The Catalog of Good Deeds

Robert Koch, a German microbiologist, announced his discovery of the tuberculosis pathogen on March 24, 1882. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1905, and the WHO declared March 24 the World TB Day in 1993. This terrible disease is responsible for 1.6 million deaths annually.

The State Institution “The National Applied Research Centre of Pulmonology and Physiatry” was opened in our city on August 21, 1928. Our sisters of mercy carry out their obedience in this place. Today we talk with one of them.

Sister Lubov, can you tell us about your obedience?

I started visiting the patients of the Center five years ago. Generally, the people who suffer from this illness come from the socially vulnerable groups of our population. Many of them have difficult fates: alcohol addicts, homeless, disappointed in life, offended... They find it hard to believe in God’s mercy. Some are so irritated that they do not only insult a sister of mercy but can even throw something at her. I have had a firsthand experience of this: one of the patients threw an empty can at me. However, such accidents cannot stop us in carrying out our obedience. I recall how one man disliked me to such an extent that he would literally push me out of his ward. So one day I came to him, bent over, and said, “Please forgive me for annoying you... I see that you lose your temper because of me.” He softened a little, and then we even became friends! It turned out that he was a believer of some kind: he even carried an icon with him. So the fact that these people are so unfriendly may be caused by their pain, fears, and sorrows, and we must always bear this in mind.

It is great to have a chapel in honor of St Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) on the territory of the Center. We petitioned for it for over five years! Finally, our Father Andrew blessed us to gather signatures for this chapel. That was when the project started to move forward. You know, we were surprised to have gathered many signatures of the patients of the Centre in support of the construction, and even from those whom I had never expected to do so. A person who had appeared to be absolutely indifferent to the matters of faith would suddenly say, “Of course, I'll sign your petition! It is very important for the patients to have the place to pray!” When we started to hold molebens in this chapel, and when these people got the opportunity to confess and take communion, the atmosphere immediately changed. Many people turned to God and became practicing Christians. Those who were especially fond of the Orthodox faith were put in charge of the chapel, and they started to feel their responsibility and started to live in a different way. This was the beginning of their spiritual life...

Can you give us some examples?

There was a boy whose name was Dima. He was very young, he had just turned twenty. He believed in Christ with all his heart and became a practicing Christian. He was put in charge of the chapel. He was so zealous in prayer that he would sometimes even sleep in the chapel on a pew. He did not want to return to the ward... This was a striking example of a person changing so drastically! Maybe they even laughed at him, saying he must have gone insane. An unbeliever cannot understand these changes. Many people think that a new believer lost his sanity whereas in fact he came to his senses! He simply took a sober look at his life and saw its deep meaning!

Dima took a vow. He told God that he was ready to sacrifice his own life for his parents to turn to God... Soon this boy reposed in the Lord. He passed away as a devout Christian.

Sister Lubov, why did you start visiting this place?

Thing is, I was here as a patient a couple of times. So I know this suffering firsthand. I got ill with TB in 2005... As soon as I was discharged from the

hospital, I was thinking that I would never in my life come back again! You see, I hated even the ubiquitous smell of antiseptics! However, God's will is above all... In the meantime I took the blessing to begin my obedience here. Now I visit the patients of this center every week. Surprisingly enough, almost all the sisters who have their obedience in the TB center, used to be its patients like me! Only Leah (Sister Leah Chekan reposed in the Lord on February 25, 2014) never got ill with this disease. God has His plans for each one of us!

When our interview was over, Sister Lubov shared some good news with us: one of the patients of the center had asked her to get information about the possibility of employment at one of the Convents workshops. Sounds pretty normal, doesn't it? The person is looking for a job, so what? However, the fact that he hopes to find the job in the Convent is a small yet significant victory!

By Natallia Klimovav from the Stories of the Sisterhood

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Nun Nymphodora: I am surprised how Saint Elisabeth showed me my path in life. When I came to Minsk to study at the university, I had no definite plans for my future life. I did not think about becoming a nun. My sister and I were brought up by our grandmother who was a believer. I went to church once a month. I did not know anything at all about the life of St Elisabeth. When I first came to Minsk and saw the sisters of mercy doing their obedience on the streets, I wanted to help other people like they did.

When I finally settled in Minsk, I came to SS Peter and Paul Cathedral where I got to know Father Andrew. Then I visited a meeting of the Sisterhood. I learned more about St Elisabeth when I started visiting this place, the Convent. It was a construction site at that time. I was amazed to learn that I was born on the day of St Elisabeth.

I considered myself to be part of the Sisterhood because I attended its meetings but I did not have any obedience yet. I often came to the basement church of St Nicholas to pray. I remember how I travelled from my native town to Minsk with a strong intent to work at the Convent. I fell asleep and had a dream or some strange feeling that the train was going to Alapayevsk.

I wanted to have the name “Elisabeth” as my new monastic name but I was tonsured with a different name. It was difficult even to pronounce it at first. I did not know anything about these three saints – Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphodora. It came as a great surprise to me. On the day of tonsure, when everything was over, I was very happy and grateful to my holy patroness, or, to be correct, to our holy patronesses. We felt that even our attitudes towards each other changed after the tonsure. The two other sisters – Nuns Menodora and Metrodora – became so dear to me. Our holy patronesses were sisters by blood, and this might have united the three of us. The communication gap that we had had with Nun Menodora when we first came to the Convent and were assigned the same obedience was healed thanks to the prayers of the holy martyrs. They continue to help us to get over various obstacles painlessly. I am grateful to God for having such holy patronesses. Unfortunately, I cannot say that my life resembles theirs to any extent, and this makes me sad.

Nun Menodora: I was named Tatiana at baptism. I learned about this saint when I was in my fourth year at school. It was the first time since the perestroika when Sunday schools were allowed, so I started attending a Sunday school. Our teacher gave me a small book containing the lives of Martyr Tatiana and Martyr Irina (intriguingly, my own sister's name is Irina). I was amazed to have both lives under one cover. I also learned that it was customary to give a child the name of the saint commemorated on the day of his or her birth. I asked my mother, “Why didn't you name me according to the Orthodox calendar?” St Tatiana Day is January 25, and I was born on June 11. Later the Lord revealed to me that June 11 is the birthday of Holy Martyr Princess Tatiana Romanova. There are no accidents with God, and God certainly has a plan concerning one's name.

My mother had a story she kept silent about for a long time. She was born prematurely. It happened that when my grandmother was pregnant, she ran after a cow across the field, fell on her belly and gave birth to my mother right there in the open. Everyone was sure that the child would die, and my grandmother had strong inflammation. The baby lay on a bed waiting for death to come; even a coffin was ready. Nevertheless, my grandfather had a dream that night: a Guardian Angel appeared to him and said, “Name the baby girl Vera (Faith), and if you have faith that she survives, she will survive.” They sent for a priest who baptised my mum with the name Vera, and she survived.

I became a nun thanks to the prayers of St Euphrosyne of Polotsk. I visited the convent in Polotsk twice, each time staying for a week there, working and praying. And then I came to our Convent.

My favourite saint is St Ambrose of Optina. I hoped very much that I would be given the name Ambrosia during the tonsure. However, our Metropolitan never gives male names to nuns so chances were slim. I prayed before the tonsure asking to be given an ancient name. As a result, I received a name that hardly anyone could remember at first.

I have felt the connection with our saints since the day of our tonsure, and I feel that they pray for us. People generally pray to these three saints for unity, for resolution of family conflicts, of civil conflicts, of interfaith conflicts. The relics of these holy martyrs were brought to our convent from Holy Mount Athos half a year after our tonsure. Regardless of how unworthy we might be, our patron saints continue to pray for us. As far as we are concerned, we pray to die on one and the same day because we are afraid to die separately...

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The Birth of the All-holy Virgin Mary. In the birth of the All-holy Virgin Mary we have the beginning of the the sacred history of the New Testament, the history of our salvation. It was the preparation for the incarnation of the Son of God, the advent of God in the flesh. Thereby that human nature, which was to receive God Himself, is made ready, that the race of man might be saved. This human nature had to be made worthy of God, had to be holy and immaculate; it needed a holy origin, upbringing and development. Her being chosen of God rests in the fact that she of all mankind must needs give to God reciprocally the common nature of mankind.

The time of the Virgin's birth is the time of the awaiting of the coming of the Messiah, Christ. Her parents are Joachim and Anna; he was of the kingly, and she of the high priestly, lineage. The spouses, well advanced in age did not have any children. This was regarded as a disgrace among the people, and for this reason they were considered as deprived of God's blessing.

In abasement and humility they desired a child, as a mercy from God and to take away their disgrace and reproach among the people. In this way, humility, prayer and the holy promise to dedicate their child to God for service in the Temple were the spiritual prerequisite of its birth. And God heard them, and to them there was born a daughter, whom they called Mary. The name Mary is a translation from the Hebrew and it signifies: high, exalted over all.

The Mother of the Lord was in actuality born of pious parents, and indeed could only be the fruition of their spiritual endeavour, their heartfelt striving, and their tearful prayers to God. A spiritual existence could only be the fruit of the spirit, initiated not only according to the natural, blind inclinations of the flesh and the natural laws of the requirements of the nature of the flesh, but according to the aspirations of the spirit and through the action of the special mercy and grace of God for people, who were already elderly and whose flesh was withering, but who were living according to the spirit. If the origin be holy, so shall the whole, and if the root be holy, so are the branches (Rom 11:16). From a holy root there came forth a holy fruit.

An example of a promise with reference to a future child is given by the barren Hannah [Anna], the mother of the holy Prophet Samuel. And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of Sabaoth! if Thou wilt indeed look upon the affliction of Thy handmaid, and remember me, and not forget Thine handmaid, but wilt give unto Thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life... (1 Kings [Samuel] 1:10-11). Joachim and Anna also followed the example of the parents of the righteous Samuel.

The mother of the Saviour, a King according to His earthly descent and according to His eternal ministry, and High Priest of the future good things, naturally, had in herself to compass the two lines of descent, the royal and high priestly, in her people. By her father she was of the tribe of Judah and the house of David, and through her mother she was of the tribe of Levi and the house of Aaron. Although Christ came forth from a mother alone without a father, and Joseph was only the betrothed husband of Mary, the protector and guardian of her virginity and only the nominal father of the Saviour, yet the Saviour was not simply nominally of the royal house, but was in reality, through his mother and according to the flesh, of this house, of which in the person of David it had been said of the Lord, thy throne shall be established unto the ages (2 Kings [Samuel] 7:16). This throne could not be disestablished, and Mary actually was herself actually descended from the house of David that she might be the mother of the Lord.

Source: http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/veneration_mary.aspx

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