My sister was dying of kidney failure. That is, we have undergone every conceivable and unthinkable course of treatment, the sister was in the hospital for a long time on the machine “artificial kidneys”, until the doctors pronounced: “If you do not urgently transplant kidneys, your sister will die.”
We sold the apartment of our deceased parents and found that there was not enough money for surgery in America or Europe. And then the doctors suggested to us the cheapest option – to fly to China, especially since according to Chinese law, the organs of executed criminals are used for transplantation.
We flew to Beijing, paid for the operation, and the clinic was told, «Wait.» Not days, but months of waiting. Unfortunately, we flew to China in such a hurry that I did not take any icons from home. I had with me only the book “Easter Red”, read and reread so much that Hieromonk Basil, monk Ferapont, monk Trophim became my native people, and I constantly asked them for help.
In order not to pray before the empty wall, I put in the iconic corner “Easter Red” – not an icon, of course, but still on the cover of the Angels and the bright faces of the martyrs who suffered for our Lord Jesus Christ. And if someone condemns me for such an icon, then I can say one thing – God forbid anyone to experience such a spiritual hunger as we experienced in six months of life in the land of dragons.
At first, I didn’t even believe that there wasn’t a single Orthodox church in Beijing and China. They say they showed up later. And then, as I was told, the last Chinese Orthodox priest, Father Gregory Zhu, was buried in the cemetery with a secular rank, because the authorities forbade inviting an Orthodox priest from Russia to the funeral service.
Before, I had no idea how hard it is at heart, when you do not go to church and for months do not confess and do not take communion. My father was at home. And, although my sister, unfortunately, was an unbeliever, but my father was able to persuade her to confess, to take communion. And after communion, the sister became easier, and she already at least occasionally, but voluntarily read prayers. In China, even these faint germs of faith disappeared, and by Lent my sister went into disrepair. For some reason she was especially annoyed that I turned to the Optina martyrs for help: Who are they? Found the saints?! Well, and so on.
I endured, realizing that my sister was desperate: death at the door, and in the clinic for six months just promised: “Wait.” Meanwhile, we live in a poor rented room, there is almost no money left — everything goes to medical services, and we could afford to eat only the cheapest vegetables.
On Good Friday, my sister caused me a scandal because I cried at prayer at the thought that for the first time in my adult life I would not be in church for the Easter service and would not hear the procession with candles singing many voices in the night: “Thy Resurrection, O Christ the Savior, the angels are singing in heaven, and we on earth will be like a pure heart to You glorify.”
Do not praise me on Easter Christ in church! And I cried out to Father Basil, the monk Trophim and the monk Ferapont: You have always loved Easter so much! Do something. I can’t do without a temple on Easter night! Her sister said, “They’re going to build you a church overnight.” What about it? And she said such hurtful words, which made the heart shrink even more painful.
I cried and took my sister to the Chinese dining room for lunch. I always kept fasts strictly, but then my sister fasted for lack of money, the good thing is that there are many cheap and very tasty vegetables in China. Suddenly a woman comes to us, sitting at the next table:
— Are you Russians?
— Yeah.
— I see you are fasting the Great Lent. Are you Orthodox?
— Sure.
— Do you want to go to church for Easter?
— How?
And the woman immediately handed me and my sister two invitation cards, saying that a priest came to our Russian Embassy with antimins, and now the embassy garage has already begun to be converted into a camping temple.
— We will work all night, and we will meet Easter in church, said our new friend.
Lord, have mercy! What a miracle this Easter service was in the embassy garage! I have been to famous cathedrals, I have met Easter in monasteries, but I have never seen such a spiritual upsurge as then in China. People cried with joy, hugging each other, and after the service could not separate. We sang again and again: “Christ rose from the dead” in many languages of the world – in Russian, Chinese, English, Korean, Greek, and in other languages unfamiliar to me. Christ in that garage seemed to be glorified by the world. And there was an exact feeling, Christ in the midst of us. Was, is and will be! I remember looking at my sister’s happy face and seeing her crying with joy.
Immediately after Easter, her sister underwent surgery, and she recovered easily and quickly. And that Easter night so turned her soul that the sister has since clinged to the Church, and likes to tell friends about how the prayers of the numbered Optina martyrs in China built a temple in one night.
Lyudmila Luchko, Pilgrim from Sochi
The Holy Land Charitable Foundation
Soul investment!
Orthodox stories from life
