On the eve of Russia Day, Archpriest Pyotr Gritsenko, rector of the church in the name of the Holy Archangel of God Michael in the village of Vysotsky, Petrovsky district, held the All — Russian Orthodox children's Cossack Festival "The Future of Russia is Us". Given its Orthodox-patriotic orientation, the event has been receiving the blessing of Metropolitan Kirill of Stavropol and Nevinnomyssk and regional officials who oversee the youth for the fifth year.
This year, the regional epidemiological services recommended not to hold such a large-scale event due to restrictions on the coronavirus. But there was no direct ban either.
About 800 people from all over Russia and the Donbas came to the Glade of Peace. Many people come to this festival not for the first time and go with their families.
The organizers tried to observe all precautions. The teenagers lived in tents, in the fresh air in a wooded area.
- Thank God, no one got sick even with a banal cold. Everyone returned healthy. And this is not surprising – the guys spent all day in the fresh air, breathed the steppe grass, competed in the military all-around, archery, flanking, participated in various master classes and competitions. We learned a lot of new things from the history of the Cossack movement.
But the most important goal of Father Peter is to introduce young people to Orthodox traditions and educate them in a sense of patriotism. The children began and ended their days with prayer services in the Church of the Archangel Michael, which has been restored for 20 years by the efforts of the priest and shines with golden domes for the whole district.
– Who is our future? – What is it? " he asks. - Children are our future! And what kind of children? Believing children! Children who will defend their Fatherland, Homeland, their family, a strong Orthodox family, not only Christian, but also Muslim. Because families are now breaking up, parents are getting divorced, in the pursuit of earnings they lose contact with their children. "The Orthodox children's Cossack festival," says the priest, " gets more and more resonant every year, famous people come here-Chicherina, Prilepin, Rogozin. Local officials are already gently hinting that I need to step aside, that the authorities will not allow it to be held anymore. Officials are turning this festival into politics. This is a kind, good, Orthodox, already traditional festival, and politicians should not interfere in it. Now many people are uniting around this project, there are their own leaders-among the Cossacks, atamans and young guys who have been traveling here for five years. They will not allow officials who dream of state grant millions to support this festival to bend it under themselves.
By the way, my father holds the festival "The Future of Russia is us" only with sponsorship money, he does not receive a penny from officials from youth policy.
Meanwhile, the priest has another charity project, which has become a bone in the throat of local officials. This is the house of mercy at the church of the holy Archangel Michael of God. 15 years ago, when the property of the bankrupt collective farm was being sold, the district administration did not want to take on the balance of the pre – war building of the former maternity hospital, and then the nursing home-it was bought by the priest's family. I bought it with an encumbrance – there were still four old people who had nowhere to live. When buying, the district administration promised to compensate for utility bills, but then the officials, as always, forgot about their words.
– At first it was difficult, - Father Peter recalls, - but we did not abandon the old people. All Worlds repaired a building with rotten floors and a leaking roof. Now there is heating, bathrooms, and all the amenities for bedridden old people. After the redevelopment of the premises, today there are forty people here, who are cared for by ten employees. A local doctor visits us twice a week. We must understand that this is a project of our whole family, even my wife's uncle helped and helps with money. In order to support the nursing home and expand, I took up farming, because I was accustomed to peasant labor from childhood, the priest continues. – I send a significant part of my farm income here. Today our refrigerators are full of beef, - says Father Peter – - everything from my farm. We also breed Vietnamese pigs. They are not susceptible to the African plague, and their meat is easier for the stomach, " said the priest.
For various everyday reasons, people come here, but most often they come because they have not been able to get a place in state nursing homes for years. Basically, these are homeless people who have lost all their documents, so their pensions are not issued. The priest himself takes up the search for archives, seeks a pension for them, 85 percent of which is spent on maintenance.
We should add that the priest added another building for 40 beds to the pre-war maternity hospital for striks. All this is united by a single territory with paving slabs, ramps for wheelchair users, a young garden.
All these fifteen years that the holy father has been building in the village of Vysotsky, local officials, under plausible motives, as it seems to them, are checking the God-pleasing institution. Everyone is looking for a reason to close it. But they don't find it.
It will be a great pity if the officials pave the road to hell with their good wishes – they will close or raider both projects of Archpriest Pyotr Gritsenko.
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