“In connection with ‘perestroika’, church life is becoming more active. More people are attending services, interest towards faith is deepening, the Church is being drawn into the life of society. I’m less and less at home, but I rejoice that I’m able to labor in the Lord’s harvest fields. I rejoice at my tiredness, I rejoice that I am needed, I rejoice at the fruit, for the Lord has granted me to sow on the most blessed ground–the hearts of men–the most select grain, i.e., the seeds of the Orthodox faith.

      “…I was asked to take Holy Communion to an 80 year-old woman. An amazing soul. It’s already a miracle that she is alive: she is left with only a partial lung. An architect by profession, she lives in a communal apartment which once belonged to her family. She fasts until 3 or 4 o’clock and prays during the night until 5 or 6 in the morning. She copies out patristic texts by hand (she is already in the fifth volume of the Philokalia), paints icons, binds books. And besides all that she takes care of her neighbor. In becoming acquainted with her I experienced such joy, love, a feeling of closeness—as though she were a dear relative…   Fr. S.