It is 5:30 a.m.
November 22, Minsk at the student dormitory. Some windows are shining in the morning
darkness, and the doors of the dormitory of the Medical University are still
closed. We knock on the door, and a sprightly warden opens it for us and invites
us to go up on the second floor, where the hours are being read already.
The students,
the teachers, the sisters of mercy and the nuns are standing in a small room. Having
finished confession, Father Andrew Malakhovsky approaches to the
altar-table, on which a Gospel, a cross and an antimension are lying... Everything
necessary has been brought from St. Elisabeth Convent. The silence is broken
with the words “Blessed is the kingdom…”, and the liturgy begins.
It is a first
time that a liturgy is served in the student residence. A home-church has been
organized at the medical university dormitory №10 thanks to the efforts of the Sisterhood
of St. Elisabeth Convent and Anatoly Sikorsky, the rector of the university. At
the will of the students, it was decided to name the church in honor of St. Elisabeth.
“St. Elisabeth
is a great example for all future doctors”, says Maya Supron, a graduate
of the university, who is undergoing an internship training in surgery. “Martha
and Mary Convent, organized by St. Elisabeth, shows the example of the true ministry and service to the people in need, when
the heart of a person is filled with kindness, it can take a lot of people’s
pain, suffering, and can help and warm those who are ill, so that they can find
God. We are glad to know that this great Saint will be our patron”.
Some years ago
Maya told her friend that it would be great if there was a church in the
dormitory. They both had no idea that their dream would come true so soon. There
is nothing impossible for God. God hears everyone.
“An event on a universal
scale has happened today”, says Father Andrew. “Such miracles happen, when the
will of God coincides with the will of the people. Our own effort means a lot as well, but
nothing can change or happen without the will of the Lord. God help us, make it
possible that such miracles happen more often, and strengthen us on our
Christian path. There are a lot of difficulties on this path, but we should be
thankful for what we have. We have Christ and hope in the Kingdom of Heaven. Today,
on the feast day of the icon of the Mother of God the Quick to Hearken, I was
standing at the table of oblation and asked Her that this affair would continue.
God willing, it
will be great to serve a liturgy here once a month.
Perhaps, there
is no man who is indifferent to any good affair. And there is no faithful man,
who does not understand, what the first liturgy means.
Sister Marina
Yaskevitch, who serves in the educational institutions of Minsk for many years,
says that the first liturgy is just like Easter, when the soul celebrates the
victory over death. “Someone may think that a liturgy for 20 people is a small
event”, - gasps Sister Marina, - “But I wish to believe, the majority of people
will agree that it was a very important event on a large scale. What is more, I
wish to believe that all the future doctors, in whose hands are humans’ lives,
think like that.
Maya Supron, a
future surgeon, supports Sister Marina. She thinks that the youth reaches to
God, and the purity of hearts of those of them who visit the discussions,
molebens and liturgies, deserves respect. Everyone who attended liturgy on that
morning could see it for himself.
22.11.2016
CONVERSATION