Ekaterinburg, Russia, June 27, 2018
diaconia.ru On the eve of the International Day Against Drug Addiction, a drug rehabilitation center was opened at the Monastery of the Holy Royal Martyrs at Ganina Yama—the place where the bodies of the holy Royal Martyrs and their faithful servants were disposed of after they were murdered in Ekaterinburg on July 17, 1918.
The center is a joint project of the Ekaterinburg Diocese and the charity fund “Nika,” reports the site of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Works.
diaconia.ru The center can accommodate up to 35 wards. Today, 17 people from Ekaterinburg and other cities are undergoing free drug and alcohol rehabilitation at the monastery. The Diocese hopes to also open rehab centers for women with children in Ekaterinburg and Nizhny Tagil.
The opening ceremony was celebrated by His Grace Bishop Methodius of Kamensk and Alapaevsk who served a moleben for the beginning of any good deed.
diaconia.ru The wards of the center live in a two-story building with comfortable rooms for four people, a prayer room, and a refectory. They also work on a small farm.
“The new center will operate a comprehensive program of personal development based on the Orthodox worldview,” said the head of the Ekaterinburg Diocese’s Department on Drug Addiction Nikolai Bazhin. “It has a psychological-pedagogical approach, that is, teachers will work with the dependents on the basis of the Orthodox faith.”
The program consists of three stages helping the wards find the source of their addiction and overcome it, come to know God, and prepare for their return to society.
In total, there are more than 200 Church projects for helping drug addicts in Russia, including more than 100 counseling centers, 8 motivation centers, 14 outpatient centers, more than 70 church rehabilitation centers, 15 re-socialization centers, and 45 self-help groups. At least 10 new projects are being opened every year.
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