i want to live here when i grow up and you are now is about this place so sacred. they say the church was built here in the twelfth century it was destroyed in the 1930's. people constantly chose this place to pray and by doing so they created an atmosphere of holiness you can't commit a sin here even if you want to. i didn't want to come here one tyrant what would i do there but they came and stayed. until it changes every one little by little bit in the lake and in the sea of life . most of the the island is so small but for me it's the center. the center of the

universe. give them in the summer i go to the island by motor boat that was in winter when lake freezes over i go by car from the town of all of this nearby also skied there or went on foot to the island isn't there a far from the lakeside about twelve kilometers which i've become so used to this route it's the way home. get it and the first time. it was long ago it's so long ago but it feels like yesterday it was nine hundred seventy two. i got married to alexander. because he said that we would go to spas company island for a honeymoon we mostly went there by boat the lake was perfectly calm and then i saw something incredible something that would be hanging in the air it was a miracle

a real miracle one of the bell tower was almost completely destroyed the island was overgrown with raspberries and stinging nettle we didn't have a lot of things with us just a one person canvas tent a blanket a couple of jackets two mugs two spoons and a teapot that's all we have but it didn't matter to me. it was about something else. it was all about alexander all these that ended i can't quite remember i wasn't listening i just watched him. should be by this time we already had three children and alexander had a good job he was the head of a factory. i can't explain how it happened but at some point alexander quit his job he told us that he'd love the factory and he did this without looking for

a new job without thinking about the fact that he had a wife and three children. he didn't talk about it and i didn't dare ask us. about that moment that none of us could have imagined that our lives were changing at that very moment but that they would take a completely new turn and it wasn't just us. that in the us of a monastery was started on the island of the thirteenth century after the revolution of the twentieth century the monastery was closed and the cathedrals worn out of the island grew just fill it no wonder fishermen and hunters came here to. spend the night and have a drink by the fire leaving trash and campfires all around it was like that until the ninety's when two people decided to restore the monastery in interesting to note that this want to stere wasn't downed by a monk but was it by

a russian prince even. and it was brought back to life not by monks or priests but by regular people here. at the they were to alexander's ex alexander a selfless an architect. and alexander pleitgen an engineer. they met in the winter of one nine hundred ninety one. when i opened the door of our house to find two slightly drunk men on the porch they were radiant with happiness and told me. we're going to restore the spas monastery they spent the whole make discussing everything to be honest there was nothing there to restore. if you just want to know already by spring in may of one thousand nine hundred one to be precise work.

everything god gave me i received. at first he told me to keep a diary of the island then at one point he brought a camera and said start filming or you will work on that. until i put it where it's meant to be. it was like a childish curiosity full of adventure and delight. to land. close to god the building materials. when i talk to my father i used to ask him dad why are you doing all of this is this going to be our island what is this place he would answer. i'm doing it for everybody. we're making nails to attach stones to the copula. company my father when people

visited the island and i remember tourists skiing my father xander how long do you think it will take you to restore the monastery once she grabbed my shoulder and said i think my children will have to continue this work. in one thousand nine hundred three our architect. and almost right after that the government stopped funding the restoration. as a result alexander was left with nothing he was out of work because he'd quit his job. our family was in the helpless situation it's difficult for me to say what his thought or than i couldn't really say how he felt about having to make this decision. to stay or to leave. on the surface he was calm and peaceful.

after a while he became self-confident he had absolutely nothing no prospects but he grew serene and steady and friendly. she became the owner of the owner and its guardians. what are we going to do with a motor boat every year we do the same thing five hundred years and it's like this and every here we start at the beginning. i never told him to go away or give up this war. of course i broke down. we had no money absolutely nothing our oldest son the next day went to college then he has to hide a piece of bread on top of the cupboard so he could take it with him in the morning . alexander would come home very quietly almost secretly and he would take some

things in food from the cupboard. he would put it in his backpack and leave for the island this always made me cry i was in despair i told him please ask someone else to give you some food you can't keep taking everything from me i've got nothing. i cried a lot he would look at me and say nothing he never said anything harsh he never interrupted me when i said he just looked at me in the bush me and my hard feelings paid away and after that he would leave for the island. was going to the island company on a. new level of the city on carbon. all over do you live on the i wonder did you visited our xander over you know we're working here we're restoring a thirteenth century monument we have a radio station. i wish you every success in your work goodbye.

under was a great worker and a real man of the house he told us to always make use of each trip once you go to the island take a piece of board a branch of brick or stone it doesn't matter what everything will come in handy so . the more i worked the easier it became it's amazing when we started this i was much younger it was twenty years ago but it was very hard and difficult when i was really exhausted crossing the lake in winter was a very tiresome that you had to walk on this snow. island you're going to get soaked. through careful. what is the dad's. cooler scurries bring him.

new good in his final years sunday began to have heart problems he grew physically weak and he took me to the island to help him shift machinery or something but i couldn't help that much. who could kind of help or could i be. so this could have been several days before his death when he was already at the hospital one of the he was so weak he couldn't smile or talk so he told me it's you don't give the island to anyone. after that he died. since his alexander died young was only fifty six. happened in two thousand and four.

on the island chapel. was there everybody trying to our house after the funeral and we could all feel these questions floating in the air what's going to happen what are we going to do who is going to do it one of my children i don't know who exactly said mom you'd better stay here because you know everything you're always with dad will help you. everybody gave a sigh of relief and after making that decision we parted when i came to think of it if i knew what would happen afterwards i don't know if i would have agreed to it all. who had never seen anything like this before. the never told me. because heading

right towards me. you get. to the bottom is designed to cover the house and the wind is very strong. moving it's too frightening to stand here. because it's so quiet here and your place under. the you feel it suddenly stopped now it's moving in another direction the fortress of ice is grown in just one hour and it's only the beginning what's going to happen what are we in for.

no c n n the m s m b c moves have taken some slightly but the fact is i admire their commitment to cover all sides of the story just in case one of them happens to be accurate. that was funny but it's closer to the truth and might

think. it's because one politician and the mainstream media work side by side the joke is actually on here. and our teenagers we have a different approach. because the news of the world just is not this funny i'm not laughing dammit i'm not. you guys stick to the jokes i will hand over the stuff that i got.

if you don't follow. the careful the ice is soft. is that the you both so good that you came here. how can a woman stay here and do anything my decision came very naturally i stayed here to help my mother because i just couldn't leave her i made up my mind to help her. get us at the end i couldn't help thinking why not my oldest son one of the think if we judge by our human standards and customs it should be like state my oldest son even knows nothing about machinery he's the youngest son we used to be so spoiled he grew up with the love of his brother and sister but it was only after some time that i realized why it happened like this it wouldn't have done extremely good if he had stayed on the island there was no reason for him to stay here but if that is. the island and our father were inseparable that's what people

thought of but for me my father was just a man i knew the way he lived before he came to the island and that life seemed more interesting to me he always took me with him to the factory to airfields he was an experienced parachute jumper was going to do we ever talk with my father about continuing his work yes we did he never insisted on making us carry on with his legacy he never told us that we must do it he said it's my cross i wanted it and i will bear it this is what i do do you wish to do the same it's your choice i can't make you do this i can't force you. this island is the place where my father is buried that's how i feel at the moment. from calm here and i always go to see his grave i was twenty eight when my father died

already i had a family of my own and i had children my brother alex and i we already had a business company in the city oh. asked our little brother yvonne to take father's place and supports all mama. i think i just didn't understand it at first they all used to talk about the importance of the family meaning that everybody should stay on the island but it ended up being just my mother and me i took offense at that for a while but everything goes away especially in a sacred place like this i don't make so much trouble about that anymore put everybody in the right place and we move along everyone has his own way. through today i went to the grave with yvonne. cross my mind that nobody needs the island. this means we should continue our work. is on has been so thoughtfully

even thought i was. but can we do. have to bear it a man saw progress is in sorrow just like steel is tempered in fire. something bad to happen to even the family and i made up my mind to support him i just told him that i would be with him on the island and i would help him we had another friend with us but he's dead now unfortunately initially the three of us started this work. we started with. we had to do at least something simply to prevented from collapsing we succeeded in doing that but you don't stop halfway when you've already started something so we carried on if we had done the belltower why not work on the refectory that's how everything takes its course naturally things are taking care of themselves this year we have

to put arches under the crosses on them that will be on the second floor and we also have to do the windows next year we'll finish construction we'll build it up to the roof sometimes i look at the work that's been done so far and i can't believe that we did it ourselves. but it's something changes in your mind some wall before your eyes just falls down and you stand there you can't help thinking why am i doing this what for maybe it's all in vain perhaps someone else should do it it becomes even worse when someone says something like you know guys you'll never finish this reconstruction ever yeah thanks for the support it's very pleasing thanks for your encouragement that's why so many people have visited the island so for every year hundreds of people come here it's been like this for several years perhaps we do give people some kind of

hope. this is the fourth time i've come to the island but as my body and soul get rest here. i get so fed up with life in moscow and here even though it's physical work it's very pleasant it's good they don't sell beer and there are no temptations here you don't regret it. back and most good when you come back home exhausted after work you'll certainly get drunk on a friday. today i continue to clear up de brézé around the church by phone with a dozen abundance of nails. i'm going to spend forty to fifty days here to get my mind back in order. then will i be ready to plunge myself into the chaos of moscow life.

and making a doors that will be used in the refectory i've worked at factories i sold computers i can't say what i haven't done and worked as a bartender once but this experience is so special because in here you don't work for yourself and click every man has something inside of him which makes him feel better when he does something good for other people here you experience it all the time. i came here on the invitation or sergei whom i'd known for eighteen years i was really depressed after a tough divorce so be invited me into the island to get some rez and calm down it's a nice place after all when i was on the way here i had only one thought please and on the kitchen on the kitchen i'll sweep the floors do the cleaning are anything but cooking this was the way i thought and then my stay here the battered becomes people come here and tell me a new recipe as i'm nearly a chef now i feel so good here i don't want to leave again i will get married soon

. i don't think just any girl will come here even more so to work for free. when shall we go on with cation just one day just one better for. me in september that means in a month time flies when you're busy working. wouldn't today is the first in the past ten days that we've had sunny where the lake was calm everyone was working to in their own tardis it's a pita that today i didn't have time to attend the service because working in the kitchen doesn't allow you to go to church as often as you would like to. so it never did i was worried about cooking preparing the firewood bringing water i had to do everything including the tourist excursions and ringing the bells everything at the same time now all the duties are distributed among the many assistants i

have here there aren't too many people but there are also good sometimes i have to work to of course. come out. weapon any questions dance. with the grass end up audio coming out and here it was. with a religious cat and me. and who are scare it's. just so much to be done and we have to help because that i was told to clean the

cross i want to make almost a priest or a mom's if you are a priest you can have a family and you live in your own posts and. when they make him on. your name and they give you any iran and you get completely separated from. us if you have a family. feud dedicate your life to god. and your other. because i still want to give live to the next generation. care for the time being. i live in a small wooden house on the island. we first came here in one thousand nine hundred ninety seven when the restoration process was only just beginning.

that's time came here in the summer. we. had a look around was going on. back then absolutely no thoughts all plans about reestablishing a monk here or even regular services that was a long way off. afterwards we came here to conduct services just once or twice a month doesn't happen that often. this june i was appointed rector of the. ministry. this isn't a punishment any way you look at it. it's exactly what a person needs. a lives of all christians that god sends them what they need.

someday today we held the divine liturgy. which is very small it's tiny. i hope we'll be able to reconstruct the transfiguration cathedral will have more room then. why not and we'll do it. if you want to do something you can do it. we're not used to falling back. because of civil war it's holy land. monks and churches used to be here and they must be here. you have to deal with it and move on.

sometimes i run out of energy and i think why am i doing this why what's going to happen. who is going to come here after us. quickly. if you think about the future. plans everything. it will be as it should be all we can do is work. to save our souls. are a stone mason have got up early and they cut some fish for so. there's enough for everyone. this point being the expensive car saloon.

clueless the new fashion show. also designer bags and shoes in the best shop windows. luxury is a school. is a lost cause. constantly when archie.

there's a media leave us so we leave that maybe. by the same motion superior. play your part of the physical. push is that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers from. politic only of our team.

this is our take bill and take flames little games a story birthplace grace before setting off an epic four one three lead cross russia leading up to sochi twenty fourteen. in other headlines three attacks in two days leaves seventeen. as islamist insurgents target universities churches and civilian infrastructure in retaliation for a government offensive. the british government's health care cuts drive tens of thousands out on the streets of manchester earlier with a leading party is just gathered for a new all get together. the un general assembly wraps up with a return to hope and diplomacy world powers agree on a syria resolution could find.