Moldova, Russia, Greece, October 5, 2023
Photo: mitropolia.md
There have been a number of reports lately about Churches and hierarchs involved in good deeds, helping the less fortunate and restoring churches of God.
Moldova
On October 1, the International Day of Older Persons, His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir of Chișinău and All Moldova (Moscow Patriarchate) served breakfast, lunch, and dinner to the 160 people living at a home for the elderly and disabled in Chișinău.
Met. Vladimir has visited such homes many times over the years, reports the Moldovan Orthodox Church.
The next day, he consecrated a rehabilitation center for the elderly and disabled adults, also in Chișinău.
Russia
Photo: monasterium.ru
The Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism of the Russian Orthodox Church recently reported that over the course of 12 years, more than 4,000 children have received help at the Rehabilitation Center for Children with Cerebral Palsy that operates at the Sts. Mary and Martha Convent in Moscow, founded by St. Elizabeth the Grand Duchess and New Martyr.
“There is no cure for cerebral palsy yet, so that means the task of rehabilitation is to give the maximum number of social skills as early as possible. We try to teach the children to help themselves and be able to communicate before starting school,” explained Ksenia Kovalenok, the chief physician at the Mercy Medical Center.
The Center’s programs are free of charge.
Photo: tulapressa.ru
Also in Russia, volunteers are constantly working to rebuild dilapidated and destroyed churches left behind by nearly a century of atheist rule.
A recent report highlighted the work being done to restore churches in the Tula Province, just south of the Moscow Province. Over the past 10 years, a man named Igor Pankov has been fixing up the Church of the Nativity of Christ in the village of Mokry Kor. Services have been held in the church already since 2019, and the work is nearing completion. Pankov had promised his grandmother he would restore the church.
Volunteers are working on three other village churches in the Tula Province this year, and the Church of the Icon Not-Made-By-Hands in the village of Aksinino is being rebuilt by the White Iris Preservation of Cultural Heritage Fund. The head of the foundation noted that while ruins may seem romantic to tourists, it brings bitterness and despondency to the locals who have to see it every day, thus they have been actively helping to rebuild the church.
Greece
Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr
The Apostolis charitable organization of the Greek Orthodox Church’s Archdiocese of Athens recently donated 50,000 liters of water to those effected by the terrible flooding that struck Thessaly last month.
The foundation’s ongoing help to the flood victims is supported by International Orthodox Christian Charitiies (IOCC) and the Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society in America, reports the Orthodoxia News Agency.
Photo: Romfea
Also, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece met yesterday, and the hierarchs gave the official blessing to distribute the $316,000 (300,000 euros) that was raised by donations throughout the Church of Greece for the Metropolises that were affected by the floods.
The report notes that this amount is separate from all the humanitarian aid and funds sent directly to the Metropolises.
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