The new Mayor of Moscow has ordered the city to find 200 plots of land for the building of Orthodox churches. This is, of course, a great departure from the Moscow that anyone living in the Soviet Union had known, except for the very old. But Russia is now at least partly Orthodox and Christian. I learned the other day that even Russian paratroopers have their own patron saint, St. Elijah.

It made me think of the time I visited Moscow in the fateful year of 1991. It was to be the first of three visits that year. I had arranged to live in an apartment within walking distance of the Novoslobodskaya metro station. This was quite illegal at the time, but nevertheless, there I was in the cold, icy, immense capital of what many visitors called The Planet Moscow. It felt that alien to visitors from abroad.

I started walking toward the center of town to meet someone near the American Embassy. I passed near an Orthodox church. One could see lights through the windows. I was intensely curious and wanted to go in, but I felt that this was not the right time or place to satisfy my curiosity. 

As I was crossing the street, a large woman in a fur coat slipped on the icy curb and fell heavily. A man in a fur cap and overcoat came quickly over to her and knelt. I was just across the street, and I could hear him say: “You’re all right dear, you’re all right. Don’t worry. Just rest for a few moments until you’ve gotten over the shock, and I’ll help you up. You’re all right.”

For some reason, this has been an intensely vivid memory for me. I think about the incident often, and I can visualize it as if it had happened not only yesterday, but an hour ago. Why was it so important? Perhaps it’s because it was the first of many encounters I had that year with the innate gentleness, thoughtfulness and generosity of the Russian people.

I could tell other stories. But one of a slightly different nature comes to mind. A friend of mine in Moscow, someone raised conventionally as an atheist, told me about Father Alexander Men, an Orthodox priest of the Soviet era, who was famous for his underground kitchen sermons. She said that Communists she knew felt drawn to Father Men, and attended these sermons.

“He was so magnetic, he spoke so wonderfully, that they sat there and their jaws dropped. I don’t know if he converted anyone, but perhaps….”

Father Men was murdered as he walked to a bus stop one day. He was bludgeoned with an ax. But the love and truth he stood for can never be eliminated. It rests within the human heart, and it is eternal.