October in Moscow

So as to not bore you all I've decided to cut out all the details of teaching and just share memorable moments.

28.10.07: On Friday I happened by a church (All Saints I believe) in the East of Moscow and found an icon of Blessed Augustine which contained a relic of his, so of course it was wonderful to venerate such an icon. The church itself appeared to have fairly recently been redone-the icons were traditional and one section contained icons of the new martyrs of Russia. In the evening I went to a concert of Nikolaj Emelin who sings songs about Orthodoxy and Russia and war. Afterwards with some friends that were there I danced some traditional Russian dances in the parking lot... On Saturday I was blessed to visit the graves of Elder Sampson, Archimandrite Sergei and Archimandrite Zechariah. Elder Sampson was an Englishman who came to Russia

I also stopped by the monastery where St. Matrona of Moscow’s relics are but there was a line that would take several hours to pass through; I was planning on going to confession that afternoon so I didn’t have the time. One of the priests at St. Tatiana’s speaks English so I spoke with him a little in the afternoon and then at the vigil was able to confess so I was blessed to receive communion today. At Novo-spassky monastery there was a moleben in the afternoon after which there was a gathering of MP where I met even more people and did some more dancing.

Various thoughts: So at one point at MP I was talking someone and said a word in English to clarify or for some odd reason. A girl standing near by turned around and said something like it seemed like a foreigner was around...not realizing that I was actually a foreigner... Once again most people I met asked if I am any part Russian because they all think I look Russian; so of course this is always a compliment. Thank God I have also not yet been stopped by the militsia and maybe that’s the reason (although I’m not sure how much they really look out for foreigners-I think it’s mainly terrorists).

I’ve been wondering lately that since everyone thinks I’m Russian what they think when I speak... Some people also think I don’t speak that terribly (one even said that I speak without an accent) so I wonder if they think I’m maybe some sort of fool...

In teaching news Wednesday was my last class with the children; thankfully the problem child didn’t show up the last two classes so everything went fine. However, now I will be getting another sort of class about which I now know nothing.

There’s just something nice about being in liturgy and seeing through the window the towers of the Kremlin...