Church and charity in Russia. The history of social and charitable activities of the Russian Orthodox Church

The head of the press service of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service of the Russian Orthodox Church, Vasily Rulinsky, answers Ekho Moskvy columnist Yulia Latynina.

In the last program “Access Code”, Yulia Latynina stated: “I don’t have enough news about anything that these same believers have done in terms of charity, help and love ... Somehow I don’t see news so that they (believers) set up a hospice for the homeless. As you know, Dr. Liza dealt with homeless people in our country.

News is a strange thing. After all, they are, but not everyone sees them. The pathos of Latynina is understandable: nothing, they say, these believers do not do good, bright, eternal, but only strive to ban something like that. And this pathos would be justified if the believers really did nothing. But they do, even if someone does not see it!

Over the past 6 years number church shelters for women in difficult life situation has increased from one to 46. Around the country open about 150 church centers assistance to drug addicts, these are primary reception points, and resocialization centers, and day hospitals, and “halfway houses”, and of course, the rehabilitation centers themselves. Recently, by the way, another one was opened in Chelyabinsk. For reference: in the country every year opens 5 to 10 new church rehabilitation centers.

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The Orthodox help service "Mercy" organized a Maslenitsa holiday for the homeless of Moscow, which took place on Tuesday, February 21, in the "Angara of Salvation".

And after all, “these same believers” also deal with the homeless! Many have heard that since 2004, every winter, the Mercy bus has been running around the stations of Moscow at night - this is a story about saving the lives of those vagrants who have nowhere to spend the night. Without such help, they would simply freeze to death in the street. Surely the project could have been done better, but at that time there was nothing else in Moscow in principle. Not so long ago, the Moscow authorities adopted this experience and launched a similar service with Social Patrol buses. After that, those same believers were able to switch to other help for the homeless: they opened a special tent for them near the Kursk railway station, began to work intensively on the prevention of homelessness: contact relatives, purchase tickets for the homeless to their homeland, restore documents. Recently, a center for the employment of the homeless was opened, which was written about by many media outlets. And this assistance is being developed not only in Moscow: across the country, the Church 95 homeless shelters, plus 10 mobile assistance services(similar to the Moscow bus "Mercy").

As for hospices, let me remind Yulia Latynina that the first children's hospice in the country (the one in St. Petersburg) was opened by a believer, a priest, Archpriest Alexander Tkachenko. At the end of the year, by the way, he state award given in the field of charity. This was reported by the main media of the country, including - attention! - "Echo of Moscow".

Well, why is there one archpriest! .. Not enough? But he's not alone. In the church hospital of St. Alexis in Moscow, a few months ago, a palliative department for residents of all regions ( Naturally, they enter there regardless of confessional affiliation). At Christmas, Patriarch Kirill visited this new department, and also not in a secret way - many media wrote and made television reports about the visit of the Primate. In addition to the hospital, for several years now a children's mobile palliative service has been operating in Moscow, a registry office for seriously ill children of the Orthodox service "Mercy": these are doctors, social workers, and psychologists, in whose care about 100 children. In Tver, another archpriest, Alexander Shabanov, is trying to transform the field palliative care into a full-fledged hospice - this is exactly the path Father Alexander Tkachenko used to go in his time.

There are even more 40 almshouses(these are shelters for the elderly), over 60 humanitarian aid centers- these are warehouses where everyone in need can come and get free clothes, cribs, strollers, hygiene products. At the initiative of Patriarch Kirill, there will be more such warehouses in the near future: funds for their creation have already been directed in 48 dioceses(Let me note in brackets that the Russian media also wrote about this program for the development of humanitarian aid centers).

Back in the Church 400 sisterhoods of mercy: these are the communities of "these believers" women who have dedicated their lives to the service of love and mercy. And the number of such communities is increasing every year. Sisters of mercy take care of bedridden patients in hospitals and at home, treat bedsores, carry out ships, take care of the disabled in psycho-neurological and children's boarding schools - as a rule, in the most difficult departments, where there are those who our society put an end to.

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Her parents abandoned her immediately after birth, like the rest of the inhabitants of the Elizabethan orphanage for girls at the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent in Moscow. Half of the girls here have Down syndrome. Here they do not want to hide them from life. Here they want to give them the opportunity to live like ordinary people.

Yulia Latynina will probably be very surprised if she learns that volunteer service is also actively developing in the Church, and young people often become volunteers. In Moscow, only one Orthodox Volunteer Service "Mercy" over 1500 people- these are middle and top managers, and engineers, and doctors, and businessmen, and students. These people, as a rule, do not make statements, do not seek to ban anything, but simply help people - lonely old people, disabled people, large families, orphans.

I will say one more thing, which is probably quite surprising for many: the Church is ahead of the state in some areas of social service. I will be glad if someone names at least one project in the country, similar to St. Basil the Great's St. Petersburg Church Center for the Social Adaptation of Adolescents. The employees of this center return to normal life teenagers who committed offenses and received suspended sentences. It will be great if somewhere there will be analogues of the church “House for the Deaf and Blind” in Puchkovo, or the St. Sophia Social Home for Children and Adults with Severe Multiple Developmental Disabilities, or the Penza project of assisted living for the disabled “Louis Quarter”, or the Moscow service for helping patients with lateral amyotrophic sclerosis, or kindergarten for children with moderate and severe cerebral palsy. But so far there are either no analogues to such church projects at all, or there are very few of them.

It is clear that church charity is still in its infancy. And the fact that at each large parish, at the initiative of Patriarch Kirill, the position of a social worker has been introduced, and the fact that every year more 100 new church social projects This, of course, is only the beginning. But please don't tell me that there is no church charity, and nothing is reported about it in the news.

Another question is why some observers of Ekho Moskvy do not know about this?

After all, how did it happen? To talk about church charity, Yulia Latynina, as she herself admits, “specially looked at the relevant section on charity on the patriarchia.ru website.” Not finding specifics about the current state of charity there, she made a number of, shall we say, hasty conclusions.

But here's the thing. The article that she quoted and which was actually published on Patriarchy.ru is an article, firstly, of 2010, and secondly, on the topic “ legal aspects charity and social activities religious organizations”, thirdly, written (attention!) by the lawyer of the Chamber of Advocates of St. Petersburg K.B. Erofeev, and fourthly, this is not the material of the Patriarchy.ru website itself, but a reprint of an article from the Parish magazine. And this article, of course, cannot be called "the corresponding section on charity on the patriarchia.ru website." This is simply not true.

In fact, it is very easy to get acquainted with the current state of church charity: the Church has a whole special Synodal department - for charity. And he has a website www.diaconia.ru- you can go to it and just see what "these same believers" are doing.

This is our access code.

Report by Archpriest Boris Pivovarov

1. Introduction

All of you know the gospel principle that if a good deed is done, “then left hand shouldn't know what the right one is doing." But, unfortunately, the study of national history and culture has many gaps, and one of these gaps is that both schoolchildren and students, studying our glorious centuries-old national history Ancient Russia, and the Middle Ages, and the New Age, do not study the history of charity in Russia - church, public, private. And, probably, now there is a great need to study this history so that people have an image of this charity, so that they know how it was. Sometimes the question arises: “Will the development of charity encourage dependency, encourage some unkind tendencies among a part of the population?” It seems to me that such a formulation of the question is unlawful, because at first you still need to try to help those who need help. And even if a situation arises somewhere that help will be provided to those who may not really need it, it will still be a lesser mistake than not providing help to those who really need it. And it seems that only by combining the efforts of state, public, and religious organizations involved in social protection, providing social assistance to the population will be able, with God's help, to solve these most important problems. social problems when the sick, and the lonely, and the elderly, and the disabled, and children will receive assistance. Before I begin my report, I would like to say that, thank God, many wonderful books on the history of philanthropy are now being published. One of them is “Essays on the history of the communities of sisters of mercy”, published in 2001 in Moscow by the St. Demetrius School of Sisters of Mercy, from whom we also studied at one time; this is the school of Father Arkady Shatov (now Bishop Panteleimon) and the First City Hospital, which trains sisters of mercy.

2-3. History of philanthropy in Russia

(Historical sources about charity in Ancient Russia. Charitable institutions in Russia in the 19th - early 20th centuries)

The history of charity in Russia goes back to the very beginning of our Orthodox Christian history. I think all of you have read The Tale of Bygone Years and other ancient Russian sources, which talk about what a change in life ancient Russian state led to the adoption of Orthodoxy. People's lives have changed, culture has changed, because they moved from serving idols to serving true God. Family foundations began to strengthen, and one of the most striking changes just concerned the topic of our conference.

In The Tale of Bygone Years, under the year 996, we read about Grand Duke Vladimir: “And he loved book reading so much that he once heard the Gospel: Blessed are the merciful, for they will have mercy; and again: Sell your possessions and give to the poor; And again: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths destroy and thieves break through, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths do not destroy, nor thieves steal; and the words of David: Blessed is the man who has mercy and lends; He also heard the words of Solomon: He who lends to the poor lends to God. Hearing all this, he ordered every beggar and poor person to come to the prince's court and take everything that is needed, drink and food, and money from the treasury. He also arranged this: saying that “the weak and the sick cannot reach my courtyard,” he ordered carts to be equipped and, putting on them bread, meat, fish, various fruits, honey in barrels, and other kvass, to deliver around the city, asking: "Where is the sick, the beggar, or who cannot walk?" And handed out everything. And he did something more for his people: every Sunday he decided to arrange a feast in his yard in the Gridnitsa, so that the boyars, and the Grids, and the Sots, and the Tens, and best husbands- and with the prince, and without the prince. There used to be a lot of meat there - beef and game - all in abundance.

A laudatory word to Prince Vladimir of mnikh (monk) Jacob has been preserved: “And I can’t say many of his favors. Doing alms not only in your house, but also throughout the city, not in Kyiv alone, but throughout the whole Russian land: both in cities and in villages, doing alms everywhere, dressing naked. Feeding the greedy and giving water to the greedy, strange peace of mercy, the poor and the orphans and widows and the blind and the lame and the difficult - all merciful and dressing and feeding and watering.

The centers where charity was concentrated in Ancient Russia were temples and monasteries. At many monasteries, which were famous for their charity, there were hospices, almshouses, hospitals were arranged. Such charitable activities especially spread during the war, crop failure, famine, and thousands of people found help and shelter thanks to these charitable church monastic institutions.

In the 17th century, the so-called beggar-feeders were established by the patriarchs Job and Nikon; they gathered people who could not help themselves. Even a note of that time (XVII century) has been preserved - “The Word about Shelters”, which proposed the following, saying modern language, project: It was proposed to establish a charity society. The members of these societies were to be divided into two types: some were to visit the poor in their homes and learn about their needs, while others were to determine benefits. It was a kind of mercy project in the 17th century.

Under Peter I, we see the beginnings of the fact that charity has become integral part state activities.

Many prominent Russian people, writers, scientists not only spoke about charity, but they themselves, with their lives, taught charity by their own example. So, for example, Zhukovsky - a famous poet, Pushkin's mentor - believed that "the right to do good is the greatest reward that a person can deserve."

He writes: “Charity is something sacred. Not everyone who has money can dare to be called a benefactor! It is a temple in which God is present and which must be entered with a pure heart.” The inspired words of many Christian ascetics are devoted to the virtue of mercy. “Almsgiving is the queen of the virtues, very quickly raising people to heaven and the best protector. Almsgiving is a great thing,” said St. John Chrysostom. Abba Dorotheos wrote that mercy likens a person to God. And that is why Zhukovsky's love for alms can be considered such a fact of his spiritual life, which testifies to the deep Christian attitude of the poet, and one of his most beautiful and bright features.

The august family itself set an example of charity. Empress Maria Feodorovna, wife of Emperor Paul, mother of Emperors Alexander and Nicholas, launched a huge activity. For 31 years she covered Russia with a network of various charitable institutions, which later formed a special department of Empress Maria Feodorovna (established in 1797).

Emperor Alexander I in 1816 established the Imperial Philanthropic Society. Its purpose was to meet the needs of the poor at home. Following his example, other similar committees and societies began to be organized.

Sheremetevsky was especially famous Hospice. It was founded in 1792 by Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev. The construction of the Hospice House was completed by 1810. The House's charities were not limited to the walls of the hospital and almshouse. Annual sums were released: for the dowry of brides (poor and orphaned girls); to help families of every condition, suffering poverty; to help impoverished artisans; for the issuance of allowances for the upbringing of orphans; to ransom people from prisons; for contributions to the temples of God; to create a library with a reading room; for the burial of the poor and for other needs. More than 200 thousand people received help here.

The Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt founded the Houses of Diligence. They were not only in St. Petersburg, but also in Tomsk and other cities. The first such House of Industriousness was consecrated in 1882. Its goal is to enable every poor person to live not by random alms, but to work (that is why the Houses of Industriousness were established) and with honor and dignity to feed themselves and help others. The Houses of Industriousness included: a hemp-plucking shop (up to 20 thousand people worked during the year), a shoe workshop, a women's workshop, a free outpatient clinic, a free public school, a free library, an orphanage, a canteen, a Sunday school, and an overnight shelter. The funds on which they existed were the personal charity of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt.

The Sisterhood of Mercy is one of the most glorious pages in the history of charity in Russia as a whole. The first sisterhood appeared in 1844.

A particularly important place was occupied by the activities of the sisters of mercy during the Crimean War. For the first time, sisters of mercy appeared on the battlefields. The participation of Russian women as sisters of mercy was the threshold of that majestic temple of charity and mercy, which then grew for almost a whole century. Regardless of age, rank, education, Russian women selflessly worked in hospitals, infirmaries, at dressing stations, steadfastly endured all the hardships and hardships, performed a feat of charity. The first Exaltation of the Cross community, established on the initiative and at the expense of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna in September 1855 (during the Crimean War), thus opened to a woman new way on the battlefields - the path of the sister of mercy.

Later, the following were opened: the Alexander community (founded in 1865 by Natalia Borisovna Shakhovskaya), the Intercession community (founded by Abbess Mitrofania in 1869), the Iberian community (established on the initiative of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna, Metropolitan Innokenty, St. John of Kronstadt ).

One of best hospitals in pre-revolutionary Russia there was a hospital of the Intercession Monastery in Kyiv. The most complex operations were performed in this hospital, the best doctors worked there. This hospital was set up in a monastery, was an exemplary church and charitable institution and at the same time was the best medical institution in terms of its level.

Russian people have always been responsive to the needs of the poor. This has been known since the time of the Grand Dukes Vladimir the Red Sun, Vladimir Monomakh, Ivan Kalita. Now little is known about the history of philanthropy in Russia, and at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, many different publications, books, brochures about charity appeared. One of the publications was called “Collection of Information on Charity in Russia”, it was compiled by order of the Chief Executive Office of the Office of Empress Maria in 1896. It provided not just information about where what sisterhoods, brotherhoods, houses of mercy existed, financial reports were given there, from which one can see what huge funds were collected by philanthropists and spent on these needs.

At the end of the XIX century in Russia there were: 3555 charitable institutions (638 of them in St. Petersburg and 453 in Moscow) and 1404 charitable societies (334 in St. Petersburg, 164 in Moscow). Of these institutions, 179 were founded to commemorate events in royal family(35 in St. Petersburg, 24 in Moscow). Of the 4,959 charitable institutions and societies, 2,772 are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 90 - the Ministry of Public Education, 5 - the Ministry of Communications, 52 - the Ministry of War, 317 - the Department of Institutions of Empress Maria, 713 - the Spiritual Department, 3 - the Naval Ministry, 23 - Ministry of Justice, 2 - Ministry of Agriculture and state property, 23 - Ministries imperial court and 959 were public institutions. General funds of all these institutions and societies at the end of the 19th century were expressed in the amount of 326.609.693 rubles. Of which: 250.776.370 rubles. - there were capitals belonging to institutions and societies; 1.199.520 rub. - made membership dues; 772.048 rub. - donations; 2.089.570 rub. - allowances and 65.823.805 rubles. - the value of the property. The number of people who used charity during the year reached 1,164,754: in St. Petersburg, 107,414 people (44,589 children) used charitable assistance annually, in Moscow - 105,158 people (32,800 children). Of these, there were 668,296 men and 496,458 women. In addition, there were 1,928,630 people who benefited from charitable assistance, whose gender and age were not specified.

As regards the time of foundation of charitable societies and institutions, out of 2,900 societies, 2,817 were founded in the 19th century and only 83 in previous centuries, starting from the 13th century.

The merchant class annually spent 1,123,000 rubles on charitable institutions, of which most of funds were spent in the Moscow and St. Petersburg provinces - more than 950,000 rubles. per year Other provinces accounted for 500 - 600 rubles. in year. The petty-bourgeois estate spent 258,673 rubles. in year. The collection also contains other information - how much, for example, bread was given, etc. Such extensive statistics were given because charitable activities were organized in this way. There was such a culture: each charitable society published its reports annually in newspapers, magazines and even in the form of separate brochures, so that anyone could see what kind of society, who founded it, who its zealots were, where the allocated funds were spent.

The following was reported on the activities of parish guardianships: in 1897, there were 17,260 parish guardianships in Russia (if we take into account that there were about 50 thousand parishes in Russia, it turns out that almost every third parish or monastery had its own guardianship) . In the same year, 1897, 487,834 rubles were spent on schools and charity by the trustees. Monasteries and churches had 198 hospitals and 841 almshouses, in which 13,062 people were treated.

The Department of Institutions of Empress Maria Feodorovna included: 1) Orphanages in St. Petersburg (33,366 detainees in the house itself and in the districts - in peasant families, at an expense of 1,388,914 rubles) and in Moscow (39,033 detainees, 1,200,000 rubles. Expenditure) ; 2) The Imperial Women's Patriotic Society: in 1897 taught in their schools - 2.323 girls, spent 214.300 rubles; 3) The Guardianship of the Blind had 23 schools, 3 shelters and 7 hospitals, and in 1897 sent out 33 ophthalmic detachments. Published the magazine Leisure of the Blind (for the blind) and Slepets, spent 203,000 rubles; 4) Guardianship of the deaf and dumb; 5) In 1897, the Orphanage Department nursed 162,395 pets, published the Bulletin of Charity magazine, in addition, it nursed 7,600 elderly and had 40 medical institutions with 400 beds, had capital and real estate worth 13,310,434 rubles.

The imperial philanthropic society, founded in 1802, had 210 institutions in 29 points and provided assistance in the form of educational institutions, shelters, almshouses, cheap apartments, overnight houses, people's canteens, medical institutions, delivering work to the poor, issuing material and cash allowances to 160,000 persons, spent annually about 1,050,000 rubles, had a property of 17,345,749 rubles.

One of the latest establishments was the Guardianship of the Houses of Diligence and Workers' Houses, which is under the auspices of the Empress Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. It was founded in 1895 with the aim of maintaining and further development institutions of labor assistance to the poor. Under the supervision of the patronage were: 125 houses of industriousness for adults and 34 - for children, 102 - trustees of these houses of the society, 21 - educational and demonstration workshop and several dozen nurseries. The guardianship patronized the nursery. Few know how they started. They appeared at the end of the 19th century and were purely church institutions. The Gospel of Luke says that when it was Christmas, Mother Virgin Mary had nowhere to put the Child. She swaddled Him in a manger. And from this gospel text came the name of the institution - a nursery. The woman had to go to work, but she had nowhere to leave her baby, and she was forced to bring her child to an institution that was called the gospel word nursery. These institutions arose first in St. Petersburg at the end of the 19th century, in 1905 they appeared in Tomsk, and then the nursery began to spread throughout Russia. We know that in Soviet times there were also nurseries, and the very name of the gospel - nursery - has been preserved to this day, and at first they were exclusively church institutions.

In a bad harvest in 1899, the guardianship of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna made a successful attempt to use labor assistance, mainly in open charity; special authorized guardianships organized various public works in lean provinces, organized nurseries, etc. In order to provide assistance to the able-bodied population, the Guardianship organized exhibitions and warehouses of handicrafts, educational and labor centers, established loan funds for the purchase of inventory. The guardianship had a capital of 1,078,317 rubles and received an annual allowance from the State Treasury in the amount of 235,400 rubles. Since 1897, the Guardianship has been publishing the journal Labor Assistance, dedicated to the development of issues of labor assistance to the poor and issues of public charity and charity.

In general, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, charity in Russia was of three types: private, public, and church and state.

If we talk, for example, about private charity, then there are many examples when the ascetics of faith and piety, by their example, by their diligence, helped the poor and the destitute. There are people who can't help doing good. I would like to give an example of how one of the richest people in Russia, Innokenty Mikhailovich Sibiryakov, helped people. He was born in 1860 in Irkutsk in rich family gold miners Sibiryakovs. His father, dying, left as a legacy to each of his sons several million rubles and the gold mining business, which at that time was brilliantly staged.

Having become a millionaire and the owner of a colossal gold industry, which every year still increased his millions, I.M. Sibiryakov did not find happiness and inner satisfaction in this wealth. It seemed to him that the colossal money that had fallen into his hands had been taken from someone else in need. Unusually sensitive in his heart to the grief and suffering of his neighbor, he soon began to be weary of his position as a man provided with means beyond measure, and began to spend his funds on charity and public needs.

While still a student (he was educated in Petersburg University), Innokenty Mikhailovich showed cordial responsiveness to his comrades and helped them a lot. Later, his charity took on a huge scale. So, at the very beginning of his independent activity, he donated several hundred thousand rubles to his brother for the construction of the Resurrection Cathedral, which he was erecting in Irkutsk. Then he began to donate huge sums to the cause of education and science: to encourage scientific work on the study of the Motherland and its population, to establish scientists and educational institutions, etc. With the financial assistance of I.M. Sibiryakov in 1880 opened Tomsk University. On his own initiative and with his financial assistance, the East Siberian Department of the Geographical Society was opened. He encouraged local expeditions and published the works of scientific researchers. On his initiative, arose in 1887 public libraries in some Siberian cities many churches and schools were built.

Seeing how hard life is for the Siberian mine workers, I.M. Sibiryakov donated 450,000 rubles for the formation of capital for the issuance of benefits in case of accidents with the workers.

Later I.M. Sibiryakov transferred his charity from Siberia and to central Russia. Again, colossal sums of money poured into various educational institutions. Higher women's courses in St. Petersburg received over 200,000 rubles from him. The well-known biologist Professor P. Lesgaf received 350,000 rubles from Sibiryakov to set up a biological laboratory in St. Petersburg. Enormous sums were spent by I.M. Sibiryakov for the publication of classical and modern authors.

But even with all these donations, the generous charity of Innokenty Mikhailovich was not exhausted. He had the support of numerous public figures, conceived one way or another "to sow reasonable, good, eternal." With the overt and covert assistance of I.M. Sibiryakov arranged hospitals, schools, libraries, reading rooms ... At his expense, hundreds of young people and female students lived and studied in St. Petersburg alone: ​​a great many young students could complete their education only thanks to Sibiryakov's extensive material support. Suffice it to say that Sibiryakov's apartment, while he lived in St. Petersburg, was besieged by needy people, and no one left him without help.

And this rich man, who owns millions, did not cease to experience a painful feeling of dissatisfaction with his existence. Millions weighed him down. He even went to see Tolstoy, talked to him for two days at Yasnaya Polyana and talked to him about how wealth weighs and torments him. Tolstoy confessed to his guest that he himself was experiencing a similar moral state, and that he was also weighed down by the “lordly” life that he was forced to lead and from which he could not escape into the life of a simple farmer, who had nothing to do with the “duty” to go after field work“in the mansions of the lords and at the white table to drink and eat concocted and offered by a whole cohort of slaves and slaves.” THEM. Sibiryakov also complained to Tolstoy that he was “clouded” with clouds of so-called cases of factories, factories, offices, houses: “I don’t know peace,” he said, “I see that there will be no end to this land. It is as if I must, as if capital should be set in motion, people should be given earnings, and all my vision should be spent on one viewing of new plans and buildings. I am planning to set up new settlements for the intelligentsia, but I would rather immediately throw off this weight of the golden bag, but I don’t know how to do it. Teach me how to distribute my money, my mines, my lands... Ever since the money was in my hands, I feel the incessant buzzing in my ears: "Distribute, distribute and distribute."

How did these searches end? And it all ended with the fact that he became a monk. But before he became a monk, gave away his millions and went to Athos, such an incident happened to him. He was in St. Petersburg and saw a nun who was collecting money for her convent. He gave the nun a silver ruble. The nun began to thank him so much that he took the address of the monastery and the next day appeared at this address in one of the capital's farmsteads and handed over to the nun all his free money - about 190,000 rubles. The nun was horrified by such a huge amount. She suspected something was wrong here, and after the departure of her unusual visitor, she reported him to the police ... A lawsuit arose, initiated by Sibiryakov's relatives. The court, however, recognized him as acting in a state of complete understanding and approved the huge amount donated to her for the poor Uglich convent.

The eternal search for truth and peace of mind led Innokenty Mikhailovich to the path that Russian people so often took - he decided to retire to a monastery. In 1894, he entered the Andreevsky Compound in St. Petersburg, and on October 1, 1896, he went to Athos. There he entered the skete of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, where he completed the cathedral at his own expense and built two churches, a hospital and a small building for himself - also with a church. There he accepted monasticism and spent the rest of his life in deep silence, accepting the great schema. I.M. died. Sibiryakov November 6, 1901. He was buried near the new cathedral he completed in the skete. Such was this silverless millionaire, this extraordinary man. His whole bright life was imprinted with one impulse - towards personal perfection and personal non-acquisitiveness in the name of the good of his neighbors. There is an article about him - B. Nikonov "The Unforgettable Benefactor" (Niva magazine, 1911, No. 51).

4. The ban on church and charitable activities in the Soviet period of national history

Church and charitable activities were largely suppressed by the 1917 revolution. The Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR “On the Separation of the Church from the State and the School from the Church” (published on January 23, 1918) stated that “no church or religious societies have the right to own property. Rights legal entity do not have” (v.12). “All the property of the church and religious societies existing in Russia are the property of the people” (Article 13).

In these articles of the Decree there is no mention of the charitable activities of the Church, but they generally prohibited any social and public activity of religious associations. These two articles of the famous Decree (12 and 13) were directly related to the charitable activities of the Russian Orthodox Church. And further, in the Decree of the People's Commissariat of Justice "On the procedure for implementing the Decree "On the separation of the Church from the state and the school from the Church"" (instruction of August 24, 1918), it was categorically ordered:

“Charitable, educational and other similar societies (...), as well as those of them that do not hide their religious goals under the guise of charity or education, etc., but spend cash for religious purposes, are subject to closure, and their property is transferred to the Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies in the appropriate commissariats or departments.

So in August 1918, thousands of church and charitable institutions were legally abolished, and then actually closed, destroyed in Russia, which were created by the faith and sacrificial love of our pious and merciful ancestors, created, as we have seen, most often during the years of war and post-war folk disasters, and then supported by the state, and private philanthropists, and public and church organizations and associations.

The Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR dated April 8, 1929 “On Religious Associations” included such categorical prohibitions as the creation of “literary, handicraft, labor circles or groups” and prohibitions on any organized charitable activities of religious organizations: “ Clause 17. Religious associations are prohibited from: a) establishing mutual benefit funds…; b) provide material support to its members; c) ... to organize sanatoriums and medical assistance.

Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 made adjustments to the state-atheistic policy of the Stalinist era. From the first day of the war, the Russian Orthodox Church began to help the people and the state in every possible way to defeat the invaders of Russian lands, the invaders of our people, our culture. The patriotic activity of the Russian Orthodox Church during the Great Patriotic War is not only the systematic collection of donations for the construction of aircraft, tanks and other types of weapons, it is also a huge charitable assistance to the soldiers - the defenders of our Fatherland: parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church collected for the soldiers went to the front in wagons socks, mittens, other types of clothing, as well as donations to help orphans destitute by the war and wounded soldiers. There are a lot of examples. Let me give you the well-known professor-surgeon - now canonized Archbishop Luka Voyno-Yasenetsky - his award (he received 200,000 rubles of the Stalin Prize of the 1st degree) for capital work on purulent surgery - he gave everything to such destitute war children.

The patriotic activity of the Russian Orthodox Church during the years of the Great Patriotic War is in itself a very large topic and the topic is no more well-known compared to today's topic. scientific and practical conference- "History of social and charitable activities of the Russian Orthodox Church." Therefore, I will not cite numerous examples of the Church's charitable activities during these terrible war years. The social and charitable activities of the Russian Orthodox Church during the Great Patriotic War are the very exception that did not violate the rule (that is, civil law), but supplemented it. BUT general rule(that is, the civil law) remained the same: a ban on any independently organized charitable activity of the Russian Orthodox Church at all levels - from the highest church leadership to parishes. Violators could face criminal penalties.

The question arises: why did the Soviet authorities so strictly forbid church charitable activities?

Answer: first of all, because the Soviet state completely and completely assumed all the problems in the field of organizing and implementing social protection and social assistance to the population. But the main thing - at the same time a new social doctrine was implanted. All former social and charitable institutions needed to be “destroyed to the ground”, and for the sake of a happy future, it was planned to build new system social protection and social assistance. The Russian Orthodox Church, with its centuries-old social and charitable traditions, did not fit into the new concept social structure, and therefore any attempt at organized church charity was severely suppressed.

Growing up in pre-revolutionary Russia, the first leaders of the Soviet state (and the then anti-religious propagandists) understood that the social and charitable activities of the Russian Orthodox Church are the same Christian preaching of love, mercy and compassion, preaching not in word, but in deed, preaching is no less important but more effective than just verbal preaching. And therefore, for the sake of the success of anti-religious propaganda, for the sake of combating the Russian Orthodox charitable tradition, any independently organized church charitable activity was categorically forbidden.

But it cannot be argued that church charity in Soviet years did not exist at all or was immediately destroyed. Even in the 20s of the XX century, when there was a massive closure of not only Orthodox parishes, but also Orthodox monasteries, it was still preserved. At the same time, many male and female monasteries did not close immediately. At first, in 1921–23, they were “transformed” into labor communities or farms. They were even called communes. But even under the new name, the inhabitants of these monasteries (especially women's ones) continued not only Divine services in their monasteries, but also engaged in charitable activities. Without legal registration, sisterhoods appeared at some parish and monastery churches, and it is especially important that they first of all tried to help the arrested clergy and repressed active laity.

The turning point in state-church relations came during the preparations for the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia (1988). And soon after this celebration, namely in October 1989, the Council of Bishops, dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the establishment of the patriarchal administration of the Russian Orthodox Church, adopted a number of important for the church public life resolutions, among which was the resolution: to revive the parish as the main Christian community with the active activity of the laity, "including Divine services, diakonia, teaching in the faith, mutual support of its members ..., charity, mercy and catechization."

This Council of Bishops took place in October 1989, and on December 15, 1989, the Parish of All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land was established, the sisterhood of which almost immediately began to actively engage in diaconia - church and charitable activities.

On the same Bishops' Cathedral the wish was expressed that the Church should receive the rights to charitable activities. About a year later, namely on October 1, 1990, the USSR Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” was issued, Article 23 of which was called “Charitable and cultural and educational activities of religious organizations”. This article read: “Religious organizations have the right to carry out charitable activities and mercy both independently and through public funds. Donations and deductions for these purposes are excluded from the amounts subject to taxation.

Thus, at the end of 1990, the Soviet state allowed the charitable activities of the Church, and the prohibitive provisions of the Decree of 1918 and the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of 1929 only then lost their legal force.

On December 25 of the same 1990, the Law of the RSFSR “On Freedom of Religion” was published. In it, Article 25 (similar to the analogous Article 23 of the aforementioned union law) was called "Charitable activities and cultural and educational activities of religious associations." This article read: "Religious associations have the right to carry out charitable activities both independently and through public organizations (foundations)."

If the federal law of October 25, 1990 "On freedom of conscience and religious associations" lost its use with the collapse of the USSR, then the Law Russian Federation“On Freedom of Religion” was in force until 1997, until it was replaced by the current Law of the Russian Federation “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations”, which also allows independent and joint with other organizations charitable activities of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The revival of the charitable activities of the Russian Orthodox Church took place in last decade XX century and is largely associated with the activities of the revived sisterhoods of mercy.

And let me finish my report with words from the book of Professor P.F. Vlasov "The Abode of Mercy":

“We are called to recreate the forgotten, to recall the survivors and call for its preservation, to pay tribute to those who, to the best of their ability and in accordance with the spirit of the times, did good deeds in the name of love for people. They left us monuments of philanthropy, kindness and mercy

“Years will pass, centuries will pass, not only our names will be forgotten, but our very graves, all memory of us will disappear in the stream of centuries and generations, but if in the days of our earthly life we ​​opened our hand to the feasible beneficence of the temples of God, then we will never forget about this Holy Church."
Father Varlaam, the first rector of the Belogorsk monastery

The oldest legal acts that define charity as an integral part of the life and activities of the church can be considered the Charters of the first Orthodox Russian monasteries, about which, unfortunately, History has brought very little official information to our time. But the lives of the saints and the righteous, historical stories, the most ancient chronicles have come down to us.

Based on the study of the "Life of Theodosius of the Caves", the story "Why was the Pechora Monastery nicknamed", the Kiev collection of "The Tale of Bygone Years", we can judge that the Charter of ancient monasteries defined the cloisters as a form social organization people, and the form is multifunctional. The monasteries solved various social problems: from preparing their members for the afterlife, creating exemplary farms to charity for the disabled, organizing hospitals, homes for the disabled, allocating for social goals tithe of their income.

IN Kievan Rus, where the Church was both economically and organizationally dependent on the prince, her charity was a consequence of the prince's policy. For example, Vladimir Svyatoslavovich in 996 issued the Charter, which entrusted public charity, guardianship - to the clergy, and allocated certain material resources for this. Princes Yaroslav Vladimirovich, Izyaslav Yaroslavovich, Vsevolod Yaroslavovich, and Vladimir Monomakh pursued a similar policy. During the period of feudal fragmentation and the Golden Horde yoke, the Church was the only refuge for people in need of help. Church and monasteries in the XII-XIII centuries. actually took on a charitable function.

In the main treatise on the place of the Church in the society of the XIII century. - "Rules on church people" many lines are devoted to listing charitable deeds that require the attention of the Church. Here are a few lines from this treatise: "Feeding the poor and their children; orphans and the wretched industry; widows allowance; girls need; insulting intercession; help in adversity; redemption for captives; feeding in smoothness; dying in thinness - covers and coffins."

In the XIV-XVII centuries, when the economic assistance of the Church was very high, and its role in the state was strengthened, the Church solved the tasks of charity on its own. But it should be noted that in the XV-XVI centuries. Grand Duke and the Church often coordinated their efforts to promote philanthropy. The state allocated funds to churches and monasteries for these purposes. Under Ivan III, all previous letters and regulations were collected, new laws were adopted to allocate funds to churches and monasteries for the maintenance of the poor. Under Vasily III, on the initiative and with the help of the prince, hospitals and almshouses were created in some monasteries. Ivan the Terrible, in his questions to the Stoglav Cathedral, set the task of expanding charity.

An important role in the legal definition social function The Orthodox Church in general and the monasteries, in particular, were played by the monastic reform of Metropolitan Alexy in the second half of the 14th century, its task was to adopt a new monastic Charter, main goal which was the establishment of a "communal" type of monastery and its transformation, firstly, into a kind of "monastic universities", where church personnel of a new type would be trained, secondly, into economically strong households independent of the prince, thirdly, to social cloisters, where they could find shelter and "calm" "wretched and destitute children of our land."

On the Church Councils 17th century the need to expand the charity of the monasteries was confirmed. Thus, we see that charity was considered by the Russian Orthodox Church as an integral part of its life and activities, the highest church body - the Cathedral - with its decisions laid the legal basis for this activity.

Analysis practical work The Church in fulfilling the decrees of the Councils and the Charter of the monasteries allows us to say that church charity was both systemic and episodic in nature. Church charity reached its highest peak in the 14th-17th centuries, and this is quite natural, since it was during this period that the Church became economically strong, capable of developing charity on a large scale. It was at this time that a wide network of invalid homes, hospitals, almshouses, shelters created on a permanent basis at large Moscow, Moscow region, northern monasteries (Volokolamsky Monastery, Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, Chudov Monastery, Solovetsky Monastery, Borovsky Pafnutiev Monastery, Tikhonov Pustyn and many others). Almshouses were also created at some diocesan houses (Novgorod, Kazan, Rostov). It was a systematic, purposeful charitable activity.

Monasteries, metropolitan and diocesan houses periodically provided material assistance to the poor. Usually such assistance was provided in lean years, as well as to refugees from places occupied by the enemy during hostilities. So, Volotsky, Kirillo-Belozersky, Trinity-Sergius, Solovetsky monasteries in the famine years fed hundreds and thousands of peasants from their reserves. When supplies ran out at the Volotsky monastery, its abbot Joseph bought bread and other food for the starving on credit. There were cases when mothers, saving their children from starvation, left them near the walls of monasteries. And the monasteries actively created shelters. Many children stayed in the monastery, grew up there and became monks. The Trinity-Sergius Lavra gave shelter to many hundreds of robbed and maimed peasants who fled for protection from the Poles during the turmoil of 1604-1612. Nikon, being the Metropolitan of Novgorod, during the famine daily fed hundreds of the poor at the bishop's farmstead, set up an almshouse for the elderly and the crippled.

The Novgorod priest Sylvester (20s of the 16th century) created a school for orphans, teaching them to read and write, craft, trade, icon painting, taking into account their abilities and talents. Many of his students became priests, clerks and even clerks of the Novgorod orders, artisans. Under the guidance of his wife, mother Pelageya, orphan girls mastered needlework and cooking. Having moved to Moscow, becoming the archpriest of the Annunciation Cathedral and the confessor of the sovereign Ivan the Terrible, Fr. Sylvester and in Moscow, in his own house, on own funds created a school for orphans. At present, school work would be the subject of attention and all kinds of praise, but in the 16th century. it represented an unusual phenomenon for Russia and caused general astonishment.

With the efforts to centralize power, the attack on the historical and traditional rights of the Church, secularization and, finally, the liquidation of the Patriarchate, the transformation of the Church into an integral part of the state apparatus, church charity lost its independence. A state system of public charity was created, in which the role of the Church and the monastery was determined. After October revolution 1917 Decree of the Council of People's Commissars and instructions of the NKJ of August 26, 1918 prohibited the Church from engaging in any kind of charity.

But, when in 1921 there was a terrible famine in the vast expanses of the country - up to 15,000,000 people were in poverty - Patriarch Tikhon, despite the instructions of the People's Commissariat of Justice, sent a letter to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, in which he wrote that the Orthodox Church cannot look indifferently at disasters that befell the Russian people, and will do everything possible to provide assistance. With great difficulty, the Church was given permission, but on the ground they put up all sorts of obstacles, embezzled church donations, and even arrested church leaders involved in charity work.

In 1990, the Law "On Freedom of Religion" was adopted. The church was freed from state control and received new opportunities for its internal development and outward service. At this time, in the dioceses (including Kaluga) began the process spiritual revival: parochial life revived, churches and monasteries began to open, new churches and prayer houses were built, the first Sunday schools opened, resumed spiritual education, began to work with youth and carry out charitable activities.

Social work in the Kaluga diocese is carried out by parishes, the Department of Charity and Social Service, and two charitable missions in Kaluga and Obninsk. The activities of the Kaluga charitable mission are aimed at helping those groups of the population who are deprived or limited in their ability to move, and the Obninsk mission takes care of sick children.

So, for example, from the day of its resumption - February 10, 1992 - the Kazan maiden monastery in Kaluga has been engaged in charity work. The focus is on people who are deprived of the opportunity to attend the temple - the sick, the disabled and the elderly - so that they can fully participate in church sacraments and worship services. The monastery takes care of children with cerebral palsy who are being treated at the Kaluga-Bor sanatorium. Since 1992, a sisterhood has been operating in the monastery, whose members help in the implementation of various charitable programs.

Sisters of the Mother of God-Christmas maiden desert in the village. Baryatino also takes care of elderly, needy parishioners. The poor are given all possible assistance with food, medicine and clothing.

Charitable department of the Assumption Holy Mother of God The Kaluga St. Tikhon Hermitage takes care of those in need who seek help.

St. Nicholas Chernoostrovsky Monastery in Maloyaroslavets also conducts charitable and educational activities among the population of Maloyaroslavets, and receives numerous pilgrims. Since 1993 at the monastery there is a shelter-boarding house "Otrada" for girls from families with drug and alcohol addiction. More than 50 pupils live in it. The trustee of the construction of the orphanage is charitable foundation"Connection of generations".

Before the revolution, churches were also involved in charity. Under some of them, brotherhoods were organized. So, for example, the number of parishioners of the temple in honor of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos included such well-known people in Kaluga as the Mayor I.I. Borisov, provincial architect I.D. Yasnygin, as well as the families of Unkovsky, Obolensky and others known in the city. On September 8, 1903, a parish brotherhood was organized at the temple, the main task of which was to help those in need. The Brotherhood was also engaged in educational activities. Through the efforts of its members, a church library was organized.

The clergy of the temple in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord (Savior for the Top) were also actively engaged in charitable and spiritual and educational activities, on December 6, 1898, at the initiative of the rector of the temple, priest Alexy Makarov, parish guardianship was opened. Until the end of the 20s. 20th century a brotherhood actively functioned at the temple, dealing with charity issues and playing a prominent role in the public life of Kaluga. November 13, 1899 in the village. Anenka, a literacy school was opened, assigned to the parish.

Thanks to a new stage in the spiritual revival of Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church is currently supporting and developing its centuries-old traditions of charity and patronage in every possible way.
First published in

The beginning of church charity was laid back in the time of the Savior's earthly life, when the Apostles collected donations and distributed them to the poor and the needy, arranged fraternal meals. After Pentecost, the Apostles continued their joint service to God and people, which included not only liturgical life, but also diaconia, which included caring for the poor, the needy and the needy. In the Acts of the Apostles, a separate chapter is devoted to charity, which tells about the delegation of powers to carry out the charitable activities of the community of early Christians to seven deacons chosen for this service.

All early Christian writings give Special attention charity. Calls to do good to those in need can be found in the Epistles of the Apostles, in the "Shepherd" of Hermas, in the writings of Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna, Tertullian of Carthage and other ancient authors. Even in times of persecution of Christianity, the Church did not extend its ministry only to its members, but also went beyond the boundaries of Christian communities. Charity of Christians consisted both in the implementation of the literal call of Christ to “feed the hungry”, and in other types of service: helping in hospitals, visiting prisoners, donations, caring for widows, orphans, and the elderly. However, all this time, the charity of the Christian Church had a spontaneous character due to the impossibility of centralizing this ministry.

After the 4th century, when persecution ceased and the Roman Empire officially became Christian, church charity began to take on an organized character. The church began to build hospitals, orphanages, homes for the elderly, almshouses, as well as control their activities. Since that time, charity was not limited to private alms, but became a service that was carried out through special institutions. In fact, throughout the Byzantine period, the Church continuously carried out its charitable activities. This is also evidenced by the writings of the Fathers of the Church, in which they call for charity, historical writings and imperial laws. It is known that during the reign of the emperors Arcadius and Honorius, monks and clerics were allowed to intercede for the condemned. The presence of a large number of charitable institutions in the Church is also evidenced by the eighth Rule of the Council of Chalcedon, which determines the subordination of clergy at almshouses to the bishop of the corresponding city. In the Byzantine period (33-1453) we can observe in major cities empire about a hundred different charitable institutions, the trustees of which were church leaders. Monasteries also played an important role in charity, which also collected donations to help the suffering and had almshouses. Even in rather difficult periods of the life of the Church, Christian charity did not stop. However, since the fall Byzantine Empire Eastern Church actually found herself in a paralyzed state, which, naturally, limited her social service.

The charitable role of the Church was taken over by Rus, along with the adoption of Christianity at the end of the 10th century. Prince Vladimir, after his baptism, immediately organized many charitable institutions on the territory of his principality. By his order, the poor and the poor were fed right in the princely court and on the streets. The prince entrusted public charity to the clergy, and also determined a tithe for the maintenance of churches, monasteries, almshouses and hospitals. All subsequent princes also devoted to charity great importance and entrusted this ministry to the Church. A positive attitude towards diakonia is also expressed in the collection of the 16th century - "Domostroy", which contains instructions regarding the everyday life of the Russian people.

From the 11th to the 17th centuries the prerogative of the Church was the charity of the poor, in connection with which it was built a large number of almshouses, poor people at cemeteries. At the end of the 17th century, a fee for the maintenance of the poor was established in all dioceses. Actively contributed to charity and monasteries. This service began with Kievo-Pechersky Monastery when Theodosius of the Caves decided to allocate a tenth of the monastery's income to the poor. In the years of famine, the surrounding inhabitants were provided with monasteries. Near the cloisters there were always almshouses, hospitals, hotels.

In the 17th century, the importance of private charity began to grow, the beginning of which was laid by the Moscow Patriarch Filaret, who founded a hospital monastery at his own expense. This tradition, along with the church service, continued into the synodal period, when the emperors everywhere arranged hospitals at monasteries (many of which were converted into hospitals and other institutions). The Church continued its charitable activities during the revolutionary actions, when St. Patriarch Tikhon was blessed to establish an All-Russian Church Commission to help the starving. However, later the charitable life of the Church was banned by a special decree of the Soviet government. A similar state of the Orthodox Churches was in other countries where the communists came to power.

In the 90s. In the 20th century, the social service of the Church began to revive. The Russian Church now carries out its charitable activities through a specially created Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service, which interacts with various charitable institutions. Also on the territory of Russia, many fraternities and sisterhoods, non-profit organizations have been created that carry out their social service.

The Greek Church also has several charitable institutions - hospitals, shelters, hostels for needy students, psychiatric hospitals. Assistance is also being provided to other countries for the needs of victims of famine, earthquakes, floods and civil wars.
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church is also expanding its charitable activities, including sending priests to hospitals and prisons.
In the Serbian Church, the humanitarian organization "Philanthropy" is engaged in the distribution of assistance, feeding and other types of charity.

At the present time, there is a consolidation of the efforts of the Churches, which is aimed at joint diaconia and at following the ancient traditions of charity, which originated in the Ancient Church.

The figures, facts and main results of the social service of the Church over the past 25 years were presented by the head of the Synodal Department for Charity, Bishop Panteleimon, as part of the III International Forum "Religion and Peace"

On October 29, the third international forum "Religion and Peace" was held in Moscow. At the section devoted to the topic "Religious charity organisations in Russia and in the world”, the chairman of the Synodal Department for Charity, Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky spoke. He summed up the intermediate results of the social activities of the Russian Orthodox Church over the last quarter of a century.

“In the Orthodox Church, it is done by people not out of fear of punishment, but with the understanding that man is created in the likeness of God. Just as God in His essence is love, so man in his essence is love, testified the vicar His Holiness Patriarch. “A person must live in love, this is the main joy of life, this is where a person finds the fullness of his being.”

According to Bishop Panteleimon, charity has always been an integral part of church life. In the 20th century, with the advent of Soviet power, church charitable activities were banned, but this attempt to break the tradition failed: the Church continued to do charity work in secret.

“In 1991, when the Church finally gained freedom, we again got the opportunity to freely engage in social service,” said Bishop Panteleimon. According to him, at first these were mainly private initiatives of individual parishes and communities that arose in different cities and in different forms: help for the homeless, orphans, volunteer help in hospitals.

The social system of the state in the 1990s was in a very difficult state: there were not enough medicines, hygiene products, and staff to care for the sick in hospitals. Volunteers, sisters of mercy, who came to hospitals, showed the love that was so lacking for those in need, recalled the archpastor.

“The key stage in the development of the social ministry of the Church was 2011, when, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, posts appeared in every major parish social workers”, Bishop Panteleimon noted. This decision of the hierarchy made it possible to bring church social assistance to a fundamentally new, systemic level.

The whole Church began to engage in charity: starting from His Holiness the Patriarch, who takes a personal part in the affairs of mercy, and ending with the parishioners of churches, Bishop Panteleimon emphasized.

“Every Christmas and Easter, as well as on other days, during his visits to the dioceses, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visits social and medical institutions, comes to those who need help, experiences deprivation and suffering,” said the confessor of the Orthodox service “Mercy” , emphasizing that the personal example of His Holiness the Patriarch is very important for the entire Russian Church.

“Until a few years ago in Russia there was only one church shelter for women in difficult times. life situation. For 5 recent years 26 new shelters have been created from Kaliningrad to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Today there are 27 of them on the territory of Russia,” said the head of the Synodal Department.

And in the near future there may be even more of them. This year, within the framework of the "Social service" direction of the "Orthodox Initiative" grant competition, a special nomination "Shelters for pregnant women" was introduced, noted Bishop Panteleimon. Nominees will be able to receive up to million rubles to open a new help center and support its first year of operation. The competition received 43 new applications for the creation of shelters for expectant mothers.

Another important area of ​​church social work is helping the disabled. “In 1991, the first community of the deaf appeared in Moscow, which for the first time began to hold services in sign language,” said Bishop Panteleimon. “Now in 50 churches in Russia, work is being done with deaf and hard of hearing people, and in 9 parishes, deaf-blind people are being fed.” In addition, the Synodal Department, together with the All-Russian Society of the Deaf, organized regional courses to teach sign language to clergy.

“We help families with disabled children and disabled adults,” Bishop Panteleimon also noted in his report. - More than 50 such projects have been opened in Russia, and recently the country's first non-state Orphanage for disabled children with severe multiple developmental disorders - St. Sophia Orphanage. Today, thanks to individual care and attention, these children, who were considered the heaviest, have learned to walk regularly, eat and walk on their own. In addition, all the children this year went to school.

“For 25 years, our assistance to the homeless has fundamentally changed,” said the head of the Synodal Department. - For ten years, the Mercy bus ran around Moscow, which picked up the homeless in the cold - hundreds of people died on the streets of Moscow in winter - and literally saved their lives. Today the situation has changed better side. The Department of Social Protection of the city of Moscow organized a "Social Patrol", and the death rate among the homeless decreased significantly. This allowed us to switch to the prevention of homelessness.”

Today, the number of rehabilitation centers and shelters for the homeless is growing, Bishop Panteleimon also noted. For 25 years, 72 shelters for the homeless, 56 distribution points and 11 mercy buses have been created.

The number of sisterhoods of mercy is also growing. Back in the mid-1990s there were 10-15 sisterhoods, but today there are sisterhoods in most dioceses. They are united in the Association. Currently there are about 400 sisterhoods in the database of the Association.

Terrible troubles for modern Russia are alcoholism and drug addiction. Over the past 25 years, the Church has opened 70 rehabilitation centers for drug addicts, new components of the assistance system have appeared: primary reception rooms, Orthodox support groups, outpatient motivational programs and adaptation apartments. Today, there are 232 church projects in which alcohol addicts and their relatives receive help, recalled the chairman of the Synodal Department.

"Lined up whole system accompanying a person who has decided to give up alcohol or drugs,” Bishop Panteleimon said, noting that the Church is actively engaged in the prevention of alcoholism and the promotion of sobriety. At the initiative of the Church in many regions this year was the Day of Sobriety on September 11th.

In addition, the Synodal Department conducts free social service via the Internet. Leading experts in the field of social work share their experience online. Every year, more than 1,000 people participate in online training seminars and distance learning courses. Thanks to this, an average of 150-200 new social projects appear annually in different regions Russia and other neighboring countries. Both ecclesiastical and secular social workers participate in the training.

The Synodal Department for Charity has a well-organized system for responding to major emergencies. “In time, the Church became one of the most important coordinators of assistance to the victims in the country: about 8,000 volunteers took part in the work,” Bishop Panteleimon said. “Many priests and sisters of mercy have been trained by the Ministry of Emergency Situations and are ready to go to the scene as soon as possible to help people.” The head of the Synodal Department especially noted the campaigns church help flood victims in Krymsk, on Far East, in Altai, in Khakassia and Transbaikalia, as well as in other countries, for example, in Serbia and the Philippines.

“An important area of ​​our work has become assistance to civilians affected by the military conflict in the south-east of Ukraine,” Bishop Panteleimon said. - With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, since the summer of 2014, the church headquarters for helping refugees has been working, hot line, humanitarian aid points and church shelters. More than 130 million rubles were collected, about 120 million have already been spent. about this help are posted on our website, not a single penny is wasted. In Moscow alone, more than 20,000 refugees who needed help turned to the church headquarters.

Humanitarian aid is regularly sent to needy civilians in the south-east of Ukraine. Since the end of December 2014, the Synodal Department for Charity sent to the south-east of Ukraine, which made it possible to provide food for more than 80 thousand people. Press Service of the Synodal Charity Department