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Weekday Childcare – First Baptist Church Shelby

Weekday Childcare Ministries

Weekday Ministries Facebook

For more than 40 years, First Baptist Church has provided a Christian atmosphere for the intellectual, social, emotional, physical and spiritual development of children!

Click here for WDM Facebook

Since 1976, we have been offering full-day childcare through our state-licensed Child Care for children eight weeks to pre-kindergarten (Monday – Friday, 6:30 AM – 5:30 PM), year-round. We also offer half-day care through our Mother’s Morning Out ministry during the school year for toddlers, two year olds, three year olds and pre-kindergarteners on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (9:00 AM – 1:00 PM).

Child Care (6:30 AM – 5:30 PM)

Penny Corn, Weekday Ministries Director

Children enjoy the day with our team of classroom teachers following age-appropriate lesson plans including indoor/outdoor play, breakfast, hot lunch, afternoon snack and children/teacher directed center activities.   Faith-building along with Kindergarten preparation lead the focus of our curriculum.

As a state licensed day care we are inspected annually by the NC Divisions of Child Development and Early Education, the Cleveland County Health Department, the Fire Marshal and the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

For more information or to enroll your child please call us at 704-482-3460.

For calendars, fee schedules, handbooks, enrollment packets and menus please click on the forms’ tabs below.  Thank you.

We encourage children to reach their full potential by offering opportunities through which they experience love and understanding!

Child Care Forms

Mother’s Morning Out (9:00 AM – 1:00 PM)

Clara Spangler, MMO Coordinator 

Children are encouraged in the building of a strong foundation for faith development concepts through devotionals and inspirational songs.   Creative and interactive learning activities help children to learn together each day.

Help us with funds for toys.

Link your Ingles Advantage Card to Ingles Tools for Schools by giving the cashier our code (22013) or online at Ingles Tools for Schools.

For more information or to enroll your child please call us at (704)-482-9456.   For calendars, fee schedules, handbooks, enrollment packet, and weekly menus please click on the forms’ tabs below.  Thank you!

Mother’s Morning Out Forms

Our Daily Aim!

Excellence in the care and teaching of children through love and encouragement as they develop at their own pace into the individuals God intends them to be!

Inclement Weather Policy:

The Child Care follows the Shelby School Zone schedule when applicable.  Our Mother’s Morning Out will close if the Shelby School Zone is closed (if the Shelby zone is on “delay,” Mother’s Morning Out will open at 9:00 AM).  To receive notifications of schedules, call 704-482-3460 or go to the FBC Facebook page or FBC website.

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Acorn Academy of Oak Haven Church Daycare Home Preschool – Ham Lake, MN 55304

Daycare in Ham Lake, MN

Acorn Academy provides a safe, excellent preschool program that instills in children a love for learning and a belief that they are loved, capable, and created by God for a special plan and purpose.Acorn Academy is a non-profit early childhood Christian ministry of Oak Haven Church in Ham Lake, MN. The ministry was developed to meet the need for a nurturing and developmentally supportive preschool in Ham Lake. We offer a safe, enriching Christian environment that allows each child to develop at his/her own rate of growth. We believe that children learn and grow through play. We desire to lead children into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ through modeling, teaching, enjoying God’s Word, and singing praises. We believe in mutual and supportive communication between staff, children, and their families; supporting, equipping, and empowering families to raise competent, confident, and caring children; inclusive, anti-bias curriculum that demonstrates the diversity of children and families; engaging, hands-on, and experiential learning; and small class sizes to provide opportunities for each child. Our goals are bigger than helping children learn to count and read. While academic skills and preparation for kindergarten are important, the whole child is even more important. At Acorn Academy, we value and foster every part of learning. We look at the end goal we want children to leave Acorn Academy with feelings of confidence and security, an excitement and love for learning, and faith that God is real and God is with them. This means that in science, teaching children to experiment (wonder, ask questions, observe, try new things, and persevere) is more important than teaching them precisely why an experiment works. In literacy, building children’s vocabulary, comprehension, and processing skills is more important than emphasizing vowel sounds and sight words. We emphasize conversation, discussion, and word play (rhyming, integration of letter sounds, songs and games) over rote memorization or lessons. In writing, allowing children space to practice their fine motor skills and providing opportunities to do so in a fun and engaging way will serve them better than sitting down together to do worksheets. In art, we value exploration, texture, creativity, and sensory experience (process) over crafts (product).

Acorn Academy of Oak Haven Church provides childcare for families living in the Ham Lake area. Children engage in play-based, educational activities aimed at helping them achieve important milestones. The facility is a home daycare which fosters the development of social skills in a safe, caring environment. A dual-language immersion program provides education and administrative support in both English and Spanish. The director offers age-appropriate programming for kids starting as young as 2 years 9 months to 6 years. Contact Acorn Academy of Oak Haven Church to learn more and schedule a free tour for you and your family.

Daily Hours
• Monday: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm
• Tuesday: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm
• Wednesday: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm
• Thursday: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm
• Friday: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm

Infant
• Hourly Full Time: $
• Daily Full Time: $
• Weekly Full Time: $
• Monthly Full Time: $

Toddler
• Hourly Full Time: $
• Daily Full Time: $
• Weekly Full Time: $
• Monthly Full Time: $

Preschool
• Hourly Full Time: $
• Daily Full Time: $
• Weekly Full Time: $
• Monthly Full Time: $850.00

School Age
• Hourly Full Time: $
• Daily Full Time: $
• Weekly Full Time: $
• Monthly Full Time: $

Acorn Academy of Oak Haven Church is a home daycare that provides childcare for families living in the Ham Lake area. Children engage in play-based, educational activities aimed at helping them achieve important milestones. The facility fosters the development of social skills in a safe, caring environment.

WeeCare lists childcare providers that are recommended by parents and have active state licenses
that are in
good standing. Our mission is to make finding safe and affordable childcare options accessible to
all.

Our parent-loved app not only helps families pay tuition and stay up-to-date with what their kiddos
are achieving, but it was also built to help providers streamline their businesses so they have more
time to do what they love!

For more information, please contact:
[email protected]

Ham Lake, MN
55304

Location is approximate

WeeCare lists childcare providers that are recommended by parents and have active state licenses
that are in
good standing. Our mission is to make finding safe and affordable childcare options accessible to
all.

Our parent-loved app not only helps families pay tuition and stay up-to-date with what their kiddos
are achieving, but it was also built to help providers streamline their businesses so they have more
time to do what they love!

For more information, please contact:
[email protected]

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Alexander Beglov thanked the participants of the My Hero action

May 31, 2021, 15:32

City

Alexander Beglov thanked the participants of the My Hero action

Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov in his traditional radio address thanked the residents of the Northern capital who responded to the action “My Hero”.

Recall that it was launched on social networks before Victory Day. Alexander Beglov admitted that he did not expect such a scale. Almost a million people took part in the action. People sent stories, poems, videos about the heroes who participated in the Great Patriotic War.

“We were convinced how true the song we all love is “There is no such family in Russia where its hero is not remembered”. Our people, our city keeps the memory of the war. About blockade. About the Great Victory. Some stories moved me to tears,” the governor said.

Alexander Beglov noted that it was very difficult to choose the best stories. The family of Ekaterina Gorbacheva was recognized as the winner – at the age of 16 she got out of the besieged Leningrad along the Road of Life to the front. She worked as a signalman and helped nurses rescue wounded soldiers from the battlefield. On City Day, Ekaterina Fedorovna fired a midday shot from the Naryshkin gun of the bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

The head of the city noted that the action should be made annual.

“It emphasizes the connection between times and generations. If our fathers and grandfathers had not defended Leningrad in battle, we would have nothing to celebrate on May 27, ”said Alexander Beglov.

Photo: St. Petersburg Administration Press Service

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St. Petersburg scientist has developed a simulator prosthesis for patients with cerebral palsy or after a stroke

Rehabilitation at home. A postgraduate student at ITMO University has developed a prosthetic simulator for restoring muscles and joints in cerebral palsy or after a stroke. Unlike analogues, the device is compact and convenient, which allows the patient to use it independently.

February 13 09:28

Not to captivity, but to preserve: the Leningrad Zoo told about working with animals

The Leningrad Zoo held a series of master classes dedicated to the Day of Russian Science. Children and parents were given the opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of various biological sciences, get acquainted with herpetology and ornithology, watch fish, snakes, monkeys.

February 12 18:36

A walk into childhood: the play “Boyhood” was presented at the Youth Theater

The play “Boyhood” based on the story from the trilogy by Leo Tolstoy was presented at the St. Petersburg Youth Theater. As planned by the authors, the audience was transferred inside the action. The seats were organized right in the stage circle, and the entire theater hall turned into one large creative space.

February 12 18:25

Moscow architect proposes restoration project for Annenkirche

What can Annenkirche look like? You can already imagine the transformation of the temple after the restoration. The concept was developed by the chief architect of Moscow Sergey Kuznetsov. He also brought his exhibition “From the Fire” to St. Petersburg, which is very consonant with the place. 12 large-scale works were placed on the walls of the scorched Lutheran church.

February 11 21:25

Great manager or inveterate conformist: this week marks one hundred years since the birth of Grigory Romanov

Great manager or inveterate conformist? A strong business executive or an official spoiled by the system? Talented politician or nomenclature functionary? Grigory Romanov, First Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Party Committee. February 7 marks the 100th anniversary of his birth. This personality is still controversial, but its scope is undeniable.

February 11 21:05

If a person is afraid of God, he is not afraid of anything else. to Sakhalin Island. And nine years later, the Russian Pomorye entered his destiny – a harsh, mysterious, incredibly beautiful and heroic land.

Indeed, the edge of the Russian land, the cutting edge of the confrontation between man and the northern nature merciless to him.

But, as you know, we all come from childhood. Our conversation with Vladyka Daniel began with him.

— Vladyka, I have already read that your mother was a believer…

— Both mother and father. Thank God, I come from a family of deeply believing Christians, and specifically church Christians. There are still believers, but not church people. As they say in Europe: a practicing Christian and a non-practicing Christian. Now, my family were practicing Christians. My early childhood was spent in the countryside: at that time it was difficult with kindergartens, so my mother took me there, to my grandmother and aunt, my godmother. Grandpa died shortly after the war. I was taken to the city only when it was time to go to school. I remember well how I taught prayers with my grandmother. Our children’s prayer, it is with us forever. And during my school years, I went with my parents, and then, without them, I went to church, went to confession, took communion. And it was in my childish consciousness imbued with joy … And some kind of special triumph. When I myself went to the temple, I felt like an adult, a responsible person.

When you come back from church, your mother always says, “Son, I congratulate you. You have a special day today: you have united with the Lord.” We kept particles of the relics of the holy saints of God at home, and a particle of the relics of St. Basil the Blessed smelled fragrant, such a light aroma. And he, along with the smell of incense, also remained forever in my memory, in my heart …

And then a double Easter happened in my life. That is, I received a summons to the army right before Easter, on Tuesday of Bright Week I had to go to the military enlistment office. This was the most joyful moment in my life for me …

— Joyful?.. No, I believe it, but the younger generation, at least, will be surprised.

— Of course! The most joyful. We dreamed of joining the army, becoming real men, fulfilling our duty to the Motherland. And finally, the long-awaited agenda has arrived. And it especially helped me in the army that I very strictly observed my pre-army Lent. I could eat less than others and share with those who did not have enough.

And then, six months before my dismissal, I came home on vacation. And when he entered, when he saw our icons at home, he felt an urgent need to immediately confess and partake of the Holy Mysteries. After all, I didn’t go to confession for a year and a half, I didn’t take communion. And this was my special Communion, the main thing, perhaps, in life – a lot began for me from it.

I dreamed of becoming a military man, after the army I wanted to go to a military school. You understand, in my inner state I am a serviceman, mine is not some kind of work for hire, but precisely service, service. This is exactly what I needed. And in the army of that time—now we have a different army in Russia, of course—there was no place for faith, no opportunity to lead a church life. And here I finally realized that this is unacceptable for me. Therefore, I will not stay in the army and will serve elsewhere.

And then I met a man of great soul, great heart, Hieromonk Seraphim, who blessed me to enter the seminary. We flew with him to Tbilisi, to the Metropolitan of Tetritskaro Zinovy ​​(Mazhuga), he is now glorified by the Ukrainian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate as a locally revered saint; and then he was already under 90 years old. He was indeed a man of great soul! The soul is then great when it is saturated with God, when it is in constant connection with Him, when the Holy Spirit dwells in this soul. And so Metropolitan Zinovy, Father Seraphim and I walked around the Alexander Nevsky Church, it was the only church in Tbilisi where the service was performed not in Georgian, but in Church Slavonic, and Vladyka was its rector. And this is just my saint – Alexander Nevsky, after all, I was Alexander in the world. And suddenly Vladyka took my hand and so calmly, confidently said: “Sasha, go to the seminary. This is your path.” Then – after a pause: “You will enter the seminary, you will become a subdeacon under the Metropolitan.” And indeed, it turned out that I successfully passed the exams at the Odessa Seminary, and even before the start of my studies, for the Assumption, we went to the cathedral. We all stand there on the kliros. Vladyka Sergius (Petrov) comes out for anointing. He anointed everyone, and suddenly the senior subdeacon comes up to us, pulls me out of the general row and says: “Go to Vladyka for blessing.” I approach, Vladyka asks: “Who are you, where are you from?”. I introduce myself. “And you did?” “Yes, I was enrolled.” “Well, then you have your first obedience. You will be my subdeacon.” And thus the words of Bishop Zinovy ​​were fulfilled.

And then it’s our seminary time… It’s as if someone stole it from life, as if it didn’t exist – it flew by so quickly.

— Odessa Seminary — one of the three operating then on the territory of the USSR, southern, suburban… What was it characteristic of, who taught there, what examples were before your eyes?

— The Odessa Seminary was distinguished by warmth — first of all, internally, and then, as a result, external. Kindness, openness, hospitality. For me it was a single family living in a house by the sea. I swam in the sea every morning from early spring to late autumn. Sea water has been a blessed healing medium for me. Of the teachers, Father Boris Shishkov, who graduated from the Warsaw Theological University, is especially remembered. He taught the New Testament: he simply and somehow very deeply told us the New Testament story, gave interpretations … He had a very quiet voice, and we all gathered closely near his pulpit to hear everything. Father Boris was already advanced in years, for us he was a man from another world, from another Russia.

Of course, a very special world for us was the seminary library with a reading room. I believe this is our advantage over modern students – we had a special craving for reading, for knowledge. Why? Because we were told: “What you remember here, write down, then take it with you. Where you go to serve, there are no libraries, no books.” And we, of course, greedily attacked, we literally rewrote these books from cover to cover. I still have my student notes.

Every day I went to the grave of Kuksha Odessky. He died in 1964. And I entered the 81st. He was not yet glorified then, and there was no life, but not a day passed without someone telling me about this elder. And my heart was filled with it. People went to his grave, it was customary to leave something edible on it. And I often went to class, having eaten some cookies from the elder, and felt that he was with me. Father Seraphim, whom I have already told you about, knew Elder Kuksha well and confessed to him. And he told me: “How lucky you are, you can come to his grave every day.”

Vladyka Sergius was very strict. He told us: “You are subdeacons, and this does not give you the right to relax. You must set an example of diligence and diligence.” And we were loaded in full. And one day I suddenly came to my senses and saw that I was a graduate.

And then a new period of my life began – I came to the Moscow Theological Academy. And at first, of course, I had a sense of loss. I left my parental home, cordial, close. The Odessa Seminary has always remained such a home for me. But then I got involved in the life of the Academy and the life of the Lavra. The main thing, of course, is the beauty of churches, the beauty of worship. And St. Sergius himself…

— It was there that you made the main choice in your life — monastic vows… What helped, what cut off your doubts?

– This is really a difficult choice. But I had a heartfelt desire, it was no coincidence that I went every morning to the fraternal prayer service, from which the day begins in any monastery, although my roommates grumbled at me that I didn’t let them sleep in the morning. And he went to the Reverend… But he could not make a final decision and prayed: “Lord, enlighten me, help me.” And suddenly the headman of our course came up to me and said to me: “Let’s go write a petition to the monastery.” – “Who told you that I’m going to the monastery?”. “Well, yes, I heard. I was walking by, and you were standing and talking to someone about wanting to become a monk.” I didn’t have such conversations with anyone, the headman was mistaken. But I immediately had a thought: here it is, the will of God for me. And I went along with the headman to write a petition.

– 17 years in the Lavra, of which almost 13 – its deans … What did you get over these years – the years of communication with the native Lavra monasticism? I ask because we hear now and then about the crisis, degeneration, even dying of monasticism in the modern Church.

— Of course, it is not worth saying that monasticism is dying. Another thing is diminishing. But it did not begin yesterday to diminish. Read St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, he writes a lot about this: “Our generation (it was 150 years ago) has not been given such physical and spiritual strength as previous generations.” There is such a process! But can we call it a crisis? Crisis is judgment, judgment of God. And we have something else going on. Do you know how shepherd dogs in the mountains are trained to herd sheep? Puppies look at the elders and repeat after them. It’s better than any training. Man is a social being. And a monk is brought up by a monastic, monastic environment. We read in patericons how a novice asked an elder: “Why are there no such monks now as before?” And the elder answered: “Because good examples have dried up.” A good example is when you look at another person, and your conscience begins to reproach you: this is how he is, and you? ..

Therefore, I always say that my happiness, like the happiness of any monk and any person, lies in the fact that there are still examples to follow. Perhaps these are not the same examples as in previous centuries, not so high. But nevertheless, they exist, and I saw enough of them in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and spoke about them in my memoirs “Unholy Saints of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra”, I suppose they are easy to find on the Internet.

When the Lord revealed to Pachomius the Great what impoverishment there would be at the end of time, Pachomius wept and asked: “Lord, why am I striving then?” “Pachomius, these people will be saved. They will be saved by illnesses, sorrows, sufferings. And if they endure, if they endure all this, they will be in Heaven, higher than the first fathers.” Why so? Because it was harder for them.

Whoever overcomes more deserves a greater reward. Everything took up arms against our generation of monks – the environment in which we grew up, the still Soviet school in which we studied. And, finally, the impoverishment that we observe in society as a whole. You talk to doctors, scientists, the military – they all feel this impoverishment. This is understandable, this is a natural process. These are the conditions in which we, by the will of God, must live and labor.

— In the conditions of what you think is inevitable impoverishment and other sorrows…

— Every pain, sorrow is sent to us by God, so we need it. One person once asked me: “Vladyka, why do you say pain, sorrow, because Christianity teaches that God is good, kind, that He is love.” And that’s not what I’m saying. This is what our people said long before you and me: the thunder will not strike – the peasant will not cross himself. Imagine that we suddenly found a pound of gold, a treasure with diamonds – what, everything will go smoothly with us, and we will immediately run to the church to thank God? No; but if something goes wrong…

Old-timers told me: before the war, the unclosed churches that still survived were empty, but when the war began, the churches were full. That’s right, everyone ran to pray for their own, drafted into the army. Man is weak, he is afraid of many things. But he must have one of the main Christian virtues, without which it is impossible to lead a spiritual life – this is the fear of God. Ordinary human fear, which we all experience, and the fear of God are completely different things. A person who cannot live without fear must choose: either the fear of God or the fear of man. One out of two. If a person is afraid of God, then he is not afraid of anything else. He is reasonably careful in his life, he is not stupid, he will not cross the road at a red light, of course, but this overwhelming, paralyzing fear for himself – the fear that something bad will be done to him, something will be said about him, with work will be fired – a person who is afraid of God does not. And he lives a full, joyful life.

— While serving on Sakhalin, in one of your speeches you called it a spiritual frontier post. Having moved to Arkhangelsk, they basically did not take any of the local priests with them, saying that it was impossible to expose the eastern border. What is common between your service in the border diocese and the protection of the borders of Russia?

— In one of my first interviews there, on Sakhalin, to the question of where you see yourself here, I answered: “Border guard”. They asked me: “Why is that?” I answered: “Because not only the state, but also the spiritual border of Russia passes here. ” And gangs in the form of various sects and occult Eastern teachings are breaking across the border. After all, for a very long time the state did not interfere at all in this process, but it went on and was consciously directed. Neo-Pentecostals, for example, were supported in part by the South Korean government and in part by the United States. You heard this story – how Madeleine Albright asked for an audience with His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II and offered him a kind of deal: we help you restore destroyed churches, monasteries, seminaries, raise your Orthodox Church, and you – just do not interfere with the activities of other confessions (and if to put it bluntly – foreign sects). There is a religious vacuum in Russia now, and people need some word about God… And the Patriarch answered: “No, we won’t go for it.” The Russian Church really slowed down the process of processing the population by overseas missionaries. But what did I see when I came to Sakhalin? Of the total number of religious organizations registered by the Ministry of Justice there, Orthodox parishes accounted for about twenty percent. A neo-Pentecostal pastor came to me with a good offer, as it might seem at first: we have money, but it is difficult for us here in Russia to master it, we are not always met halfway; let’s together, with your help, build a free medical center for people, treat everyone, regardless of religion, distribute the Gospels to everyone, tell how good it is to be with Christ. And I ask him: “Can you guarantee that I won’t be the log with which the gates are usually broken during the storming of the city?”. That is, I will now compromise, and then they will simply sweep us away, without letting us say a word. And he said, “No, I can’t guarantee you that.”

They built their center there, in one village, and the pastor, speaking at the opening, said: “We thought that we would build for a long time, but we were given so much money that we could hardly manage to master them.” And we didn’t have this – no one helped us. I was sent there as a paratrooper. Arrived, disembarked and that’s it – further on the grazing. We were outnumbered and repelled superior enemy forces. How did we differ from the outpost? The outpost must hold out for some time, until the deep forces approach, until the military formations have time to get up in battle order. We did not have much hope for reinforcements. From a military point of view, this may not be possible. And from a Christian point of view, this is very possible, because the Lord stands behind us with a host of saints and with all His angelic world. And if we really keep in touch with Him, He will help us, the saints will help. We would not have endured if the Lord had not helped us. And now, thank God, the Sakhalin diocese is developing and rising.

— You already have extensive experience of ministry in the outlying regions of Russia. And I am very worried about their fate. Where is the remedy for their extinction, impoverishment, devastation, displacement of the indigenous population by migrants?

— All these negative processes are, of course, based on a spiritual component. Our country, like any other, is a single spiritual organism. In order for its parts not to die, it is necessary for the whole organism to function properly, so that there is no stagnation of blood. And our blood vessels are clogged with cholesterol. Cholesterol is in this case a sin, it is propaganda of sin, it is a consumption culture imposed on us, it is a mass culture that deprives a person of any memory of his native, Russian culture, history. So it turns out that the blood from the heart does not reach a specific person or to a specific edge, region.

People have no sense of national unity, no spiritual culture, no one has instilled it in them, it is lost. And it is precisely in this sense that our people can now be called poor, impoverished. Therefore, there is no vaccination against alien phenomena, against diseases brought to us.

Of course, if we now begin to grow a generation on our basis, on our moral culture, then it will grow up healthy and viable. And he will love his land. And he will love his small homeland. And to live not somewhere else, but where their grandfathers and great-grandfathers lie. Today, even medicine tells us that it is useful, it is the basis of longevity – to live where your ancestors lived. Eat the products of the same land, drink the same water. But it is also the basis of the spiritual life of man.

Imagine a person has an accident. And everything broke. How long did it take? In seconds. And how much time will it take now for his treatment, for rehabilitation? So we need time to restore the spiritual life, the life of a single Russian organism. And we must provide proper nutrition to the patient. And various poisons are being thrust at him from all sides.

After all, the Christian life is based on love. The Christian life is austerity. This is self-cutting, self-oppression. This is service. The more a person serves, the brighter his heart. A person who selflessly serves others will live where he was born. And if his life turns out differently, then at least he will not forget his small homeland. Here is a wonderful example – the holy righteous John of Kronstadt. He was born and raised here, with us, you know, in Sura. And, no matter how little time he had, he came here every year, he did a lot for our region. The closer you are to God, the more your heart aches for your small homeland. And if you move away from God, then you are already a cosmopolitan, and your address, as the Soviet song used to say, is “not a house or a street.”

When I arrived here, in the North, the first thing that struck me was our northern village with its wooden churches, huts, carved windows, ridges, architraves – just a feast for the eyes … And I told people: “Look, when a person does something together with God, it turns out beautifully, in the highest degree worthy. Before the revolution, ordinary people tried to do everything, calling on the help of the Lord. And you look at those houses that were built after the revolution. They are… just nothing. You can fall in love with any old hut. And in this brick house? . .

I read the letters of a German traveler who traveled through our North before the revolution and fell in love with our northern people so much that he wrote: “I would be happy to be born among this people.” He believed that our people were superior to the Germans in their kindness, cordiality, responsiveness, honesty, decency, love, and purity. It is in order to return this beauty, first of all, the beauty of human hearts, that we must work. I really like the words of John Chrysostom: “Many people often say that state and public affairs are going badly, and as a reason they point to the folly of the government; But I say that it is not the folly of the rulers, but our sin that causes this: it is precisely that that has upset everything, it has brought all these evils to the point of no other source of which this swarm of disasters has spread over us. Therefore, even if the leader is Abraham, even Moses, even David, even the wisest Solomon or the most sinful of all people, but if we are in a bad mood, the cause of disasters remains indifferent. A return to our faith, to our culture is what is needed in order for all this cholesterol in our arteries to dissolve, and normal blood circulation to be restored, and real life to begin.

— Pomors — a unique Russian sub-ethnos with a rich culture, with an amazing fate, but has it survived as such, in your opinion? Pomor today – is it still a Pomor?

— Unfortunately, it is impossible not to see the depersonalization that has taken place. The Pomors are people whose ancestors once chose the North, chose this harsh environment and lived in defiance of it. These are very strong people who loved this land, loved the White Sea. And it is not for nothing that they have long said here: “Whoever has not been to the sea during a storm, he has not prayed to the full.” A storm at sea is when one plank separates you from eternity. Well, now it’s not a plank, but a piece of iron, almost the same thing. It is clear that these people were deeply, truly believers. Have you heard the saying “From Arkhangelsk to Kola thirty-three Nikolas”? Thirty-three Nikolsky temples – the patron saint of fishermen and sailors were especially revered here. They knew that no one would help like him. But after the revolution, everything was done so that people would forget about their ancestors. For a long time, history was not taught at all in our schools and universities. Until they composed a new “revolutionary” course, they did not teach. Why? Because it was impossible to get away from the fact: Russian heroes – generals, sailors, travelers – were believers. So they crossed out everything at once: “We are ours, we will build a new world …”, and we will simply forget the one that was, that is. And a person without history has no face. The identity of the Pomors, like any other people, is unthinkable without a spiritual foundation.

— Vladyka, you keep talking about what needs to be done, to revive. And the question arises: will the current Church have enough strength? When I say “Church,” I mean not only the hierarchy and not only the clergy. I mean the Church as the people of God. It does not yet make up the majority, and the attitude towards this minority in society is problematic.

— A military school is judged by how many heroes it brought up. If a person, an officer, say, has accomplished a feat, they always ask where he studied. And let’s see how many heroes the Russian Church has brought up. Much more than all the military schools put together. When do heroes appear? When the war is on, but in peacetime these are ordinary people. In the 20th century, a terrible war was waged against the Church, against the Orthodox people, for destruction. Here, in the North, we feel this especially well – so many people were driven here at one time under machine guns, there were so many exiles, dispossessed kulaks, they were dying of hunger here … But this war showed that the Church has many heroes – these are our clergy, laity, those who have kept the faith. These are the saints of God. After all, those who are canonized today are the tip of the iceberg, a very small percentage of the total. The rest we often do not know. But, if only those whom we know lived in the world and accomplished their feat, they would be enough. What the Church has, her worship, her Sacraments, is enough to become a saint, that is, a hero. We have someone to point to: here it is, the best “military school” in the world – the Russian Orthodox Church. Of course, next to the heroes there have always been and will be traitors, and Judas was among the apostles. But we do not judge by Judas about the apostles. We judge them by John the Theologian and by the apostles Peter and Paul.

A friend of mine once asked me if I could introduce him to a big man in Moscow. I answered him: “I can introduce you to someone and more.” He: “How, more of such and such?! Who is this? I say: “This is not even one person, I can introduce you to many. But keep in mind, if you want these people to help you, you must be very attentive to them, you must call them, congratulate them on their birthdays, listen to what they tell you, do what they see fit, become unanimous with them, then they will become your friends. And if you only outwardly try to seem like this, but in reality you will be completely different, then you will not succeed in friendship. Of course, I spoke about the holy saints of God, who will always help and, unlike many people, will never turn away from us if we are of one mind with them, if we, like them, give our hearts to God. This is the main thing: even an actor who plays without a heart is expelled from the theater, what can we do without a heart?

— I can’t help but ask you about the volunteer movement “Common cause – saving the wooden churches of the North.” Does it really help, is it significant for Pomorie, for Russia?

— Of course. Our Metropolia ranks first in Russia in terms of the number of ancient wooden churches. But they, unfortunately, die even faster than old people. Man, he still has some kind of support from the state, he is paid a pension, he is being treated. Nothing like this happens with temples. The state turned away from them: it is not up to them. And at the same time, there are still such laws that hit the hands of those local residents who are trying to restore something on their own. It turns out like a dog in the manger. And these young people from all over the country, for them every temple is like a living person. They clean them up, free them from garbage, try to at least conserve them so that they do not collapse. And, of course, this northern beauty with its chastity, strictness, humility makes such an impression on the volunteers that they will keep it all their lives. When you look at our northern churches, you understand why this land gave rise to so many ascetics, why such monasteries grew up here. This is truly a holy land: having come here once, you fall in love with the North forever, and it supports you throughout your life. These young people are really changing here, and looking at them, at their work, at their reverent attitude towards temples, the locals are changing as well. They are included in the work, the work brings them together, and sometime this becomes the beginning of the revival of a dying village. And here it is very clearly seen that the revival of the temple is the revival of Russian life. And if there is no temple, then there is no life.