The Holy
Righteous John of Kronstadt founded the House of Love of Labour—a social
structure that was ahead of its time. It provided shelter and employment to those
who were deemed useless by the public and those who were devastated both
spiritually and physically.
Nowadays,
Father John’s heritage isn’t forgotten. The House of Love of Labour of St Elisabeth Convent
was founded with the blessing of the Very Rev Andrew Lemeshonok, the spiritual
father of our Convent. It preserves the main principle of the original
facility, that is, serving one’s neighbour. It is fitting that a nun named
after Saint Chionia, an Italian martyr who was orphaned when she was very
young, is in charge of the House of Love of Labour.
“Everything
Begins with Father Andrew’s Dream”
“Everything
in our Convent always begins with Father Andrew’s dream. Father Andrew, just
like his heavenly patron Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, is always
dreaming of bringing as many people to God as possible,” Nun Chionia (Efimova)
says. “The foundation that lay in this place for a long time was overgrown with
grass. Every time our Father Andrew drove past this place, he prayed, ‘I wish
there was a house where the disabled and socially vulnerable people could find
a job and learn about God…’ And the Lord made his dream come true.”
Apostle
Paul said, “[B]ase things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God
chosen” (1 Cor. 1:28). We spent a lot of time talking with Nun Chionia
about the truth of this apostolic saying with regard to the House of Love of Labour
and how helpful labour is for socialisation and rehabilitation.
I believe
that the most important aspect of the House of Love of Labour is that the
people who come here discover the meaning of life and figure out that it lies
in the salvation of their souls. Each one of these people is brought to us by
the Lord, I’m sure.
There are
various people among our employees. There are high-skilled specialists among
them, too. Given that since the very beginning, our Convent focused on helping
our weak neighbours, we try and help these kinds of people, too. Spiritual
weakness is characteristic of everyone in this world, so when I talk about weaknesses
and illnesses, I mean physical illnesses. We provide jobs for people who have
various health issues. The House of Love of Labour becomes the only place where
these people can get a job because the labour market in the outside world is
extremely competitive.
I’m
certain that it is thanks to their work and prayers that the Lord covers up all
our shortcomings with his mighty hand. As long as the Convent continues to help
the sufferers, it will live and develop.
Improve
Life to Get Daughter Back
It turned
out that among the employees of the House of Love of Labour there are people
who went through serious disruption, such as prison. According to Nun Chionia,
the basic approach to the rehabilitation and socialisation of these people is
by building warm relationships based on trust. You have to try and understand
these people and not tag them as unworthy. Instead, you should support them and
give them a chance to improve.
Nun
Chionia recalls Vasilissa who had served time in jail for drug abuse. She had a
daughter but she lost her parental rights. One day, Vasilissa’s grandmother
called Nun Chionia and begged her to give a job to her granddaughter.
Currently, Vasilissa works hard to improve her life and her living conditions
and dreams of getting her daughter back.
“She is
burning with desire to reconnect with her daughter! If you only saw her radiant
eyes! That’s what a person who has encountered God must look like. They say
that eyes are a reflection of one’s soul; if that’s true, her eyes shine so
bright that they are even painful to look into sometimes (smiles). It was in
the Convent that she confessed and took communion for the first time. May God
help her not to diverge from this path!”
There are
dozens of stories like this one. People reject their criminal past and start
leading a Christian life, participate in the Sacraments, and have a family.
Their lives get better. When one finds God, one also finds the meaning of life.
One discovers new experiences. When one realises that he cannot do anything
without the Lord, he starts to build his life according to Christian values.
The Lord Is The Only Expert Who Is Always
Near
Nun
Chionia says that her appointment as the head of the House of Love of Labour
came as a shock. She was taken aback by the colossal responsibility that her
new position laid on her. Nun Chionia endured some inner struggle with God because
she wasn’t happy with His decision. Every time she talked with her spiritual
father and with other people, she received one and the same answer: “Do what
you can.” Now she perceives those words as her God-inspired motto.
Perhaps,
this is the reason why the workshops located in the three-storied building of
the House of Love of Labour have almost outgrown their limits. Ceramic
Workshop, Sewing Workshop, Gold Embroidery Workshop, Icon Setting Workshop,
Stone Workshop: that’s where our sisters make their products with love and
prayer. They also make stuffed toys and paint nesting dolls. A Social Support
Group for mentally challenged persons named Dobrodel was launched in the House
of Love of Labour last spring.
Every
workday begins with communal prayer. The workers read morning prayers. They
pray for each other, for unity, and ask saints to bless their work. Some
workshops add akathists to their prayer rule.
“Work in
the Convent is always accompanied with prayer. I’m not a great person of prayer
but I’ve long been aware of the fact that you cannot do anything without God,”
Nun Chionia believes. “Every day, you stumble upon tasks and problems that you
cannot solve. Who can you run to? The Lord is the only expert who is always
near.
When a
stitch goes awry, you pray, ‘Lord help me!’ We do our best to make the highest
quality items, stitch by stitch. A seamstress can foresee certain difficulties
with some kinds of textiles (e.g., velvet, which has an exceedingly smooth surface),
and she starts asking God for help. That is how, aside from the joint prayer,
every worker prays in private in his or her own workplace.”
Unity
of Opposites
When I
looked at the employees of the House of Love of Labour, I recalled Archimandrite
Sophrony (Sakharov) who said that great salvation is born of unity. How can
people retain the unity, acceptance of each other, and mutual understanding if
they are so different? Many of them have broken lives and crippled souls, and
each of them definitely has his or her own personality and ideas of justice… I
shared my thoughts with Nun Chionia.
“Father
Andrew teaches us that the beauty of unity is that it consists of different
people,” Nun Chionia replies. “It is never the case, and God doesn’t need it to
be the case, that all are the same. People are in constant motion day by day,
and their disposition depends on their mood, situation, and even their physical
condition. I was sad yesterday but the Lord comforted me, and I’m joyful and
happy now.”
There is a
concept of the so-called unity of opposites. It points at spiritual matters
directly: if we learn to combine our differences and work together instead of
competing against each other, that’s when unity occurs.
Father
Andrew says that living properly is when you as a strong person pray for
yourself and for that weak person who cannot go to church. When you see that a
sister is sleeping, cover her with a blanket, fluff up her pillow, and pray for
her.
When we
accept each other with all our weaknesses and flaws; when we “carry each other’s
burdens” according to the apostle’s words—that’s when true unity and genuine
love of God are born.
People
Helping People
There is a
construction site of a new production floor below the windows of the House of
Love of Labour. Looking at the workers and their machines, I recalled a story
from the life of Saint Moses of Optina: monks of his monastery criticised his
idea to build a new guesthouse because the monastery couldn’t afford it. In
fact, Saint Moses undertook that construction project so as lay builders could
get jobs to feed their families.
People can
distort and besmirch even the best idea. As a rule, people are unwilling to
grasp the full picture of some phenomenon before criticising it. That is why we
decided to find out what the motivation behind the Convent’s manufacturing
efforts is and who are the people whom you really help when you buy products
made in St Elisabeth Convent.
“First of
all, people help those who work here,” Nun Chionia responds. “For example, our
seamstress makes five baptismal sets. She put her effort and prayer into these
items, and her love and prayer will then pass on to someone else’s family
because new Christians come into this world. The donations of their relatives
return to the Convent and are invested in construction and in our workers’
wages. That is how the cycle of goodness works.
A church
that is built by communal effort has a strong foundation. That’s precisely how
our Convent is being built. Our workshops provide jobs for those who will never
be able to find jobs in the mainstream labour market. That is the primary idea
behind our Convent: we’ve got to attract as many people as we can and lead them
to God.
We have to
be courageous! Father Andrew says that with God, you can always find the right
solution. Sure, life can be difficult at times. However, the Lord leads us
through temptations to increase our spiritual maturity and strength. We genuinely
pray only when we encounter hardships. God’s help always comes as a response to
our prayers.
October 11, 2018
St. Elisabeth Convent
CONVERSATION