never leave it's old they say that the same system. this is one of the holiest sites of the russian orthodox church home to a thriving ministry the lay community the woods with it and groups of volunteers that come and go throughout the year for the face full this is a journey for the soul a pilgrimage. this is the place that has been consecrated to god for almost a thousand of years. people came here twenty some years ago it's stablished the mastic life on this island. they believing that.

christ is the only source of true joy and happiness in the life. that understanding penetrated into everything that surrounds us in a monastery and people i suppose feel that feel the love of christ working. girls will divide into groups now so we need about so how many people do you need seven seven people who only choose one two three four five. six seven seven people good the rest will split into two one hopefully go to the front of the other to the op a girl who has already been to the upper garden we bring you that we're. going to go to the upper garden i'm allergic to any most can go to the farm and me they will

go to the farm cows. but comes of along with a group of volunteers men and women of all ages who are here to give something back to god and in this case it means hard work this is the middle of the busy tourist season and there's plenty to do down on the farm. i mean coming into the chicken coop like into the lion's den. thank you so much i. like your careful careful household she doesn't know you are careful but i this . that and the you're not on your hand she'll sit on your hand. of state it's a bit stressful for them. but i'm sure in the next week like this ok so it would. finally be like having that wattle straight that said this one has gone. far away

from me or try this. so. what's that like this on the wall i'm the sanctified on vellum and they're very kind to me to see ok and they are you do do do do do do you know joe good god or through. a long special eggs. see what the fuss is all about. the most one two three. whether it's the saintly atmosphere or something in their feed that's certainly fantastic layers to drag on tick tick and then. you very much one and. that's if one two three four five. one set.

only another seven hundred seventy five to go. the volunteers come from a huge variety of different backgrounds svetlana is a model for moscow but she's not afraid of getting a hamster well it's probably not normal that a girl like me came here instead of going to turkey or enjoying summer in a beach town where but here i am living with mom and waiting someone else's garden is the but there are other people that look at themselves and live in a completely different way and they're not held back really you know we're all here . sort of what's are there for me is a place of strong spiritual power i've wanted to come here for a long time now there is a possibility i can become a volunteer. here who works for the glory of god and how priests or this place. there are common threads that bind many of the people here together and the group also becomes like a surrogate family. mostly these outward next people who came here to find.

brotherhood but of course there is some percentage that come here looking for their way in life. than i take them for a walk in the woods. try to know what they were accounts for help them find their answer. many people simply come for the island's outstanding natural beauty. edged by rugged shorelines and covered with lush greenery this is truly a tranquil get away but there are some visitors to the long term who have no families to return to his trip to the island is a welcome break from a difficult life. lekas ill as new york runs a camp for children from local orphanages who also have learning difficulties for many it's the first time they've spent nights away from the city. because it's the

first time we came here with disabled children for many years before we used to take the kids on trips which is that because we understood that nature does children a world of good and that you were decided to try working with children with the help of violence nature in this place turned out to be totally unique and it's not just the nature here that works. here you should bear in mind that these children are from a correctional orphanage they are believed to be unable to go to an ordinary school because of some mental disability and in fact this isn't true they are not mentally retarded whatsoever. that these are the first kids they just sit on the shore of logic are there and watch the storms the splashing water and they say thank you for choosing that your beautiful place. it was simply amazing. they feel it they can feel the beauty of the apparently they don't have good

feelings in their lives. hardly any. fifteen year old denise is just one of the youngsters reaping the benefits this is his second time on the island and he says it's changed his life but it's. rocky road that's brought him here. i can't say that i had a good childhood. my dad was an alcoholic my mom was too mom ended up in prison that's how i ended up in an orphanage. everything changes as time goes by. at the moment i have no grudge against anyone my life has become so much better. when i forgotten my past it's no good remembering it. and he's a humvee meant to have a room when you catch something to. pull it into the sure.

through. the. docs. yeah. oh it is. this eerie city. yes it was. a model for you. but did you did you.

know i was staying in the volunteers dormitory normally men and women are kept segregate since both the old get together is allowed especially for a meet and greet session. everyone says where they're from where they've come to belong and then name. then all you've got to do is remember them being here year. you. want to vomit up ok let's have a good. amount of volunteer you know. cynics saying you know. i live. in the midst of a game out here oh do you know. that you're on the cusp of homicidal. again saying.

i'm going you said he wouldn't be able to do it you know and sometimes sometimes it works and. sometimes. work at the mall or street takes is all around the only lint along roads that people have travelled here for more than one hundred fifty years. although most of the brothers live in the center of the ministry a small selection choose to isolate themselves from the rest of the community retiring to hermitages where only men are allowed to enter the grounds. the russians call these places. and they're among the holiest centers of the law. each one is way off the beaten track and for some of the volunteers. the journey to gold has been anything but straightforward to. use to be an atheist and believed in nothing but science logic and facts i was looking for truth everywhere. that people write books about make films about him. only after twenty years of searching did i

become an orthodox christian off the printing of the coffin of a famous russian saint i discovered that many things have changed because first of all the pain in my leg that i'd suffered for ages had disappeared and last but not least i discovered the ability to read in the old church slavonic even though i'd never learned how to do that. those who've been here more than once say you have to put the time and to understand it fully that living and working here is the only way to really tap into its energy the job is tough. but none of the volunteers complain everyone is confident of a spiritual rewards and happy that they're working to reestablish a face that was so persecuted joining the soviet union. is the only branch that has managed to keep the tradition alive that's not changed since the time of the apostles maybe that's why it was preserved the bread of life the jesus christ spoke of the living would that's why russia is experiencing

a spiritual rise now. the ukraine deeply divided can soften decision to walk away from an association agreement with brussels has resulted in an explosion of street protests and violence some western pundits have even called for the overthrow of ukraine's current political order you would see those who alternately lost the orange revolution are bent on giving it a second shot. war is probably the most complex and difficult human activity.

all of us are still locked up. in the phenomenon of friendly fire probability extends back to the invention of gunpowder. to kill a bunch of people in the family don't know what they're up their families there are of us people. right now reading. this some of it shoots my brother in the leg not intentional because it is because it was night times four in the morning even the best given the bausch shoulders. are going to make mistakes this is this whole idea of brotherhood and author and that and camaraderie and in this sense it was in this context that has absolutely no place. to. play. it was a. very hard to take

a. chance to get on here playing live at that sax would that make their lives. a little. bit. pleasant if. the people. blonds pride and joy is its transfiguration of the savior cathedral and the sound of its bells st tourists pilgrims and volunteers to worship or to work.

ok let's work for the glory of god. all the skilled workers cuts hammer and replace the volunteers keep supplies coming and clean up the mess it's a massive job the cathedral is seventy six meters high and in some areas they're having to remove more than one hundred twenty years of it. but when i came here last year it was seen approximately the same condition. here it's a long process this is serious work and it's very expensive and requires a high degree of professionalism with what i was surprised when they invited volunteers to work here at best their trusted with work like this. is it enough or

do we need more you know what i think it's enough and i think you'll have to carry it let's go. to his it heavy. on my back up or to move i'll take it. to waste has to go somewhere and again i am responsible for getting it off the scaffolding as quickly as possible we need to take the direct route. the buckets and probably agree with the transport system but it would. for a career for forty years it had no proper roof it wasn't looked after properly and still it enjoyed all these conditions that any means that the cathedral was made really very well it was built with a huge margin for safety that was up like

a funeral will stand like this for many years to come what right now we're trying to save what's been preserved this work should be done and it should be preserved this is truly part of the national heritage. so. we and then in new. york. the board. or the board. room.

leak or into a team of volunteers want their children to leave alone with a new perspective also the work they do here fosters a spirit of cooperation and they can see the efforts developing before their eyes but it's so real here it's hard to explain everything is so natural this is the way people should live i guess. you know what. we wanted to show these children that there is a place where they can ask for help in case something really bad happens to them they understand completely that bad things will happen to them in the future. they are perfectly aware of what life has in store for them and they know that there will be a lot of drug dealers and alcohol and then the stand how hard it is to resist those things so it's very important for them to know that there is a place where they're always welcome that they should know how to find the way to this place.

around stepping back into a different age and it's easy to see why so many regard it as a sanctuary away from the real world. it seems to have a physical and emotional energy which the monks say is a manifestation of god's grace. it's had such a profound effect on so many that there's even a syndrome named after it's. the compulsion true turn to the island again and again it's not just adults who experience it. my mom first brought me here started going to school i liked it very much and it's become my favorite place now is it your favorite place i like it because of its weather because of the monastery it feels so good in here they've got a farm and. people are very kind and you know what you want to do when you grow up

to be among you wanna be a monk why it's just what's in my heart i can't explain why i feel this way. live hit yes i want to live on balaam what he actually wants at this point is not to be a monk but he once he wants purpose here once something pure something which dignifies him. something which speaks of him as a man as a human being people became knights and soldiers for the same reason. i would certainly encourage him. for the use it's journey it's of the brotherhood here was more unusual than most

altar tending university in st petersburg he spent fifteen years living in ministering in the us before retiring to villa he says each monk must end his place in the monastery. spiritual pastors of the monastery will just say the word or you're prepared to become a novice and you'll become officially a novice on the part of the brotherhood and spend some time that way and the few years or maybe months later if you still decide to embrace this kind of wife and people see your. as a benefit to the community you'll be time sure and perhaps when are they and so the priests from. the monastic community here has been rebuilt in the last twenty years period during the soviet union when the area served as a mental asylum now there are around a hundred brothers living here permanently but before the russian revolution of nine hundred seventeen there were more than a thousand some of them left

a legacy down the ages. this quiet scene is called the smolensk skeet and it's famous in particular because of one monk efraim he took it upon himself to pray for the souls of dead soldiers and he took his work so seriously that he dug his own grave and every night he would lie in his own coffin. and since then the chapel has been dedicated for the souls of the diet for the faith and for the mother. even if the life of extreme self-sacrifice doesn't appeal it is at least possible to follow in the footsteps of some of these old saints and one of the most popular pilgrimages is to billow ms most famous. for this is the cave where saint alexander of sphere lived.

this is the place where alexander of spirit spent hours praying in solitude here he would make a fire is real the stones got warm and gave heat back so he could spend winters here can he lead such a righteous life that he was granted a vision of the holy trinity came to him in the form of three angels. and ordered him to go to the river spear and found a monastery there it is still functional. excursions like these opponents of the joy of. this an archipelago of small islands just waiting to be explored and the landscape always provides some great photos. but many of the loam secrets are only revealed in the churches themselves.

bell ringing here is a real and the company ologists train for years to master the difficult rhythms they need to control up to a dozen bells at once and make it look effortless. it's part of a long as proud musical tradition. played in its full glory during the solemn services. doesn't that as the board must i think we should fill our lives with as many rich and diverse impressions as possible answers the call today i'm a developer in two months i'll be working somewhere else in such

a way your worldview builds up on different things or you can develop yourself and create your personality. to surface like a hotel that are only temporarily rich as well go go to hell or to have on god tests us on that of if you're a me and phone my laws then you'll go to heaven what if you don't then you'll go to how. we have to move on and there's life here you get some kind of luggage that you will a terry take with here into the city. we have to move on make plans build families and realize in your family what you've learned here there will. the full

over. but moving back to real life is easy if a some than for others the children from lekas ofen each camp had reached the end of their stay and it was time to see them off for the docks. but. it's clear to leak air that these are the same kids that arrived on the island just a few weeks ago that at least for a while belong this way to its magic and brought a little joy into their lives. but it coming this moment any less painful.

perhaps the monks of old settled here because they felt there was something otherworldly about. it it was always a place with special energy by the from nature or from something more divine. for the pilgrims and volunteers who journey here one a visit is rarely enough and many will return to the. place with the power to heal the spirits. i was thinking somehow i had to come back because mom was waiting for me. i just knew that everything would be fine for some reason we were so confident because we

were going to get married officially after he came back how could he not come back because the mere thought of it never crossed her mind. when the militants decided to try and break through her new guinea above screaming grenade. explosions blew him all round his back toward us and it was all over all. we know that are calm rats on our commander won't leave us no matter how tough it gets we're team. getting was a senior in his military trio. you know he knew that if he didn't smother that grenade with his body more of just comrades would die he gave his own life to save us friends.

quite often countries rich in natural resources are the poorest africa is a colony it's a colony of the big corporations it's a calling of someone's home leaders who are under the thumbs of the big corporations so they have to beg from the world bank's development of social programs goes to pay back debts whole country is drowning under the amount of debt that they did and so every year they would borrow money. and they would use that same amount of money to pay back oh this can all that money really help. the wages of debts. you know can. here in the u.k. are calling for tougher laws to police aggressive beggars finally no longer will the banker beggars be shaking us down for yet more and outs and bailouts every time we pass the city no longer listening to them plead for more money printing and

free credit facilities we're sick and tired of all the banker beggars harassing us every time we pass one of their toll booth cons like this famous one eight hundred we don't oh look i found it your banking system going to found trash on the ground before me give me a truly dollars it'll give it back give me a trillion i want another trillion more trillions given to me me give .

well what about a little bit of that no resolution protesters in kiev pledged to continue the government to the end despite the opposition losing a no confidence these are live pictures you're looking at. with the vast majority of ukrainians who want to see this future for their country . western diplomats weigh in urging lawmakers to listen to demands for euro integration. struggle against an american oil company this fracking gas close to their homes and .