Social service as the main form of participation of the laity in the life of the church. Social service in modern Russian society In-person courses and conferences

Report by Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky at the plenary session of the First Regional Conference on Church Social Ministry “New Era of Mercy”

Church social service has its own characteristics that distinguish it from what is called social service in our society, in educational institutions. I looked at social work textbooks for university students, where such people are trained. And I would like to talk about these features so as not to get lost, to preserve my identity. Now, at the entrance to the hall, I met young people with musical instruments and asked them: “Are you having a concert here?” They answered that no, there was a service here. They say we are Baptists. They also have a social ministry, the Baptists. Muslims probably have social service. They have stronger families and social service is not as in demand as in our country, where families are being destroyed. It is still necessary to talk about the features of our social service.

It is very important to understand why we are doing this, what is the goal? What should be the form of this activity? We must maintain our fidelity to Christ and remain faithful to Orthodox tradition. And therefore, our social service is something completely different, different from what is now being done in our state. And I would like to tell you about these four features.

1) The first feature of our service with you is that it is a service of love, with all the ensuing consequences. You cannot perform this service without love. You can do it without having feelings of love. It is difficult to have these feelings for a homeless person who is somehow not a little like you and me. It is difficult to have these feelings for a child who was born a deformity, it is difficult to have these feelings for people who have committed some terrible crime. But, of course, love is not just a feeling; love is a word that covers a lot of things that are important to you and me. We will talk about the eternal meaning of this word, which is known to you and me.

Love is GOD. And this service must have all the shades of love, must have all the depth of love, must necessarily have the joy of love. You must have the loyalty that is in love. It should have as its goal not just to take some actions, not just to implement some of our plans, not just to do what seems important to us. Love, which is GOD, the manifestation of love in the world - this is what church social service is. Love is when another person, no matter what he is, is a joy for us. The joy that he was for St. Seraphim of Sarov. He said to every person who came to him: “My joy, Christ is Risen!” He was not a hypocrite and did not deceive. It’s you and me, instead of being Orthodox, we try to look like one. And, therefore, in Orthodox life, of course, there is a lot of pharisaism and deceit; this, of course, was not the case among the saints. The reverend made everyone a joy. And we need to learn to know and feel this joy. So that this is not just forced service, as sometimes nurses do in the hospital, who no longer have love left. They come to work, try to do something, but don’t have that love.

We must have an understanding that the person to whom you and I are addressed in our activities, that this person is the image of God. The image of our Lord Jesus Christ. Man bears the image of the one who incarnated on our earth, who became our teacher, our Lord. And by serving this person, we serve Jesus Christ himself. It is we who must remember and seek this joy, joy which alone is the goal of human life.

Hedonism is, of course, a terrible philosophy. And modern society, which seeks pleasure, will come to a terrible end. But joy, of course, is the goal of human life. The Lord wants to give this joy, to teach this joy. And therefore, while performing this service, we must learn to rejoice at the people whom we help. Regardless of their appearance, regardless of the crimes they committed, regardless of their nationality, religion, whether they are familiar to us or not.

Joy must be present; one must seek this joy. This service will be a service of love. It seems to me that this is the most important thing, if this does not happen, if it goes away, if we forget about it, then this ministry will not be truly churchly. Then it will not help, but will prevent people from coming to church. Then our service will become a wall, an obstacle for a person, he will not see behind it the love that should be. Of course, if this service is love, then we must love each other too. We must learn this love. I think that Moscow should help all other regions, because in Moscow we live better than you, we have more money, more food, more clothes, more comfortable living conditions. Therefore we repent. We don't help much, we don't do much for you. Of course, we must share, even bandits share with each other, this is their law. Moreover, we Christians must do this! This love should bind us to you. And our meeting should not just be some kind of theoretical conference, some kind of tick on a report. Not just some kind of event, but should be a meeting where Christ is also present, where there is love.

2) Second feature. It is a little difficult and cannot be correctly understood by everyone.

When performing social service, unlike atheists and communists, we must remember that this world in which we live is doomed. We must remember that every person who is born into this world will die. We must remember that every person who comes into this world will suffer. We must remember that we will not be able to help everyone, we will not be able to completely eliminate the injustice that exists in the world. The world is coming to an end, love is drying up. Leaves.

Without this memory, without this knowledge, we can become complacent, dream about something, and then be disappointed that nothing works out for us. Nothing should work out in this world, don’t delude yourself. Don’t think that we have gathered together and now work will begin in all dioceses. Nothing will happen, don’t flatter yourself. Not because you are bad, not because there is no money or there are no people, but because the world in which we live, sin operates in it, evil operates. And in order to weaken this evil, you need to sacrifice yourself.

When the Lord came to earth, He did not establish any social institutions. He gathered with the apostles and helped those who came to Him. He himself did not refuse anyone, he himself healed the sick, he was love. Died on the cross. Those people nailed Him to the cross. We should not think that our society will share our ideas with us. I think that our activities are doomed to failure. We cannot defeat evil, we can die with Christ, we can sacrifice ourselves, we can have compassion and sympathize with people. And the most important thing is that we can help these people understand the mystery of suffering. It turns out to be a contradiction: on the one hand, we try to ensure that there is less suffering, and at the same time we must help them understand the mystery of suffering. I didn’t come up with this, Fr. told me about it. John Krestyankin, when we visited him with the director of our school, he said that the task of a nurse is to help the sick to love their illness.

Do not deprive him of sympathy and compassion, and if we are ready to have compassion ourselves, then our love and mercy will help people endure suffering. We cannot alleviate all the suffering on earth, but we can help people learn about the suffering of Christ. We can warm hearts with love, and then they will not be afraid of any suffering; this is the difference between church social service, which distinguishes it from, say, the social work of the state. From those programs that the state accepts. If we forget this, then we will either renounce God, thinking that heaven can be built here. Or we will abandon our business, we will carry it like a heavy burden, joylessly.

3) The third feature - it seems to me that it is also very important and if we don’t remember it, nothing will work out for us. There are different ministries in the church. There is the ministry of a singer - a person has a good voice, he sings in the choir. This is a wonderful ministry. Because while you can close your eyes in church, you cannot close your ears. If the choir sings poorly, it is impossible to pray, you want to go to some other place. Therefore, this service is very important. There is a priest's ministry. This is our special service. Someone has the gift of words, he can speak wonderfully.

But there is a ministry common to all Christians. Today there was a Liturgy, at which, unfortunately, not all of you received communion. But Liturgy is a common matter. And the same ministry is the ministry of mercy; if all members of the church do not participate in this ministry, it will be incomplete. Not just social workers, not just sisters of mercy, not just deacons should participate in this ministry. Our task is to explain to everyone that this service, like the service of the Eucharist at the Liturgy, is common. Just as there is a main commandment about love for God, which we fulfill when we gather together at the Liturgy, so the commandment about love for people must be performed together. Together.

There were times when this could not be done together, when everyone had to do it alone, when in the camps they helped their fellow prisoners. There was such a saint Tatiana, who collected parcels for priests in prison, wrote letters, and consoled. She had such a wonderful ministry.

Now we can do this all together, as a whole church. Teach children to this service. We need to encourage the priests to do this; unfortunately, not everyone finds the time for this. Sisters of mercy, for example, ask: how to persuade the priest to come to the hospital. Beg, beg, insist, hint at the bishop, explain. If the priest comes, receive him with love and treat him; priests also need attention. Father is in a hurry, you need to explain to him what kind of person this is, for example: the person lying on the bed is a war veteran or a wonderful woman, etc. So that he sees the personality in this person. Help him.

Patriarch Kirill himself participates in this service. Last year, this year it was. And he devotes a lot of time to this. That is why there are so many social initiatives in our diocese.

You don’t need to think like this: here’s a social worker, let him do it. No, this is just a small part. all people, all parishioners need to be involved in this. There are different forms for this. We have this form - we gather people who are ready to donate part of their money. And we call those who donate a hundredth part, and with their help we now collect one and a half million a month. And people are ready to sacrifice, ready to participate in this. If a person cannot give money, cannot help himself, he can pray for us, for those in need whom we help. This is a matter for the whole church, and not just social workers or sisters of mercy.

Report by the Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service Archpriest Arkady Shatov at a meeting of the working group of the Commission of the Inter-Council Presence on the organization of church social activities and charity on April 14, 2010.

Lay people as members of the church body

Of course, works of mercy are our common cause, like the Eucharist, like prayer for others. The social service of the laity will be possible only if they live church life, are participants in the celebration of the Eucharist - in a word, they recognize themselves as a “royal priesthood.” Unfortunately, many of those who came to the Church after 70 years of persecution did not manage to become full members: they do not understand the meaning of the Church Sacraments, do not consider themselves participants in divine services - but only “contemplatives”; they do not know that they can take part in church councils, etc. Therefore, now the job of priests is to help the laity become full members of the Church and explain to them their high mission, the core of which is works of mercy.

Social activity as service to Christ

Social activity has never been an end in itself for the Church. Our goal is not to create an earthly paradise by feeding all the hungry and clothing all the poor. This activity is an expression of compassion and love for one's neighbor. The Savior directly said that by helping the poor, the sick, and prisoners, we thereby serve Him. And we cannot narrow our circle of neighbors to our family and friends, because the Lord showed us who our neighbors are and how we should serve them through the example of the Good Samaritan. The Merciful Samaritan left his affairs and took upon himself the care of a complete stranger to him, a non-religious man, spending his strength and all the money he had on this, promising to continue to help. Likewise, our ministry should extend to all those in need of help.

Even in Old Testament Israel, people were required to pay not only tithes for the temple, but also donations to help those in need. With the coming of Christ, helping those in need acquired a new, higher meaning and became the duty of every believer. Therefore, we have nothing to justify our inaction. Of course, a mother with many children will not be able to devote much time to such service; an old and sick person may not have the strength for this. But still, everyone should participate in such a service of love - each in his own measure.

We cannot justify our inaction by the fact that the state has taken upon itself to take care of the social needs of our citizens. It is obvious to all of us that the state cannot and should not cope with these problems on its own. This requires the help of society and the Church.

Categories of laity - participants in church social activities

Depending on the circumstances, profession, place of work, etc., believers can participate in social activities in different volumes and quality:

1. Professionally, to the maximum extent, as full-time employees - employees of church social institutions (orphanages, almshouses, charity canteens, etc.), as well as social workers in parishes - an institute, the creation of which was recently blessed by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill.

2. Volunteers work in their free time and for free - people who have their own jobs, but help as much as they can, and where they themselves feel the need: some want to help the homeless, others - children in orphanages, others - in hospitals.

3. Religious employees of state social institutions, even if they are not churchgoers. They are our co-workers, and we must help them fill their activities with spiritual meaning. They are employed in a field in which it is very difficult to work, and without faith in God and knowledge of the spiritual foundations of mercy, it is sometimes unbearable (hence the burnout syndrome and other consequences). Therefore, one cannot reprove or criticize them; they need to be helped.

4. Sunday school children. From childhood they should be raised to understand the importance of serving others. Therefore, it is possible and necessary to engage with them not only in studying the foundations of faith, but also in social activities: congratulating the sick on Easter and Christmas, organizing circles for young sisters of mercy, etc.

Various forms of social service of the laity

1. Work in church social institutions;

2. Communities of Sisters of Charity;

3. Volunteer communities;

4. Youth communities with a social orientation;

5. Lay donations for social needs. The laity should be encouraged to participate in social activities not only through deeds, but also through their resources. During a crisis, the duration of which is unknown to us, our motto can only be this: not “many from the few,” but “little from the many.” Each member of the Church must necessarily devote part of his money not only to the maintenance of the church community, but also to helping those in need. This is especially important in rich cities such as Moscow.

Participation in social activities of priests and bishops

Now, when after 70 years of persecution the ministry of mercy is just being revived as a church-wide work, priests and bishops must help revive and organize it. They must encourage the laity to deeds of love and explain to them their high importance.

1. It is necessary to encourage them to participate more fully in the Church Sacraments, explaining that the Church Sacraments are performed by the entire community. And although the participation of the priest in this is visible and obvious, and the laity’s is unnoticeable, parishioners must understand that the sacred act is performed through common prayers, and without the participation of everyone, the Liturgy will not become a common affair. It is necessary to teach the laity the skills of spiritual life, talk about the struggle with passions, and how to pray. Without this, as well as without responsible participation in church life, the Sacraments, without reading the Gospel, it is impossible to do works of mercy, because they are always associated with great dedication and concentration of all mental and spiritual forces.

2. It is necessary to encourage parishioners to take care of each other, to remind them that a church parish is not a group of people who happen to find themselves together. It must be a community bound by the spirit of love. There should be no hungry, needy, lonely or disadvantaged people in the community. They must be cared for, as was the case in the first Christian community.

3. We need to remind the laity that our community is not only our parish, but the entire Church. And it should be a big friendly family. In our Church there are rich parishes and poor ones - just as there are rich and poor dioceses. And just as in the times of the apostles, donations were collected for Churches in poverty (2 Cor. 8:9), so now rich churches and dioceses must necessarily help those who are in need. According to the words of the Apostle Paul, “It is not required that there should be relief for others and heaviness for you, but that there should be equality. Now your abundance is to make up for their lack; and then their abundance will supply your lack” (2 Cor. 8:13-14).

Categories of those in need

So, who is the neighbor whom the church people should help?

1. Those who form a single parish community with him. The parish can help organize assistance for those in difficult situations, those lying in the hospital or bedridden by illness, as well as large families. It is especially difficult for them in modern conditions - despite calls to increase the birth rate, there is practically no real help for them.

2. The whole Church. The needs of poor dioceses and parishes can be resolved together, as well as jointly taking care of church-wide social projects.

3. People who turn to churches for help. We need to accept every person who comes to church with love, remembering that Christ Himself comes to us in the form of beggars. We cannot reject them on the grounds that there are many deceivers among such people. After all, even deceivers and drunkards became such under the influence of unbearable misfortunes. We cannot do everything they ask for for everyone, but it is necessary to help them with at least something.

4. People who cannot come to church themselves: disabled children who are collected in special institutions; patients who die in hospitals; children in orphanages; old people who do not leave their apartments; prisoners and others. These are our most suffering neighbors, and it is our duty to share their suffering, to express our love for them by caring for them.

We often come up with different forms of participation in church life for different social and age groups of parishioners. We forget that caring for those in need, who are the image of Christ Himself, this “Liturgy after Liturgy,” can unite us all in the same way as we unite to celebrate the Eucharist. And for those who remain outside the Church for now, this ministry of love will become, perhaps, the most effective form of preaching today.

Currently, medical workers openly turn to the Orthodox religion - and this is a natural state. Medical scientists have an Orthodox view of medicine and disease.

“The History of the Communities of the Sisters of Charity” shows that the communities of the Sisters of Charity had a close connection with the Christian religion. Temples and monasteries helped the poor and sick. They formed a worldview that assumed Good deeds. This is when a person believes that doing good is necessary both for his soul and for the good of those for whom he does it. In the ancient Church there were deaconesses, women who carried out special service to mercy. And the Lord Jesus Christ said: “I am among you as one who serves.” Christ's ministry was addressed to the weak, the sick, the outcast, harlots, publicans and sinners.
Nowadays everyone hears the phrase “Social diakonia”. If we look deeper, social diakonia is a collective concept and includes various types of social activities and social service.
What types of social service exist in modern society?
This:

1. Compassionate service in hospitals, orphanages and shelters, nursing homes, homes for the disabled, hospices.
2. Patronage service at home for the care of seriously ill and disabled people.
3. Missionary-catechetical service is preaching the Gospel through conversations and churching of people.
4. Collection of donations both for the construction of charitable institutions, and collection of clothing, food, spiritual literature for the poor and for prisoners in prisons.
Help the homeless.
Volunteer service.
Pastoral ministry in prisons.
Rehabilitation centers for drug addicts and alcoholics.
Orphan rehabilitation centers.
Based on this, one can see how social diakonia is inseparable from the whole life of a person. And this great social work requires people specially trained.
Cooperation between the state and the Church in the field of healthcare began 15 years ago, when the St. Demetrius School of Sisters of Mercy was created in Moscow - this is the first Orthodox medical educational institution in modern Russia. Here students not only receive medical education, but also fulfill their duty of serving their neighbors. And work related to the fulfillment of Christian duty is no longer hired work, but service.
Now in many cities of the country there are departments in medical colleges that train nurses. What is the difference between a nurse and an ordinary nurse?
Indeed, a nurse not only distributes medical care, but also shows interest in the spiritual needs of the patient. After all, mercy is also a treatment, but treatment with a kind word, a smile, consolation, and spiritual support of people who seek help.
Mercy has a high meaning of service. A sister of mercy performs two tasks: human and Christian. The human task - in terms of professional activity and Christian - is that a sister of mercy devotes herself to her neighbor. Thus, sister of mercy and guardian and servant of human life.
The service of a sister of mercy is based on interpersonal relationships of a special nature: this "the meeting between trust and knowledge". Sick, burdened with suffering and pain, trusts the conscience of the sister of mercy, he asks for help, for care and healing. The sister of mercy takes upon herself responsibility for all these needs of the patient.
The sister of mercy has a compassionate approach to the patient. And for this she must be inspired by the Christian spirit.
A sister of mercy is the merciful Samaritan from the gospel parable, who stops next to the wounded man, becoming his “neighbor” in love ().
The sister of mercy brings to the patient’s room and to the operating table a particle of God’s mercy, a particle of the love and tenderness of Christ, the great healer of souls and bodies. This is love directed towards Christ. It is He who is sick, taking the form of a suffering brother. To serve life means to serve God in man, in other words, a sister of mercy is “a co-worker with God in restoring health to a sick body.” Therefore, therapeutic ministry must be combined with pastoral ministry.
For any person, going to the hospital is always scary. This is a very difficult moment in his life. It's almost always stressful. As a rule, seriously ill people are admitted to the hospital. The worries associated with such a disease (what’s wrong with me, am I dangerously ill, will I die, will I become disabled) are layered with experiences of a sudden change in the situation. The patient wants to be in the hands of loving, kind doctors and nurses. He is, one might say, defenseless, he is not free and dependent on other people. And, naturally, he wants to depend on merciful people. They have patience, they will take care not only of the body, but also of the soul of the patient. Even when the patient becomes desperate, believers will be able to help him, they will pray for him.
Therefore, now the need for hospitals where the patient is treated with love is very great. A church hospital can serve such purposes. A church hospital can solve many of the problems of modern social ministry. A church hospital will not be able to refuse a homeless person, a lonely old man, or a street child. Here, compassionate service to the sick will be placed at the forefront, and, of course, such a hospital is needed by all suffering people.
Such a hospital can also serve as a methodological center for the training of Orthodox medical personnel. Conferences can be held there where doctors, social workers, and priests exchange experience. The development of an Orthodox hospital can become a powerful impetus for all church social activities.
Will you say that this is a utopia? No, such a hospital exists. This is the Moscow hospital of St. Alexei, Metropolitan of Moscow. In Moscow, at the Morozov Children's Hospital and the 21st Hospital, there are departments where Orthodox doctors, nurses, nurses and priests work.
The required sister collects information about patients who want to participate in the Church Sacraments and passes it on to the priest. She prepares the sick and helps the priest in conducting church sacraments.
Archpriest Arkady Shatov, chairman of the Commission for Church Social Activities of the city of Moscow, says: “In addition to the sick, doctors and nurses also need spiritual help. After all, working with patients is very intense, very difficult work. And if a person is not supported, then after some time he simply “burns out” (in medicine there is even a term “professional exhaustion”). This condition is experienced by many nurses who come to difficult areas. At first there is a desire to help, but after 3-5 years of work, for example in intensive care, a person internally gives up. And we must help them find a basis for their activities of mercy, so that love does not dry out in the soul, so that it grows. The Church has enormous experience for establishing virtue in a person’s soul.”
Unfortunately, in our city there is not yet an Orthodox church hospital and there is no Orthodox hospital department either. But in some hospitals, the chief doctors, together with the Nizhny Novgorod diocese, are equipping hospital chapels in which patients can receive spiritual help. The Society of Orthodox Doctors operates in our city.
Now let's look at it work of the Orthodox patronage service. For an old believer, there is salvation when there is an Orthodox sister of mercy next to him. You can pray together, invite, when necessary, a priest to confess, take communion, etc.
What does this service do? The patronage service provides social, household and medical assistance to lonely elderly, sick and elderly people. Medical care and nursing care are provided by nurses.

They do:
- medical procedures as prescribed by a doctor,
- call a doctor for consultation,
- call an ambulance in emergency cases,
- help during hospitalization.
A nurse provides the patient with care, attention, organizes leisure time, and provides spiritual support.

Big diaconal work held in hospices.
The word "hospice" is related to the Latin word hospitalis - "friendly to strangers." The hospice was first organized in England; it was a monastic shelter for seriously ill vagabonds. They were cured or buried at the expense of the monastery. In the 19th century, hopelessly ill people whom doctors refused to treat were admitted to hospices.
In 1948, nurse Cecilia Sanders developed the basic principles to be followed palliative medicine(dealing with terminally ill people).
These principles are:
consider death as a normal process,
do not hasten or slow down death,
provide pain relief,
integrate the psychological and spiritual aspects of nursing,
Helping patients live active lives to the end.
Cecelia Sanders became the founder of the modern hospice movement.
In Russia, the first hospice was opened in 1990 in St. Petersburg. Now in Russia there are about 60 hospices for adults and 1 for children in Moscow.
A fatal diagnosis is the beginning of the last, very important period of life, and you still need to be able to live it. At this time, a person needs helpers and interlocutors. Dying people have the same right to love and care as healthy people. In a hospice, spiritual support and spiritual care, which can be provided by nurses and a priest, are very important (see Neskuchny Sad magazine, No. 5, 2006).

The most unhappy people on earth are homeless people. Nobody needs them, they are despised, and they humbly await their fate. Everyone knows about the broad Russian soul with a strong foundation in the Orthodox faith. We love to talk about this, but in reality we don’t show this breadth at all. Western people often seem to be much more merciful than we are. If, for example, in Europe they see a person on the street who is unwell and needs help, then a crowd of people immediately gathers around him, they call an ambulance, and try to act somehow. And in most cases, we have complete indifference. Once on the subway, a policeman kicked a homeless man out of the car and beat him with a baton. And the whole carriage looked at it as if nothing special was happening.
According to disease statistics, almost every third homeless person suffers from trophic ulcers of the extremities. This is one of the “occupational” diseases of people who are forced to spend most of their lives outside - in frost, slush and rain. Every 10th homeless person suffers from pulmonary tuberculosis. And 13% - from 10 to 40 thousand people - are hospitalized annually with injuries, burns and frostbite.
This poses a serious problem for society: how to help these people, who are deprived not only of housing, but often also of the opportunity to earn a living, and who are dying from hunger, cold and disease? What needs to be done in our society so that the attitude towards the homeless becomes different, how to see him not as a homeless person, but as an unhappy person?
Since November 2004, a bus with specialists has been driving around the streets of Moscow, provide humanitarian and medical assistance to homeless people. This is the Mercy Night Bus Service. It is organized under the Commission for Church Social Activities under the Diocesan Council of Moscow.
The service consists of several brigades. On the bus, homeless people can receive:
necessary medical care,
referral to a tuberculosis or infectious diseases hospital, emergency room,
consultation with an experienced social worker,
in some cases, homeless people are sent to the place of residence of their loved ones.
The homeless assistance team leaves at night. During the night, the bus travels around Moscow train stations and those places where there are usually a lot of homeless people.
Five people usually go on a raid - a doctor (or paramedic), a nurse, a driver and two men to transport people in especially serious condition. The brigade collects the most weakened. They are provided with emergency medical care. help, they give them food, they warm them up, and those who are especially severe are sent by ambulance to hospitals. In the morning, employees of the Mercy bus are disinfecting homeless people at the sanitary and epidemiological station. The worst ones are taken to the hospital, those who have relatives are sent home. The rest of the homeless are simply glad that they managed to survive another night. Last winter, more than 50 flights were made, during which 550 people were rescued; in the spring and summer, 1,800 people received such assistance, 85 of them were able to go home, and tickets were bought for them.
The Moscow Diocesan Council has a Commission for Church Social Activities. The Commission includes the Hospital Homeless Services. Employees identify homeless people in hospitals, give them clothes, crutches, wheelchairs, search for relatives or place disabled people in homes.
The Department of Social Welfare began implementing the Street Cleaning project, homeless people clean the streets, clean parks and earn money, receive lunch and packed lunches at the end of the day, and after 20 days of work they can get a place in a shelter. In this way they are trying to find those who want to work and through work return to normal life. The next step could be his transition to a skilled job.

Volunteer movement is a responsible service. It can be organized in hospitals, orphanages, and at home. Volunteer work must be well thought out, as the enthusiasm of many helpers can quickly fade. It’s good to take a priest’s blessing for this work. Volunteers must be accompanied by an organizer who has negotiated with the administration.
Volunteers' help is needed primarily in sanitary work and in caring for the sick or children. Experience shows that some volunteers are offended when they are given a rag: “We came to care for the sick, not to wash the floors!” But in this case, what is more needed is indirect help for patients, who will be more pleased to lie in a clean room and breathe fresher air.
Help is especially needed in neurology and traumatology departments - where people are helpless, cannot care for themselves and require constant attention and care. There are often homeless people here or just lonely people with no one to look after them. In addition, patients may need “social” help: for example, going to the store or calling relatives. The work of volunteers requires discipline: the assigned work must be completed. The patient must be called by name and patronymic, asked about his well-being and whether he needs anything. Do not allow such references as “grandmother”, “grandfather”, “woman” in conversation.
What knowledge will be useful? The caregivers themselves, in order not to overstrain themselves, must learn to lift weights correctly, remake the patient’s bed, and lift him up. You need to be able to measure blood pressure, pulse, breathing rate, and be able to give medicine to a bedridden patient. It is necessary to know about the prevention of bedsores and be able to treat them.
Caring for a sick person or a child is both physically and mentally very difficult. Only a person who has taken the pain and suffering of his neighbor to heart can help another. And where can you get strength, where can the caregiver himself get support? Many years of experience of sisters of mercy shows that sisters draw the strongest support for their spiritual strength from the Church Sacraments. The advice of an experienced confessor is also supportive. We must remember that “where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them,” so said our Lord Jesus Christ ()., and not forget that by helping others, we first of all help ourselves.

Orphan rehabilitation centers

The main difficulty is that a child left without a family cannot be helped by simply feeding, warming or washing him. A much greater tragedy happens to him: he does not know what love is. Because love can be learned only by seeing love - in constant communication with mother, family and other loving people.
It must be admitted that large state orphanages are the most ineffective form of raising orphans. Experts consider the best form of raising orphans adoption, because only the family can make up for what the child lacks.
Those who know the life of foster families well are convinced that they need constant, serious assistance from the state. Archpriest Arkady Shatov, confessor of the St. Demetrius Sisterhood, which cares for 4 orphanages, says: “For families who are ready to take on such work, they need to buy apartments and pay for the maintenance of children. The church should also participate in material and moral assistance to families who have adopted orphans. Priests must deal with adopted children and parents, because they have a lot of problems, even if the child is very loved in the adoptive family.”
There is a form of upbringing that is close to adoption - the so-called foster families. The family takes the child in for upbringing, the foster parents receive a salary from the orphanage, the child knows that these are not his parents, but otherwise he is a full member of the family.
Is there some more family orphanages. There are up to 8 children in a family, a “mother” who has two days off. Together with “mother”, children buy groceries, cook, and do household chores.
Also gained great fame "SOS Children's Villages", arranged according to the Austrian model. There are several such villages in Russia. There living conditions are as close as possible to family ones.
There are also so-called small orphanages. Everything here is like in an ordinary orphanage, only there are much fewer children - 20-30. The atmosphere here is closer to home than in huge boarding schools. It is very important that children go to a regular school and communicate with peers there.
Is there some more Orthodox orphanages and shelters at sisterhoods, at monasteries and parishes. Archpriest Arkady Shatov comments: “The main thing on which the efforts of those around us should be directed is not just feeding and dressing the child, but an attempt to return to him the image of God that is inside him. This can only be done with love, only by deciding on the feat of serving children. The Lord calls and blesses us to serve children as we would serve Himself: “...Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me” ().
Perhaps it will seem to some that an impossible feat is required of us. However, it is not. After all, the problem of orphans can be solved at different levels.
Everyone can participate in this:
someone can and should pray for these children,
someone can donate money for this activity,
many can take the time to take a walk, work out, invite people to visit (for orphans, going to visit is a great joy),
someone can take a child into a family or go to work in an orphanage.
Everyone can participate, but do not forget to increase the love in your heart, then everything will work out.

So, let's summarize. At the Diocesan meeting in 2004, His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexei II addressed the flock with the words: “... The world is increasingly plunging into the darkness of indifference, hatred, selfishness, and you and I are called to shine the light of Christ’s love in the world and show our faith in action. We must do works of mercy; every believer has the opportunity to serve his neighbors. There are many suffering people around us. Homeless people are freezing, orphans do not know love and live according to the cruel law “every man for himself”, in hospitals patients die from lack of care only because there is no one to come to them, in nursing homes and their apartments old people end their lives in need and loneliness .
Social problems for you and me are not just abstract issues, the solution of which can be postponed until better times. We are called by Christ to serve love, and we cannot help but have compassion for those whom Christ calls His little brothers, and try to do everything in our power to help them... Calling you all to works of mercy, I want to remind you of the forgotten proverb: “Do not be afraid strong thunderstorm, but be afraid of the wretched tears.”

ON THE. Pigalova - Honored Teacher R.F., Director of the Nizhny Novgorod Medical College of Roszdrav
Yu.A. Kuznetsova - teacher of the Spiritual Foundations of Mercy

Article from the manual “Diaconal service of a sister of mercy to the suffering. Part I" - 2007

Do you remember in everyone’s favorite film “The meeting place cannot be changed” there is a scene where Zheglov argues with Michal Mikhalych, Sharapov’s neighbor in the communal apartment?

Michal Mikhalych is convinced that crime will be defeated not by the punitive authorities, as he puts it, but by philanthropy, mercy... It is there that Zheglov pronounces his famous “Mercy is a priest’s word.” He says, naturally, condemning Michal Mikhalych and his ideas. One of the few moments in the film where, despite all Vysotsky’s charm, Zheglov does not convince. Although in some ways he is right here: mercy is truly a priestly word - church, evangelical.

It is in the Gospel that mercy is proclaimed the norm. A Christian is called to help his neighbor. Help regardless of his religion, nationality, social status. Regardless of both the relationship of a Christian to his neighbor and the relationship of this neighbor to the Christian himself, the Gospel commands us to treat even enemies with love. There is only one criterion for help: if a person is worse off than you, then he needs to be helped. Moreover, Christ does not simply bequeath to man works of mercy. He equates helping his neighbor with helping himself: “I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you accepted Me; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me” (Matthew 25.35).

In Soviet times, the Church could not engage in charity or social service. Persecution was manifested not only in the destruction and persecution of priests and laity. It was actually prohibited for the Church to openly perform works of mercy. With the revival of church life in the early 1990s, the situation began to change. Slowly - I had to get back on my feet, overcome internal inertia, and learn a lot anew. In his first word after his enthronement in 2009, Patriarch Kirill emphasized: “Our Christian duty is to care for the suffering, the orphans, the poor, the disabled, the elderly, the prisoners, the homeless: everyone whom we can help find hope. The voice of the Church must also become the voice of the weak and those deprived of power, seeking justice.”

Last week, His Holiness spoke to participants in the international festival “Faith and Word.” One of the main topics of the forum was the theme of mercy. The primate told how, in the very first year of his patriarchal service, he noticed that in the reports of priests on church life in Moscow, and simply in his conversations with the clergy, the topic of good deeds was practically not mentioned, there was no talk about specific good deeds. Despite the fact that they talked about anything - about repairs, construction, the organization of worship, a church choir or a Sunday school.

According to the patriarch, he realized that this could not continue for long: the priests enthusiastically preach, including on the topic of mercy, but specific acts of mercy are not performed in the parish. This is how the idea of organizing large-scale social work arose. A church-wide department for charity and social service and corresponding diocesan structures were created, and the position of person responsible for social work appeared in the staffing table of parishes. Priests and church volunteers helped victims of fires in 2010, floods in Krymsk in 2012, floods in the Far East in 2013, and refugees from Ukraine.

Journalists love numbers. Now they can already be brought. Moreover, much of the following has arisen precisely in the last seven years. Today, in Russia alone there are more than 4 thousand church social institutions and projects, 300 sisterhoods of mercy, 46 crisis centers with shelters for pregnant women and mothers with children - from Kaliningrad to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky... As well as more than 60 humanitarian aid centers, 40 almshouses, 70 rehabilitation centers for drug addicts, 14 resocialization centers, 13 outpatient centers, more than 70 Orthodox shelters for the homeless, 12 mercy buses. There are also centers for helping alcoholics, fraternities and sobriety groups. In total, 150–200 new church social projects appear in the Church every year. Some say it's a lot, others say it's not enough.

And yet, church works of mercy cannot be measured by numbers alone. The Church is not only working church institutions and the ministry of parishes. The Church is, first of all, people. People who give to a beggar on the street, volunteer at a hospice, donate to a hospital, create relief funds, donate money to a charity telethon... This is where the merciful service of the Church is manifested - in changing human hearts. Millions of human hearts, if we talk about numbers. The church changes people, people change lives.

The hero of the film “The meeting place cannot be changed” dreamed of the advent of an era of mercy. By the way, this is the name of the book by the Weiner brothers on which the film was based. Michal Mikhalych associated the onset of a new era with overcoming the consequences of war, human suffering and human malice. The dreams of Weiner's hero were not yet destined to come true. But these dreams themselves became possible because the era of mercy has already arrived. It came when in the cruel world of harsh but fair gods it was said that God is Love and therefore we must love our neighbor and bear each other’s burdens. When it was commanded to give to those who ask and to repay good for evil. It came 2 thousand years ago. Then, when the words “blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7).

Prot. Arkady Shatov
17.05.2010

Lay people as members of the church body

The core of every Christian's life is service to God and others. The forms and methods of such service can be different, just as the vocations and gifts of people are different. They complement each other, like members of a living organism. In this Church body, everyone is connected by one love and everyone serves each other and Christ. And just as there are no unnecessary, superfluous members in the body, so in the Church there cannot be unnecessary, inactive members. Moreover, when we are talking about the largest part of the Church - the laity, the people of God. And if for a priest the center of his service to God and neighbor is performing divine services, sacraments, and caring for the flock; if for a monk the commandment to love one’s neighbor is to pray for the whole world; then for people living in the world, as Paisius the Svyatogorets writes, the main church service is works of mercy.

Of course, works of mercy are our common cause, like the Eucharist, like prayer for others. The social service of the laity will be possible only if they live the church life, are participants in the celebration of the Eucharist - in a word, they recognize themselves as a “royal priesthood.” Unfortunately, many of those who came to the Church after 70 years of persecution did not manage to become full-fledged members: they do not understand the meaning of church sacraments, do not consider themselves participants in divine services - but only “contemplatives”; they do not know that they can take part in church councils, etc. Therefore, now the job of priests is to help the laity become full members of the Church and explain to them their high mission, the core of which is works of mercy.

Social activity as service to Christ

Read also: On-line broadcast of the events of the VIII Social Congress in Moscow.

We cannot justify our inaction by the fact that the state has taken upon itself to take care of the social needs of our citizens. It is obvious to all of us that the state cannot cope with these problems on its own – and should not. This requires the help of society and the Church.

Depending on the circumstances, profession, place of work, etc., believers can participate in social activities in different volumes and quality:

1) Professionally, to the maximum extent, as full-time employees - employees of church social institutions (orphanages, almshouses, charity canteens, etc.), as well as social workers in parishes - an institute, the creation of which was recently blessed by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill.

2) Volunteers work in their free time and for free - people who have their own jobs, but help as much as they can, and where they themselves feel the need: some want to help the homeless, others - children in orphanages, others - in hospitals .

3) Believing employees of state social institutions, even if they are not churchgoers. They are our co-workers, and we must help them fill their activities with spiritual meaning. They are employed in a field in which it is very difficult to work, and without faith in God and knowledge of the spiritual foundations of mercy, it is sometimes unbearable (hence the burnout syndrome and other consequences). Therefore, one cannot reprove or criticize them; they need to be helped.

4) Children of Sunday schools. From childhood they should be raised to understand the importance of serving others. Therefore, it is possible and necessary to engage with them not only in studying the foundations of faith, but also in social activities: congratulating the sick on Easter and Christmas, organizing circles for young sisters of mercy, etc.

Read also: Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky Panteleimon: “The main task of the sisters of mercy is not to save a person from all sorrows, but to help him understand their meaning”

Various forms of social service of the laity

1) Work in church social institutions;

2) Communities of Sisters of Mercy;

3) Volunteer communities;

4) Youth communities with a social orientation;

5) Donations from the laity for social needs. The laity should be encouraged to participate in social activities not only through deeds, but also through their resources. During a crisis, the duration of which is unknown to us, our motto can only be this: not “many from the few,” but “little from the many.” Each church member must necessarily devote part of his money not only to the maintenance of the church community, but also to helping those in need. This is especially important in rich cities such as Moscow.

Participation in social activities of priests and bishops

Now, when after 70 years of persecution the ministry of mercy is just being revived as a church-wide work, priests and bishops must help revive and organize it. They must encourage the laity to do it, explain to them their high calling in the Church.

1) It is necessary to encourage them to participate more fully in the church sacraments, explaining that the church sacraments are performed by the entire community. And although the participation of the priest in this is visual and obvious, and the laity’s is invisible to the eye, parishioners must understand that the sacred act is performed through common prayers, and without the participation of everyone, the Liturgy will not become a common affair. It is necessary to teach the laity the skills of spiritual life, talk about the struggle with passions, and how to pray. Without this, as well as without responsible participation in church life, the sacraments, without reading the Gospel, it is impossible to do works of mercy, because they are always associated with great dedication and concentration of all mental and spiritual forces.

2) It is necessary to encourage parishioners to take care of each other, to remind them that a church parish is not about people who happen to find themselves together. It must be a community bound by the spirit of love. There should be no hungry, needy, lonely or disadvantaged people in the community. They must be cared for, as was the case in the first Christian community.

3) We need to remind the laity that our community is not only our parish, but the entire Church. And it should be a big friendly family. In our Church there are rich parishes and poor ones - just as there are rich and poor dioceses. And just as in apostolic times, donations were collected for churches in poverty (2 Cor. 8-9), so now rich churches and dioceses must necessarily help those who are in need. According to the words of the Apostle Paul, “It is not required that there should be relief for others and heaviness for you, but that there should be equality. Now your abundance is to make up for their lack; and then their abundance will supply your lack” (2 Cor. 8:13-14).