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| 'When we saw the dome, we ran there.' How people from Crocus were saved in the cathedral |
| 2024-04-10 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Kirill Velesov [REGNUM] On the evening of March 22, the phone rang at the rector of the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Pavshinskaya Poima, Krasnogorsk, Father Vasily Losev. The phone said that a crowd of people was running towards the cathedral from Crocus City Hall. The doors were immediately opened, and 60 people were able to take refuge inside. Mostly orchestra musicians who were supposed to perform with the Picnic group. A few minutes before the start of the concert, the conductor saw that armed people had broken into the building and managed to get all the musicians out. Once on the street, frightened people saw the dome of the temple and rushed to it. Inside, the musicians warmed up, and when it became clear that the danger had passed, they went home. In a conversation with IA Regnum, Father Vasily told how the cathedral helped the victims of the terrorist attack. IA Regnum: How and where did you learn about the tragedy in Crocus? Father Vasily Losev : That day I performed a service and left in the evening. When the first news from the media began to arrive that the Crocus was burning, I was outside the cathedral. At approximately 20:30, the person on duty at the temple called me and said that a mass of people were running towards the cathedral along the Pavshinsky Bridge across the Moscow River. Of these, about 60 people (mostly members of the orchestral group) asked to come to our church. I said that we need to accommodate them and try to help. There were no wounded among them. They didn't need serious help. Our parish did not perform any heroic deed. The temple just happened to be in the way of people. Our cathedral became a place where people could get their bearings and understand what to do next. IA Regnum: What condition were these people in? Father Vasily Losev: According to the duty officer, they were under terrible stress. They shared terrible experiences with each other. They were without outerwear. We, together with the secretary of His Holiness the Patriarch for the Moscow region, Archpriest Dionisy Kazantsev, immediately decided to go to the place. They informed His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and Archbishop Thomas of Odintsovo and Krasnogorsk about what had happened by telephone. They reported that there had been a terrorist attack and that people had taken refuge in the temple. We were given a blessing to organize an operational headquarters for helping the victims in the temple. We expected that many people could immediately contact us. But at night, practically none of the victims came - this was not necessary. Volunteers and some of our parishioners gathered. Representatives of the Krasnogorsk city district administration also came. In addition, at the moment when people took refuge in the temple, we were afraid that terrorists from Crocus might go across the bridge towards the Pavshinskaya floodplain. And I asked the duty officer to turn off the lights in the temple and take people to safe rooms. Thank God, everything worked out. The situation began to calm down. People stayed with us for about an hour and began to leave. Then we created a group on Telegram. Information began to flow there from ordinary people regarding who was ready to provide what kind of help. There were dog handlers, doctors, and just volunteers. They offered clothes and food. But, since we were in touch with the government of the Moscow region and everything was immediately well organized, no help was needed. People were taken to Moscow and Krasnogorsk hospitals, provided with everything they needed. And we realized that our main task is to console people and pray with them for the dead and injured. This is what we did for the next few days. IA Regnum: What exactly did they do? Father Vasily Losev: We celebrated the first funeral service on the same day at midnight. One of the priests from our parish remained on duty in the church all night. We were prepared for the fact that the relatives of the victims would come all this time. But mostly people started coming in the morning. On Saturday, a help center opened on the premises of the regional branch of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation. We agreed with the operational headquarters of the Moscow region that priests will be on duty there along with psychologists. For three days, the priests there received the victims and communicated with them. And we also helped psychologists who did a lot of work, bringing people out of a state of despondency and grief. People thawed out, came to their senses and began to think about how they should live further. Then on Saturday, Bishop Thomas arrived. Together with the parishioners and clergy of our cathedral, me and Father Dionysius, he performed a memorial service for the dead. And on Sunday, the Day of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, we served with His Holiness the Patriarch at the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. His Holiness the Patriarch fervently prayed for all the dead and injured. After the service, Bishop Thomas and I went to the Krasnogorsk hospital. The Bishop conveyed to the injured patients the blessing and prayerful wishes of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill for the healing of spiritual and physical wounds. I remember a 22-year-old girl there who didn’t know where her mother was. It soon became known that my mother had been found. In general, the patients were cheerful. The doctors supported them from the first minutes. Bishop Thomas thanked the doctors and presented the patients with small icons with the image of St. Luke (in the world - Valentin Voino-Yasenetsky ). This is actually a saint of our time. He is both a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church and a famous doctor. At one time, he even received the Stalin Prize for “Essays on Purulent Surgery.” During the Great Patriotic War, he healed many people with his prayers and medical work. They pray to him for the healing of all the sick and wounded. From the hospital we headed to the site of the tragedy, where Vladyka Thomas, together with the clergy of the Odintsovo diocese, performed a memorial service at the site of the tragedy. From that moment on, priests began to be on duty near Crocus every day from 7 to 21 and perform funeral services every two hours. IA Regnum: Have you thought about the people who come to you, who they are? Father Vasily Losev: We didn’t even think about it. They didn’t ask who was what nationality or religion. We didn’t even wonder what they were doing during Lent at the concert. They tried to help everyone. There were a lot of people who showed themselves heroically during those events. I know that the director of the concert hall, Roman Grachev, was already at the scene of the tragedy from the first minutes and helped people. Crocus employees also tried to preserve video equipment to help the investigation understand how the terrorists acted. If we talk about our parish, we simply witnessed the events and tried to do something to help. In any case, the tragedy left no one indifferent. — IA Regnum: You said that after the tragedy, priests were on duty together with psychologists. Once upon a time, the priest actually performed the role of a psychologist, but now there has been a separation of these functions. What does your work have in common? And what are the differences? Father Vasily Losev : During the tragic events, we had a common goal - spiritual support for people. Priests also support people with their hearts and prayers. As for psychologists, it was not ordinary psychologists who worked there, but clinical psychologists. These are people with medical education. They worked using professional medical instruments. As I already said, the priests also helped the psychologists themselves. It was very difficult for them too. Every professional experiences stress. Due to psychological stress, a person may feel despondent. And despondency is more a spiritual rather than a psychological state. It is overcome by prayer and human support. And Christian kindness, which can accept any person, embrace with love and listen. At such moments, the Lord gives the necessary words of support that a person needs. For example, one girl was very worried because she saved herself, but could not help anyone. I told her: “Don’t worry so much. First of all, you are not obligated to save anyone at your young age. Yes, you couldn't do that. Secondly, you helped people by evacuating yourself. Thanks to this, the professionals did not have to be distracted by you. They helped those who needed it." With these simple words and prayer, we helped people find at least some peace of mind. |
| Posted by:badanov |