The story of Sergei’s journey to the Church
Last year, Sergei (name changed) celebrated a very important and deeply personal anniversary: July 9, 2025, marked exactly twenty-five years since his baptism. Today, he fully realizes how profound this event is in the life of every Christian, but back then, he understood very little. His path to faith was not an easy one, which only makes Sergei more grateful now to God and the Most Holy Theotokos. After all, despite all his downfalls, they rescued him from his past sinful life and showed him where the true faith lies. What follows is Sergei’s story in his own words, with only his name changed.
My path to baptism was a thorny one. At the time, I was not religious and had not thought about being baptized at all. I had a successful business, but then everything became incredibly difficult, and very serious problems began. I will not list them, but things got really bad. I completely lost my sleep, and it was an absolute catastrophe.
Since I was snowed under with problems, I was advised to consult a psychic. Back then, I did not understand anything in this sphere; I did not believe in any “subtle worlds” or “higher powers”—I did not believe in anything at all, being a very materialistic person. Besides not believing in God, I did not know about the existence of demons who explicitly help such people. But nevertheless, I consulted a psychic. Yes, there was such a sin in my past, and many tears of repentance have been shed since over that very heavy downfall.
Visits to a Medium
Absolutely incredible things happened at the medium’s place: the materialization of objects and many other things that are simply mind-boggling. She was able to do all this, and it is clear with whose help… She was “removing a curse” from me, as she put it. I visited her more than once, and at some point she suddenly said, as they tell many, “You need to get baptized!” Now I understand that this is done so that the dark spirits helping her can take a pure soul, thereby plunging a newly baptized person into an even graver sin. Interestingly, that woman herself was unbaptized and belonging to a completely different religion. And although she commanded me to get baptized, I did not go to church right away.
Baptism with Children and First Prayers to the Lord
Life went on as usual; by that time, my second son had been born. My older son was ten years old at the time. So, when the baby was born, I decided to have the children baptized. I brought the older one to church, carrying the younger one in my arms… And the elderly lady at the candle desk asked me:
“Are you even baptized, bringing your children to church like this?”
I said no. Then she snapped at me:
“Are you stupid?”
Although she used a ruder word, there was no malice in it.
“You have brought your children to be baptized, but you are not baptized yourself! Come on, hurry up! Here is a cross, and the three of you will get baptized right now!”
I agreed with the woman—if it had to be done, it had to be done. Besides, to my shame, I remembered the psychic’s words. It was not a big deal for me, so I got baptized. That happened on July 9, 2000. Shortly after, I started to pray. A prayer book came into my hands, also quite unexpectedly. It contained the morning and evening prayer rules; I did not have the energy for the evening prayers, but I read the morning prayers every day for four years until I truly began living a church life.
Integrating into Church Life under the Protection of the Tikhvin Icon
And so, four years passed with regular morning prayers. My integration into church life began in June 2004, with the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. It felt as though the Most Holy Theotokos had taken my loved ones and me under her protection, despite all my sins. At that time, I was living in Moscow and had a religious friend I spoke to often. He told me about a major event happening in Moscow: the wonderworking Tikhvin Icon of the Theotokos was being brought over from Chicago. In 2004, after being kept in the USA for sixty years, this icon was returned to Russia in accordance with the will and testament of Archbishop John (Garklavs) of Chicago and Minneapolis. My friend said that the icon would stay at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior for three days, but since he was leaving and could not come to venerate it, he asked me to go and pray on his behalf.
By that time, I barely ever set foot in church. But I agreed to go to the cathedral. There was a huge line to venerate the icon, and I queued for about ten hours, which was a lot given my complete lack of faith back then. And so, I walked inside the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and unexpectedly, I just burst into tears… I pulled out my cellphone to take a picture of the icon and snapped a few shots. But they all turned out blurry—none of the photos came out.
I bowed before the Tikhvin Icon, and I loved the experience so much that I came back twice more: the next day, and the day after that. By then, the queue had gotten smaller. That was the starting point of my rapid and deep integration into church life.
After that, some interesting coincidences began to happen.
In 2007, I entered St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University of Humanities, and there was a monk in my group. At first, we did not know he was a monk, but later it turned out he was from… the Tikhvin Monastery in the Leningrad region! And when I became an active churchgoer, I started looking through the Church calendar and realized that I was baptized on the feast day of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God! So now, I consider this icon to be my personal patronal icon.
Some time later, I traveled to Tikhvin for the feast of this icon and stayed at the monastery for a few days. It is a major event there; they celebrate its Town Day at the same time.1 The whole place comes alive, and there is so much joy in the air! The monastery is simply beautiful, absolutely amazing, and the icon is truly wonderful!
As an Epilogue
What became of that psychic and my business? To make my story complete, this needs to be mentioned as well. During one of my visits, that woman told me that I had a bottle of Theophany water in my closet and that I needed to remove it because it was “interfering with her work.” Back then, I did not understand anything at all; I was not a churchgoer, and was very ignorant. Yet, for some reason, I flatly refused to remove the holy water—I stood my ground.
After that, I stopped visiting that woman; later on, I was baptized, and four years after that, I became a serious church member. My profitable business was ruined, but with God’s help, all the overwhelming problems that had come upon me were gradually resolved. Today, I live a church-centered life, and my entire family participates in the Holy Sacraments. I trust and rely on the help of God and the Most Holy Theotokos, rather than the advice of such “mediums.” I regard the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God as my patronal icon, as numerous events in my life are intertwined with it. Every single time, I thank the Most Pure Virgin for tearing me away from my past life of sin, and for never abandoning me—never letting me or my loved ones perish.
Glory to God for all things!
