Our Publishing House published a book titled
The Yonder Land in 2011. Its main characters are the residents of the Boarding
Home No.3 for the mentally challenged, as well as the sisters and brothers of
the Sisterhood of Saint Elisabeth, nuns of St.
Elisabeth Convent, and doctors. There is a chapel in honour of St. Xenia of Petersburg in the Boarding Home.
Today, just a couple of days after the patron saint's day of this chapel, we
would like to share some excerpts from this wonderful book with you.
The society
casts some people away as worthless. God finds them precious. They lack the
privileges, the comfort, and the opportunities of this world. The Lord gathered
them in the Boarding Home. This is where they spend their lives filled with
suffering and pain, dreams and joys... Someone may view their lives as joyless,
unbearable, and harsh. In fact, they are more real and more grounded in reality
than the life of a regular person in this world where everything is based on
self-deception and the desire to live for one's own sake.
Archpriest Andrew Lemeshonok: They
look at every person with immense shrewdness. We often treat other people like
silhouettes roaming around. We get tired of them and try to hide from them as
quickly as possible. When you come to the boarding home, the residents who stay
here look at you and see through you because they are attentive, compassionate,
and loving.
Lena, 30
Lena is benevolent and polite. She has a
gorgeous voice. She dreams of her own home and a family.
– What makes you happy?
I'm happy
because God. We go to church, confess, and take communion. We love God. We pray
for everybody.
– What is beauty?
Beauty is
Love. The beauty of heart is when a person loves another person, his neighbour.
You see? It's when he treats him with an open and warm heart. When he shares
something to make the other person happy. When he helps that person and shows
his kindness. Gets him on the right track.
Gregory, a parishioner: I recall
how I had to go to the boarding home to attend a Liturgy. The day before, I had
sprained my ankle and had not slept for almost the entire night. I was too
tired to get up that morning. My mood was so gloomy! My soul protested: “What
do you need it for? Today, you really have the reason to stay at home.”
I made
myself go to the boarding home. I thought, "I'll get to church today even
if I have to crawl..." Interestingly enough, although my leg ached badly
at first, the pain soothed down halfway to the boarding home.
When I
was standing in the church, I was immersed in thinking about all my problems. I
had problems at work and I was anxious for my mum, who had a weak heart. I
confessed but my condition did not improve. On the contrary, I felt even more
pain. I was almost crying. The Communion began. The patients queued for the Chalice.
I was struck by the pure eyes of a man who had usually behaved with visible
insanity. After the Communion, his eyes were so amazing! I recalled Christ for
some reason. His eyes were so pure and clear, filled with quiet sadness and
placidity. The guy came to me, took my hand, and said, "Don't worry.
Everything will be alright. Just don't worry, please." For some reason, I
believed him.
Another
man came to me after having received the Sacrament. He hugged me and said,
"Calm down! You can't do anything. Everything will be fine with you and
your mum. Everything will be alright."
Since
that moment, I cannot perceive anyone from the boarding home as an ill person.
An old
friend of mine who had the habit of asking me for a sweet or a small coin took
communion, too. He came to me and said, "Listen, are you going to take
communion? Why are you waiting here for so long?"
When I
took communion, my heart was filled with quiet joy. Everyone in the Church must
have had that feeling of Fatherly love. My heart felt warm and blissful... and
tranquil, amazingly unagitated. The only thing that you want to do in such a
situation is simply to pray to God, "Lord forgive my doubts and lack of
faith." When you are happy, it is the best time to ask the Lord to forgive
you.
Sister Yulia: Why do
people end up in the boarding home? It's a huge mystery of the salvation of the
human soul. A person can be sick and miserable, crippled by physical defects,
but his soul can be amazingly pure and beautiful nonetheless!
They are
finely attuned to God and other people. They are unsophisticated, open-hearted,
and kind. These people are not of this world.
Xenia, 38
Xenia is often aggressive and angry but when
she is in a good mood, she agrees to share what she feels.
– Have you been happy this week?
No, I
haven't. I don't know if I have ever been happy. I have not been happy for a
long time. I had seizures, and they injected some drug to calm me down. My eyes
were swollen. Right now, I am getting back to my normal state after the
injection. The last time I was happy was when I gave birth to my daughter at
the age of 18. I was very beautiful. I won the first prize at Miss Yurmala-1991
Fashion Contest but I didn't sign the contract to work in France. I didn't fly
to France because I had to look after my daughter. I ended up in a mental
hospital. My relative called an ambulance on me.
– What do people live for? What do you live
for?
We live
in order to live and help each other.
Fragments from The Yonder Land,
published in
St.
Elisabeth Convent in 2011.
February 6, 2018
CONVERSATION