What makes the FSU so interesting?

[Gator]

Gator, fascinating subject!

In a Russian home it is bad form not to offer slippers of some sort to a visitor or guest. It is of course okay to bring your own slippers and I do that often as my shoe size is 11.

Given the dirty streets and sidewalks, especially in winter, this is understandable.  And the building corridors are horrible.  So the need to remove street shoes at the door is obvious, but does not explain the temporary donning of plastic slippers at airport security screenings.   
 

At the same time it is sometimes considered offensive to walk inside a Russian home without slippers because it could be a sign to others that the host has not properly provided for a guest.

Thanks, this is the explanation.   I extrapolate from this fact that the need to cover feet during airport security screening is not for sanitary reasons but for politeness.  Bare feet are perhaps as offensive to others as the dreadful act of pointing one's index finger in public.   
 
If one's only experience with Russians were in queues, one would think they are barbaric people.   However, Russians are concerned with public politeness in ways that do not concern us.   
 
I surmise that Khrushchev banging his shoe at the United Nations General Assembly was perhaps as offensive to Russians as if he urinated on the podium.    BTW, public urination seems acceptable although not encouraged, merely because the lack of public toilets make it a necessity.    Even where there are public toilets, the Uzbeki female cleaning staff have no reservations about cleaning next to me while I am standing at the urinal.

[mendeleyev]

I think it has more more to do with tradition and the comfort of the Russian mindset than with practicality.

[mendeleyev]

Most Russians are surprised to learn that Russian Saint Tikhon, the martyred Russian Orthodox Patriarch Tikhon, had ties to America having been the top Orthodox Archbishop in America before returning to become the last Patriarch in Russia before the Communist revolution.

So too, most Americans are often surprised to learn that the USA has a "Embassy" (representation) Orthodox Church in Moscow.

Our family usually attends the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Russia's national Cathedral, but neither are we strangers to the American Representation Church, Saint Catherine the Great Martyr in-the-fields Orthodox Church.

So come along and let's get acquainted with this unique church in a historic Moscow neighborhood. (This is one of the articles found in the Mendeleyev Journal section on Religion in Russia.)



In ecclesiastical terms, a metochion (подворье) is an ecclesiastical embassy church, usually from one autonomous church to another. Such is the Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr in-the-Fields in Moscow with the mission to represent the American Orthodox community to the Russian Orthodox Church.

 

In the sixteenth century Tsarina Anastasia Romanova established a place for cosmetics merchants in an area beyond the Moscow River and with it built a church in 1612. The church was dedicated to Saint Catherine, the Great Martyr in-the-fields.



Initially the church was erected of wood but later damaged during the Time of Troubles as the merchant area was the scene of battles between Russian defenders and Polish and Lithuanian invaders.

Repairs and additions were made in 1636, this time with stone as the main building material. Workers also added the Saint Nicholas chapel to one side of the church.



More restorations were made in the eighteenth century as the style of architecture was changed to reflect more of European baroque styling. The redesigned church was consecrated in September of 1767. A second, heated winter church was built in the mid-nineteenth century, between 1870 to 1872. (The original church like most from that period was unheated.)



Before being shut down by the Bolsheviks, the church was a favourite of Russian Patriarch Tikhon, a Russian-American, and he visited it often. Until his arrest and soon thereafter his murder by the Soviets, Tikhon administered both the Russian and American Orthodox national churches.




The Bolsheviks set about closing churches and began with the murder of Patriarch Tikhon. In 1931 the church was stripped of most of its furnishings, the clergy declared enemies of the state and killed. 



For decades the Communists used the church for offices as well as converting three floors into communal apartments.
 
With the collapse of Communism the government began to return some churches to the original owners and the Church of St. Catherine was among the earliest to be returned.




When the Russian Orthodox Church began to restore communion with her sister Orthodox Churches the USA sent an Archpriest to Moscow from the Orthodox Church in America to establish a representation church to the Moscow Patriarchate. The OCA had begun as the daughter church of the ROC as it was the Russians who had first brought Orthodoxy to the Americas.





Given the location, St. Catherine was placed at the disposal of the OCA and in 1994 St. Catherine's was reopened for worship. His Holiness Alexei II of Russia and Metropolitan Theodosius of the USA concelebrated the Orthodox divine liturgy and consecrated the Representation Church of the Orthodox Church in America, St. Catherine the Great Martyr, on 11 June 1999.



In this Moscow neighborhood, quiet courtyards and nineteenth-century manor houses, occasionally broken by the characteristic onion domes of Russian Orthodox churches, convey more than anywhere else in Moscow the atmosphere of a patriarchal way of life, of bells calling the faithful to vespers or the Divine Liturgy, the smell of incense and the beautiful chanting of Old Church Slavonic songs and liturgy.



At present the parish of St. Catherine's consists of two churches, the older summer ('cold', because it does not have heating) church in honour of the saint herself, and the winter ('warm', because it has heating) church, dating from the mid-nineteenth century.



Of special interest are the outer metal railings of the territory of the church that were placed here in 1769. These ornate railings are a unique example of eighteenth-century Moscow metal work and are broken by stone columns topped by the imperial state symbol of Russia borrowed from Byzantium, the double-headed eagle. The double-headed eagles also crowned the main metal gates to the church, but were removed in the 1920s.



The effects of the brutality meted out to the Orthodox Church in Russia for over a period of seventy years cannot be eradicated overnight. St. Catherine's OCA Church shares with her sister Russian parishes not only the joys of spiritual regeneration but also the myriad of tribulations that sudden freedom can bring.




The communist bureaucracy left a legacy of inertia, inefficiency and corruption that will take generations to overcome. This has entailed frustrating delays in the return of all of the church property. The shadow of the past still hangs over St. Catherine's in the form of the rectory, which is now occupied by the Federal Security Service (the former KGB).



Mendeleyev note: there is quite a nice bookstore, small but adequate, at Saint Catherine's and it is open most weekdays. Although most of the books are in Russian some are in English. They offer a nice selection of icons and other Orthodox items, too.

On most Sundays the majority of worshipers are native Russians but because of the status of the church being American you can meet visitors from European countries as well. Most services are in Old Church Slavonic but some are bi-lingual in Russian and English.

Website: http://www.st-catherine.ru/


Address:Bolshaya Ordynka, 60/2119017, Moscow
Tel: +7 (495) 959-12-96

Metro stations: Polyanka or Oktyabrskaya (it is a 10-15 min walk from either station)

[OlgaH]

Russians learn a lot about their Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox Church turns into a ZAO (a "close joint-stock company") on the government level. Do you want to celebrate an anniversary in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior? You can rent even the Patriarch's Hall, just pay the money, for additional payment you will get VIP rooms. The Cathedral of Christ the Savior right now is a limited liability company. The Russian businesses periodically are ordered by the government to sponsor the Russia Orthodox Church.

The Krestovozdvizhensky Convent near Moscow has legal proceedings with the Rehabilitation Center "Childhood" in Domodyedovo for children with autistic disorder, Down Syndrome, Cerebral palsy and so on. There are about 30 thousand children each year undergo  treatments in that rehabilitation center, but the Patriarchate wants to take the building from the children and the children's last hope.  Nuns scream right into the parents' eyes that their children are punished by God for  their (parent's) sins. Such a cruelty right from nuns. The Convent is also in the conflict with locals. The convent wants to take their houses as the convent claims the Center and the locals' houses are were built on the convent's territory during the Soviet time. The locals say that they were living whole their lives there and have no place to go, but the Convent's Mother Superior  "parries a blow": "Accomplish your soul feat and give your homes to the Convent".

In 1682 the Russian Orthodox Church burnt alive a Russian protopope Avvakum, not just because he was an Old Believer and was against the new Orthodox reforms, but because he condemned the Nikon's Russian Orthodox Church for the greed and hypocrisy.       
 

[mendeleyev]

Do you want to celebrate an anniversary in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior? You can rent even the Patriarch's Hall, just pay the money, for additional payment you will get VIP rooms. The Cathedral of Christ the Savior right now is a limited liability company.

Being that Christ Cathedral is my home church when in Moscow I'll be glad to respond.

True, the ZAO 'Mospromstroi' was created to as a consortium of government and the church to manage the construction. Churches do that, from Baptist to Presbyterian to Charismatic to Independent. Most clergy don't run large construction projects. Government was involved because they still held control of the property at that point.

Also true that the Commission for the Construction of the Cathedral, a government entity, formed a Russian corporation to oversee funding, fundraising and construction.

It is also true that the Limited Liability Company “Mosrestavratsiya” which is a City of Moscow owned company, offers rentals of the Church hall and basement facilities. Being that they supplied funding for the basement and lower Cathedral restoration, it was part of the arrangement when the government returned the property to the church.

You might be interested to know that money coming into Mostrestavratsiya also is allocated to maintaining the exhibition halls in the State History Museum, upkeep of the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square, the auxiliary building of the Bolshoi Theatre, and the Pushkin Museum.

Of course all sorts of churches from Baptist to Presbyterian to Charismatic to Independent rent their halls as well. I'm glad they do and am all for it.



Now, as to the "Childhood" program, I'm aware of that one also but perhaps my view will be different that yours or of others.

True: Childhood, a centre designed for 250 beds, treats over 3,000 children annually.

True: Other than an Orthodox owned/run charity facilities for Downs Syndrome & Cerebral palsy & Autism like the one out in the Sergiev Posad area, the common consensus in the Russian press is that "Childhood" is the only such ADVANCED state run facility in the country.

True: There are an estimated 500,000 such children in Russia today.

True: The land and buildings at Luchino had belonged to the monastery and had been seized by the Communists.

True: The Soviets sent most of the nuns to the Gulags and turned the facility into a military hospital.

True: After the war it was converted into a tuberculosis sanatorium.

True: As the Lenin Hills area became very fashionable, the sanatorium was closed and the area given to the state rehabilitation center. You can hide sick children behind walls but not TB, I guess. Go figure.

True: In 1992, as the government was trying to clean up Communism's 70 years private property seizures, the property was divided between the Ministry of Health and the monastery. What for centuries was the property of the monastery is now divided between a government agency and a church group.

True: All things being equal, the nuns should allow families and children to cross the section of the property to go back and forth to the clinic and hospital. But in fairness to the nuns, when they granted families access at first they were met one morning with cranes and bulldozers from a construction firm ready to build a foundation on that particular space.

That being said, I can hardly blame the nuns for putting up a gate and halting further construction. I would have likely done the same thing and would probably wait for the courts to settle the issue.

Now the Ministry of Health needs to expand and wants to take back some of that monastery land again. Olga, that area is kind of landlocked.

Even if they were to build on all 34 hectares, you'd still have several problems:

1- Centralizing ALL of Russia's treatment in one city just isn't the best solution for the largest country on earth, covering 1/6 of the earth's land mass. Decentralization is in Russia's best interests and in the interests of the children and their families.

I know that the Ministry of Health argues that the best doctors are in Moscow. Well then train and incentivize some new ones to live in cities other than Russia's so-called non-geographical "centre."

What family in the Far East can manage an 8 day train ride just for diagnosis and care of such a child?! Good gawd, somebody needs to think this one through and throw that Commie centralization crap out the window.

2- A landmark of great historical significance would be lost.

3- Monasteries have rights and it was not they who seized private property but the other way around. Government has the authority of imminent domain and if that property was really going to serve all of Russia then they'd have already acted.

BTW, I've not seen the behaviour you described but I have seen some of the best charity work in the world done by nuns.

4- A lot of press, at first, was given when the nuns gated off 2 hectares on which a new hospital wing was to have been built. Again, lets look at facts: Baring action of the courts, the entity which will decide this issue, the Federal Property Management Agency had included those 2 hectares when some (remember, not all) of the property was returned to the monastery in 1992.

It is that very Federal Property Management Agency which made the determination of the return that the historic monastery was in a "protection zone" due to the fact that the monastery was "a monument of architecture and art of cultural importance."

Think about that for a moment...as an example, Saint Basil's remains a state museum, because Red Square is part of a "protection zone." It is the same for the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square, a state museum which the church can use for extremely limited functions.

The Federal Property Management Agency must justify their decisions anytime they name a "protection zone" and you must admit that their reasons not to bulldoze the entire place and send the nuns packing is based on solid reasoning from a historic and cultural context.

Far too many historical landmarks are being sent to dust as we speak and it will be Russia's loss forever. I wrote about this issue sometime back, read it here.

Olga, here is what is already in the works: the Ministry of Health is suing the Federal Property Management Agency and the Monastery. The courts will decide if the Federal Property Agency can't work it out first.

If I tell you that I hope the monastery wins (I do) you'll perhaps think it for purely religious reasons because I'm Orthodox.

But I actually have a better idea as it seems to me to be impossible for the Ministry of Health to build a clinic, hospital and neurological school all on that area without destroying a historical landmark that had legal right to the property for generations.

Most importantly, I'm for the children. Even if that space had been empty forest and no monastery ever there, I think that Russia should stop trying to centralize all important facilities such as this one onto one single piece of property. For Russia to become a truly first rate nation, she needs facilities like these scattered around the country.

It is not right for families of severely retarded children in a country this large to have only Moscow as a place for advanced treatment.

Respectfully,Mendeleyev

[OlgaH]

Here is the website of the Rehabilitation center "Detstvo"
http://mirdlyavseh.ru/

And as they wrote on their home page: "Государственные учреждения отвернулись от наших детей, называя их «необучаемыми» и отказывая в какой-либо адекватной поддержке. Многие люди сторонятся и ограждают своих детей от нас, как будто мы страдаем заразной болезнью. (The government institutions turn their back on our children, calling them learning-disabled and refusing any adequate help)

And now the same does the Patriarchate.
http://www.mr7.ru/news/society/story_36139.html
http://www.rg.ru/2010/10/22/centr.html

While you  can hardly blame the nuns for putting up a gate and don't let disabled children go through the Convent territory from one building of the Center to another, and they have to make a huge loop, I see the Convent's action as a big hypocrisy.

The Russian Official Orthodox Church very zealously involves itself into the State affairs, they got not only inside the Duma but they are getting inside the public school making it obligatory to teach children the "Orthodox culture and ethics" but their action unfortunately speaks otherwise.

When I read how drunk monks and other clerics or "divine" church officials, beat each other till blood,  shoot at each other, and a monastery keeps in its storage boxes of beer, how the Church officials don't pay their bills and Russian businessmen have to have a legal proceedings with them to get their money for the job they did, I have a question "Do I have to believe in the Official Church that is run by people and the ordinary human sins are not alien to them or it would be just enough to believe in Christ with his commandments?"

About OOO (a limited liability company) "The Cathedral of Christ the Savior" you can read below. 
http://www.newsland.ru/news/detail/id/647314/     


Can you imagine if the US government begin to send orders to the business in the US that they are obligated to sponsor a particular religion or Church or to make obligatory religion subjects on Christian culture and ethics in all the schools public and privet?     

[mendeleyev]

 

or to make obligatory religion subjects on Christian culture and ethics in all the schools public and privet?

It is something I admire about Russia. This was common in the USA when I was a child.

BTW, Russian schools have the same options as then in the US...kids can opt out and the region can be represented by faiths other than Orthodox. The 4 protected religions in Russia: Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism have access to public school time for teaching religion and ethics.

(The government institutions turn their back on our children, calling them learning-disabled and refusing any adequate help)

I almost agree with them on this statement. However as we speak the Ministry of Health is suing the Federal Property Management Agency and the Monastery in order to yet again, seize historic property and destroy historic monuments.

Are the children more important? Of course they are and that is why many citizens opposed expanding the facility there where space is limited.

Also, remember it wasn't the monastery who brought in cranes and bulldozers without permission on land that didn't belong to them.

We can criticize the nuns for putting up a gate, but it was the Ministry of Health that caused the problem, not the nuns.

 

[OlgaH]

It is something I admire about Russia. This was common in the USA when I was a child.

We can criticize the nuns for putting up a gate, but it was the Ministry of Health that caused the problem, not the nuns.

mendeleyev, I guess we will have different prayers, because I will pray the Church would stay away from the State  as one of the components of a democratic society.

But now what I see the Russian Government and the Russian official Church are getting tied together stronger and stronger and that's why the disabled children are neither important for the Ministry of Health nor for the nuns of Krestovozdvizhensky Convent     

In 1992 the Convent got back 32 hectares from 34 hectares that were in the the Ministry of Health's property and the Convent did not object at all signing the documents . Why the Convent can not just  "accomplish its spiritual feat" nowadays and leave 2 hectares for the Rehabilitation center for disabled children?  and plus to help the children and the Center itself with their charity spiritually and financially?

BTW I don't recall in the Bible if Jesus or apostles would own or build mentions, buy modern chariots, order the gold crosses decorated with diamonds and sapphires, and more over not paying to craftsmen? Did they sell gold rings, icons and candles telling people "if you don't buy it  God Almighty will not hear you and will not forgive your sins? 

[mendeleyev]

We'll just have to agree that we have differing views. 

Differing views is one of those things that makes Russia so interesting.

[OlgaH]

We'll just have to agree that we have differing views. 

Differing views is one of those things that makes Russia so interesting.

Here we are in an agreement, I think 

[mendeleyev]

Olga, are you still producing those excellent videos on Russia?

I think they would be great for a thread like this.

[mendeleyev]

Amazingly there is much for an expat to do in your own language while in Russia. True, they don't use a lot of English in street signs and you need to get at least a basic handle on the Cyrillic alphabet to successfully navigate the Metro, but today you shouldn't feel isolated and alone upon arrival in Russia or Ukraine.

I should note that in early years there could have been possible isolation. My first Thanksgiving for example was "saved" when an English speaking couple invited me over to their apartment for a Thanksgiving celebration. It could have been a lonely day without that invitation. As you know Thanksgiving is not celebrated in many parts of the world.

 Today there are plenty of opportunities to not only be immersed in Russian everyday life but from time to time have interaction with other expats from the West.

 
 


For example there is the Taste of Russia, an English speaking cooking school that teaches expats how to make some very cool dishes from pelmeni to okroshka and blini and lots more.

They bill themselves as the only English language cooking school in Moscow and for many this could be a very valuable resource.
 
To see some of the opportunities, go to their website: www.tasterussia.ru The site is in English and if you'll click on the calendar tab at the top you can see the types of classes being offered in November and January, for example.

 
 

For new expats they offer a "market tour" every Saturday at 11am Moscow time. In a nutshell the market tour shows you how to find the things you want in local markets, and how to recognize and purchase the best quality meats and vegetables, etc. Personally I can recall the first times I entered Russian markets and they seemed to be in a different world. Learning the etiquette of shopping can be very helpful.

[ML]

Learning the etiquette of shopping can be very helpful.

I generally cause quite a commotion is the FSU supermarkets by taking my fruits and vegetables through the checkout line to be weighed by the cashier !!   

[mendeleyev]

Yes! Don't you just marvel at those little differences?!

Recently in a moderate sized market, about the size of a typical Circle K or 7-ll in the USA, we selected loose leaf tea at one counter, and paid there. Moved over to the next counter where we selected ice cream, and paid there. Mrs M stepped across the floor to the bread counter, where she made a selection and paid there while I was in the corner looking at laundry detergent, found what we needed, and paid that clerk.

Four separate transactions in the same size market in the USA would have one one employee, perhaps two at most, to serve the same number of customers efficiently.

Now to be fair to those clerks, some neighborhood markets are coops of sorts. In this one near our home, the tea lady pays monthly rent to have her counter in the market. The disadvantage is that when she isn't there...customers cannot purchase tea. I think that the bread counter in this market may be independently run also, but I'm not certain of that because I've picked up bread from other clerks when she isn't present.

[mendeleyev]

This is the market near our Moscow flat:



Inside you'd find the basics. However about a 5-7 minute walk from here (to the left) is a much more modern mini-supermarket with better prices and more selections. We shop there also, but this market is just a 2 minute walk across the street and we appreciate the convenience of having it close so we make a point to spend there consistently as well. If you walked to the right you'd run into our Metro station in less than 5 minutes and of course there are plenty of shops and kiosks crowded around the Metro.

In you were to step inside the ladies inside are very nice and helpful.

[ML]

In you were to step inside the ladies inside are very nice and helpful.

. . . step inside the ladies inside . . .

Quite a trick I would say.

Sorry, couldn't resist.   

[Chicagoguy]

In May I tried to return an item at a medium size market bought 1 hour earlier and had receipt. I was told NYET in no uncertain terms. Even though this manager had helped me choose an expensive bottle of wine the day before. Short term memory problem.
There are 3 of these markets within 200 meters of where we were in my wifes flat. One American friend who was with me the next day wonders what would happen if just one store was entirely friendly where everyone smiled and thanked the customer. He suggests that in 6 months they would steal all the customers from the competitors.
Possible ??

[ML]

In StPb, I went to very nice restaurant on canal across from summer palace.  Demidov's or something like that name.

Was a business dinner for 6 that I paid for (expense account) and was equivalent to $500-600.

Gave the coat check guy a very big tip.

One day later, I was out walking with a woman near this restaurant.  It was very chilly and we both had to pee-pee very badly.

I thought, no problem, just duck in here, the coat check guy will give a big smile and escort us to toilets.

But no . . . he said NYET.

Quite a stupid man and a stupid owner who would employ such a man or give such instructions.

But this is life in FSU.

[SANDRO43]

some neighborhood markets are coops of sorts. In this one near our home, the tea lady pays monthly rent to have her counter in the market.

We used to have a lot of them in Milan - only 10 or so remaining now - called mercati comunali (municipal markets), their single-shop stalls being let out by our town council. Many disappeared as supermarkets became predominant.

We still have mercati rionali, i.e. open-air markets on specific days in specific streets (http://milanointernet.altervista.org/MilanoInternetMercatiRionali.htm), their licensed mobile stall owners moving each morning to the next location - they are open 08:00 to 14:00 only to allow municipal sweepers to clean the mess they leave (empty boxes, crates, etc.) and the barred traffic to resume normally where they occupy the entire street width.

Being usually cheaper than regular supermarkets/shops, they've enjoyed a steadily increasing customer flow these past years .

[mendeleyev]

Sandro, those temporary kiosks do provide a valuable service, especially to elderly folk who can't walk so easily to a supermarket blocks away. Unfortunately Moscow is in the midst of a beautification project and steadily these merchants are being closed down.

That nice photo you posted could almost be anywhere in Russia. I'm sorry that Russia is bent on making them go away.

[mendeleyev]

. . . step inside the ladies inside . . .

My bad. 

[mendeleyev]

One American friend who was with me the next day wonders what would happen if just one store was entirely friendly where everyone smiled and thanked the customer. He suggests that in 6 months they would steal all the customers from the competitors. Possible ??

Chicago, this is a true story from the early days after the fall of the CCCP. It was the Canadian McDonald's division that opened up Russia as a new market for Mickey D's. Many months before the opening of the first one in Moscow there were extended training sessions for the new Russian employees being hired.

In one session the trainer began the instructions on how to greet customers, how to be polite, to smile at a customer, etc. A young man raised his hand and asked the instructer this question: Why must we be nice to the customers? After all, we are the ones with the hamburgers!

That mentality was unfortunately part and parcel of the Soviet way of life and it will take a generation or so for that kind of thinking to change.

[Chicagoguy]

Mendeleyev,
When a good friend of mine came to Chicago from Omsk in 1993 we went for hamburgers at Wendy's. After he got his food and we were sitting down he said with complete astonishment "she thanked me". I had been to Russia in 1992 and I understood what he meant.

[mendeleyev]

CG, now your friend can try that experience again and this time on Arbat in Moscow.






(Венди'с) Wendy's is one of the newer American chains to enter the Moscow fast food scene. As there is no letter representing 'W' in Russian Cyrillic, often a "veh" sound is substituted. The Cyrillic letter 'B' is sounded as "veh."

[Misha]

The 4 protected religions in Russia: Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism have access to public school time for teaching religion and ethics.

Hinduism? Shouldn't that be Judaism?