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 master of life on this island. 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 fuel the love of christ working on. big goals will divide into groups now so we need about. 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 hopeful go to the front of 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 opera garden i'm allergic to any most can go to the farm and me will go to the farm cows. what comes of along with a group of volunteers men and women of all ages who are here to give something back to gold 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 phone. oh it's. 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. moves that it's a bit stressful for them. touch on the neck like this because it would. finally be like having their wattle straight that said this one has gone. far away from their tribe this. still. what's that like this you know well i'm the same to fight on vellum and they're very kind to me to see ok and they are you do do do do do do do joe good job through. a long special eggs. see what the fuss is all about. almost one two three. whether it's the save me atmosphere or something in their feed they send me fantastic layers two gigantic seconds here at.

the very much one and. that's if one two three four five. one set done. 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 on a beach town where but here i am living with monsoon wedding 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 where all here . little answer 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. 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. 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. because it 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 alanis nature this place turned out to be totally unique and it's not just the nature here that works. jim 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 that just sit on the shore of lot agoglia 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. 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 so i'm on the island and he says it's changed his life but it's. a 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. my forgotten my past it's no good remembering it. and he's a handy men to have around when you catch something to. it don't have a sure. who. ducks. yeah. oh it is. this seriously.

love the. kid you see. i was staying in the ball into his dormitory normally men and women a 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 and then name. then all you've got to do is remember seeing here year. you. want to vomit up ok let's have a good. team the. cynics

. the message the game out here oh do you know. you don't exist of homicidal. sin. i. mean you said you wouldn't be able to do it you know and sometimes sometimes it works and. sometimes you. work at the mall mistreat takes us all around the island along roads that people have traveled 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 resorting to her messages where only men are allowed to enter the grounds. the russian school these places. and they're among the holiest centers of. each

one is way off the beaten track and for some of the volunteer it's the journey to gold has been anything but straightforward to. use to be an atheist and believe in nothing but science logic and facts i was looking for truth everywhere i followed all the popular fashions that people write books about make films about. only after twenty years of searching did i become an orthodox christian after printing of the coffin of a famous russian saint i discovered that many things. changed to give me first of all the pain in my leg that i'd suffered for ages to disappear 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 toyman 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 but that's not changed since the time of the apostles but maybe that's why it was preserved the bread of life the jesus christ spoke of were the living would that's what russia is experiencing a spiritual rise now. it was. very hard to take. once again there was a law that fact that there was. one.

thing. if. the pope. what defines a country's success. faceless figures of economic growth. or a factual standard of living.

crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want.

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. them when they came here last year it was soon 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 there are trusted with work like this. is it enough or do we need more you know what i think it's enough. you have to carry it let's go . to his a heavy. one back up or to move i'll take it. to waste has to go somewhere and. are responsible for getting it off the scaffolding as quickly as possible we need to take the direct route. the buckets and probably a 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 it was a by cathedral will stand like this for many years to come like 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. known. so. and then in the.

form. of 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 effets developing before their eyes. looks 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 have 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 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 trip turned 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 third 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 it's nice to leave people are very kind there's not you know what you want to do when you grow up to be a monk you want to be a monk why it's just what's in my heart i can't explain why i feel this way. the live hit yes i want to live on balaam what he actually wants at this point is not to be a monk but here 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. the use its journey to 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 the law he says each monk must end his place in the monastery. spiritual pastors of the monastery role 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 those camouflage and people see your. as a benefit to the community here you'll be time sure and perhaps when are the things

to 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 the 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 ever since then the chapel has been dedicated for the souls of those who died 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 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 his real 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. 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 the lambs 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 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 or you can develop yourself and create your personality. that plays cyrano this earth is like a hotel that we're only here temporarily riches well go to hell or to have on god tests us on the earth 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 those lies here you get some kind of luggage that you will later he take with here into the city. we have to move on and make plans both families and realizing your family what you've learned here there will. the wool over. but moving back to real life is easy if a some than for others the children from leakers ofen each camp have reached the end of their stay and it was time to see them off for the docks. but. it's clear to leak here 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. to come make 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 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 screaming grenade. explosions blow them all round his back wall. and it was all over all. we know that our comrades on our commander leave us no matter how tough it gets we are the team. there who

are both getting it was a senior in his military trio. because he knew that if he didn't smother that grenade with his body more of his comrades would die he gave his own life to save his friends. put it on your arm and watch. the face you know. a pleasure to have you with us here on t.v. today i'm sure.

you know councils here in the u.k. are calling for tougher laws to police aggressive bankers 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 toll booth cons like this famous one day i'm jamie dimon oh look i found your banking system going to found trash on the ground before me give it me it's truly an dollars it'll give a burke give me a trillion i want another trillion more trillions gimme gimme gimme. gimme she good. to build. anything tim's mission to teach me.

is why you should care only. place it was a place. on a plane. that was that. was. one. of those. lists of. a place.

syrian rebels kidnap a group of nuns from a christian ministry allegedly moving them to a nearby rebel controlled town it's the christian community is increasingly caught up in the raging violence. i encourage you to keep going and start shooting. we look at the radical right wing groups that have hijacked the demonstrations in kiev is more european leaders throw their weight behind you protests in ukraine. this is humanitarian aid from the european union and altogether these products make up around a third of all the stuff here. and data for the e.u. plagued by unemployment and the sterett say a ring.