Archpriest Alexander Fisun says: “This case happened five or seven years ago, I don’t remember exactly.” My relative in Moscow fell ill and asked to receive communion in the hospital. There were several people in the room. One of them asked me to share her. After I confessed and communed them, a second woman, Olga Telenkova, told an unusual story.
She came to faith not very long ago and, as a newcomer, was filled with the desire of all those around her to lead to the spiritual joy that she herself experienced after becoming part of Orthodoxy. She worked in the office of the Council of Ministers of Russia. Employees had different attitudes to the faith, but before Orthodox holidays she approached everyone, urging them to go to church or at least write notes about the health and repose of their loved ones.
Some responded to her calls, some did not, but she persistently approached everyone. Among the other employees was one person, very silent and withdrawn. Little was known about him, only that he was a former soldier.
She approached him and asked him to write notes about his loved ones. He replied briefly, «Get off, I’ll handle this myself.» That’s where the conversation ended.
A few days after this conversation, this man suffered a stroke and was unconsciously hospitalized. Staff tried to visit him, but he did not regain consciousness, and they were not allowed in the intensive care unit.
Olga really wanted to help him and order services in the church about the sick employee, but she did not know whether he was baptized or not. The church only prays for the baptized.
He hesitated for two days, not knowing what to do. Finally, I decided to order a prayer service for his healing. After the prayer, she poured a bottle of holy water, bought a cross and an icon and went to the hospital. The doctor said that half an hour ago the patient regained consciousness, and she could stay with him for a short time.
Olga entered the room and saw that the patient was looking at her. He could not speak, but he reacted to her words with a movement of his eyes and a barely noticeable movement of his head. She said she brought him holy water and asked if he would drink it. He gave him a sign to leave him water. Olga rejoiced and showed him a cross and an icon. He agreed, too. She put everything on the nightstand and offered to call the priest. He was very happy and expressed his consent. Olga went to church and invited the priest to the patient. The priest quickly gathered and came to the hospital.
At this time the sick man’s wife came. She saw water, a cross and an icon on the nightstand and began to be violently indignant that strangers were allowed to visit her husband. She threw away the church objects and prevented the priest from entering the room. After some time, the patient fell into oblivion and, without regaining consciousness, died.
Olga again began to be plagued by doubts: is it possible to order church services for the repose of the deceased? Or was he not baptized or was he not Orthodox? Finally, I decided to read a Psalm at home about his repose. After two days of reading the Psalm, she saw him in a dream. He came to her and said, “Help me.” She asked how to help him. He said, “Go to my church.”
When Olga woke up, she began to think hard about what church he meant. Orthodox or something? If it is Orthodox, what is it? I didn’t think of anything and decided to go to the church, which was not far from their work. I walked around the temple for a long time, but without results. Then I went to the temple, which was near his house. There was nothing to tell her how to help him either.
Olga was very upset that she could not find an answer to the question of help to the deceased, but she did not stop reading the Psalter and thought about it intensely. One day on the subway, he hears two elderly women talking. One says she was in the service of Nikola Podkopaevsky today. (This is how Muscovites call the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Podkopaevsky Lane). And she immediately remembered that the deceased was called Nicholas, and his name was Podkopaev. He probably meant this temple.
She immediately went to the temple, hoping she would learn something. I went to the temple. Weekday, no service. There are no people, only a man is sitting at the church shop. She is confused: and here nothing gives her an answer to her question.
The man asks what she needs. She tells him the whole story of her co-worker and says she can’t know if he was baptized or not. The man confidently says, «Baptized.» She wondered why he knew that.
A month ago, a stranger came to the temple, said that he was a former military man and wanted to talk to the abbot. (And the rector of the church, Abbot Savva, is the deputy chairman of the Synodal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate for interaction with the Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies, and military people often come to him.) They talked for a long time, and then Father Savva asked me to prepare a font for baptism and baptized it. His name was Nikolai, and his name was Podkopaev. All the confusion was resolved immediately. Olga ordered forty ost for the repose of the servant of God Nicholas and went home with relief.
St. Nicholas does not leave us without help in this life or in the future. This story made a strong impression on me. Olga’s unyielding desire to help a deceased colleague inclined the Lord to the mercy of the deceased. It would seem that accidental circumstances developed so that she was able to find out everything necessary and fulfill his request for help.
We need a lot during this life, but after the transition to another world, nothing is more important for the soul than the prayers of the Church.
I have a long-standing friendship with Father Savva, and I have decided to pass on this story without delay. Directly from the hospital I went to the temple of “Nikola Podkopaevsky”. Father Savva remembered Nikolai Podkopaev and said that after his baptism he wrote him down as his nephew and prayed for his health. Now he will pray for peace.
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