In the holy Church there is neither a Greek nor a Jew, there is neither a Russian, nor a Ukrainian, nor a Belarusian. In the Church, the significance of nationality is diminished: all are united, nationally equal. All are servants of God. And in this title - the highest simplicity, grandeur and nobility, which only a person has achieved.
There is no nationality in God, there is no national exclusivity among the sons of God. However, in real life, flowing in the twilight of our lack of faith, in prodigal distance from the Father, we still distinguish, voluntarily or involuntarily, from the positive or negative side, each other by nationality.
In the Russian Orthodox milieu, consecrated by churchness, nationality as a distinguishing feature is practically irrelevant. Nevertheless, nationality is still quite certain, given to us from birth, the distinctive genetic features of the mind and soul. These features reflect our national mentality, our cultural and mental identity, which must be taken into account in interpersonal communication.
National characteristics arise as a result of the long-term formation of stable spiritual and material (socio-historical) conditions of life. Religion as the basis of culture among many national-forming factors plays a dominant role. In a certain sense, nationality is an expression of religiosity through the character of one or another established group of people. It is in this sense that they often say: Azerbaijanis are Muslims, Germans are Protestants, Russians, Serbs are Orthodox, French are Catholics; For the same reason, nationalities of one faith are always much closer to each other than nationalities formed under the influence of different religions.
One of the features of the Jewish "national" consciousness, which, in our opinion, is important for any people in whose midst Jews of all "nationalities" live, is the double standard of their behavior. Jewry is characterized by a special, centuries-old tribal psyche that operates in two mutually exclusive modes:
1. behavior in the circle of fellow tribesmen;
2. behavior outside the Jewish environment. Every Jew knows how to behave in his own circle and what to say to his own people and how to behave with the goyim, what is possible, what should be said to non-Jews.
In his memoirs about his childhood, written, in general, not so long ago, in the 70s, Moses Altman, a well-known Soviet philologist, who, according to his own statement, came from a family of "zealous Hasidim", cites an episode illustrating what he calls “from first hand” the double standard of Jewish behavior, “... when, already in the first grade at the gymnasium,” writes Altman, “I said that in the story I read it was written that Captain Bonn had died, but the captain was not a Jew, so it was necessary to write “died”, and not “died”, then my father cautiously warned me not to speak at the gymnasium with such amendments ”(M.S. Altman. Conversations with Vyacheslav Ivanov. St. Petersburg. 1995, p. 293) . Below, Altman frankly shares about the very atmosphere in the Jewish family: “My grandmother (like the whole town, by the way) treated non-Jews with extreme contempt, did not consider them almost human; they, she was sure, had no soul (only spirit-breath). Every Russian boy was called Sheigets - evil spirits) ... And when I asked my grandmother if, when the Messiah comes, there will be other nations, she said: “There will be, for who, if not them, will serve us and on us work?" (Ibid., p. 318).
No one in the world will be able to say “sincerely”, looking into your eyes, “I am Russian” or “I am a Christian”, as a Jew will do. This is a centuries-old school of survival in an alien environment. A double standard or double morality is common, as you know, in the criminal world, where the laws of "honor and decency" among their own perfectly coexist with arbitrariness, cruelty and baseness in relation to the rest of society. The question of the presence of Jews in the Church is very complex from an ethical point of view. Orthodoxy is a religion of saving the soul of a person, cleansing him from sin, for Jesus Christ our Lord came into this world to save not the righteous, but sinners. In this sense, we should only welcome the fact that we, the weak, perishing from sins and hoping for salvation, are joined by others who want salvation. It is easier to be saved together, to fight together with the devil, there is no doubt about that. On the other hand, not everyone who says "Lord..." is a believer...
We must not forget that Orthodoxy is an anti-Jewish religion in spirit. With him is a thousand-year struggle of the forces of evil. The enemies of the human race call it "Judaism for the crowd" (Beaconsfield), using lies, ignorance, hypocrisy as their favorite weapon - knowing full well that Orthodoxy is spiritual anti-Judaism. Orthodoxy, in fact, is the prerogative of the aristocrats of the spirit, the religion of the elect (a small number of the elect from many called). And to be among the Orthodox, to seize trust and souls in various ways - for two millennia now, the unfulfilled, longed-for dream of the devil, and therefore of his faithful sons. How the Jews penetrate into the Christian environment can be illustrated by the famous ancient letter of the prince of the Jews of Constantinople to his fellow tribesmen in France, in which he gives the following advice from the great rabbis: otherwise, but on the condition that the law of Moses would be preserved in your hearts ... regarding the fact that Christians destroy our synagogues - make your children canons and clerks so that they destroy the temples of Christians.
In another revelation, which has already sounded in our days from the lips of one of the Moscow Jewish priests, this ancient advice of the great rabbis is already manifested in its real embodiment: “I am a real and sincere shepherd for your sheep,” declares the “Orthodox brother in Moses,” And your Messiah is real. But this is your Messiah. He was born in a manger for cattle, born in shame and crucified in shame, as an example to you, follow Him. And I do not violate, but help you to follow Him. And our messiah will come, he will not be crucified, he will reign.” What an ominous "sincerity"!.. Life, unfortunately, shows that the above is not empty words. It should be known and remembered about yourself. However, what is impossible for man is possible for God. The Lord who created the world out of nothing, can He not change the heart of anyone who wishes to turn to Him? The Russians accepted and continue to accept sincere Jews into the Orthodox environment, whom the Lord calls to His service. Since St. app. Paul was once Saul. And among the Russian people themselves, especially in our days, among Russians by blood there are many spiritually ill Jews ...
Yet the reality is not as optimistic as our reflections. Some priests who have had experience of communicating with Jews are convinced that Jews, brought up from childhood in anti-Christian traditions and who later came to the Orthodox environment, introduce a corrupting spirit of Jewry into it. We are convinced that in relation to them the Church should be extremely prudent and cautious before baptizing them into the Orthodox faith and, even more so, before allowing them to Orthodox Divine Services. Today we see many Jews in Orthodox monasteries and churches. As soon as the rector of the Jews appears in the temple, then, like mushrooms after the rain, Jews appear on the kliros, in watchmen, in altar servers, in deacons ... Thanks to the same guarantee or “true internationalism”, they with some elusive ease occupy leading positions in monasteries and churches, working in Orthodoxy as in positions, almost not hiding or not being able to hide that there is something in their soul and more important than what they serve outwardly ...
But what can you do if we, having the true religion, cannot serve our God more fully worthily, we all lazily deviate somewhere, look for something, and the Jews, today, it seems, already unbelieving in anything, ignorant of any religion, manifest in everything unprecedented activity and international solidarity and purposefulness. Of course, Jewishness in itself is of little interest to anyone. The fate of the great Russian people, which has been under the deadly hypnotic influence of the Jews for the second century now, is worrying. Under his ideological, political, financial power. Which will not stop until it squeezes the last juices out of the people hated by it, until it takes out of it the whole soul and leaves in return "spirit-breath" ... However, fate is the judgment of God, and something awaits us ahead what only the Lord Himself wants and knows, and if not “here and now”, then before the throne of God, the Russian people have many intercessors and patrons who will not allow the worst to come true: to prepare a place for themselves in hell at the end of earthly life ...
https://rusprav.org/biblioteka/AntisemitismForBeginners/AntiSemitismForBeginners.html
In recent years, Moscow writers have been frequenting New York, and all, as if by magic, are from among Russian writers with Jewish blood in their veins, but who have converted to Orthodoxy or another religion. And one more common feature that unites overseas guests - they are all especially<отличились>at the 23rd International Book Fair in Jerusalem in February 2009 - with his openly anti-Israeli statements. For the Israelis, this position of the guests was completely unexpected and unacceptable, and instead of discussing common literary topics, the guest performers declared, each in their own way, that they did not accept the Jewish state. The delegation of Russian writers included A. Kabakov, Dm. Bykov, M. Weller, Vl. Sorokin, Tatyana Ustinova, Dm. Prigov, Ludmila Ulitskaya, Maria Arbatova. As the Israeli writer and journalist A. Shoikhet wrote in the article "Orthodox Jews of Russian Literature", "here the representatives of Israel tried to build a "bridge" on their part. Unfortunately, Russian writers did not show much zeal for the development of bilateral ties." The most intolerant among them were the poet, journalist and writer D. Bykov,writers L. Ulitskaya and A. Kabakov, as well asfeminist M. Arbatova. Thus, the previously mentioned Bykov argued that<образование Израиля - историческая ошибка>. As Shoikhet wrote, “Dmitry Bykov and Alexander Kabakov immediately denied their Jewishness. Dmitry Bykov, who on the first day at the Jerusalem fair categorically stated that he was “a man of Russian culture, an Orthodox, a believing Christian,” behaved at the meeting defiantly, arrogantly chuckled at the questions addressed to him. Having been beaten in Israel, Bykov did not hesitate to come to New York and, at a meeting with Jewish readers within the walls of the Brooklyn Central Library in March of this year, he again repeated the stupidity about the so-called historical mistake. He had no idea that in the American audience his speech was listened to by the same Jews whom he insulted in 2009. Ms. Ulitskaya "with her characteristic frankness, declared to the enthusiastically listening public that" although she is a Jew, she is an Orthodox Christian by faith "that" it is morally very difficult for her in Israel "(?) and this is due to the fact that (according to according to her belief) there, in the homeland of Jesus Christ, the representatives of the Christian denominations "have a very hard life," and it is especially difficult for Arab Christians, because, "on the one hand, they are crushed (!) by Jews, and on the other, by Muslim Arabs." These words belong to Ulitskaya, who has been in Israel almost every year for the past 20 years - nothing more than blindfolded and deaf. All these nonsense Russian Jews-converts absorbed in Russia, where a similar point of view is widespread among the intelligentsia, which I have never heard a different point of view.It is to us, living in the free world, their opinion seems wild, as if this public did not come from a civilized European country, but from Uganda or Lesotho.Israeli scholar Alec Epstein, author of an article dedicated to des NTU of Russian writers to Israel ("Our hut from the other side: Anti-Israeli pathos of Russian-Jewish writers"), especially noted the ugly behavior of Maria Arbatova, who is going to New York at the invitation of the restless<Девидзон-радио>. The author writes: "Maria Arbatova surpassed everyone - these are the words she herself summed up the trip to Jerusalem:<Земля обетованная произвела на меня грустнейшее впечатление. Нигде в мире я не видела на встречах с писателями такой жалкой эмиграции>. Israel as a whole, Maria Ivanovna Gavrilina (Arbatova) described as<бесперспективный западный проект>. <Раньше не понимала, - откровенничала Арбатова, - почему моя тетя, дочка Самуила Айзенштата, вышедшая замуж за офицера британской разведки и после этого 66 лет прожившая в Лондоне, каждый раз, наезжая в Израиль, го ворит: "Какое счастье, что папа не дожил до этого времени. Они превратили Израиль в Тишинский рынок!>. Now I've come, looked and understood:<Это сообщество не нанизано ни на что, и его не объединяет ничего, кроме колбасности и ненависти к арабам. : Обещанной природы я не увидела: сплошные задворки Крыма и Средиземноморья. Архитектуры, ясное дело, не было и не будет. Население пёстрое и некрасивое. В жарких странах обычно глазам больно от красивых лиц. Для Азии слишком злобны и напряжены. Для Европы слишком быдловаты и самоуверенны. : Я много езжу, но нигде не видела такого перманентно раздражённого и нетерпимого народа>. With considerable voluptuousness, Arabatova quoted a phrase from one of the heroines of the novel by L. Ulitskaya<Даниэль Штайн, переводчик>: <Какое страшное это место Израиль - здесь война идет внутри каждого человека, у нее нет ни правил, ни границ, ни смысла, ни оправдания. Нет надежды, что она когда-нибудь закончится>. <Я приехала с остатками проеврейского зомбирования, - со общает М. Арбатова, конкретизируя: - Бедный маленький народ борется за еврейскую идею. Но никакой еврейской идеи, кроме военной и колбасной, не увидела. : Это не страна, а военный лагерь>. I apologize to the readers for such an abundant quotation<перлов>this 55-year-old lady from the Arbat, but without them it would not be entirely clear why the invitation of Arbatova to New York is another stupidity and unscrupulousness<Дэвидзон-радио>. A few words about the origin of the writer. Maria Ivanovna Gavrilina was born in 1957 in the family of Ivan Gavriilovich Gavrilin and Lyudmila Ilyinichna Aizenshtadt. So it appears on Wikipedia, although a little lower the name of the mother is specified - Tsivya Ilyinichna. For some reason, an active figure in the feminist movement Gavrilina took a literary pseudonym - Arbatova, although the names of her husbands - Alexander Miroshnik, Oleg Witte and Shumit Datta Gupta - had nothing to do with choosing a pseudonym. Arbatova wrote about her origin as follows:<Я вот тоже по маме еврейка>, <моя бабушка Ханна Иосифовна родилась в Люблине, ее отец самостоятельно изучил несколько языков, математику и давал уроки Торы и Талмуда. С 1890 до 1900 году он упрямо сдавал экзамены на звание <учитель>in<светских>educational institutions and was rejected nine times<в виду иудейского вероисповедания>, on the tenth day he became one of the few Jews teaching in Polish state institutions>. At the same time, Ms. Arbatova emphasized:<Я никогда не идентифицировалась через национальную принадлежность>. It's not about identification: Mary wants to be Russian Orthodox - and God bless her. This is her right. However, the excess of negativity and bias towards Israel turns her into an evil and primitive lady from the Tushino market, dissatisfied with neither her attitude, nor the weather, nor nature. Alien in a foreign state - like Prokhanov or Shevchenko. Arbatova herself lives in a city where a huge part of the Russian population is engaged in trade - in the x market, in shops, in numerous stalls, in metro underground passages. Calling the Israelis<колбасными иммигрантами>, she blasphemes against people who live under the fire of the Arab Qassams, but courageously endure the hardships of war and think about the future of their children and grandchildren. Arbatova and others like her point-blank do not notice and do not want to see the humane attitude that the Jews daily show towards their sworn enemies - the Arabs. There are false representations of the Russian public about Israel. Let this lady give at least one case when the Russian military would call the inhabitants of houses that were about to be bombed. Or imagine, reader, how Russia would react if any of its surrounding countries were to bombard Russian cities with rockets on a daily basis! Israel is a stronghold of democracy in the Middle East, a state on the border with the Muslim world. Arbatova, however, did not notice anything of the kind, and did not want to see it. The vulgarity and primitivism of her aunt, who lived for 66 years in London with an English intelligence officer, Arbatova cites as some kind of evidence of life in Israel. This aunt, obviously, except for the markets, did not see anything in Israel. Speaking of<быдловатости>Israelis, a literary lady from Moscow has forgotten the environment in which she lives herself. You can often see it on A. Malakhov's programs "Let them talk", where almost every day the most terrible stories from Russian life are discussed - about the murders and wild abuse of parents over their own children, about the rape of minors, about the wild indifference of health workers to the fate of people who have fallen into disaster, etc. etc. There are so many of these stories, their content is so terrible that to speak of<быдловатости>citizens of another country is not only dishonorable, but also demonstrates his own vulgarity speaking like that. You won’t hear anything sensible from Arbatova herself on these programs, and her excessive arrogance only confirms the opinion about her inadequacy in the perception of a foreign world. In the New York Russian-language press, the statements of many literary figures in Russia received quite detailed coverage. Nevertheless, the Brooklyn Central Library, represented by A. Makeeva, continues to invite the writers mentioned above to meet with former Soviet Jews. This is not the first time this library has invited Bykov and Ulitskaya to its place, and TV presenter V. Topaller did not miss the opportunity to meet with Kabakov at RTVI, even calling him almost a Russian classic. Recently it became known that the leaders<Дэвидзон-радио>invited the writer Arbatova into their living room, no doubt that the unprincipled Jews from Brighton, radio listeners of this<конторы>, they will rush to this meeting in droves, because they don’t care about national feelings and their own dignity. Until recently, these leaders were confident that these same seniors would vote for City Councilman L. Fiedler in our State Senate. It is no coincidence that Senator David Storobin, being a candidate, insisted on the closure of this radio station, since it does not protect the interests of the majority of our voters. Having lost the election, Davidzon and his supporters lost the remnants of their authority and found themselves on the sidelines of the political street. Today, the same studio again demonstrates indifference or a complete lack of understanding of national interests and invites to our city a literary lady who did not understand anything from her last trip to Israel and without hesitation goes to earn money to those Jews whom she insulted so calmly and ugly. Last week, the same Arbatova, on the eve of her trip to our city, did not hesitate to the public, in an interview with the host<Дэвидзон-радио>Vladimir Grzhonko said even more nonsense. I will cite just a few<заявок>from this interview:<России все больше угрожает американское хамство - всякие там Макдоналдсы, а: американские туристы - самые признанные в мире <жлобы>, there is no American culture, there is only something<оплодотворенное>Russian culture, Israel is a temporary illegal formation, a source of racism towards the Arabs, created on a foreign land. "The question arises: does Mr. Davidzon share the point of view of his guest? Precisely such anti-Israeli, anti-Semitic statements in the spirit of Nazi propaganda on the American Davidson Radio "Isn't it meanness to Davidzon's country of residence and to the country that today stands at the forefront of the fight against international terrorism? Or do Grzhonko, Davidzon and others not understand this? I call on the Jewish community to boycott Arbatova's visit to our city, not to take part in any events, associated with this rough lady who imagines herself to be a great connoisseur of human souls.<Дэвидзон-радио>our contempt in response to his next provocation. Naum Sagalovsky In that land where birches and pines, where snowdrifts have swept, how do you live, brothers and sisters, Rabinovichi of the Russian land? Sing, Kobzon! Philosophize, Zhvanetsky! Cheer up gloomy people! The evil spirit of the Judeophobic, Soviet, has not left and will never leave. Let so far only words, not stones, but it will reach them, do not doze! Where are you, godchildren of Father Me, Rabinoviches of the Russian land? From the Kuril ridge to Igarka, from Igarka to the Khimki dachas - violinists, jokers, oligarchs, how do you chew Russian kalach? Did you get what you expected? Dear, enter the Kremlin? Nothing that they call you Jews, Rabinovichi of the Russian land? Nothing that there is decency around and the ruling class does not commit atrocities, only, no matter what happens in the country, everything will certainly be swept away at you. It is a pity that you buried the sad fate of your ancestors for a long time. Pogroms don't teach you anything, Rabinoviches of the Russian land. You will go through thorns on the road, the lesson will be evil and cruel, neither a pectoral cross, nor surnames taken for future use will help. There is a whip - there would be a buttock! To the cheerful refrain of "ai-lyuli" you will flourish and be fruitful, rabinoviches of the Russian land ...
To the question Orthodox Jew!!! How do you feel about this statement??? given by the author Yashka the best answer is I don't understand the three exclamation points. It is not surprising for me that people of any nationality: Jews, Tatars, Japanese, and Congolese accept Orthodoxy, because Orthodoxy / however, like all Christianity / does not know national borders - we are equal before God! I personally know Orthodox Jews, and I do not put a single border between them and myself - we are brothers. Suffice it to say that the first Christian communities consisted mainly of Jews, and the apostles of Christ, and the Mother of God. This is not a statement, but an existing and existing reality! Orthodoxy - like a mother loves all her children, and there is no difference among them in anything! This is an axiom, a pastulate, a law - and it will always be so!
Answer from 22 answers[guru]
Hey! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Orthodox Jew!!! How do you feel about this statement???
Answer from Millet[guru]
Orthodox Judaism and Orthodoxy are not compatible as religious teachings, and if you meant a Jew, then of course this is not compatible ... .
But, if you spoke about the origin, nationality, then in the Orthodox Church there were and are many ministers of Jewish nationality! .
So, however, as there are non-Jews who profess Judaism! .
And in Chisinau, at the beginning of the last century, the world's first (except for the community of Christ's apostles in Jerusalem) Jewish messianic (ie, Christian) community, founded by Joseph Rabinovich, arose ...
Unfortunately, they were treated badly by Orthodox ministers - for that. that the Jews and from Judaism, they have already fallen away ... although the service of Christ was carried out on the basis of Jewish-Biblical traditions! .
There is a cemetery in Chisinau. where you can find tombstones with the stars of David, inside of which there is a crucifix!.
Answer from Vasily Anoshko[guru]
The horse is cured
that the thief is forgiven,
that the Jew is baptized.
Answer from Fitted[guru]
There are very few of them, but they exist. Sincerely, we will recognize them by deeds ..
Answer from European[guru]
Jews believe that the transition to another religion is a betrayal.
Answer from hlissa[guru]
And that, everyone chooses for himself, a woman, religion,. the road ... to serve the devil or the prophet, everyone chooses for himself ...
Answer from User deleted[guru]
Freedom of his personal choice!
Answer from Larisa sclafani[guru]
Positively.
Answer from Unixaix CATIA[guru]
absolute nonsense! either Jewish or Orthodox!
Answer from Lebedkova Natalia[guru]
Well, the Ethiopians are Orthodox, and the Japanese. So what?
Answer from Kavkaz Center[guru]
Oh, these are the most fanatical believers! ! They are called VYKRESTY. Don't you remember me, Alexandra?
Answer from Єrife[guru]
A Jew is not necessarily a Jew. And Russian is not necessarily Orthodox. And Muslims sometimes accept Orthodoxy. Yes, everything happens. Nationality and religion are independent of each other. And Russia did not immediately accept Orthodoxy.
Answer from Sparta[guru]
Yes, we are all hidden Orthodox, according to the church.
Answer from Elena[guru]
I generally treat Jews normally .. and what kind of person he is there, it certainly doesn’t matter
Answer from GURU[guru]
A Jew may be Orthodox, but then he is lost waiting for his sharashka!
Answer from Nonna Kurganskaya[guru]
What is the relationship between religion and nationality?
Have you met Orthodox Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Tajiks? Go to the temple - you will see nothing like this!
Freedom of choice!
Sometimes in LiveJournal one has to deal with statements about the inseparable connection between Orthodoxy and Judeophobia. Moreover, they are distributed both by extremists from the Jewish side, and by some citizens who claim to be Orthodox. For example, a certain Ossetian lady named Laura, who tries to portray herself as a greater Russian nationalist than natural Russians.
Is it so? It is worth giving one example from the Second World War, showing that the implacable position of both hierarchs and ordinary parishioners of the local Orthodox Church did not allow the expulsion of Jews to extermination camps, despite the fact that the prime minister was a staunch Nazi who insisted on such measures. not only to please the Nazi allies, but also out of personal conviction. He received his well-deserved bullet from the communists after the change in political alignments due to the military defeat of the Axis countries.
There is such a South European Slavic people - the Bulgarians. They professed Orthodoxy for many centuries and remained committed to their faith even under Ottoman oppression. And here is some evidence of the firm position of the Bulgarian church hierarchs in their rejection of the "Final Solution".
Despite the criticism of the Synod, the law "On the Defense of the Nation" was nevertheless adopted by the People's Assembly on December 24, 1940 and approved by a tsarist decree of January 15, 1941; On February 17, an addendum to the law was issued that determined the mechanism for its implementation, while it turned out to be milder than similar anti-Jewish acts in neighboring countries. However, after the annexation of Macedonia and Aegean Thrace to Bulgaria and the initial successes of the Germans on the Eastern Front, the government of B. Filov and, ultimately, Tsar Boris III intensified the anti-Jewish course. In 1941 alone, two new laws on economic restrictions on Jews were adopted, three relevant resolutions of the Council of Ministers (including the establishment of Jewish labor camps for military servicemen of August 12), and a decree of the Ministry of Internal Affairs prohibiting Jews from visiting public places and moving around the streets from 21 until 6 am.
For the first time after the adoption of the law, the Synod criticized it at a meeting on April 3, 1941 in connection with the discussion of the issue of marriages between Jewish Christians and Bulgarians, which were prohibited by the law "On the Protection of the Nation", but allowed by the charter of the exarchate. Attention was drawn to this contradiction in the statements of the Sofia and Sliven metropolises. When discussing the issue, the bishops were divided into two unequal groups. Two metropolitans: Joseph and Michael recognized that the law cannot be higher than the charter, but did not want to involve the Synod in the fight against the government. In their opinion, it would be enough to organize a delegation to the Prime Minister, which would ask to remove the mentioned prohibition from the law.
The rest of the bishops turned out to be much more radical. So, for the mitr. What was important to Paisius was not some inconsistencies between the law and the charter of the exarchate, but the contradiction of the act adopted by the People's Assembly with the foundations of Christian doctrine. In his speech, Vladyka emphasized: “It is necessary to respond with all the means available to the Church in order to prevent precedents. It must be stated that we cannot adopt and implement such a law.” As a result of the discussion, the Synod drew up and sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign and Religious Affairs demanding that those articles of the law be changed that were in conflict with the charter of the exarchate.
December 16 St. The synod decreed that the diocesan authorities should not charge any fee for the baptism of Jews who wished to convert to the Orthodox Church, and also once again emphasized the possibility of marrying Jewish Christians and Bulgarians. At the meeting of the Synod on June 9, 1942, Met. Stefan reiterated that the Law for the Defense of the Nation continues to inflict great suffering on all Christians, especially those of Jewish origin.
After the Berlin conference in Wannsee on January 20, 1942, which decided on the physical extermination of more than 11 million Jews in Europe, a number of new anti-Semitic acts were adopted in Bulgaria under pressure from the Nazis. The most significant was the law “On instructing the Council of Ministers to take all measures to resolve the Jewish question and related issues” dated July 9, 1942. On the basis of this law, on August 27, a decree was issued on the creation of a Commissariat for Jewish Affairs under the Ministry of Internal Affairs (under the leadership of Alexander Belev ) for the practical implementation of the new course. As part of this policy, on September 24, identifying "Jewish" signs were introduced on clothes, houses and enterprises (hexagonal yellow stars), negotiations began with the German authorities on preparations for the deportation of Jews to concentration camps in Poland, etc. Holy The Synod reacted to this by decisions of September 15, November 20 and December 10, 1942, to send letters to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign and Religious Affairs with an urgent request to cancel or soften all restrictive measures against Christians of Jewish origin, in particular with regard to wearing them the hexagonal star of David and the prohibition of their marriages with the Bulgarians.
The culmination of the official anti-Jewish policy of the Bulgarian authorities came in February-March 1943 - at that time an agreement was concluded between the Commissariat for Jewish Affairs and the Main Directorate of Imperial Security represented by its representative in Bulgaria, SS Hauptsturmführer Theodor Dannecker, dated February 22, on the deportation "in the first place 20 thousand Jews. The agreement was approved by a resolution of the Council of Ministers dated 2 March. However, it was only partially realized; in total, 11,528 Jews were deported exclusively from the lands annexed to Bulgaria during the war: 7,122 from Macedonia, 4,221 from the Aegean Thrace and 185 from the Pirot region of Serbia. According to Russian historians L. Dubova and G. Chernyavsky, the extradition of the Macedonian and Thracian Jews by the Bulgarian authorities to the Nazis and sending them to the death camps was a kind of "payment" for Germany for new lands.
A significant role in the salvation of the rest was played by the Bulgarian Church, which actively resisted the persecution of the Jews throughout the war. Its bishops sought to preserve the internal autonomy of the Church, which was threatened by state interference in matters related to the baptism of Jews who wished to accept Orthodoxy and their marriages with ethnic Bulgarians. Specific courageous deeds of various hierarchs are also known. Metropolitan Stefan of Sofia hid Rabbi A. Khamanel in his farmstead, who was hunted by the police, and resolutely fought against deportation, and Metropolitan Kirill publicly spoke out in defense of the persecuted Jews in Plovdiv and even attached a six-pointed Star of David to his episcopal robe. By his intercession, Vladyka Kirill saved many people from deportation. Also directly involved in the salvation of the Jews and the chairman of the Synod, Met. Neophyte.
The Bulgarian Church became especially active in the spring of 1943, when there was a real danger of deportation of all Bulgarian Jews to the Nazi death camps. The first to raise his voice of protest was Met. Stefan, and previously the most responsive to the troubles of the Jews. In early February 1943, when the state youth organization "Brannik" began systematic hooligan actions against the Jews of Sofia, four delegations visited the metropolitan in one day with requests for help. Vladyka immediately turned to the authorities for assistance and joined other public figures who protested against Brannikov's atrocities. In the end, the police had to intervene and curb the anti-Semitic antics of the thugs.
During this time, the government tried to deport the Jews from Sofia and other large cities to the countryside. The actions of the Commissariat on the Jewish Question were opposed by the protests of both the Orthodox clergy and various sections of the population - students, workers, etc. In 1943, the Synod not only raised its voice against the expulsion of Jews, taking public actions to mobilize the population of the country for their protection, but also continued to sharply criticize the law "On the Protection of the Nation", demanding its radical revision.
The Bulgarian hierarchs also protested against the deportation of Jews from Macedonia and Thrace, but this time they were powerless to do anything, since these Jews were not Bulgarian citizens. Their deportation began on February 23, a few days later on the way to the Rila Monastery, Metropolitan. Stefan was shocked by what he saw the actions of the authorities against the Jews of the Aegean Thrace. Vladyka immediately sent a telegram to the tsar with a request that "the Jews expelled from the White Sea region be transported through Bulgaria as people, and not as animals, and ease their unbearable regime with a wish not to change it in Poland." This telegram was followed by the answer that the fulfillment of the metropolitan's request was "possible and necessary", regarding the manifestation of mercy during the transportation of Jews through Bulgaria, the tsar turned to the German command. In the end, in the territories of Yugoslavia and Greece occupied by the Bulgarian troops, almost the entire Jewish population was interned and handed over to the German SD authorities, who sent them to the death camps in Poland, where only a few survived. The Orthodox clergy helped these sufferers with food and things when they were transported through Bulgaria.
In order to achieve the target figure of 20 thousand Jews, soon in the Bulgarian cities of Kyustendil, Dupnitsa, Gorna Dzhumaya, Pazardzhik and Plovdiv, the Filov government began actions for the forcible expulsion of Jews who, according to preliminary lists, were subject to deportation as "undesirable elements." February 28, returning from the Rila Monastery, Metropolitan. Stefan went to serve a festive liturgy in Dupnitsa, but the city was dead and empty, these days the deportation of Jews was to begin, they were under house arrest, and local Bulgarians also stopped going out in protest, voluntarily putting themselves under arrest(which indicates that highly learned bishops and ordinary laity were united in this matter -). The metropolitan urgently called the prime minister and, after a long conversation, received an assurance that the decision to deport would be canceled (which soon happened). In a sermon after the liturgy, Vladyka praised the residents of Dupnichi for their Christian attitude towards Jewish fellow citizens and wished them to continue to live in friendship and together defend their right to freedom in their native city.
When at the beginning of March 1943 it became clear that the Jews in Bulgaria itself were also subject to deportation, the Orthodox Church stood up for them with all the strength of its authority. In addition to Mr. Stephen, other bishops were also active. So, on March 10, Metropolitan Kirill strongly opposed the deportation of 1,500 Jews from Plovdiv. He sent a telegram to the tsar, in which he asked for mercy in relation to the Jews in the name of God, stating that otherwise he was not responsible for the actions of the people and the clergy, and entered into negotiations with the local authorities and the leadership of the police. According to eyewitnesses, the metropolitan warned the local police authorities that he told the Jews of one of the poorest quarters of the city: “I am giving you my house. Let's see if they can get you out of there." Vladyka really provided his house and the building of the metropolis as a refuge for baptized Jews, making it clear that he was ready for extreme measures, following the example of the ancient Christians. And in a letter to the Prime Minister, the metropolitan said that with a cross in his hands he would go to the death camp in Poland ahead of the convoy with the Jews. According to Plovdiv residents, Vladyka Kirill and several other clergy stood on the rails in front of the train with local Jews and thus prevented them from being sent to the Nazi camps. In Sliven, the alarmed townspeople turned to Metr. Eulogy, who sent a protosingel demanding explanations to the assistant commandant, etc.
It should be noted that in this whole situation, the Bulgarian church hierarchs firmly stood on the positions of Christian philanthropy, not being ready to sacrifice it to the momentary political interests of the state, which was an ally of the Third Reich.
My friend father Victor decided to wash the car. It was in Moscow, he drove into some kind of car wash, drove the car into a pit, and he settled himself in the waiting room. He had very important documents for any priest with him. So that during the washing, God forbid, they would not disappear, the priest decided to take them with him for safety. While he was waiting, he answered several calls, called someone himself, and, leaving, left the package of papers safely hanging on the back of the chair.
I caught myself late in the evening and rushed to the sink. Of course, no one saw the papers. Killed by what happened, he returns home and thinks: “How am I going to restore them now ?!” And most importantly - when, if tomorrow you need to present them to the authorities? And here is the call:
- Father, I am such and such, a rabbi of the Moscow synagogue. I went to wash the car and found your documents at the car wash. Just in case, so as not to be lost, I took the papers with me and I want to return them to you.
Father Victor tells me about this case by phone, and in my memory, as if in a computer overflowing with information, a time window appears: my childhood - the late 60s - early 70s of the last century - coincided with the beginning of the mass departure of our Jews to . In those years, the Soviet leadership, like the ancient pharaoh, gave the go-ahead, and the former Soviet citizens, like migratory birds, moved to the south.
Well, they stretched and stretched, I didn’t care about them. A nine-year-old boy does not care about geopolitics, he has other interests. And everything would be fine, I would continue to stay away from any political affairs, continuing to live in the happy world of a small child, if not for the notorious "Jewish question."
Wall of Tears. Temple Mount, Jerusalem, Israel
Perhaps due to the presence in my veins of an admixture of either Bulgarian or gypsy blood, which made me outwardly different from other guys in the class, and also because of a non-Russian surname in those days, for the first time I heard this “stable expression” in my address: “ You jewish muzzle! Go back to your Israel!"
When I got home from school, I asked my mother what "Jewish face" means? Mom was born in a Belarusian village. Her parents - my grandfather and grandmother - fleeing hunger and civil war, took the children and left the Moscow region for their grandfather's homeland. Later, when peaceful life began to improve, they returned to Pavlovsky Posad, where my grandmother was from. Brought up in international working traditions, my mother taught me not to divide people along ethnic lines.
“Jews,” my mother enlightened me, “they call Jews, but you don’t call anyone that, these are offensive words.
“Mom,” I asked, just in case, “are we Jews?”
“No,” she reassured me.
I wanted to ask why then the boys call me “Jewish muzzle”, but I did not ask, for some reason I thought that my mother might be upset about this. And I loved my parents and stubbornly answered all insults: "I'm not a Jew!" The children saw that this offended me, and they got more and more excited, and since I did not give up and did not cry, they also beat me.
At this time, many Jewish anecdotes and funny songs appeared. I think all this was done purposefully, maybe in order for them to leave, I don’t know. But they achieved their goal, the word "Jew" became synonymous with betrayal, and I, a son who dreams of becoming an officer and a hero himself, did not want to be a traitor, all my insides of a little man opposed this. Moreover, there was already a war going on in the Middle East, and our officers, including those from our unit, went to this war as advisers.
I remember that time and see how many mistakes our teachers made. I don’t know who needed it, for what kind of reporting, but some smart head inserted a page into the class magazine, which indicated the nationality of the student. And every quarter, as if during this time something could change dramatically, the class teacher forced each of us to loudly announce our nationality to the whole class.
As a rule, at the classroom hour, the teacher opened the desired page in the magazine and arranged a roll call. There were two Jewish girls in our class - Lyuda Baran and Tsilya Deichman. The list of students began with Luda's name. It still stands before my eyes as she got up, although this was not required, proudly raised her head and loudly shouted to the whole class: “I am a Jew!”. Surprisingly, none of the girls were persecuted, for some reason I got it alone. As soon as I quickly said “Ukrainian” quickly, as several voices immediately resounded throughout the class, merging into a cry: “Jew! Jew!"
The teacher with the always huge stack of notebooks on the table made no remarks to anyone, wearily continuing the roll call. And such an execution in her presence was arranged for me every quarter. I think that there was no malicious intent in her behavior, she just didn’t care, and there was no hatred for Jews in our midst either, otherwise my classmates would have had a hard time. Now I understand: most likely, the children were controlled by the invisible adult hand of one of my father's subordinates. No, I’m convinced again and again that it’s impossible for the commander’s son to study among the children of his subordinates. And children are not to blame for the fact that they are merciless by nature and love to play cruel games. After becoming adults, my classmates and I maintained a good relationship.
You know what they say: if a person is called a pig all the time, he will eventually grunt. I was called “a Jew” for so long that over time I myself began to associate myself with the Jews, and everything that concerned them began to concern me in one way or another. So the "Jewish question" became my question. I don’t know why the Lord allowed me to go through all this, maybe in order to experience in my own skin what it means to be persecuted, not to become a persecutor myself? ..
A few years later, my parents nevertheless realized that the mistake made at the time needed to be corrected as soon as possible, and I was transferred to another school. I was lucky, in the new school the "Jewish question" was not on the agenda at all. Among my classmates, there was no one who at least once during the entire period of our joint education would have thought of throwing this offensive in my direction: “Yid!”. They told me, as a matter of course, without any condemnation, that, it turns out, our Zhenya Pukhovich until the fifth grade was considered a Jew by his father and bore the name Gemelson, and in the fifth grade he became a Belarusian by his mother. The guys even praised his parents for their quick wit: "You know how difficult it is to be a Jew today! ..". It must be difficult,” I agreed, knowing this, although not from Zhenya’s, but at least from my own experience. They say that the eyes are the mirror of the soul, and so in his soul, instead of the usual universal Jewish sadness, there was so much cheerful enthusiasm that there was simply no place for sadness in it.
Well, I'll tell you, Zheka was a frame! Such a naughty kid still needs to be looked for. Small in stature, with ears set strictly perpendicular to his head, he looked like a giant Mickey Mouse, except perhaps without a tail. As soon as there was an opportunity to get off, running away from classes or from some socially significant event, here he was the first. Zhenya was an outstanding idler, he studied very badly, he constantly copied test papers, but by nature he was a light, cheerful person, constantly pouring anecdotes and jokes. It is impossible to imagine that Zhenya committed a vile act, slandered or framed someone. And yet, he was never greedy.
I remember how, at the end of the eighth grade, we took an exam in the Russian language. Even those who did well in this subject trembled like an aspen leaf. They were not afraid of the exam, they were afraid of Maryivanna. It is clear that such a loafer as Pukhovich had nothing to “catch” at the oral exam. Receiving our tortured threes, we, sweaty, with trembling hands, flew out of the office like traffic jams, not believing our happiness, actively gesticulating and discussing our experiences. Sharing our impressions, we did not even notice how a mysterious person in a completely white suit, white tie and white shoes appeared in the school corridor. This someone was walking, smiling from the top of his head, and holding a grandiose bouquet of flowers in his hands. And only when this chic macho approached the office doors, we recognized Zhenya Pukhovich in him.
This chic bouquet of flowers, collecting which Zhenya climbed all the surrounding dachas, shocked even Maryivanna and broke the cold ice of her heart. Add his white suit to the flowers, and you will understand that in order to get a three, it was enough for Zheke just to come to the exam. And after he admitted with a tear in his voice that the Russian language was his favorite subject, he was provided with a B. Yes, he took risks, but, as you know, those who do not take risks do not know the victorious taste of champagne.
After graduating from school, Zhenya and I smoothly flowed into the same institute and even studied at the same faculty. True, we ended up with him in different groups and crossed paths only at lectures. My friend immediately threw off his puritanical look and began to dress in the latest denim fashion. I bought myself a chic Czech "Java" for those times and drove up to the institute with the same chic as, probably, the famous Chkalov flew over crowds of onlookers in his time.
I can't forget how, being the trade union organizer of the group, I visited the scholarship commission, which was headed by our deputy dean. The question arose, to whom to give the last scholarship: an orphan girl or our Zhenya? Both passed the exams disgustingly, but the deputy dean suddenly began to actively defend my former classmate. As a result of the discussion, it was decided to divide this scholarship between both of them. “Yevgeny is trying,” the deputy dean continued, “and he studies to the best of his ability! ..”
I do not know the measure of Zhenya's abilities, he certainly could study more decently if he saw the point in it. But it just didn't make sense. Because my friend was lucky to be born under a lucky star: his dad was, if not the most, then one of the most famous lawyers in our city, and his mother was a police colonel, an investigator for especially important cases.
But time is ruthless, and our day has come to pay the bills. After graduating from the institute and having received a diploma of higher education that smelled pleasantly of paint, we got together in. Having had fun for five years in restaurants, Zhenya, like everyone else, went to get a haircut “to zero”. I think that having such parents, and even with such connections, the boy could well have remained in civilian life, continuing to build a peaceful life, but then it was considered indecent to “mow down” from the army.
A year and a half later, after serving his term and returning home, we met by chance in our beloved city of Grodno. During the service, he stretched out, and we were equal in height. A beautiful young brunette walked by the arm.
- Shura! - He called me, - How glad I am to see you! Meet…” he introduced me to his companion. “Irochka and I are going to get married,” Zhenya reported, and they looked at each other in such a way, with such eyes that I even involuntarily envied: if only someone would look at me like that too!
This was our last meeting.
–– Where are you going? – he asked my future plans for life.
"I don't know yet," I replied and shrugged. - And you?
- Ancestors arrange me in the apparatus of the regional council of workers' deputies.
Zhenya emphasized the word "workers", hinting that those who do not work, they just eat. At that moment, for some reason, I became afraid for the future of the regional council and, in general, for the fate of all Soviet power as a whole. And not in vain. I looked into the water: a few years later the Soviet Union could not resist and collapsed.
In difficult times of timelessness, when everyone was saved or drowned alone, Zhenya remembered his Jewish past, and he was drawn to the promised land. Where did he fly from? Maybe from Moscow? If I had known, I would definitely have come to see you off. Although we were not great friends with him, I loved him for his cheerful character, kind and slightly ironic attitude to the whole world around him, for the fact that he never lost heart.
For many years I did not know what had become of him, and then somehow I go to Odnoklassniki and come across his contented face. He nevertheless found his second homeland - his promised land is located in, or rather, in Los Angeles. The United States, deeply moved, accepted Zheka as a bright representative of the eternally persecuted tribe. Now he lives on an American allowance, has many benefits and exposes his pictures, in which he certainly hugs someone. And not with people - maybe from loneliness, or they are no longer interesting to him - but for some reason with monuments, bushes and even with a huge fish on the ocean. The Governor Terminator himself wishes Zhenya good night in the evenings and wakes him up in the morning with his gentle “Zheka, ah wil be back”.
I wrote to him: “Zhenya, I see you are lucky, you are happy there in your new homeland,” but for some reason he did not answer me. And anyway, I'm happy for my friend, although sometimes it's a shame: they called me a "Jewish muzzle", and Zhenya got a lullaby from the Terminator and friendship with a hefty fish. But seriously, I would like to officially warn the American leadership: for the love of all that is holy, do not force Zheka to work and, I beg you, do not entrust him with anything! Let him spend the rest of his life sunbathing by the ocean and fishing. Enough of our collapse and one superpower.
When I learned that the rabbi had returned the documents he had lost to Fr. Victor, and thereby rescued him from a great misfortune, I really wanted to ask the priest about the meeting with this same rabbi. I wonder what he is? After all, everything that I know about them is gleaned solely from anecdotes. And here is such an opportunity!
“Dad,” I ask when meeting with my friend, “tell me how you went to the rabbi, what did you talk about with him, and in general, what is he like?”
I feel like I'm confusing him with this question.
–– What?.. Yes, the most ordinary, normal person. We sat with him, drank tea, laughed, they say, the situation is like in that joke. And then, it’s not the first time for me to communicate with a rabbi. At one time, I was a parishioner of a Moscow synagogue for almost a year.
My jaw dropped:
–– How are the synagogues, father?! What are you, a Jew?!
Father Victor takes a sip of tea from his large mug:
–– No, purebred Belarusian. Nevertheless, he spent almost a year among the Jews. When I moved to Moscow, I didn’t even have any of my friends here. Imagine there are so many people around, and you are one of them. At one time, when I was studying at a technical school in Bobruisk, I met a girl, it turned out that her father was a famous Jewish writer. Somehow I was walking through the center of Moscow, and suddenly, for some reason, I wanted to go through the door of a house. It turned out to be a synagogue. There were almost no people inside, a man came up to me and asked who I was and what I wanted. I said that I came from Bobruisk and I know a well-known Jewish writer there. This minister was practically the first one who, during all this time, spoke to me like a human being and invited me to come again.
No one demanded anything from me, I just sometimes came to them, sat at the services. They reminded me of my uncle Tsyba.
–– What uncle Tsyba?
–– My own Jewish uncle.
–– Wait, you just said that you are a Belarusian, and now you are saying that your uncle is a Jew. Dad, you totally confused me!
Father Victor laughs:
“Sorry, I screwed up your head. Uncle Tsyba became our family in the years. Their family lived in our village. The Germans came too quickly, and his parents had to abandon everything and leave with our troops.
D. Ohler. Priest and rabbi
I understood everything Father Victor was talking about. I remember, as a boy of about ten, my mother took me to my grandfather's homeland. This is a village near Minsk. Grandfather was no longer in the world, but we were met by his own sister, grandmother Lyuba. We stayed with them for two days, and grandmother Lyuba decided to treat us with mushroom soup. I volunteered to go with her into the woods. We walked near the village. There were almost no mushrooms, we searched for a long time, but we collected quite a few, and suddenly, can you imagine, I go out into a large clearing, and there are mushrooms on it, a lot of mushrooms! I, then an addicted boy, gladly rush to collect them, but my grandmother hugs me from behind by the shoulders:
–– Don't, Sashenka, don't. Nobody collects anything here.
–– Grandma Lyuba, why?
–– During the war, a large column of Minsk Jews was once led through our village, then they were brought to this place and buried. They didn’t even shoot at them, they just buried them and that’s it. The earth groaned for several days and trembled, and the punishers did not let anyone near the grave.
For the rest of my life I remember that clearing and the mushrooms that grow in abundance on it.
“I don’t know for what reason,” Father Victor continued, “but the little Jewish boy was left alone in the village, most likely, his parents left so hastily that they did not have time to pick him up. I asked my uncle about those times, he does not remember anything at all. My grandmother had six children of her own, and she took pity and took the abandoned baby with her. True, he had to constantly hide from the Germans. In the grandmother's house, under the stove, there was a small depression, and that's where the baby was sitting. Sometimes I think: try to put my four-year-old Nikitka in some closet for at least an hour, so he will not sit for five minutes, he will start knocking! And this one was sitting ... Children, perhaps, were different then, or did they understand something? ..
In our village, there was a mill on the river; before the war, grain was ground on it. The Germans also used it. If you sneak up to the mill from the side of the river, then you can quietly get to the millstones and collect the remains of flour from them. Grandma's family with the whole composition periodically went to the mill at night for flour. One day a sentry tracked them down and started shooting. He drove the children to the middle of the river and shot the four older ones. The grandmother, hiding in the bushes, covered the mouths of the two remaining babies with her hands, pressed them to her and watched the bodies of her murdered children float along the river.
The war continued, the Germans reached Moscow, but after that ours forced them to retreat back to the border. German military garrisons periodically stood in the village, and at one time part of the SS troops. Grandmother was a beautiful woman, and one SS officer got into the habit of entering our house. He always brought some kind of porridge. Maybe the person remembered his family, maybe for some other reason, but every time he came, he put the brought food on the table, sat down and watched the children eat. Grandmother was always afraid that the German would accidentally find a third baby in the house, a small dark-haired Tsyba, who was very different from the blue-eyed children with straw-colored heads.
Once an officer came to them late in the evening:
–– Mother, I know you hide a Jewish child in the house.
She began to object, but the SS man interrupted:
- Reported. Tomorrow they will burn you with your children, you have until morning to hide.
Grandmother gathered her children, little Tsyba, and immediately went into the forest. In a large bomb crater, she made a dugout, which became their home for several years.
After the war, only in 1947 did they manage to return to the village and build a small wooden hut. Tsyba lived with his foster mother for several more years, until his own mother returned to the village in the early fifties. Where she was and why she returned so late - Father Victor does not know, he only remembers how this already elderly woman came to their house. She smoked a pipe, and little Vita liked the smell of tobacco very much. With the help of neighbors, Tsyba and his mother built a house, where they settled.
Vitya's grandmother prayed to God all her life. Being illiterate, she memorized the entire Psalter and also knew many folk "chants" that she could sing for almost hours. Their village was surrounded by a large lake, and the grandmother transported people on this lake by boat. At eighty years old, she was still able to swim across the lake back and forth.
On the night before, she took a bucket, poured grain into it, inserted a large home-made candle and handed it to the children. They scurried ahead, and the mother with the icon followed them and sang all the way: “Hail to the Mother of God Virgin ...”. So they walked around the village and the nearest village to it. Little Tsyba went along with everyone, although the grandmother did not baptize the Jewish boy. She said: "Let him grow up first, then he decides."
By the way, this tradition of a night religious procession around the village around the village was also found by little Vitya. Together with their brother, they carried a candle in a bucket, and behind them were about fifteen women, all with the same icon of St. Barbara - probably because this icon was the only shrine in their house that survived after the war.
–– When the local authorities decided to fight the religious intoxication, – Father Victor continued his story, – they sent a district police officer to deal with the prayer books. Our neighbor came to us through the house. Once upon a time, my grandmother looked after all the neighbor's children while their parents worked in the field, the district police officer was one of those former pupils of hers. He came to our house, sat down at the table and began, it was, to draw up a protocol:
“So, Maria Nikolaevna,” the policeman began with an air of importance, “for how long will you embarrass the people with your God?” Don't you know there is no God?
At that time, grandmother was rubbing a large cauldron on the stove with a rag.
-- What you said?! - the old woman started up. - No God!? And geta you tell me, forgetting, bastard, how I … wiped you?!
And with the rag that was in her hand, let's whip the policeman! He, dodging blows, flew out of the hut like a fly.
“Bab Mash,” the guy began apologetically, “what am I? I'm nothing. This boss ordered, but I'm fine, Baba Mash, don't be angry.
On Easter, my grandmother dyed eggs, baked Easter cake, and three days before the holiday she walked to Mogilev. Returning home, she presented children with krashenka and a piece of consecrated Easter cake. Somehow my brother and I got naughty and started throwing Easter eggs at my grandmother, and she sat down on a chair, looked at us and said with such pain: “Why will the geta grow up out of you, lads? ..”
Uncle Tsyba by this time, having buried his mother, got married and worked as a receiver of glass bottles and other recyclables. He built himself a large stone house and lived prosperously. And we had a misfortune, the house caught fire at night. I remember how my father snatched us, sleeping, out of bed, put us on horseback, hit him with his palm, and the horse rushed forward, carrying my brother and me out of the fire. Everything burned down, this is a terrible thing, a fire. Uncle Tsyba came to the ashes and took us all to his house, and he, with his wife and a recently born little son, moved to live in a bathhouse. So this house is ours. In general, he never forgot us, he constantly helped with money, taught, treated.
You know, dad, I had to fight and serve in the organs, how many deaths I saw, but I never saw anyone die like my grandmother. As I remember now, on February 28, the snow fell visibly and invisibly. Grandmother wakes up in the morning and announces: “Today I will die, gather all my relatives.” Warmed up the water and washed. “We need a postman,” he says, “to wait, to receive a pension. Bury me on it." She waited, signed for the money received, went, lay down on the bed and ordered everyone to come up to her. "Now ask my forgiveness." We asked. “God will forgive,” she replied, “and forgive me.” She ordered to invite grandfather Mikhas, we called him "deacon". She and her grandmother went from house to house to sing for the dead. He came immediately with the Psalter. Then she called me and made a sign that I leaned over to her: “Granddaughter, pray for me, I know you will become a priest, only you need to change your character.” She baptized us all and died. She shuddered so slightly, exhaled - and that's it.
A lot of people came to the funeral from nowhere. It turned out that grandmother prayed for very, very many, and in our places she was revered as a righteous woman.
–– Listen, father, but your uncle Tsyba didn't go to church, don't you remember?
–– No, he didn’t go, but he believed in his own way, kept a fast, tried not to work on Saturday, but his son, he was baptized, even went to Mogilev for this. We have a lot of Jews in our area, and I notice that many are slowly converting to Orthodoxy. I have even met priests. In general, dad, I even envy them a little.
–– I don’t understand, who are you jealous of, the Jews or what?
–– Exactly, I envy them. Remember, as it says in the Gospel of John: “And from His fullness we all received grace for grace.” According to the Apostle, father, you and I are a wild branch, grafted to a single root, the Lord rejected them for the sake of our salvation, so that there would be enough space for you and me at the marriage table [see ch. Romans 11:17-18] And now I see many of them come to the Church, to see such a time has come in fulfillment of the prophecies.
Of all the once large grandmother's family, only one of her daughters remained - the mother of our father, Victor. She worked as a teacher all her life and did not go to church, but she keeps the image of St. Barbara the Great Martyr inherited from her mother in a place of honor above the TV. She says she started praying.
Uncle Tsyba is no longer there, death separated them, they were all buried in different places: some in Orthodox, some in Jewish. The priest comes to his homeland and goes to serve at the graves dear to him. First, he goes to the Orthodox and serves at the graves of his grandmother, father, and brothers. Then - to Uncle Tsyba, in Jewish, and serves there.
“Dad,” he addresses me, “do you not condemn me that I, an Orthodox priest, serve both here and there?”
I answer him:
–– You are a priest, Father Victor, and your job is to pray, including for your loved ones. And war, brother, is such a thing that unites people of different faiths and bloodlines, sometimes regardless of their desire, into one family and makes them relatives. How can you not remember your Jewish uncle? Pray, dad, I don't blame you.
Father Victor tells me about how he was already desperate to find the missing documents, and this is what I thought at that moment. Only a little over a thousand Orthodox priests serve in Moscow, one of them stops by to wash his car at one of the countless car washes in the capital. Out of absent-mindedness, he leaves a package with important papers on the back of a chair, and none other than the rabbi who drove after the priest to the same car wash, the number of which in Moscow is generally negligible, finds it. If I were a mathematician, even for fun, I would calculate the probability of such a coincidence.
Or maybe this is not a coincidence, maybe, through the prayers of my grandmother and uncle Tsyba, this miracle happened when in such a huge metropolis one Orthodox priest who got into a big, big trouble was rescued by a Jewish rabbi? ..
First book published by Nikea Publishing House priest Alexander Dyachenko "Crying angel".
