Alexandr Korol

understand from words, they need to physically burn themselves, get hurt. Do you understand? Only then do they learn. There’s simply a group of people, let’s say they are young students, because we all live like we’re in school. And yes, at that time, it so happened that I got a job at the church. But again, I couldn’t lead services, I hadn’t attended any theological seminary, I hadn’t studied anywhere. I was more of a helper. You know, the priest might have a driver, there might be people in the kitchen preparing food. And I was a helper in what regard? One of the three angels on the dome was being restored. We have a legend about the three angels that form a triangle in St. Petersburg, connecting three islands. One of those angels is on Vasilyevsky Island. And I had to help the priest with the internet, the website, the design, how to make certain brochures, posters about this, various technical issues. As a young guy, I was only 20 at the time, I gave the priest advice on all this. So, I wouldn’t say I was dealing with any serious matters, I was just a helper, an active young helper, because the priest was old – that’s one reason. And if we talk about how I got to know the church from all sides – well, of course, I was deeply impressed: when you go to church not as a parishioner for a service, but when you see everything behind the scenes, it’s very curious. So naturally, I was very interested, and with curiosity, I would talk to various priests, if I can put it correctly, and ask them questions like a child, you know: “Why is this? Why is that?” Something like that. You know, the fact that I started working at the church, you know what it gave me? I stopped looking at it with some caution. Because, I don’t know about others, but for me, there was always this association from childhood that in the church, everyone suffers, cries, everyone is so angry, gloomy, you always have to be with a sad face, always silent. Well, when I went to church with my parents, it always seemed a little bleak to me. But here, when I saw it from the inside, ordinary people work there, everything is very simple, and it was just interesting to see how everything is arranged. Let’s put it this way, to explore the labyrinths that are off-limits to parishioners – that’s interesting. To see how everything looks, climb to the very top, where the dome is, go down to the basement, where the dining hall is – it was really interesting to see all of that. And secondly, of course, probably, I would never have become interested in the meaning of any icon, what it means, who is depicted on the icon, without a reason. So, all my interest in the Orthodox Church really grew when I worked there. The priests would