throughout the war, the cathedral of bishops in alma-ata, director sergei from eisenstein, makes films van the terrible from museums, expensive church vestments are brought to the shooting. but most importantly, for the first time , a church service was accurately reproduced on the screens. tsar ivan is getting married with all the details and details in the spring of 1943, the government opens access to the icon of the iberian mother of god, which was brought from the closed donskoy monastery to be worshiped in the resurrection church in moscow, all this was so unexpected that various rumors began to circulate among the people, they even said that stalin gave dinner. although i haven't prayed for a long time. if the germans do not take stalingrad, i will allow you to pray. let them go to temples. how can i guess? how many orphan widows are left? stalin understood? what consolation the church can give, perhaps he

has lost. this religious feeling has long been, but he experienced it. he had such a personal experience and leave people without consolation. he told him so there are whole hmm like that. here is a circle of very serious reasons for changing the position of the church. the newspaper pravda of september 5, 1943, the war is at a turning point, we we are starting to win on all fronts. here on the third page, a huge article with the characteristic title of the battles for the donbass well, on the first page, a small note in the corner, as they say now, the sensation of the party atheistic militant newspaper for the first time the words were printed, comrade, stalin sympathetically, reacted to the election, the patriarch and the formation of the holy synod from now on. all rumors. the end of the church becomes not an enemy, but an ally of the state a truly turning point

in relations between the state and the church can be consider the fourth of september 1943 on this day, or rather, the granddaughter, as usual, the supreme worker, stalin met with the highest hierarchs of the orthodox church on the eve of stalin, at his dacha in kuntsevo, asked if he should officially receive the metropolitans of the highest hierarchs of the russian orthodox church in the kremlin we decided it was worth literally a few minutes after this decision, metropolitan sergius received a phone call, the government can receive you or today in an hour and a half. or if it's time the reception is not suitable for you, it can be organized tomorrow or on any day of the week two hours later the metropolitans will already be sitting, at the table, the leader from the side of the government was present stalin molotov and colonel of state security karpov , a man who led the unit to combat the church

great terror. he was one of the most irreconcilable inhuman investigators from the church of the metropolitan and sergius, alexy and nikolai, two of them, sergei and alexei, would later become patriarchs. paradoxically, but the fact is the believing peter the patriarch in russia was abolished by atheists joseph stalin restored to the meeting the question arose about the title of patriarch before the revolution, the title sounded like the patriarch of moscow and all russia, but this is all russia cut. rumor of stalin, in the end, they decided to let the patriarch of moscow and all russia be this title, and they became fed up with the patriotic activities of the metropolitans to help the front and inquired. what are the needs of the church, and daring hierarchies raised questions about the omniscience of condemned clergy. stalin answered at delivery list. we'll look at the list

shortly after, uh, it was over 20 minutes long. mostly bishops. as we now know , almost everyone about whom the patriarchate then asked was shot in the thirty-seventh thirty -eighth or died in prison camps, but only the patriarchate did not know this. cadres decide everything past this issue. stalin could not pass. he asked why you don’t have enough priests , the sly question could not help but know about the thousands of those who were shot, metropolitan, sergius said, yes, that’s we are preparing we are preparing a priest, and he becomes a marshal of the soviet union, a clear hint that stalin studied at the seminary sounded. it 's pretty cheeky, but the church liked the answer. it was allowed to open a theological institute in moscow and a pastoral school. in a number of cities. issues of the household plan in the department of cars and products were easily resolved. stalin asked what else

you want and the metropolitan. they didn't even know what to answer. uh, then he said, but if now you can't remember what else you need, maybe perhaps you will remember this later, and therefore the government decided to establish special bodies for communication with the russian church, headed by comrade karpov, so the government of the union of soviet socialist republics authorized me to convey to this high assembly on behalf of the government greetings and best wishes for successful and fruitful work and the organization of a higher church administration. despite the late hour, the conversation lasted almost 2 hours. at the end of the meeting for the elderly, the metropolitan is ill. sergei was terribly tired stalin took the metropolitan by the arm cautiously as a real subdeacon. he led him down the

stairs and said the following phrase in parting to him. this is all i can do for you at the present time, but stalin probably would not have been stalin if he had not demanded from the metropolitan at the end of the meeting that the election of the patriarch be held at a bolshevik pace, and he said so verbatim at a bolshevik pace. bolshevik pace meant that the next day the publication in the newspaper, however, urbetobi to the city and the world, the main the party organ announces to the whole country that the church is henceforth in honor of the state. after another 3 days, a bishops' council was held in moscow to gather the highest hierarchs of the orthodox church for the fact that in peacetime it took months, it was possible literally in 3 days some were delivered on transport aircraft of military aviation, on september 8 the cathedral opened on it there

were only 19, all bishops. whoever they could find one of the 19 bishops was brought straight from exile, the result of the council was the election of metropolitan sergius as patriarch. we have a unique one here, of course, exhibit ticket to enter. a-a for a member or guest at the local cathedral. some members of the cathedral did not believe that all this was actually now this time and it could end, and already 8 days after the decision on september 12, 1943, the enthronement of metropolitan sergius to the patriarch takes place in the epiphany cathedral. the patriarch of pskov and all russia, elected patriarch sergius, enters his residence. at first, they wanted to make the residence of the patriarch in the

novodevichy convent, but stalin objected there it was cold and damp and a major overhaul was required. and take it. this building is a clean lane, house 5. before the war, this building was the embassy of nazi germany, ambassador schurenburg was sitting here, forty-three years old, the expression "go to clean" has firmly entered church use here and today the residence of the patriarchs. before the revolution, there was an ordinary residential building here, the estate owned it. maria protopova. she perpetuated her name on the pediment with the mp monogram; now the letters mp could be read as the moscow patriarchy. first of all, a place began to live here guardian of the patriarchal throne, and then patriarch sergius and all of him. then all the other moscow

patriarchates of the 20th century also lived and worked. here is the main and largest hall of the residences and the red one. here in 1943, we chose patriarch sergius the table that stands in the center of the hall, the very one at which the hierarchies sat, the main pearl of the hall. the icon of st. george the victorious was brought here from leningrad by patriarch alexei the first. it has been here for more than 60 years, and uh, of course, there is some very deep symbolism of connection in this place. this place in this hall, in which patriarch sergei was elected, and such things like that, uh, a touch of connection with the besieged leningrad is very important.

besieged leningrad, hunger, thousands of people die every day, which in these terrible days supported the inhabitants because there was practically no help to them, what was brought along the road of life was a drop in the ocean, but the city survived. i remember post-war leningrad , where there were only 15 open churches for 2.5 million inhabitants of that time, and how crowded those churches were on weekdays, there were 2,000 people who prayed to god after decades of persecution and the most radical actions of state atheism, the first easter in besieged leningrad fell on

april 5, 1942. she matched. well, as if on purpose, on the anniversary, prince alexander nevsky defeated the dogs of the knights on lake peipsi 700 years ago, whether the germans remembered it or not, but it was on this day that the strongest shelling of the city was noted on the temples. the shelling was not shelling , but the procession took place rye prosphora was used at the liturgy, and beet juice instead of red wine. here, it was impossible to

light electricity, they generally used candles, it was cold in the dark, but people prayed for all 900 days of the blockade, the future patriarch alexei the first was in the city, and then the metropolitan of the local parish priest, who never took up arms after the blockade was lifted was awarded a medal for the defense of leningrad , two absolutely wonderful awards. this is a medal. well, actually a participant in the war, it is a labor front a medal for valiant labor in the great patriotic war and a medal for the defense of leningrad is not for everyone, not only a resident of a besieged city. not every defender of the city received such an award. this, of course, is such a very high assessment, in general, for the first time, the clergy were awarded orders. they say that although he was offered. evacuate in

ulyanovsk or take him somewhere, but the fact is that patriarch alexei was the first, he was still from the nobility before the revolution, he still had the consciousness that he was not just representing himself here. he is i saw that the people were in such a terrible state of the city. they say that he had the opportunity, and he just got into cars and moved beyond the front line, which was a few kilometers away, and that's all and one more future patriarch. pimen was at the front these days. he fought from 1941 to 43, a rare case in the history of the church , a priest and a monk became a soviet officer, when the unit in which he fought was surrounded and there was no way out. the soldiers were in a state of close swing and someone knew that sergei from centuries lieutenant. in fact, the hieromonk asked his father to pray, and he prayed. he always carried with

him the icon of the most holy theotokos hidden on his chest. he took out this icon, prayed and received a sign indicating where to go and led the unit out of the encirclement. he was twice shell-shocked after being wounded . in 1943, he could not return to the front. and the fact that he managed to survive until the end of his days was considered a real miracle by the patriarch. alexey the first also had his own memories of the war. all his life he kept fragments of shells that miraculously flew past the fragments shells that exploded in his cell. during the shelling of the forty-third year. e. well, in general, he went out for a minute. here at st. nicholas epiphany cathedral. these apartments are somewhere in the choirs. eh, well, that 's how they are. a door jamb in tbilisi, the fragments were kept, like a memory, a mortal of his cells, no blockade was located, right here in the temple on the

second floor under the bell tower. on the left, there is a room, you need to climb a little. here and there he served as master of one fucker every day with the icon of the sign in procession. he walked around the cathedral and there was no case that this procession did not take place in all the messages surprisingly and the patriarch of the heart of the metropolitan alekseyev of leningrad from the first message there was confidence that we would win with god, and they raised the question there god left us or not or we will win or not it was for sure. we will win more and more people flocked to the temple at the services of st. nicholas cathedral, even the command of the leningrad front, headed by general of the army leonid the insidious future, was present marshal of the soviet union authorities, who were during the blockade of the autonomous and central soviet authorities. before they did in moscow, they understood the

importance that the church plays during the war years and therefore attached great importance to the worship of besieged churches, and when the mass evacuation of leningraders began, already at the beginning of their second year, the priests just remained the voice and power, understanding that's their need, they didn't evacuate. in russia, to beat the bells, what is called breaking bad is accepted only for two for reasons, either naobat, or national joy, january 27, 1944 was the day the blockade of leningrad was lifted. the believer right here at the st. seraphim church chiseled the frozen ground and took out the bells. thank god that they survived and raised the bell. over leningrad, for the first time in many, many years, the bells rang, the joy was such that the bells rang more than

judgment. i myself don’t know how i take it, god help our russia in 5 minutes. what are you thinking, thinking and talking about? well god save me from of this bring me back from this battle so that i become alive and god help you. he brought me back, and many died vladimir chernikov went to the front at the age of 17 and immediately the veteran admits to the kursk bulge. it was real hell. at least they fled to the attack to get dressed from this august in the forty-third year. that's right behind the tank. suddenly, a powerful explosion the explosion threw me up and threw me onto the turret of the tank. i hit, which means i lost my knowledge and fell to the ground, and

7 guys died from fragments. how much does that mean? here god kept someone unconscious, he lay between the bodies and the dead. funeral team. already ready. was to bury him alive along with the dead. they decided me. i was committed in a heap with all the dead together dragged me. and i suddenly opened my eyes or who opened these eyes and saw this guy who was dragging that sergeant sergeant eyes opened me dragged to the side. he was seriously shell-shocked, but the young body quickly coped with the consequences and again went to the front with battles to berlin and each time before the battle or under bombardment. he asked god help at the front, unbelievers no, pectoral crosses were in special demand and the commanders looked at it through their fingers. yes, what else can you say, before you go on the attack, god help. and if you survived after the battle, thank god, you can’t

confuse the fear of death with anything and turn to god for what is impossible for the possible and people. enough they prayed , baptized, prayed to god screamed, god help us. this faith was heard, by god and the lord, gave victory, most people believed believed sincerely believed him to be, and lie in his chest in his pocket a party ticket and could lie horse-drawn to nicholas the wonderworker, who saved and saved repeatedly , and there are such memories too, they prayed a lot to polyakov and the soldiers and officers of the soviet generals, without hesitation demonstrated their attitude to the church georgy zhukov before each battle , he spoke his unchanging with god they say that in throughout the war, he always carried with him a copy of the

icon of the kazan mother of god ; konstantinovich was worshiped in this temple in the most difficult moments of history. and alexander nevsky and dmitry donskoy and suvorov and kutuzov and nakhimov and marshal zhukov all bowed with relics the fateful moments of history, as before signs of the presence of heaven on earth, marshal shaposhnikov throughout the war prayed every day with a bow to the ground, god save my homeland and the russian people, believers marshal tolbukhin was also in 1945, on

his orders, a bell with an inscription in the russian orthodox church was cast as a gift to the orthodox cathedral from the victorious red army my great-grandfather was a scout. he served in a reconnaissance company and once when the commander of this company was killed. everyone around began to worry, but he took command under his control and made his way, well, captured by the germans and there he took many languages, which later helped them emerge victorious from this battle. it was on the kursk bulge. thieves. the st. george cadet corps is growing future officers among instructors, teachers and physical education instructors. there is a monk can not be a soldier without faith in general, a person cannot live without faith. we know this, and even more so the soldiers who defend

their fatherland without this inner core , endure hardship, endure difficulties, without having such a powerful one. here's the incentive. yes, in the name of what is it for what? what can only be faith is simply impossible. lord, have mercy, we are still praying for a god-protected country, our russian government of all armies in the name of the lord , allegedly pancakes were released, he does not teach anyone to bow or beat with a forehead, but an amazing thing after his classes, many cadets are baptized

it’s like my family believes a lot, here are the bashkirs in my family. i just don't know how to decide twice a week, the father of the pizzeria, he talks to us talking in this and one day i sit and think. well, here we were talking about faith with him. i sit and think, why do i believe, but i have not yet been baptized, when i told him this, he was just delighted and said, urgently. you need to be baptized for the russian land for the christian faith, this call has survived the centuries. and in this war it was the orthodox russian people who won the victory, the people who for centuries imbibed christian principles. to endure suffering steadfastly and not spare life for the loved ones of the people, it was fully manifested. during the war years, sacrifice, which they could not understand, neither in the

west, nor anywhere was understood, nor by the germans. why the russians keep resisting this was the result. uh, educate in readiness. put your soul for a-a in your hands. this is the main contribution to victory, without it. we have not flown left russia the epiphany cathedral in yelokhovo today is the main temple of the moscow diocese. right here today there is a burial place of the first patriarch sergius. ironically, the author of the tomb was the same architect who designed the mausoleum alexey shchusev. he was originally a church person. before the revolution, he designed and built temples, then there was a difficult period in his life, we know that he was the author and architect of the mausoleum on red square. but here, uh, hmm, you can say that

this is a kind of return to quality, so that they don’t say, yes, the person who made his offering, who sensed the patriarch, you can say, that he was a believer today in the yelokhov cathedral, thousands of people are striving. on easter days, parishioners take their places in the morning and every minute there are more and more people. a step back in june 1941 and the lokhovsky cathedral was under threat of closure. on june 22, the parishioners were very few. they were the most faithful who came to say goodbye to the church and the services were performed instead of the guardian of the patriarchal throne, the metropolitan. sergey it was considered, as it were, the last service, but

no one came for the keys that day, and in the altar , metropolitan sergius was informed that the war had begun. the beginning of the war changed all plans, and the cathedral became the center of assistance to the soviet army; here they prayed for its victory; here they collected funds for the front, metropolitan. he is sergei. eh, as the parishioners of the loch cathedral remember. after all, he was the first to set an example of this sacrifice, because, as they write in their memoirs. entrance hall metropolitan earrings after the prayer service. he took off his ball. bely removed a diamond cross from it and put it in quality. from the nose for a donation, the church contributes 8 million rubles to the victory fund. part of the money goes to the squadron alexander nevsky another to the tank column dmitry donskoy in 1943, near tula, it was solemnly handed over to the front, nizhny novgorod the central city recreation park here is a unique

exhibit. the only surviving tank, dmitry donskoy, he once drove to berlin as part of that church column. many authors and journalists reduce it to the fact that the church collected money from believers and created machine tools and divisions and aviation squadrons of ships were built , in fact, the church raised spirit, colossal spirit spirit of a fighter who was, from the inside, motivated to defend the fatherland for a sacred cause. in this, the main merit is that the church mobilized the spirit of the people and e, because a lot of priests were e during the war and a lot of officers after the service became priests

. the summer soldier gave dinner to god if i survive i will become a monk. he of course. did you mention, uh, there was a terrible fight when he gave dinner to come to the monastery? yes, but he is at war always said. e that there are no non-believers in the war, everyone believes all the front-line soldiers. hmm, so they came for dinner before the war. he dreamed of becoming an artist, and went to the front with a machine gun and a miracle worker in his hands, his travel sketches impressed him so much that he personally handed the order of the red banner to ivan. it means that he compiled, uh, the battle path of the fourth panzer army and personally handed it to stalin in the presence of lelyushenko, and uh, for watering from that moment on. almost any door was open to him, he could exhibit his paintings in the best museums in the country, travel from

exhibitions to europe, but ivan voronov performed his dinner. he took monastic vows, and 10 years later he became rector of the pskov pechora monastery . halleluy, lord, have mercy, lord, have mercy. di , have mercy, this is one of the largest monasteries in russia with a long history, the lord of the pskov monastery has found a second one. life is largely thanks to olympus, for 25 years, he restored the monastery, destroyed by the war almost to ruins. and here his talent as an artist, the iconostasis of st. nicholas church was especially useful and today they are decorated with icons painted by his hand. first, he was a professional artist. in fact, according to these works, there was a very

highly spiritual person who saw this beauty. which person, when immersed in church art, and this, of course, is peace of mind and grace about the war, olympia’s father practically did not speak, he liked to talk more about the icons he saved in those years, by a strange coincidence, almost all of them depicted the mother of god, he was very honored the mother of god when he delivered sermons and spoke about the most holy theotokos about love both for god and people. he cried, for example, his sermons were special. after all , he talked about salvation through prayers to god who, if not a front-line soldier, would learn about the power of prayer. the victory was won, they survived at a high price, they survived , they won, and the heroism of the russian people is undeniable.