Vladimir, Suzdal, Easter, and the Rhodes

Suzdal.

I like this picture a lot.

The Suzdal Kremlin.

Interesting fact. In many towns, there are two churches next to each other. One is smaller and one is larger. The larger one is for the summer, and the smaller is one for the winter. Less space to heat. In the picture above, the summer church is on the left, and the winter church is the one we went inside, the one on the right.

Koshka!

Cool fence.

Less gold, more wood.

The Summer Church.

This is the Savior's Monastery of St. Euthymius. This is where I heard the choir. The monastery is no longer functioning as a monastery. Now it is a historical site and museum.

Inside the Transfiguration Cathedral at the monastery.


The Convent of the Intercession. This still functions as a convent. This was where Peter the Great sent his wife. He couldn't divorce her under the Russian Orthodox church laws, but he could "encourage" her to commit her life to God. So, a separation was permitted if the wife was called to be a nun.

Suzdal is three hours outside of Moscow. It was a long van ride. We had an official tour, and it was worth the money. We had two tour guides, Nadia and Marina. Both spoke wonderful English, and they knew their history so well.

When Laura and I got into the van, there were five people there. Three of them were a family from Spain. The other two were a married couple. When we climbed into the van, the married couple had the biggest smiles on their faces, and they said really loudly and cheerfully, "Good morning!" I was taken aback. I felt like saying, "Why are you talking to me? Why are you smiling?" Michael warned me that when I come back to America that everyone is going to appear like smiling idiots. So, I thought these people were American when I first met them. I was wrong. They were from New Zealand. They were so incredibly nice. It was so weird talking to friendly strangers. People don't smile at you unless they consider you a friend, and their expressions are often hard and annoyed. Anyway, it was refreshing to talk to these people. It made me excited to go back to the States. I mean, I love Russia, but sometimes I just want to hear someone say "Good morning" on the streets. I want customer service. I want people to hold the freaking door open for me at the metro as they walk through. I don't want them to just let it slam into my face.

The other day at McDonald's the cashier was furious with me. She told me in English what my order cost, but her accent was so thick that I didn't understand what she wanted. She slammed her fist onto the counter and huffed and puffed. I felt like complaining to her manager. I wanted to say, "Just because you can say your numbers doesn't mean you can speak English." Besides I knew how much my order cost. She wanted exact change, and she thought that by repeating the price that I'd understand. It was really frustrating. And embarrassing too because there were all these Russians standing around just watching. Thankfully, Laura came to the rescue. I can laugh about it now, but at the time I was really annoyed. I don't understand Russia's obsession with exact change. Anyway, that was why I was kind of startled by the friendly New Zealanders. They were just so....nice.

In this picture you can see layers of icons. I can see about three layers I think. Apparently, iconists would paint over older paintings. Restorers are uncovering these layers to see what is underneath them.

This is a small church. I think it's called Church of St. Nicholas. Anyway, I learned something interesting about the cross with the three bars. The third bar is diagonal to symbolize the two sinners on either side of Jesus -- one repented and one did not.


After we toured Suzdal we went to Vladimir which is pronounced Vlah-deem-er. The picture above is of the Dormition Cathedral, but it is of the newer section. The older section is right behind it. It used to be the main Orthodox church of Russia in centuries past.

This is the older section. Older as in the 11oos. Absolutely amazing. Inside it was so dark and eerie. It was lit by candles and maybe a couple of electric lights. They almost didn't let us in because they were preparing for Easter. Inside I saw a priest just resting on a bench next to the coffin of Alexander Nevsky. Nevsky's coffin only holds his finger though. The rest of him is in St. Petersburg. Vladimir wanted a relic, so they got his finger.

You can't tell from this picture, but the Dormition Cathedral has five gold domes.

Beautiful blue sky.

In the Dormition Cathedral I got to see something I really wanted to see -- the icons of Andrei Rublev. Okay, so I don't want to sound hoity-toity as if I have this supreme taste in icons. I don't know anything about icons, but I do know that Andrei Rublev is considered to be the greatest Russian iconist. Plus, I really like the Russian movie director, Andrei Tarkovsky, and he did a movie called Andrei Rublev which I like. And to see a real Rublev painting....to be there looking at walls and a ceiling that Rublev painted...He was there! Right where I was standing. He was up on a ladder right where I was. Amazing.

This is the view from the Dormition Cathedral. Absolutely beautiful!

The weather took a nasty turn really quickly. It was like a snow whirlwind. It was the strangest thing. Marina took us to a summit to see the domes of the Dormition Cathedral. We were high up, and the snow was thick. The wind was blowing us every which way.



Through the snow you can see the golden domes of the Dormition Cathedral.

My friend Laura. It was so cold...

This is a really interesting cross. I had never seen this one before. Marina said very strongly, "Some people say this symbolizes Christianity conquering Islam. We do not accept that view. The crescent shape is not a Muslim moon. It is either a chalice to collect Christ's spilled blood or his manger."

I want to tell you about Marina. She was...absolutely fascinating. She seemed like she has a strong faith. At different points during the tour she would talk about the Resurrection with joy and seriousness. She would tell us interesting facts too that weren't exactly necessary to the historical part of the tour. For example, she told us that the word spacibo which means thank you comes from the word spaci which means save. (Like on my ring that I got from St. Petersburg, it says spaci.) The bo part in spacibo comes from Bog which is the word for God. Originally, Russians said spacibog for thank you. God save you. It was eventually shortened to spacibo. Marina said, "It is unfortunate that many Russians do not know this."

In the Dormition Cathedral, Marina said at one point, "Many people ask me how many Russians are Christians. I cannot answer this question. It is possible that I could say 80% of Russia is Orthodox, but only 10% of these people believe in their hearts. The new patriarch has many plans. He wants people to believe in their hearts. He does not want people to simply adhere to traditions and rituals."

Marina also said, "During the Soviet time period, television was boring. It was all propaganda, you know. Since Russians were not permitted to celebrate Easter during the Soviet period, to keep the Orthodox at home the government would play a thriller movie on television on Easter night to keep people at home. This was very exciting for the Russians. Very rare to watch a thriller. And the government did this so that they would not gather together to celebrate Easter."

Fascinating. Another world.

After we went inside the ancient part of the Dormition Cathedral, we went inside the newer part. It was packed inside. There were tables everywhere, and a priest was walking around the tables where people brought their kulich for the priest to bless. Kulich is a traditional Russian Orthodox Easter cake. Marina made some for everyone on the tour. It was okay. It tasted like dull bread with raisins. Not the best, but it tastes good to all the faithful Orthodox people who have been fasting from eggs and sugar and whatnot.

This is what a kulich cake looks like. Cathy makes it every year.

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We finally left Vladimir, and we went back to Moscow. Laura and I had a couple of hours to waste, so we went to Starbucks. I got a City Mug.

I will say that the customer service at Starbucks was amazing. They were courteous, friendly, respectful, and kind. They also spoke really good English, so that helped a lot.

While I was saving our seats (it was really crowded), Laura went and ordered. She distinctly told the cashier my name to write on the drink cup, but the girl wrote Berda. I have no idea how she got Berda from Meredith. I thought it was hilarious though. One of my students, Matt, went to Starbucks once, and the cashier wrote "Nuts" on his drink. :)

Berda. The name on the bottom is the same except in Russian cursive. So, p=r, g=d.

After that, Laura and I put skirts and head coverings on and went to church. We arrived early at 11 p.m. The service started at 11:30 p.m. Laura was recommended this church by someone at Moscow Christian Evangelical University. Apparently, the man used to be Orthodox, but he is Protestant now. He still goes to this church occasionally though. He said that it is a really strong church, that the people that go there are really faithful, and that the priest really shepherds his flock.

Interestingly, the church was the least beautiful and ornate out of all the ones I've visited. The ceiling had paintings of icons on it, but the walls were rather bare. It was really different from all the other churches I've seen. There weren't that many places to light candles before icon paintings. Usually a church has several, but I think I only saw a few.

The service was...amazing. Yes, I cried. Things affect me so much. Experiences affect me. The choir, the priest, the symbols, the sign of the cross, the people bowing, the way the prayer candles smell. There is a distinct scent they have, and it is...wonderful.

The priest took something like a shroud behind the gold doors to symbolize Christ's death and entombment. Then, we all went outside with candles in hand. Everyone, probably 100 or more people, walked around the church once at midnight. They sang a song over and over. It was...the saddest melody I think I've ever heard. The words were about cleaning our hearts. As we were outside the priest shouted, "Христос Воскресе!" And everyone shouted as loud as they could, "Воистину Воскресе!"

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! This went on for a long time. The priest would shout, and the crowd would shout back. Over and over and over and over. So much repetition.

Then everyone went inside. Friends and families kissed each other on the cheeks, saying "Christ is risen!" They were smiling. They were joyful. You could see it.

More songs were sung. More repetition. More signs of the cross. Over and over and over and over. The priest read a letter from the patriarch. More signs of the cross. More repetitions. More songs. Over and over. Laura and I left at 1:30 a.m. If we had not been touring all day long, maybe we could have stayed till it ended, but I couldn't stand up anymore. We left, and I got home at 2:45 a.m.

I slept till 1 p.m. on Sunday. I did not skip church though. The Easter service was church.

It was an experience I'll never forget.

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Yesterday it snowed. April 21st. Late April and snow? And they shut the hot water off in our building in the morning. Not sure why. I'm not going to lie. I'm looking forward to a hot summer.

I told Artyom, my only Russian student, to show his teeth when he smiles, and he said, "Miss Beck, that is dumb. That is American." Next to him is Phil, my cooperating teacher.

Tim and Beth got here on Saturday! I finally got to hang out with them last night. It was like the old days. I love them! They are great. They are going to live in Moscow for the next 2-3 years. I'm glad to at least spend the next two weeks with them.

A bunch of us got together to celebrate their arrival. We went to a coffee shop called the Coffee Bean.