the Medvednikovskaya Hospital was renamed the 5th Gradskaya Clinical Hospital. In 1992, it received the name Central Clinical Hospital of St. Alexis Metropolitan of Moscow Russian Orthodox Church. The temples were restored and returned to believers.

A new saint has been canonized in the Orthodox Church - St. Sophia (Hotokuridu). She was famous in Church of Constantinople, and on Holy Synod On June 7, 2012, her name was included in the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church with the establishment of the celebration of her memory on April 23 (May 6), the day of her blessed death.

Pontus, the southern Black Sea region, the land of harsh mountains and turbulent streams, the birthplace of the same as yourself, harsh and beautiful ancient people- Pontic Greeks ...

How many saints have you given to the world and heaven - from the great and glorious to the whole christianity who inscribed their names forever in the history of mankind, to modest and inconspicuous, whose life is not known to anyone except God, and even, perhaps, their closest relatives and friends.

Like precious pearls, you hid them in your bosom so that one day - if the Lord pleases - to reveal to the world a dim, but so bright and warm, unquenchable fire of their holiness, their life and love ...

Among these latter was the righteous recent years – , faithful wife, a sincere ascetic, a true daughter of the Church and Orthodox Pontus.

... Sophia was born in 1883 in a small mountain village of Central Pontus, near the city of Ardas, Metropolis of Trebizond. The girl was very beautiful: Brown eyes, a noble oval of the face, light brown hair with a redhead, so thick that instead of one braid, usual for an unmarried pontiac, Sofia braided as many as five long braids descending almost to the ground.

This was the real ideal of the Pontic beauty, repeatedly sung by folk poetry, and therefore it is not surprising that Sophia had no shortage of suitors. The girl's parents, Amanat and Maria Saulidi, could marry their daughter to any handsome, smart and rich man their heart desires - the choice was great.

But, to the surprise and displeasure of numerous relatives, they were in no hurry: wishing for their beloved daughter not just a comfortable, well-fed life, status married woman and numerous offspring, but a real Christian marriage, these sincere Christians made a decision, exceptional and almost unbelievable for the traditional highland society of those years, to wait until Sophia herself chooses a husband to her heart.

Sophia, like the real daughter of her parents, took her choice seriously - marriage was for her an eternal union, a unity of souls that you cannot build with the first handsome boy you came across. She waited, watched, prayed to Christ, whom she loved passionately and whom she used to trust from early childhood - and remained unmarried even at 23, although 12-16 girlish years were considered the usual age for marriage on Pontus.

Finally, in the twenty-fourth year of life, the choice was made. Sophia's chosen one was Jordan Hotokuridi, a pious Christian just like herself. In 1907, a wedding was played, and the young people left for their husband's homeland, in the village of Togrul. In 1910, their long-awaited child was born.

These years were the calm before the storm, which was soon to break out over the long-suffering Pontic land - and touch everyone without exception, including the small, but built with such love family of Jordan and Sophia ...

Back in 1908, the Young Turks came to power in the Ottoman Empire, proclaiming the slogan "Turkey for the Turks!" And already in September 1911, at the Young Turk conference, the question of the destruction of the ethnic (especially Christian) minorities of the country, which primarily included the Greeks and Armenians, was openly discussed.

Of course, Jordan and Sophia, simple villager were unaware of these political debates; they were occupied with personal grief - in 1912, their baby died due to an accident. The death of an only child was a terrible misfortune for parents - but, as it became clear just two years later, even this early death was much better than the horrors through which the Pontians, young and old, were soon to go.

In 1914 the First World War; The Ottoman Empire entered it on the side of Germany. Immediately after this, repressions began: under the pretext of “unreliability”, many Pontic men from 18 to 50 years old were sent under escort to the so-called “working battalions” (“amele taburu”) deep into Asia Minor.

In fact, these were concentration camps where people were forced to work in inhuman conditions, with little or no food, water or medical care. The punishment for the slightest offense was immediate execution.

Thousands of Pontians, as well as representatives of other Christian peoples, perished in the "amele taburu". Among those who disappeared in these death camps was Sophia's husband, Jordan, who was one of the first to be taken to work.

It would seem that after such a double grief - the loss of her husband and child - Sofia should either break down, despair, or, on the contrary, try to forget the past as soon as possible, start new life: she was still very beautiful, and many enviable suitors would not mind taking a young widow down the aisle. She could have a new family, children...

But Sofia made a different decision. She reflected the gloomy waves of despair with prayer and faith that Jordan was in heaven, together with their child, and someday they would all meet again, never to be separated again. And if so, how could it be possible to change the spouse with whom, of good will, she united forever, how could it be possible to betray their love?

Pontic men went to the mountains, to partisan detachments to protect native land. Leaving everything behind, Sophia also went to the mountains - in a monastic cassock, to pray for Jordan, for their child, for herself and for all her suffering people.

How did she live in these wild mountains, completely alone, at a time when there was a war around? Nobody knows. But her prayer ascended to heaven with its fragrance, and the inhabitants of the surrounding villages felt the power of this prayer.

Once, during the prayer of Sophia, Saint George the Victorious appeared - one of the most revered saints in this land of warriors. Georgy told Sophia that a gang of “chetov” (armed bandits, unofficially encouraged by the Turkish government and mercilessly slaughtering the Christian population) was approaching the village of Lechukh, located at the foot of the mountain where she labored.

Sophia rushed to the village to warn people - and they managed to leave in time for the mountains, miraculously escaping from a terrible death.

Sophia shared the fate of her people in everything - including their exile. In 1919, together with those who managed to escape the massacre, she left her homeland and, on the ship St. Nicholas, crowded with refugees, went to a fraternal, but still non-native and unkindly welcoming country of refugees - to Greece.

On the way, the ship got into a terrible storm, so that even the captain himself had already lost hope of being saved. But by some miracle the ship made it safely to shore; and the captain, crossing himself, loudly announced to the frightened passengers: “It is evident that there is a righteous man among you, for the sake of him the Lord has mercy on us!”

And then someone pointed to the farthest corner of the deck: Sophia was sitting there, crouching, never ceasing to pray for the salvation of her companions throughout the difficult journey ...

For several years after that, Sophia lived with her young nephews, left without parents, taking care of them as if they were her own children. In 1927, when the boys had already grown up and became independent, a wonderful Wife appeared in a dream to Sophia, who told her: “Your house is not here, but with Me - come to Me!” "Who are you, and where is your home?" asked the astonished ascetic. “I live in Klisura,” was the answer, and the vision was gone.

It turned out that in Klisura - a mountain village in Northern Greece, on the border of the regions of Kastoria, Florina and Kozani - there was a convent of the Nativity Holy Mother of God. And it was She, the Mistress and Abbess of the monastery, who called Sophia to Her...

Since then, Sophia settled in Klisura. She led a strict ascetic life in unceasing prayer and labors, thinking about God, caring for others and, it seemed, completely forgetting about herself: Sophia did not even have her own cell, she slept on the floor by the stone hearth in the monastery refectory, where at night, especially in winter, it was very damp and cold .

The clothes of the ascetic were extremely scarce and poor, Sophia wore them until things finally fell apart from old age, and in any weather, in winter and summer, she went barefoot. If someone, pitying her for her beggarly appearance, gave Sophia good, new, warm clothes, the ascetic immediately gave it to some poor man.

Sofia had not washed or combed her once beautiful and still thick hair since she was a widow, so that they fell into real felt - but, despite this, from Sofia's hair and from her whole body and beggarly, dirty clothes a delicate fragrance emanated, like from a flower.

For Sophia already during her lifetime became the flower of the Garden of Eden; the harsh conditions of life and the suffering that befell her did not at all make her gloomy and withdrawn - on the contrary, those who knew Sophia recall that the ascetic was always joyful, grateful to God for everything, and her usual saying was “My heart rejoices!”

This joy and sincere love for God and His creations were felt not only by people, but also by dumb animals. Wild forests then stretched around the monastery, where many animals lived - including such large and dangerous ones as bears and wolves. And all of them were friends of the ascetic, they were drawn to her in the same way as the animals were probably drawn to Adam and Eve even before the fall.

It is unlikely that Sofia, who grew up in a remote mountain village, heard about; but just as to the Monk Seraphim, a wild bear came to her from the forest, which Sophia fed bread, and she licked her hands and feet as a token of gratitude and love.

One could often hear the ascetic calling her wild favorite: “Rusya, Rusya (Red-haired), come on, eat some bread!” Snakes spent the night on Sophia's pillow, and there was no case that they bit the ascetic herself or any of the sisters and pilgrims. And when Sophia prayed, flocks of birds circled around her with a cheerful twitter.

The whole life of Sophia breathed with the love of Christ. She never offended or upset anyone, although she was strict in matters of faith and life by faith, without making concessions to "this world."

For everyone who came to her, she had special words that were necessary for this particular person at that moment - and it often happened that people who came to Klisura with a gloomy face and a gloomy soul, burdened with sins, left the monastery enlightened, feeling that behind their backs as if wings of hope and purity grow.

And many came to Sophia: the surrounding residents deeply respected her for spiritual wisdom and revered the saint, although the ascetic herself did not like this very much and always called herself an ordinary sinner. Nevertheless, she never refused those who came to help - for she was sure that any help comes not from herself, but from God, and she is only an instrument in His paternal hands.

Sophia took a special part in the fate of girls who sinned by fornication; she consoled them, saying that after sincere repentance they should no longer mention their past sin - after all, the Lord Himself forgave them in the Sacrament of Confession - she instructed them in a pure life and looked for good suitors for them, with whom the former sinners could build a real Christian family.

It often happened that after a few years these girls - now happy spouses - came to the monastery together with their husbands to ask the ascetic to become the godmother of their newborn daughters.

Many residents of the surrounding villages wanted the same, so even now the most common woman's name in these parts - Sophia, named after the reverend godmother. And when one day Sophia was asked to choose a name for a newborn boy, she named him as no one had ever been called here before: Jordan ...

Saint Sophia was no stranger to the feat of foolishness. So, for example, when in 1922 a schism occurred in the Greek Orthodox Church, and on this basis, the ascetic began to fast according to two calendars at once: the new and the old. Thus, she wanted to show that the calendar does not matter for faith: the main thing is to be faithful to God and the Church, to love your neighbors and not lead them into temptation.

Against this background, the attempts of the Greek schismatics-Old Calendarists to present the righteous old woman as a supporter of the schism look especially ridiculous and outrageous. It is known that even during the life of Sophia, schismatics who were not shy in their means tried to kidnap her in order to cover up their schismatic activities in her name.

The abduction failed, but after the death of the old calendarist, the Old Calendarists began to spread false rumors that Sophia rejected the canonical Church, did not attend its churches and never took communion.

Fortunately, there are many witnesses confirming that the old woman, on the contrary, was a faithful daughter canonical Church and, as once upon a time in her native Pontus, she tried to attend divine services as often as possible and partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. She also advised those who came to her to take communion more often.

Sometimes people wrote down what the ascetic said to them - and therefore we now have the opportunity to hear her own voice. Let's do it!

INSTRUCTIONS

“The fear of God makes a man wise. What is the fear of God? This does not mean that you are afraid of God, but that you are afraid of upsetting another, harming him, treating him unfairly, condemning him. This is wisdom. Get it first, and then God will enlighten you what to do.

“We did a good deed - and we immediately say that we did it. And by whose power did we make it? By the power of God. God bless you and you have done a good deed."

“When you leave everything to the will of God, things take care of themselves.”

“Don't talk too much; let there be few words, but each one is blessed. Love God and your heart will shine like the sun."

"Be patient, be patient, we need great patience!"

“Parents, teach your children—girls and boys alike—to be honorable, to be pure before marriage, to walk the path of Christ. When the priest reveals the Gospel during the wedding, Christ sends an angel to crown the virginity.

“Woe, woe, the time is coming when you will not find virginity on the whole earth. The Mother of God prays for us to her Son. And the boys still do not repent of their sins ... "

“Everyone, big and small, resort to the Mother of God, if you love God, resort to the Mother of God!”

“Firstly, honor God, secondly, the Mother of God, thirdly, the angels, fourthly, the apostles, then the saints. All the apostles were crucified with Christ.

“Let the words of your mouth be fragrant like roses and basil. Mothers-in-law, cover the sins of your daughters-in-law with love, old people, cover the sins of the young with love! Youth, keep the Word of God, keep it in your heart; let there be roses on your lips, and the holy wine of Communion on your lips, so that you will always be with God!”

“He who is patient is blessed. Who is patient, how the sun will shine. We need great patience!

All these were not just the right words: Elder Sophia really lived the way she taught others. Her love for God and her trust in Him as a Father was childishly sincere and boundless - and He really did not leave His faithful daughter. The most striking evidence of this was the following miraculous event.

In 1967, when Sophia was already 84 years old, she became seriously ill. A tumor formed on her stomach, from which a putrid liquid oozed, the ascetic experienced terrible pain. Subsequently, doctors said that it was most likely an appendicular abscess.

The priest and sisters of the monastery wanted to immediately call a doctor, but the old woman unexpectedly refused. “The Mother of God will help me, She promised,” Sophia answered all the persuasions with childlike spontaneity.

On the eighth of September, on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - patronal feast Klisura monastery, Sophia became very ill. She lay unconscious, groaning and whispering with parched lips: “Mother of God… Mother of God…”

The sisters, despite her refusal, nevertheless called the doctors, and they, having examined the patient, said that she needed urgent surgical intervention. But it was already late in the evening, it was impossible to go to the city right now along the wild mountain roads, and the doctors did not dare to perform the operation right in the monastery, without tools and appropriate conditions - there was no professional surgeon among them. I had to wait for the morning.

In the morning the news spread around the monastery - a miracle happened! Sophia, completely healthy, washed herself at the source. To the sisters who came up, she showed the seam on her stomach, as if surgical operation- but at the same time she behaved like a completely healthy and vigorous person, and not just a person who had been operated on!

The surgeons who finally arrived from the city confirmed that Sophia was really healthy. And a fragrance emanated from her whole body, as if from incense.

Subsequently, the old woman herself told what happened to her, and her story was recorded on a tape recorder. That night, the Mother of God appeared to her, accompanied by the Archangel Gabriel and St. George the Victorious. “Get ready, now we will cut you,” the Archangel told her. “I am a sinner,” Sophia answered, “let me first confess, take communion, and then cut me!” "Don't be afraid, you won't die," was the reply, "we will operate on you."

The old woman spoke of all this as something completely ordinary, self-evident. After all, the Mother of God promised to help her - so she helped!

After this miraculous operation, Sophia lived for about seven more years. The old woman died on May 6, 1974, and her death was peaceful. The righteous was buried by fourteen priests and archimandrites who had come from all over the region; Many lay people and monks also came to say goodbye to their spiritual mother.

When, after eight years, the grave of Sophia, Greek custom, opened to transfer the remains to the ossuary, the dry bones of the reverend exuded a fragrance.

The veneration of Sophia as a locally revered saint began immediately after her death - after all, even during her lifetime she was considered a true righteous. She was officially canonized on December 8, 2011. And in next year, on the day of her blessed death - which henceforth became the day of her memory - the first divine service was solemnly celebrated in Klisura in her honor.

... They say that after Sophia's funeral, flocks of birds flew for a long time to the monastery refectory, where she once lived. But they were not looking for crumbs on the windowsill, which the ascetic used to throw at them: the birds sat on the photograph of Sophia, which the sisters hung on the wall, and gently tapped their beaks on the glass, as if they understood whose eyes were smiling at them from the portrait ...

House
There is a whole city of red stone. Two high five-story buildings, a playground and a temple are surrounded by a fence. In one of the houses, a security guard stops me and, making sure that they have been warned about my arrival, he lets me go upstairs.

The first thing that struck me was the corridor. It does not give away the bureaucracy. Although the same walls as in state institutions are painted with simple light paint. The linoleum is flat. Whitewash does not fall from the ceiling. Everything is neat and clean - like in offices or private homes.

In the almshouse named after Tsarevich Alexy, I was met by the sisters who were looking after the grandmothers that day. They poured me tea and asked me to wait, now and then running away to the wards.

At that time, Archpriest Artemy Vladimirov, rector of the Krasnoselsky Church of All Saints, where there is an almshouse, served in the house church on the second floor. After the service, the rector went out into the street and performed a memorial service near the wooden crosses over the graves of the dead inhabitants. Hieromonk Alexy, nun Apollinaria and nun Seraphim ended their lives in an almshouse (mother Seraphim safely lived to be 100 years old). “Now the almshouse has its own prayer books in heaven,” the priest said when we talked after the memorial service.

“Our mother Seraphim had a very interesting fate,” says Father Artemy. young years burning with the desire to devote herself to God, she rejected the proposals of almost 20 suitors and retained her virginity. Noble birth, she has achieved considerable in the world. Living in the difficult Stalin years, she was a professor of medicine, engaged in the publishing of medical books. Having lost her sight, she retained an amazing example of efficiency, clarity of mind. Published annually church calendar for reading, memories. She had the gift to gather people around her and, walking through life, never lost them. This means that she had almost no self-esteem, considering everyone and everything through the prism of her self.

Start
Before the revolution, there was already an almshouse on the territory of the temple. I asked about. Artemia, as an almshouse, has reappeared in our days.

The history of our almshouse began with the idea that both old and young would be saved under a single dome, - says the priest. - To make it possible to warm this old age, to console, to put these gray hairs to rest. The fact that there were two empty buildings on the territory of the temple contributed to the realization of our plan.

An almshouse appeared in one of them six years ago. Unlike huge state institutions of this type, it was designed for only 40 people. Elderly nuns were supposed to live here. Now there are 15 people in the almshouse, not only nuns, but also just believers. After Hieromonk Alexy died, only women live here. All are elderly, all over sixty. The oldest - nun Ananias - is already over ninety.

Inhabitants
I was offered to see the rooms of the nuns. The sister accompanying me, having received the permission of the hostess of the room, went in with me. Mother Matrona does not get out of bed. In the past, she was a parishioner of a church near Moscow, and after that - the Epiphany Cathedral. She has now moved to live here. She looked at us with amazingly clear eyes and answered my questions. She spoke quietly, the recorder did not even catch her voice. Here she is well looked after, and she is grateful to the sisters for everything. (Though it seems to me that a person with such eyes would be grateful even to the irritated workers of a huge nursing home.)

The next room is another elderly woman. A month ago, she moved here from a nursing home. She did not want to remember life "in that boarding house". She was transported here by a friend who visited her there and, seeing the disposition of her spirit, did not calm down until she was transported to the Krasnoselsk almshouse.

They do not live here, as in a boarding house, with several people in a room. Each has its own, with a separate toilet and shower. And the rooms are all different: many housewives wanted to bring things and furniture here from their former homes. Everyone gathers together at services and on holidays in the house church.

Some of the inhabitants will bequeath their housing to the almshouse, if their relatives do not claim it. The almshouse does not have state subsidies, and it needs to be supported by something.

If someone does not like to live here, then you can demand your own and leave. But there were no such cases - the residents are carefully looked after.

Charter
The almshouse has a charter that clearly states who can live here. An almshouse was created mainly for the elderly monastics, mainly Muscovites. But there are exceptions. In general, monks are received with the blessing of the abbot.

How to get to your almshouse? I asked Fr. Artemia.

Crawl, get to her, or be brought. Remember how they brought the paralytic?

Now in the history of the almshouse named after Tsarevich Alexy - a new stage. The license period is ending. The main difficulty for the administration was to obtain the right to propiska for those who settled here. Therefore, recently there was a re-registration of the almshouse. From now on, it will have a different name - a nursing home for the elderly "Tsesarevich Alexy's Almshouse". This is due to the fact that in the law on social services there is no such word - "almshouse", and no one could register such an institution.

The word "almshouse" is not a state one. And the almshouse named after Tsarevich Alexy is not a state institution. No one can impose instructions from above. Therefore, the way of life in it is not official.

Every day, two nurses and a senior nurse take care of the residents. Sometimes doctors come from the district hospital, to which the almshouse is attached. The sisters do everything that the doctors prescribed for the grandmothers.

All the old women here are infirm, and they need to be looked after like small children. But at the same time, the sisters say, they are special, primarily because everyone is a believer and takes communion. Strong in spirit, although of a very respectable age. And they try not to annoy with their weaknesses.

And worries here, - the sisters say, - are like at home, with their own grandmothers. Feed, wash, walk with them, talk. So this is not a concern, we are learning a lot from them at this time. Problems? Someone got sick - that's our problem.

P.S. And in the second building, which used to be empty, now there is a parochial school. On holidays with performances, children come to their grandmothers. And for them the word "almshouse" is quite modern.

How the first almshouse in Moscow settles down in a new house on the banks of Cherkizovsky Pond April 14th, 2015

Recently, unusual residents moved into a red-brick three-story building on the banks of the Cherkizovsky Pond - elderly people, many of whom no longer get out of bed due to weakness. Here, in a historic building, next to the Church of Elijah the Prophet in Cherkizovo, St.project Orthodox service"Mercy".I happened to visit this amazing place, which has no analogues in Moscow.

Head of the Eastern Vicariate of Moscowand confessor of the Orthodox help service "Mercy" lord Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky Pantele th and For seven years, he negotiated with the city authorities that the building of the former orphanage not far from the Preobrazhenskaya Ploshchad metro station be transferred to the almshouse and got his way. Enormous work has been carried out here: special elevators have been installed, ventilation has been repaired, doorways have been expanded. New Year"Inhabitants" met already in a new place.

We go through the almshouse, looking into the premises. It smells of pies: dinner is being prepared in the kitchen.

Previously, the almshouse was located in a large apartment, now there are many rooms. Here, for example, is a separate room given over to the laundry.

The staff at the almshouse is friendly. And a big one. If you collect all the guards, cooks, laundresses, and sisters mercy - more than forty people will be typed. The work is hard: almost all the "residents" in the almshouse are bedridden patients who have suffered serious illnesses. This is one of the sisters. In her free time, she helps to cut the curtain :))


The inhabitants of the almshouse live two in a room. All rooms are spacious, with very light wallpaper and wide windows. Each has its own window and its own decorative flower.

Only the most infirm are admitted to the almshouse, and many here not only do not go, but also do not talk due to serious illnesses. Everyone has their own story. Slowly I get to know all the inhabitants of the almshouse.
Lyubov Nikolaevna's bedside is full of books. Among them are books on parenting. On the shelf are photographs of the grandchildren. Young Karachentsev smiles on the TV set opposite the bed.
- How long have you been here?
- About seven years, probably. Came here after a stroke - there was no one to look after. I have relatives, but they themselves are not very healthy.
- How do you spend your time?
- I watch films. “The investigation is conducted by experts”, I am revising, “Liquidation” ...

A computer is installed in the room where the youngest inhabitant, 44-year-old programmer and graduate of the Moscow State University's Physics and Mathematics Department, Vladimir lives. The fate of Vladimir was tragic. Once he unsuccessfully dived into the Klyazma and broke three cervical vertebrae. He was paralyzed and his family turned away from him. Vladimir ended up in the almshouse thanks to the sister of mercy, who looked after him in the hospital ...


We are in the living room. In the chair by the window is a frail old woman. The granddaughter lives in Israel, so a neighbor who took care of her for a long time filed a petition for the adoption of Claudia Vasilievna in an almshouse. Next to the grandmother is a stack of books. I wonder how she spends her time. Smiling: “I like to read and solve crossword puzzles. I am already 96 years old - I need to train my memory.
Claudia Vasilievna is one of the newcomers. And one of the few able to move independently.

For each ward, the sisters keep a journal in which all their features are recorded. Duty - 12 hours, three shifts a week, salaries - about 25 thousand rubles. However, the sisters do not lose their presence of mind. And they put on performances for their wards, and arrange holidays - they write the scripts themselves ...

Now about forty people work in the almshouse: sisters, guards, cooks ... The working day begins at about eight: at this time, the night sisters hand over the watch, telling how the night went and what medicines should be given to the inhabitants in the morning. A separate notebook is kept for each, where all doctor's appointments are recorded. Next - hygiene procedures, breakfast, wet cleaning in the rooms, changing diapers ... In general, life goes on as usual, and the sisters spin for twelve hours - that's how long the change lasts. And the average salary of a sister is about 25 thousand rubles.

Home temple...


Maria Mukhtasipova is one of the employees of the almshouse who volunteered to be my guide. Maria is a graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy, a former teacher at the Law Academy. When my mother fell seriously ill, she quit her job to take care of her, and after her mother's death, she volunteered for the First City Hospital and completed patronage courses at the St. Demetrius School of Sisters of Mercy.
- We created this room with Olga Gennadievna, a sister who has been working in the almshouse since 2004. It is from her that this position initially comes - to create a real home for our grandmothers, moreover, a home in which they have everything - the best. When our guests note that they don’t even have such beautiful wallpapers or furniture at home, she always says: “And it shouldn’t be. But grandmothers at the end of their lives - should be. Because they get into someone else's environment, and it is more difficult for them than for us.

- On what money does the almshouse exist? I asked in farewell.

For donations. Now, during the crisis, many who supported us for many years have significantly reduced opportunities. But let's hope that God will not leave us.
You can support the St. Spiridonievsk almshouse by making a donation on the Mercy.ru portal

Our weak sisters consider the almshouse their home, and we try to ensure that their departure to the Lord is accompanied by parting words of the Holy Mysteries of Christ and the hope of salvation.

A small almshouse Novodevichy Convent where sick elderly women and infirm sisters of the convent live. Here they receive shelter, food, care and, most importantly, a true Christian attitude towards them. They are looked after by the nuns of the monastery and experienced nurses.

Priests weekly and on public holidays they commune the infirm with the Holy Mysteries of Christ, the sisters read soul-saving literature for them, visit during the daily procession with myrrh-streaming Kazan icon Mother of God. Among the inhabitants of the almshouse there are bedridden patients and those who go to worship; they try to be involved church life and monastery life. The schedule of their day is coordinated with the schedule of the monastery, and each nun does what she can. prayer rule. Paralyzed novice Zoya bears the obedience of commemorating the dead during the siege of Leningrad. Among those being treated were wonderful women, for example, the perspicacious old woman Alexandra Stepanovna Petrova, who had already died and was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

The parishioners of the monastery provide the residents of the almshouse with all possible assistance they need. We are grateful for the daily support and one-time donation of such expensive drugs and technical devices that help make their lives more joyful and painless. We pray that for the mercy shown to the needy, the Lord Himself will show His mercy to them.

We bring to your attention an essay by Nina Stavitskaya about the monastery almshouse:

Story almshouses at Voskresensky Novodevichy convent in St. Petersburg is rooted in late XIX century. One of its brightest pages is associated with the name of St. Seraphim of Vyritsky. While still a merchant, a very large fur trader, he was a caretaker of an almshouse. Vasily Nikolaevich Muravyov, together with his wife Olga Ivanovna, constantly made donations for its maintenance. In addition, compassionate to the grief of others, they visited charitable homes, found words of consolation for their inhabitants, distributed gifts and spiritual books. By the way, here, in the Novodevichy Convent, Olga Ivanovna, years later, accepted monasticism with the name Christina (in the schema of Seraphim).

On the cross of the grave of schema-nun Seraphim is attached a quatrain, which he wrote Reverend Seraphim Vyritsky:

The path will not be overgrown with grass
To your grave, dear mother.
You loved everyone with heart and soul,
Your holy love will not be lost.

The current inhabitants of the almshouse of this holy monastery receive the same love and care. Two of them, novices Zoya and Stepanida, do not get out of bed for many years: one has been paralyzed for 19 years, the second for 16. However, the statement “do not get out of bed” is not entirely accurate. We entered the novices' room just at the moment when a selfless experienced nurse was putting on a corset with metal structures on grandmother Zoya to fix the lumbosacral region in an upright position. Then the corset was attached to the lift, and in front of our eyes, the lift, controlled by the nurse, lifted the bedridden patient to a certain height and moved her to a chair.

Nun Maria (Likhacheva), the head of the almshouse, said:
– This lift was donated to us by the Volodarsky hospital. Of course, it is of the old type, as we say, “ancient”, but, thank God, that at least there is one. Grandmother Zoya, for example, has multiple sclerosis: her arms and legs are twisted. And since she has been lying in a horizontal position for years, the doctors advised an hour and a half - and every day! - put her on a chair, put dinner on the bedside table in front of her. Somehow the muscles will be involved!

Mother Mary (in worldly life who had worked for twelve years as a paramedic on an ambulance) reported that specialists of various profiles come here from the city polyclinic No. 48. Recently, an ultrasound machine was brought from the polyclinic to the almshouse, and this made it possible to examine all the grandmothers. In the clinic to which they are attached, if necessary, you can take tests. So in medical terms, monitoring of the wards is constant.

We could not help asking how they take care of those who are being taken care of spiritually. And they heard that the clergy weekly and on holidays commune them with the Holy Mysteries of Christ. And the sisters visit grandmothers during the daily religious procession with the myrrh-streaming Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. We also learned that the paralyzed servant of God Zoya, who smiled at us after successfully moving from bed to chair, commemorates the dead during the siege of Leningrad. This is her obedience. In general, all grandmothers, according to nun Maria, carry out constant obedience: they read the Gospel, the Apostle, the Holy Fathers every day (there is a complete assembly publications of the "Lives of the Saints"), akathists sing together in unison.

In the corridor we met an intelligent elderly woman who, holding on to a walker for people with limited traffic, walked confidently. Then, leaving her walker and her cane behind, she took a few steps, without any outside help, into her room. And she invited us to her place.

- Recently we celebrated the ninetieth birthday of Natalya Feodosyevna, nun Maria smiled, nodding towards the mistress of the room.

Natalya Feodosyevna herself said that in the 70-80s of the last century she worked as the head of the office of the Leningrad Theological Academy - even under the ever-memorable Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov), ​​who was the ruling bishop. “What an ascetic it was! - our interlocutor said with feeling. “I always remember him and remember him. I brought his portrait here and put it on the table.”

And the rector of the Theological Academy and Seminary in the city on the Neva in those years when Natalya Feodosyevna worked there was the future Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill. And she ended up in the almshouse at the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent after conversations with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. Once, in a conversation with him, Natalya Feodosyevna complained that it was hard for her to make purchases, cook food, and clean the apartment. To which the Patriarch replied that there was an almshouse at the monastery next to her - they would take good care of her there. However, like many older people, she was not ready for change, although she could no longer walk on her own. His Holiness called her on the phone several times and persuaded her for almost an hour. Then the abbess and five sisters conducted a “special operation”: they talked with her in the monastery, drank tea, and all this lasted almost five hours. When did they switch to decisive action”, Natalya Feodosyevna categorically rejected the offer to spend the night in the monastery and ordered her to be taken home. Only later His Holiness Patriarch Cyril found some words that convinced her of the need to move to the monastery. And today she does not regret it.

- It's quiet, calm, such grace! - said the oldest resident of the almshouse. - Priests come to us, sisters are attentive and caring. Doctors are also attentive. Everything is fine!

In one of the issues of the St. Petersburg magazine "Pchela" there was an article dedicated to the almshouse at the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent. It contains such capacious exact words: “Many misunderstand what an almshouse is. They think that they are just feeding people here, watching them. But the almshouse is, first of all, God. This is the Lord. And therein lies its deepest difference from social institutions for the care of the elderly. It's already in the title."

...Next to the room where the paralyzed novices lie, there is another cozy room, fully prepared to receive new nuns of the almshouse. Who will take over in the near future? Most importantly, these will be people whose physical infirmities have not nullified them. prayer life. People who do not think a single day without communion with God.

The almshouse needs to purchase the following medicines:

Arbidol adult
Antigrippin-Anvi
tantum verde
Fervex, Theraflu
Lizobakt
Paracetamol
Hexoral (spray, lozenges)
Oscillococcinum
Sofradex, Otipax
Tobradex, Albucid
Laktofiltrum, Bifiform
Rennie, Maalox ( in tablets)
Controloc, Ganaton
Omez, Omeprazole
Smecta, Eubicor, activated carbon
Movalis ( in tablets, ampoules)
Nise, baralgin ( in tablets)
Katadalon 100 mg ( in tablets)
Egilok
Propolis tincture
Glucometer strips: AKKU Chek Performa
Legalon ( in tablets)
Phosphogliv (in capsules)
Noliprel-forte
Baktistatin
Phezam
Atoris
presturium
Bet-optician, Vizomitin, Trusopt
Oftan cathochrome, View chest of drawers
Panangin ( in tablets)
Cardio aspirin