April 17-19, 2009
On Good Friday, April 17 a group of 36 orphanage graduates from Vladimir, Kostroma and Ivanovo Regions embarked on their spiritual retreat dedicated to the holiest Christian holiday, Easter. The trip became an encouragement and an award for 10 girls and 26 boys whose involvement in the programs of the Youth Centers in their regions has been significant.
On Friday, the group made the trip to Moscow and visited Christ the Savior Cathedral and Red Square. On the way there I introduced the kids to the Biblical events preceding Jesus’ death and resurrection and gave a brief history of Moscow and building of the Christ the Savior Cathedral. Historical information about Moscow was presented mostly in the form of my monologue while the talk about the Great Lent and why we fast, Lazarus rising from the dead, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday became lively discussions in which many kids were involved. I asked them what they know about this or that and then summed up what they said, enlarged on that and added quotes from the Bible. Something that surprised them was that Jesus asked his Father to rescue Him from suffering and death. They believed Jesus was just willing to die for sinful people. Now they understood more deeply the sacrifice Jesus made for all of us.
Speaking about the events of Good Friday, I made my emphasis on the importance of forgiveness and called the orphans to always try to forgive people even if they had done wrong to them. Later I had an individual talk with one of the Ivanovo grads who said it’s so difficult for him to forgive his parents for abandoning him. I asked him if the suffering he had because of his parents was more than Jesus had to endure on the cross. He agreed that it was not, and I think he felt more humble about his life tragedy.
In addition to the visit to Moscow the young people were treated to stops in Sergiev Posad, Trinity St. Sergius Lavra impressed the young people beyond all their expectations, Pereslavl-Zalessky and finally arriving in Kostroma on Saturday evening in time to attend 11pm service. Close to midnight the priests led everybody out of the church to walk around it and on returning inside they started exclaiming happily, “Jesus is Risen” and the congregation answered joyously and loudly, “He is Risen indeed!” That was the climax of the service and we all wanted to laugh and to cry simultaneously.
The kids were overwhelmed with the trip and many wished to express their impressions and gratitude for the organizers of the trip:
“It has been a fascinating spiritual and educational trip. Making friends with the representatives of Ivanovo and Vladimir, new emotions, a chance to look inside myself, new historic information about the cities and great individuals of Russia – this all contributed to the success of the trip”. (Kolya E., Kostroma)
“Thank you for the trip. I liked everything. At the night service I felt like I was born anew. It’s so good to know we can start things anew.” (Anastasia, Vladimir)
Thank you for the tasty meals for our bodies and a spiritual treat for our souls and hearts. I’m glad I spent this time with Jesus” (Tanya, Vladimir)
“My favorite part of the trip was visiting the Botik museum of Peter the Great. It was interesting to know about the history of the Russian fleet. As for the spiritual side of the trip it was beyond all praises. I personally have never thought about some things that were discussed during the devotions, like forgiving your parents like Jesus forgave His killers. I also liked visiting Vladimir and Kostroma Ministry Centers. They are very much like our center in Ivanovo but there are some good things and ideas we can adopt from them.” (Vitya, Ivanovo)