Hospitals, boarding schools, shelters and addresses of refugees — in ten days, from April 10 to April 20, volunteers from church organizations will visit hundreds of locations throughout the country.
They will bring Easter cakes, eggs, and sweets. For some, just live human communication.
The numbers are impressive. In the capital alone we are talking about 34 thousand recipients. The list includes
seriously ill children, elderly people without relatives, families with several children. Three
Moscow clinics were included in the routes separately: the children’s hospital on Leninsky, the Russian Children’s Clinical Hospital and the
Sukhareva psychiatric center. Volunteers know the wards personally — there are no random people
in the database.
Ekaterinburg sends 5.5 thousand kits to 16 addresses. In Kazan, 3,100 Easter cakes
have already been distributed to parishes — then they will be delivered directly to institutions. Khabarovsk
has focused on those who physically cannot leave their homes: five hundred sets will be distributed
to apartments and almshouses. In Rostov-on-Don, the list of recipients included children with
cancer, deaf children from low-income families and elderly front-line soldiers.
The campaign also works outside of Russia. The Patriarchal humanitarian mission travels to
Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions — together
with the Crimean Metropolis. Not only holiday food is brought there, but also drinking water: it
can be purchased through the website of the “Time of Mercy” campaign. They also accept donations for
Easter cakes for the wounded in Kursk and Lugansk hospitals.
The homeless will receive a hot lunch in six cities. Moscow, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk,
Murmansk, Voronezh, Ufa — there is a table everywhere. St. Petersburg is collecting food baskets:
they can be left at the Transfiguration Cathedral or brought to the diocesan center on
Krupskaya Street.
On April 8, a press conference was held at the Moscow media holding. Bishop
Silouan explained Easter theology simply: victory over death — and the beginning of another
life. Archpriest Mikhail Potokin spoke about something else — about an imperceptible barrier between those
who celebrate at home and those who celebrate Easter in the ward or on the street. “Invisible glass”
—his words.
In Korolev, the local parish works without reference to dates. Volunteers collect
food all year round, not just before the holidays. On Holy Saturday, parishioners bring
part of the blessed treat — it goes to hospitals and lonely old people.
Church social services today cover several dozen regions.
Shelters, humanitarian warehouses, nursing duty, help for addicts —
infrastructure exists year-round. Easter week only makes it more noticeable.
Author: Andrey Egorov
Charity fundnd Holy Land
Investment in the Soul!
