Church school in the city. Orthodox gymnasiums and schools for children

In the modern world, fluency in English is not a useful addition, but a necessity. This is an opportunity to continue studying at prestigious foreign universities, get a well-paid job, establish business contacts with foreign partners, expand information boundaries and travel around the world without an interpreter. Moreover, it is best to learn foreign languages ​​from an early age. That is why more and more parents are looking at linguistic schools. School with in-depth study of English: features of the curriculum Educational programs of special schools include the study of specialized subjects: the history of Britain, English literature, technical translation, preparation for exams to obtain the Cambridge ESOL certificate. Classes are conducted according to specialized teaching aids. It is obligatory in modern linguistic schools to have a language laboratory - a specially equipped room in which children learn the correct pronunciation. Classes are conducted by qualified teachers who have completed an internship in Britain. Some institutions invite foreign teachers who are native English speakers. Extracurricular activities aimed at deepening in a foreign language is a very important aspect of the curriculum. It is implemented by participating in competitions held in English, visiting English-speaking theater groups and vocal studios. In the summer and between studies, children visit the countries whose language they are learning. What are the schools with in-depth study of English in Moscow At present, there are 111 state gymnasiums and 51 private language schools in Moscow. Most private schools […]

More and more parents are choosing to send their children to Montessori Kindergarten. Maria Montessori is an Italian Ph.D. This legendary woman devoted her whole life to observing children, creating early development methods and creating conditions for their implementation. The success of her technique is a long-proven fact. Many prominent personalities of the 21st century (the founders of Google, Wikipedia, Nobel Prize winners, British princes) were trained from an early age according to the Montessori system. In this review, we will talk about the features of early development using this technique, consider the best gardens in Moscow. What are the key features of Montessori kindergartens Maria Montessori was sure that the process of child development can be significantly accelerated by creating the right atmosphere for him. Classes are held in a playful way, children get the joy of learning, try to see and correct their mistakes themselves. Various kinds of pressure, pushing, criticism and coercion, punishment and encouragement are strictly prohibited. The children themselves decide what they want to do, they themselves determine the pace of study. The role of the teacher is to understand what is interesting for the child, arouse interest, provide the right environment for classes and easily teach how to use this environment. In addition, Maria focuses on group exercises. They help to gain communication skills, to adapt. Montessori groups in which children interact with each other are more effective than individual lessons with a teacher. Environment and materials are essential elements […]

Early Childhood Centers are private institutions designed to help toddlers adjust more quickly to the world they are just beginning to explore. At entertaining classes held in a playful way, children learn colloquial speech, develop intelligence and creative talents, motor activity. Many young parents bring crumbs to children's clubs. And this is by no means a tribute to fashion. Numerous studies have shown that children who develop actively from an early age become more successful. In the future, it is easier for them to master school disciplines, they have a good memory. What is the difference between children's development centers and kindergartens In children's centers, children do not spend the whole day, but several hours. Classes can be held in the morning or in the evening 2-3 times a week or on weekends, be represented by single master classes or comprehensive development courses. Club leaders, as a rule, develop several educational programs and visiting schedules, which allows parents to choose the most suitable schedule and bring children to the center at a convenient time for them. The doors of children's clubs are open even for the smallest, for children of six months of age who still do not know how to walk and talk. Special programs have been developed for babies. Considering new objects, rearranging the cubes, playing, children improve sensory perception, develop hand motor skills. Classes with infants take place in the presence of one of the parents. Toddlers from the age of one and a half years can be left […]

Many will agree with me that raising smart, healthy and happy children, preparing them well for school is an important task for all parents. At first, I thought that no one could do this task better than me, my mother. No nannies, no kindergartens! I bought a bunch of expensive books on the upbringing and development of children, bought a lot of different educational toys, climbed various Internet forums ... But in reality everything turned out to be much more difficult than I expected. My son Ilyusha is a very active child, and I simply did not have the strength and experience to cope with everything that was recommended in these abstruse books. Either cleaning, then washing, then cooking for two menus (for children and adults), I still have to be in time for the clinic, vaccinations, medical examinations ... But I planned to independently engage in high-quality education and development of my son ... The difficulty is that I am alone at home - my husband constantly at work, and grandparents do not live in Moscow. How insulting I was when Ilyusha refused to eat what I cooked, and useful and educational toys (by the way, very expensive!), He was not interested at all, and he did not want to play with them. There was not enough time for anything! I began to notice that my friends, who also have small children, but they sent them to kindergarten, have already […]

Choosing a kindergarten, every parent worries and worries. How good will the child be in it, will he be able to learn to communicate with peers, will he receive the necessary attention and care from teachers? Alas, if you have to pay a large amount for a kindergarten every month, then this is not yet a guarantee that the baby will be comfortable there, and that the studies will be effective. In order for kindergarten to become a real solution to problems for your kids, and not their source, you must first collect as much information about the educational institution as possible. Preferably from multiple sources. Recently, parents send their children to private kindergartens. This is very popular today. Such institutions are very rarely heavily overloaded. In them, as a rule, children of one social component study, and the professionalism of teachers is higher than in state ones. Here, children can get more attention, in the programs by which they will be taught, more modern and effective. All this makes it possible for each parent to create ideal conditions for the transition from kindergarten to school for their child. Private kindergartens in Moscow. Prices At the moment, according to the monthly fee, there are three groups of non-state kindergartens: Up to 40,000 rubles From 40 to 70,000 rubles From 70,000 rubles and more All private kindergartens in our catalog are conveniently divided by cost: Choose the appropriate section, [ …]

The contribution to the education of the child will never sink into oblivion. This is something that you need to invest in for as long as you need it. Any parent will confirm the words that pride in any achievement of the child: from small to large-scale, in the first place, he will be happy, and a sense of pride will make both the parent and the child move further and further, conquering new heights. Undoubtedly, Moscow is a city of opportunities and temptations. Having the opportunity to give your child an education in Moscow is a huge achievement in life. But there is another side of the coin: starting with the environment (Moscow, no matter how it is a million-plus city, and the health benefits of living in such a place are very doubtful) and ending with the corny low-quality education, which, unfortunately, our children receive in most secondary schools. In this article, we will consider as an alternative to studying in Moscow - studying in the suburbs. The first on our list will be the Lomonosov private boarding school About the school: This school is the first private school in the Ramensky district in the Moscow region, moreover, in 2014 it entered the top 200 best rural schools in Russia. About the education system: Lomonosov private school provides each student with a personal curriculum, that is, to choose those subjects that are of interest to him and that will help him in improving his professional skills, and […]

We often remember the 1990s as "dashing", destructive, hopeless, and one Orthodox pastor said that these years should be canonized. After all, it was at this time, despite economic difficulties, that we witnessed the revival of the national and religious self-consciousness of our people, the return of historical memory, and in particular, the emergence and reconstruction of schools and gymnasiums that provide spiritual education.

In 1991, with the blessing and at the initiative of the Orthodox Educational Society "Radonezh", the Orthodox Gymnasium "Krylatskoye" was founded. But in fact, the emergence of this school - like several other Orthodox, author's schools - is a social order from parents, their search for a school that best meets the challenges of the time.

At first, this educational institution existed as Orthodox classes at school No. 1130 in Krylatskoye. The teaching of the Law of God began, Ushinsky's "Native Word" was returned as a teaching aid, the "First Educational Book on the Church Slavonic Language" appeared - a reprint reprinted in Rostov-on-Don.

The secular school, in which the Orthodox classes were located, could not gain mutual understanding with them, and soon an independent legal entity arose - the Krylatskoye Orthodox Gymnasium, and in 1998 the modern name was finally established - the School in the name of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. When the building of the former kindergarten was allocated for the school, the SES employee said: “You won’t succeed anyway, because I am an atheist and a communist.” And after some time, of course, I realized that there is no need to swear with serious teachers.

The permanent director and confessor of the school is Archpriest Sergiy Makhonin, rector of the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit in the village of Pervomayskoye and the Church of the Resurrection of Christ under construction in New Moscow, a teacher of the first education, a graduate of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute named after. Lenin. In the 1990s, military men, doctors, and teachers who had taken the dignity turned out to be very valuable for the resurgent Russia, because they set the tone, communicated a whole worldview to the people who gathered around them, to the common cause. Matushka Maria Makhonina, head teacher of the school, for some time continued to work as deputy dean at the Pedagogical Institute, and today she conducts methodological and organizational school work.

Everything was outweighed by faith in God, faith in the future of their country and the desire to work

As in all schools established in the 1990s, teachers largely used pre-revolutionary experience. Only enthusiasts came to teach. All were behind the philosophical faculties of different universities, the Institute. Bauman and ... lack of school work skills. However, everything was outweighed by a deep faith in God, faith in the future of their country and the desire to work.

The first year of the school's existence was remembered by children and teachers as a summer pilgrimage camp near the St. John the Theologian Monastery near Ryazan, and in the fall they set sail on the Volga on the motor ship Ivan Susanin. The following year, the school organized a pilgrimage camp near the St. John the Theologian Monastery near Ryazan. All graduates now remember the trips when the young pilgrims walked around the Orthodox shrines of Uglich and Yaroslavl with the icon, participated in the Divine Liturgy at the Tolga Monastery. One can imagine how pleasant and surprising church hymns sounded then, in the 1990s, for foreign tourists who happened to be on an excursion in the monastery.

Over the years, schoolchildren often visited the Pokrovsky Skete in Diveevo, the Svyatogorsky Monastery in the Pushkin Mountains, the “Tambov Paradise” of St. They did not just go to worship shrines, but always carried some kind of obedience, helped the monastery. This participation in people's life, genuine, and not the one that is shown to us in television series, will give these children a deep understanding of the nature of the people, the historical destiny of their Fatherland.

Participation in the life of the people will give children an understanding of the historical destiny of their Fatherland

In the gymnasium, in addition to general education subjects, the basics of the Orthodox faith, the Church Slavonic language, and foreign languages ​​are studied. Teachers, including several candidates of science, participate in pedagogical and scientific conferences, publish in academic and leading methodological publications, compose computer test programs, give television lectures, and work as translators at international congresses. Biology teacher Alexander Yuryevich teaches a course at Moscow State University, travels with lectures on Orthodox bioethics throughout Russia, and was recently invited to Abkhazia with a series of lectures.

The gymnasium currently has 140 students from grades 1 to 11. The outstanding teacher-practitioner Anton Makarenko was convinced in practice that the director of the school should know all the students and their parents well. The current merger of five or seven city schools under the leadership of one director has already shown how destructive this is for the upbringing and education of schoolchildren.

The Gymnasium of John the Theologian has state accreditation and the right to issue state-recognized certificates. When I asked how children studying in an Orthodox school “fit in” with the educational state standard, Maria Makhonina, head teacher of the school, answers: “The state standard does not imply a content standard, it implies requirements for the conditions for the implementation of the educational process, for the structure of the program, for learning outcomes: what the student will learn and be able to learn. Our current standards are modeled after the Bologna system, similar to the International School Baccalaureate program. Therefore, our new Minister of Education speaks of the need to change their content.”

Invincible weapon - Russian classics based on gospel truths

Probably, everyone who studied in the Soviet school remembered the lessons of literature, where, to one degree or another, the teacher conveyed to us the truth of God through literary works. Our teachers of literature had an invincible weapon - Russian classics, based on gospel truths, keeping their original source - the word of God. In the gymnasium of John the Theologian, literature is taught by a member of the Union of Writers and the Union of Journalists Tatyana Sergeevna Shekhanova, in the past she was an editor at the Khudozhestvennaya Literatura publishing house. With schoolchildren, she travels to the House of Artists, theaters to listen to the reading of the People's Artist of Russia Antonina Kuznetsova: last year A. Kuznetsova read a cycle from world literature, this year - the cycle "My Golden Age". And to learn the art of conversation, the art of listening to music, high school students, her students, go to music cycles with Svetlana Vinogradova. These are not just musicological conversations, but a gift to fall in love with music, explain the path to creation, talk about the life of geniuses - difficult, full of overcomings, feats. “Each concert prepared by Svetlana Vinogradova is also a heart-to-heart conversation ... no, not with the audience, but with everyone who is present in it: from a five-year-old baby to gray-haired listeners,” says T.S. Shekhanov.

Meetings with writers are often organized for schoolchildren. Thanks to this, children themselves turn to creativity, visit the Literary Association in the Slavic Center, which is led by the poet and literary critic Irina Georgievna Panova. Creative ties arose at the school with the Academy of Russian Literature, with the Literary Institute, where, until recently, annual meetings of young talents were held. The children participate in discussions of new works, meet with poets and prose writers, and are actively involved in the cultural life of the capital and abroad.

This year, the first three books of students were published at the gymnasium (the series was called “The First Book of a Gymnasium Student”): a book of poems by tenth-grader Ilya Ermolkin, winner and laureate of many competitions for readers and poets, a book of romantic tales by eleventh-grader Anastasia Vetvitskaya and a book of children's poems with drawings by a graduate school, now a student of the Art College of Elena Kolonova. “Who knows,” says the teacher, “maybe these first experiences will be the beginning of a great creative journey. God has endowed man with creative power. I am sure that if a person is a creator, he will no longer become a destroyer.”

Many of the students of the gymnasium, now successfully mastering the course of science, came from private and public schools. This is a confirmation that the surrounding atmosphere, the internal structure of the school are very important. Here they develop in an active creative mode, are included in the spiritual and cultural field of the gymnasium.

Teacher T.S. Shekhanova is sure: “Literature teaches the gradation of feelings, thoughts, experiences. It teaches responsibility to oneself, one's family and the people as a whole. It teaches you to think and express yourself not in a detrimental way, but as a human being - with respect, love, mercy towards others. It teaches not to read information, but to feel and understand the world. Myself. Your loved ones. Own people. Your faith. And keep it. And love - actively and honestly. Valiantly, as one of my students, Georgy Chirkin, who is in the second grade, said. This is the main role of literature, as well as real art in general.

In the last decade, the number of hours for studying literature at school has been significantly reduced. However, I want to believe that, thanks to the selflessness of our teachers, short-sighted reformers will not be able to wean children from the desire to think, understand the past and present of their Fatherland, the character of their people, which is what literature teaches. “Even small-scale works of ancient Russian literature amaze the children, first of all, with a sense of monumentality, integrity of characters, the weight of the word, the idea of ​​active mercy and - absolute modernity. Turning to reflections on the national character in modern literature, we are pulling threads from “The Word ...”, “Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh”, “The Life of Sergius of Radonezh” to the images of Mikhail Sholokhov, Evgeny Nosov, Valentin Rasputin, Vladimir Krupin,” says T .FROM. Shekhanov.

Graduates of the school study at Moscow State University, MEPhI, MAI, Moscow Architectural Institute, Moscow State Pedagogical University, MGIMO, Moscow Linguistic University, Medical Academy, Moscow and Kolomna Theological Seminaries, at St. Tikhon Orthodox Theological University. All school work contributes to this. Among the students there are winners of the All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren, other prestigious competitions and olympiads. The gymnasium also created its own Olympiad - "The Candle of Russia", which aims to familiarize schoolchildren with the rich cultural and historical Russian tradition, the education of patriotism. Children from different cities of Russia participate in this Olympiad.

Elena Arkadievna Osipova, a graduate of the Gymnasium of St. John the Theologian, now the wife of a priest and a certified Slavist, candidate of philological sciences, senior researcher at the Institute of World Literature, recalling her years of study, talks about how important it is to teach children to pray, to open the existence of the spiritual world for them. It remains a dear memory that, in addition to trips to Solovki, to the Konevsky Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery on Lake Ladoga, the Holy Dormition Vyshensky Monastery, in Kargopol, in the summer of 2015, students and teachers of the school, together with its director and confessor, Archpriest Sergei Makhonin, visited the Republika Srpska, Montenegro and Serbia proper, visiting the now occupied but still unbroken Serbian Kosovo.

“While studying at school, students gradually grow spiritually, join the life-giving sources of national culture and tradition, which contributes to the formation of their national self-consciousness in the spirit of Slavic brotherhood and unity,” says E.A. Osipov. - It seems that such an approach in education and upbringing is perfectly consistent with the words of the outstanding Russian philosopher and thinker of the 20th century I.A. Ilyin, who in one of his works emphasized that the basis of true education and upbringing is the desire to awaken a spiritual principle in a child, to form from him a “spiritual-sighted, warm-hearted and whole person with a strong character”. And Father Sergiy Makhonin, confessor and director of the school, in his article “The Image of the Teacher as a Spiritual Problem” showed that true education implies the re-creation of the image of God in a person, and that “the method of education is at the same time the method of salvation.”

The Orthodox Gymnasium of John the Theologian has its own peculiarity - it is openness to the Slavic world. This allows, among other things, a deeper and more sober look at Western European culture, to identify its best features and characteristics. And here there is something to unite on, especially after the blows that Orthodox Serbia took upon itself at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries and what an example of the steadfastness of faith it showed to the whole world: both the enemies of Orthodoxy and its custodians.

In Orthodox gymnasiums, in addition to European languages, as a rule, Modern Greek or Serbian is also studied. Greek - because from the Greeks came our faith, spiritual and cultural tradition, partly somewhere all-European. Why Serbian? Serbian language teacher, chairman of the Russian-Serbian Friendship Society, well-known Slavist and translator Ilya Mikhailovich Chislov is deeply convinced that Serbia is much more necessary for a Russian person today than Russia is for Serbia itself (“Of course, Here and now, in this short period of history, which, however, coincided in a strange way with the turn of the century, with the end of the second and beginning of the third millennium of the Christian era”). “The Greeks are our common teachers,” says Ilya Mikhailovich, “the Serbs showed us, in the words of the great Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin (well, by the way, who knew this fraternal Slavic country and its people), how one can and should resist evil by force, how to stand up for the Orthodox faith - now, in the 21st century, just like in the time of the holy noble princes Alexander Nevsky, Dimitry Donskoy, Lazar Kosovsky. Even today, the Serbs remind us that it is possible, it turns out, to be deeply believing Orthodox Christians - and at the same time people full of national dignity, to love their Slavic race and European culture that is by no means alien to us. They will not allow anyone to humiliate their name, just as they will not allow strangers to speak on their behalf. The magic of "universal values" does not work on them. Not only to militant liberals, but also to pseudo-Christians, ecumenists, the Serbs answer firmly and decisively: we will not allow you to threaten with impunity the foundations of our people's life, our history and its continuation in today's day, because this is a God-given reality, and not the fruit of human vanity or imagination."

The specificity of the Serbian national tradition is the unity of faith and blood, the unity of the national, racial and spiritual. And the Serbs see no contradiction in this. They believe that such a dual unity not only does not weaken the Christian faith among the people, but, on the contrary, strengthens it, because such a “theory and practice” comes from Saint Sava, who, building a national church, first of all replaced three foreign bishops with three Serbs. From the time of St. Peter of Tsetinsky, who led the Orthodox people into battle against the Turks with a sword in one hand and a cross in the other. The martyrdom of Orthodox Christians in Kosovo in the 1990s (this is how the former martyrs of Kosovo also perished - with a sword in their hand, on the field, watered not so much with Serbian as with Turkish blood) testifies to the unchanging fate of the Serbian people - to keep their faith "even to death ".

The teacher I. M. Chislov notes that children mostly learn Serbian at the request of their parents (and sometimes out of obedience). Meanwhile, it is precisely such children that most often make sense, and not at all from those who, with ostentatious enthusiasm (and purely pragmatic goals) rush to the "exotic" - the opportunity to learn a rare language. Neither the teacher nor the organizers of the school themselves have any doubts that specialists in the Serbian language are now in demand, but at the same time they are real specialists who understand what the Serbian tradition is, and not the hasty “products of the modern world”. The events of the last three decades have shown that the Serbs are now closer to us than all other foreign Slavic peoples combined; let's just remember how our society responded to the war in the former Yugoslavia, to the US and NATO aggression.

“In any European culture, despite the fact that history is an apostasy process (I mean the culture of Western peoples in the first place), we find some virtues and we must be able to convey them to children so that they appreciate it, understand it and be able to even speak non-Orthodox tradition (the same English literature, German epic and German romanticism, ancient heritage) to look at with Orthodox eyes. And if we are talking about the Serbian Orthodox tradition, then here we definitely have something to learn,” says I.M. Numerical

They have to confront this age with its materialism and the coldness of godlessness

Just before Easter 2016, as well as in April 2017, at the Serbian Embassy in Moscow and at other venues in Moscow, as always with the support of the Russian-Serbian Friendship Society and the Union of Writers of Russia, an International Poetry Competition was held - children sang songs in Serbian language, literary works of Russian and Serbian classics. Pupils of the gymnasium of John the Theologian also spoke. “I pray to St. Sergius: // Send your monks to Serbia…” - verses sounded from the lips of children, and it was thought with joy: these children today are the defenders of the cultural, historical, spiritual space of Russia and the Slavic world. Even in Barnaul, a bright light of Serbian culture was lit: in 2016, teachers sent a video recording of children's performances in Serbian to the competition. Bow to these teachers who do a good deed, going beyond the prescribed programs and their own strengths. Today, when Serbia is almost the only ally of Russia in Europe, these unifying messages are necessary...

Education at the school of John the Theologian, as for all students of Orthodox gymnasiums, ends at the end of May with a solemn liturgy and the presentation of certificates in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. On the eve of this event, the confessors of the schools conciliarly serve a prayer service at the shrine of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra. In the old days, warriors, before going to battle, asked for blessings from the Reverend. Thus, high school students ask for blessings for further studies, realizing that they have to confront this age with its materialism, the coldness of godlessness, and often with outright and even aggressive resistance to theomachism.

When asked who you are educating at your school, Father Sergiy Makhonin says: “Orthodox special forces are people who, coming to any environment, will carry the word of God, the light of the Christian faith.” This will be not only priests, but also teachers, doctors, scientists, managers, engineers who are able to think first about the good of the Fatherland and the people, and then about their own well-being, to be selfless, honest and responsible on the chosen path.

How it all began

When in 2001, at the request of local residents, the Sretensky Monastery undertook to revive a ruined collective farm near its Ryazan skete, later called "Resurrection", then the attention of the then Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), now Metropolitan of Pskov and Porkhov, was also attracted by the Mikhailovskaya boarding school. The Sretensky brethren began to communicate with the children, help with the provision of food, clothing, and brought gifts.

Then a student studied at the Sretensky Seminary, whose first higher education was pedagogical. He himself had from time to time been with other seminarians at the Mikhailovskaya boarding school. In the summer of 2004, they even arranged a joint summer camp in Fryazino for the Sunday school students of the Sretensky Monastery and the Mikhailovsky boarding school. After spending a couple of months with these children, getting to know them better, the then newly ordained seminarian with the first higher pedagogical education, Father Vladimir Shchetinin, himself, without an invitation, came to their line on September 1. The children joyfully rushed to him. But they were all ... in pioneer ties. It is clear what kind of educational work was carried out with them due to the inertia of the Soviet orders ...

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, Archimandrite John (Krestiankin) and Father Tikhon (Shevkunov) blessed Father Vladimir to lead the Mikhailovsky boarding school. On October 1 of the same 2004, Father Vladimir was approved as director. The daily work has already begun. The children were very difficult.

These children are “difficult” - because it is difficult for them themselves: each has a trauma, resentment towards their parents, towards life

But the “difficult” ones are not only and not so much those with whom it is difficult for us, teachers and educators, but first of all, those for whom it is difficult, - Father Vladimir is convinced.

The children were from such an environment that during an anonymous survey conducted at the same time, all of the 146 children answered that they had tried smoking and drinking alcohol. And this was reported by students from the 1st to the 9th grade, that is, children from 7 to 15 and a little more years old (if the training began late or was interrupted due to difficult circumstances in the family).

One night Father Vladimir's phone rang.

If I complain to someone and do not fulfill their demand, they threaten to take revenge on me by catching me somewhere on the street, - the teacher reported about the older students who sent her to the city to bring them alcohol, who were already tipsy.

This internal boarding school punks and younger children - those who were 10-11 years old - woke up at night, lined up in the corridor and set an ultimatum: “We give you an hour for each of you to bring us 10 rubles. Do what you want: go to the city, ask someone at night, look for it on the sidewalks, steal ... "

I didn’t have time to do anything with these elders,” Father Vladimir says. - They graduated shortly after I arrived. I know that one of them served time in prison, the other is already serving his second term. They were very athletic - perhaps this was the thread by which one could try to pull them ...

Path to another life

But the one who at one time suffered a lot from the “hazing” established by these lads, Alexei, an orphan, was later brought up in a completely different atmosphere. He also served in the church during divine services, served as a sexton, and began to actively engage in sports, so much so that he received prizes, including at regional competitions. He graduated, received an apartment as an orphan under the state program, entered college as a programmer. Immediately he oriented himself to continue his studies at the Radio Engineering Academy of Ryazan, where he later entered. He served as a conscript in the Kremlin regiment. From the academy he transferred to the institute of the oil refining industry. Serves in the National Guard. I found myself a very good girl, she sings in the kliros. Came recently to take a blessing on marriage. Constantly visits the temple. A believer, a believer.

Only the experience of Christian forgiveness can teach these children to forgive, especially their relatives.

Those injuries that the guys have cannot be healed outside the Church, - Father Vladimir is sure. - Most of them have a severe resentment towards their parents (and, accordingly, towards the whole world). This is the root of their troubles. And how do you explain to them, despite the fact that many of them have suffered, what is the problem here? Only based on the commandment to honor parents - here it is a clear violation. Only from the experience of Christian forgiveness can these children be taught: forgive. Can not? Ask the Lord to give you the strength to forgive. Only having felt the taste of Grace, these children can already pray for their “blood offenders”. We even traditionally celebrate Mother's Day at the boarding school, when children can show the fruits of their forgiveness and love, trying to prepare and please their mothers. Only in this way, having forgiven, they themselves are freed from the grip of repeating these scenarios: yes, dad, mom made a mistake due to human weakness, but now, confessing myself, I know that we all constantly sin, but try to be good - that's it really difficult.

So "difficult children" from the provocative strategy of creating difficulties for everyone and everything ("let everyone be as bad as me") turn to internal work on themselves. “After all, if you don’t honor your parents, how will your children honor you? ..” - often for them this is a completely unexpected statement of the question ...

A graduate of the boarding school, Ksenia, having already given birth to three children, invariably baptizes everyone. She herself once, back in the 5th grade, spent days sitting in torn jeans on the fence, shooting cigarettes from passing men. Then, when the Sretensky Monastery began to help the boarding school and Father Vladimir was appointed here, she went to church, and now she devoted her life to raising children. This is despite the fact that, according to all-Russian statistics, 80% of children in orphanages were born to the same orphans. Not to mention the first place of our country in the world in terms of the number of abortions. Graduates of the Mikhailovskaya boarding school, unlike their peers, especially from other boarding schools and orphanages, do not accept abortions. Many of the graduates and graduates take a blessing from Father Vladimir to start a family. They come with their chosen ones, chosen ones. Some of their second halves are churched. They ask to be married. Then they bring children - some of them have more than one - to the Sacrament of Baptism.

Some of the graduates return and get jobs in their own boarding school as educators. So, one of them, Anna Igorevna Ogryzkova, a graduate of 2013, notes: “The boarding school is one big family where you will be listened to, helped, explained.” It is important for the guys to have such a rear, not only while they are studying here, but also later: no matter what happens in life, they know where to ask for help and advice. And by virtue of the direct participation in their lives of the brethren of the Sretensky Monastery and Sretensky seminarians, the Church itself is already perceived in a kindred way.

The Church itself is already perceived by the children in a kindred way.

At worship - both young people and old people

Pupils of the Mikhailovsky boarding school from childhood or as soon as they get here join the church life. These are not only the lessons of the "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture", which are taught by deeply churched believing teachers. Every Sunday at 8:00 the guys get on the bus and go to the skete of the Sretensky Monastery for the service. Half an hour before the service, which will begin at 9:00, they are already there. And at this time, while the children are preparing for the service, for which each of them has their own obediences here, the bus collects grandmothers-parishioners from the surrounding villages - many of them are already over 80. There are two grandfathers, one is over 90. When the old people come here, to the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the children meet them, help them write notes, put candles. The service has started. Together with everyone, including educators and teachers, as well as with grandparents, children confess, take communion. Then, while the bus takes the elderly participants of the Liturgy home again, the guys over a cup of tea and goodies communicate with the Sretensky seminarians - the 1st year traditionally lives in a skete in the restored Sretensky Monastery estate "Krasnoe", which from time immemorial in Russia means "beautiful".

Beauty education is also one of the integral components of caring for these, in many cases, crippled souls. Boys and girls are introduced not only to the beauty of Orthodox worship - trips to art galleries, museums, theaters, philharmonic societies with the help of the Sretensky Monastery are constant. With pleasure, children also visit the projects of the Patriarchal Council for Culture - the same historical parks "Russia - My History", where the guides are seminarians already familiar to them in the 1st year. Often also boarding school students watch and discuss new films, both documentaries and feature films, with the seminarians.

On Sunday, usually the Liturgy in the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Krasnoe is served by someone from the Sretensky brethren - mainly the one who has been appointed for the current year as the confessor of the 1st course of seminarians and lives with them in the skete. And on Saturdays, Father Vladimir himself serves a children's Liturgy, followed by the choir of boarding school pupils singing, the boys serving the altar and performing the sexton, the girls watching the candlesticks, preparing drinks, and cutting prosphora for the communicants.

It is important to give experience in the fight against sin

Many of the graduates of the Mikhailovsky boarding school and already accomplished fathers, mothers of families, and professionals later themselves testify:

All that I have achieved, I would not have achieved if I were not a church person.

These are the words of graduate Sergei. This boy's mother died of AIDS in her arms. He took it very hard. Only the Church helped. He got into the Mikhailovsky boarding school already at a fairly adult age. After graduating, he served three years in the army as a Marine. He liked this. He remained a contractor. I found myself in a feat of arms.

Confession and... Forgiveness

Not all examples are so successful, Father Vladimir notes. “But the main thing is to give the child the experience of struggle and victory over sin through Grace. I remember, when I first came here, I would find someone with a cigarette or drinking alcohol ... And what's the point of chastising them? It’s clear: such genetics, and they didn’t have another example before their eyes, if dads and moms drink. “Well, let’s get ready for confession, shall we? I used to start a conversation. “Here you confess and you will see how this desire will let you go ... Feel the freedom.” Then you offer: “Let's hold out for at least three months, huh? The New Year is just right there ... What kind of gift do you want? You always need to give some kind of incentive. And then they themselves like to feel their superiority over passions. Breakdowns are always possible. But this soul has already received a vector to another possible life.

And now the guys like to feel their superiority over passions

Concerts and pilgrimages

Not only seminarians, but also parishioners of the Sretensky Monastery constantly come to the Mikhailovsky boarding school. Communicate, engage with children. The pupils of the boarding school themselves learn to take care of others - they regularly visit the Mikhailovsky Nursing Home. They help, communicate, arrange concerts for Christmas, for Easter. In the same way as for the children themselves, seminarians arrange concerts for the holidays. Such mutual service to each other is an opportunity to experience what catholicity is.

Children not only receive guests, but also make many pilgrimages themselves: to the shrines of the Ryazan land, to the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, to Diveevo. The culmination of all these spiritual journeys is a multi-day trip of graduates to the Pskov-Caves Monastery, where the Metropolitan of Pskov and Porkhov Tikhon (Shevkunov) is now the vicar. There, young men and women even manage to work hard, join the liturgical rhythm, communicate with the confessors of the famous monastery. These memories then support them and warm them all their lives.

Now none of the pupils smoke or drink, there is no "hazing" and other previously recorded crimes in the boarding school.

Works and hopes

Lack of funds: of the four buildings, only the sleeping one has been reconstructed so far

A born educator, Father Vladimir all these years also struggled with the reconstruction of the dilapidated buildings of the boarding school: of the main four buildings, only the bedroom has been reconstructed so far, so that at least the children can live in safety. Here, in the classrooms (actually designed for post-hour self-training), the main school classes are held. Unfortunately, classes in chemistry and physics are not specially equipped. The rest of the buildings, including the educational building, are recognized as emergency. It is very difficult to achieve allocation of funds from the regional budget. For the youngest pupils, in 2017, having received a grant of 15 million rubles from the Presidential Reserve Fund, they managed to make an extension to the dormitory building with bright classrooms that meet all norms and standards. Primary school students are here. But soon they will grow up - what classes will they have to go to next? ..

Much has been done, about 300 children received the warmth and attention of adults, a chance for a creative happy life.

The work is never-ending and much remains to be done.