Noticing What Matters: How Some Followers of the Russian Orthodox Church Are Attempting to Assist the Homeless
by Stephen Wilson, one of our reporters abroad
Oleg Komar lay frozen on a street bench. He was utterly destitute. He felt as if he was on his last legs. His sole possessions were a mere 14 rubles which would barely cover the cost of half a loaf of bread and an old Troika card which allowed him to ride on public transport. But he didn't even know if he had a single ride left on the card! And even if he could make a trip he had no idea where he'd go. Oleg had come from Vladimir with the promise of work in Moscow. But when he tried to make contact via the phone number of the employer, the person did not even respond. No answer.... Oleg had wandered around the city spending most of his dwindling money. Many people would pass him by. They got used to seeing so many homeless people on the streets he just seemed part of the scenery. But two young lads noticed him and showed concern. They approached him, gave him some food, and informed him of a homeless shelter in Khimki, a district on the outskirts of Moscow. He managed to phone this shelter and was invited to come. But Oleg lacked money to cover the transport. When he came to the metro he explained his plight to the inspector. The inspector, feeling sorry for him let him through for free. Then he got on a bus for Khimki. What if he had no more rides left in his Troika? Fortunately, when he pressed his card on the electronic barrier a blue arrow loomed up allowing him to board the bus. When he arrived at the shelter he was given a place to stay. He found that none of his worst fears about staying at such a shelter were vindicated. And at present staff at the Charity are attempting to arrange work and a home for him.
The moral of the story is that at times, all it takes is paying alert attention, timely intervention, and providing a little useful knowledge to make a profound difference on a person's fate. For seemingly insignificant actions can lead to imperceptible results.
The name of the charity which helped Oleg was 'Warm Reception' and it is just one of the shelters organized by the Orthodox Church in Russia. In Russia as a whole there exists an estimated 90 or more shelters for the homeless and more than 500 charity canteens. Such aid remains an urgent necessity. In Moscow alone homeless activists estimate there may be between 60,000 to 90,000 homeless people. The figure far surpasses the modest estimate of 14,000 proposed by the local Department of Labor and Social Welfare.
During difficult times, Russians have always turned to the Orthodox church for social and spiritual aid. During the 17th century 'Time of Troubles' and the Great Patriotic War and the late 20th century Russians often asked the church to help them. Prince Vladimir who was largely responsible for the Baptism of Russia emphasized how it was an imperative spiritual duty to help the poor, the sick, the orphans and the widows. He laid on grand feasts where he invited the poor to partake in them. If invalids could not make it, he ordered his servants to bring them to the feasts on sleighs!
Although much of the Orthodox church aid to the homeless is formal, we should not overlook the spontaneous aid of so many believers who just take time to notice and attempt to help them. For instance, Olga last winter noticed an old homeless man who was virtually blind and very cold, sitting at a bus stop. She arranged for a taxi to take him to a shelter for the homeless. She felt that he could have frozen to death in the freezing cold at this time of year had he not gone to a shelter.
Another women who is Orthodox and works at a monastery in Moscow is Angela. I met her last week where we discussed her proposals to establish shelters for some homeless mothers with children in Moscow. She told me "The original reason why I help the homeless is because 30 years ago I myself fled from a war and found myself on the streets of Moscow." Angela told me how me about how she wanted to build some houses on land and arrange for women to obtain work at a nearby dairy where they could make and sell dairy products. Angela has the expertise to make her own cheese with her own special recipes. She informed me of how her mother had recently died leaving in her will her home in Abkhazia. Between 1992-1993 a war between separatists, Russians and their Georgian opponents was waged. It was a horrific war marked by ethnic cleaning and terrible atrocities committed by both sides. Angela told me "I never knew tanks could drive so fast over countryside." She told me how a Georgian soldier had pointed a rifle at her forehead asking to prove she was Georgian and not Russian by speaking Georgian. She answered by speaking perfectly fluent Georgian even though she has some Russian roots.
Despite her mother leaving her home to Angela in her will she can't claim it because all the documents indicating property rights were destroyed in the bombardment. The state has no records of her mother's right to an apartment. So she can't obtain her own home which she is entitled to. It is as Angela has become a ghost in her home town!
In the 1990's I worked with an Orthodox priest who allowed our brotherhood to use his church as a base to prepare and distribute the food to the homeless arriving at the nearby three railway stations of Moscow. Father Stefan would try his best to make the homeless feel at home in his church and show them around and explain where they could pray.
The charity Warm Reception was largely the brainchild of the director Ilya Kustov who has worked for the homeless over 23 years. He gave up a promising career as a researcher in chemistry at Moscow State University to devote all his time to helping the homeless. He told how he had met many homeless people at church and mixed with them. He found that contrary to what people believed, the homeless were not all alcoholics but rather very unlucky people who did not know a way out from their problems. "When I had managed to help the first person I encountered and saw tears of gratitude swell up in his eyes I understood that my mission in life was to help the homeless," Ilya stated. Ilya was the first to organize charity buses that would save the lives of the homeless from freezing to death in the cold. His volunteers often regularly feed people hot meals and distribute clothes to the homeless at a train station in Khimiki as well as in Dolgoprudni.
The shelter for the homeless has been operating for four years. But how successful has this shelter been? As many as just over 700 homeless have turned to the shelter for help. Of those 434 have returned to society many of them securing work. For instance, many of the homeless obtained work as local government cleaners or road construction workers. For example, one resident called Arshak Kazaryan found work as a security man, got a place to stay and even got married. However one of the many challenges facing activists is how to help the many vulnerable invalids whose health was so exposed to the elements that they had their legs amputated and have been left invalids.
A striking example is the homeless refugee from Donbass Aleksandr who fled the outbreak of war in 2014. He dug a place in the earth and stood in cold water where his legs froze up and had to be amputated. Some of the homeless who have injured or infected legs feel they can't get medical treatment as they lack medical insurance and some hospitals can refuse to admit them for treatment. Such people who become invalids and lack passports or work need urgent aid and a place to stay.
Oleg Purokhnyavi came to Moscow from Kalingrad to work for a company where his job required hard physical labor. He could no longer do the job due to a bad leg. After an operation where his right leg was amputated up his his knee he had nowhere to go. He made his way to Warm Reception who gave him a place to stay.
Unfortunately the shelter which currently caters for 64 residents is threatened with closure. This is due to a change in the property owners of the building who are not interested in the plight of the homeless residents. They are more concerned about raising the effectiveness of their business. Ilya does not know where he will find a new building for the shelter but is confident that somehow they will manage to resolve this problem. But all it takes is alert people to pay attention to the plight of the homeless and act by offering timely assistance. We can all make a profound difference if we try!
(Author's note: I would like to acknowledge the assistance of the brilliant journalist Julie Borta in helping me with the article.)