the windswept journey to the law can be an act of penance in itself. doesn't hold for excitement or adventure yet many come here for months at a time some never leave it all they say that the same as them. this is one of the holiest sites of the russian orthodox church home to a thriving ministry the lay community that works 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. the most of life on this island. they did that believing that. christ is the only source of true joy and happiness in the life. that understanding penetrated into everything that surrounds us in the monastery and people i suppose feel that feel the love of christ working on. that 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

half will go to the farm the other to the op a girl who has already been to the upper garden you know that we're. going to go to the apple garden i'm allergic to any mother can go to the farm and me go to the farm cows. what comes of 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 came on the you're not on your hand just you'll sit on your hand.

moves that 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 their wattles straight this one's gone. far away from there try this. so. what's that like this on the wall i'm the same to find on vellum and they're very kind to me to see ok and they are you know that would be good we would go good through. a long special eggs. see what the fuss is all about. almost one to three. whether it's the saintly atmosphere or something in their feed that's certainly fantastic layers to gigantic ticking and that. ok very much one and.

that's if one two three four five. one set done. and you know the 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's and waiting someone else's garden there is the bit there are other people that look at themselves and at life in a completely different way and they're not held back really where all here. little answered 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 by taking them for a walk in the woods. try to know what they're where it comes from help them find the 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. leaker's 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. visit the first time we came here with disabled children for many years before we used to take the kids on trips which did 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 all arms 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

ladder got 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. but i've forgotten my past it's no good

remembering it. and he's a handy men to have a room when you catch something to. pull it into the sure. who. the. ducks. yeah. oh it is. this eerie asli.

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 what they've come to the law and then name. then all you've got to do is remember them seeing yeah yeah. you. sure you. want to vomit that's ok let's have a good. amount of volunteer you know all go. in saying you know. alexander let the message game out here oh girl you know.

you're on a case of homicidal. saying. i'm mean you said you 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 island 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 there are among the holiest centers of. 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 i followed all the popular fashions of people write books about make films about to use it 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. say you have to put the toyman to understand it fully but living and working here is the only way to greedy tap into its energy the job is to live 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 during the soviet union. is the only branch that has managed to keep the tradition alive but 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 what russia is experiencing a spiritual rise now. councils 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 passed 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 two. like this famous one day i'm jimmy done it oh look at your banking system that i found trash on the ground before me did it through thousand dollars it'll give a burke give me a trillion oh another trillion more trillions did they give me guinea. quite often countries rich in natural resources are the poorest africa as a colony it's a colony of the big corporations it's a colony of someone's home leaders who are under the thumbs of the big corporations so they have to beg from the world bank development of social programs goes to pay back debts whole country is drowning in debt that they should and so every year they would borrow money. and they would use that same amount of money to pay back. all that money. the wages of debt.

right on the scene. first for you and i would think that you're. on our recorders twitter. and instagram. to be in the know. on my. pride and joy is its transfiguration of the savior cathedral and the sound of its bells st tourists pilgrims and volunteers to worship to work. ok let's work for the glory of god. while the skilled workers cuts how much and replace the volunteer. 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. when i came here last year it was seen approximately the same condition. here it's a long process this is serious work it's very expensive and requires a high degree of professionalism. but i was surprised when they invited volunteers to work here at best their trusted with work like this. but is it enough or do we need more than the what if i think it's enough. you'll have to carry it let's go. is a heavy. i'll take it. away

to go somewhere and assegais and i are responsible for getting it off the scaffolding as quickly as possible we need to take the direct route. the bucket it's probably a transport system but it would. be 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 because the tool will stand like this for many years to come but 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. then. why.

don't. you. saw. them. and then in one. form. or. leaker into a team of volunteers want their children to leave 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. live it's so real here it's hard to explain everything is so natural this is the

way people should live i guess. and i'm quite sure with book of adults 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 i need sippin to stand completely that bad things will happen to them in the future. they're perfectly aware of what life has in store for them when they know that there will be a lot of drug dealers and alcohol and then to 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. walking around the lawn is like 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 and it's not just adults who experience it. my mom first brought me here before i started going to school and i liked it very much and it's become my favorite place now was it your favorite place i like it because of its weather because of the monastery so good in here they've got a farm it's nice to leave here people are very kind they're not you know what you want to do when you grow up to be among all you want to be a monk why it's just what's in my heart i can't explain why i feel this way. and then live here yes i want to live on balaam what he actually wants at this

point is not to be among but here once he wants a purpose here once something pure something which dignified 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. the use its journey to the brotherhood here was more unusual than most 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. special pastors of the monster will decide the whether 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 a few years or so or maybe months later if you still do decide to embrace this kind of wife and people see your. as a benefits to the community you'll be time church and perhaps even our veins to the priests of. the monastic community 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 whom 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 those who died for the faith and for the mother. even if a 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 the lomas 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 or come he led 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 a prison archipelago of small islands just waiting to be explored and the landscape always provides some great photos. but many of them 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 alarms proud musical tradition displayed in its full glory during the solemn services. of us the border i think we should fill our lives with as many rich and diverse impressions as possible as are today i might well up in two months i'll be working somewhere else in such a way your worldview builds up on different things you can develop yourself and create your personality. that plays syria this earth is like a hotel that that we're only here temporarily which is where to hell to have on god

tests us on that of if you me and phone my laws then you'll go to heaven what if if you don't then you'll go to how. we have to move on in this life here and you get some kind of luggage that you will later you take with here into the city that we have to move on make plans build families and realizing your family what you've learned here there will. the will open. but moving back to real life is easy if the some and for others the children from lekas all finished camp have reached the end of their stay and it was time to see

them off for the docks. 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 blown this way to its magic and brought a little joy into their lives. to come make this moment any less painful. perhaps the monks of old settled here because they felt there was something otherworldly about. that it was always a place with special energy and the from nature or from something more divine. for

the pilgrims and volunteers who journey here one 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. and i

just knew that everything would be fine for some reason they 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 epic screaming grenade. or would they explode and blow them all run his back toward. and it was all over all of us. we know that our comrades on our commander leave us no matter how tough it gets we're a team. there who are getting was a senior in his military trio. 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 his friends.

he finished with the economic ups and downs in the final months they did learn to deal sang i and the rest because i think the case will be if briefly on me. more probable war of the most complex and difficult to. answer. in the phenomenon of friendly fire probably

extends back to the invention of gunpowder. to kill a bunch of people who don't know what they're up there forever as there are of us people. reading. this summer shoots my brother in the leg not intentional because of it because it was nine times four in the morning even the best given the bausch shoulders. are going to make mistakes does this whole idea of for. camaraderie in this sense in this context it has absolutely no place.

you want. no resolution protest a pledge to continue besieging the government to the end the opposition using a no confidence vote. stand with the vast majority of ukrainians who want to see this future for their country. has to listen to demands for euro integration. romanian police should they just struggle against american oil company that's fracking for shale gas close to the. libyan militias are on the receiving end of public fieri over the government's failure to bring security on stability to the oil rich country.