The "Gelios" Centre is the road to the temple

Vasya Muravyev (the surname and the name are changed) appeared in our children's home at the age of fourteen. We tried to give him everything, as we could. For example, we knew his interest in box, and the teachers took him to the sport's club. We tought him a drawing. He attended musical lessons with great pleasure. He studied well and joined the Army. But some time ago we learned that he died from drugs' overdose.

This incident plunged us into despair and showed that all the efforts of tutor, teachers, pedagogues, their attempts to substitute a family for the child can't guarantee the 100% positive result.

High qualified specialists worked in our centre: teachers, scientists? psychologists. We organised a nursery-school (Gymnasium for the Little One's), a school for individual development of a person "Levsha", a family-leisure club we had a department of consulting service for the inhabitants , day shift school for unemployed people, circles and clubs for interest.

"Gelios" appropriated the status of Federal Experimental Platform in 1999.

What could be done in our work? Or in other words, what could be done to hope a child grow with moral pivot in his soul? It is a difficult job to educate person perfectly, it is a long and slow process which took a lot of time and efforts and on the other hand we see a bad manners, which are easy-learned.

A Social departments for childish and adult inhabitants worked in our municipal district, we discovered teenagers, who was addicted to smelling glue on early stages, we searched for teenage crime groups and thus, worked with juvenile deliquency. Doctors, psychologists and lawers orginized free-consultation. But it wasn't so effective as we thought, the results are so insignificant that they are not worth speaking about. If a person doesn't have a pivot in his soul, he will be halpless with temptation and dirt of social community.

The practise showed? that moral, spiritual pivot could be given only in the church.

There were not a few childrens, who visited the church among our students. They attanded the church in their places of life on Sundays and holidays. And only such children had grown up could persist negative influence of social community. Our centre "Gelios" is only nine years old? that is why we don't have a long statistics of course. But five years ago we decided to open a Russian Orthodox Church Department. The federal law "About freedom of conscience and religious communities" says about the right to conduct religious service in children homes.

It was opened four years ago with the blessing of St.-Petersburg and Ladoga Metropolitan - Vladimir and agreement with the Head а the Education Committee of St.-Petersburg. There were permanent religious servises for our pupils and their relatives, collaborators of the centre and for every desired people in the temple. Our children had the opportunity to attend home temple in any time they wanted without any force.

However, nowdays finances are limited in all acpects of the centre, besides the children's home.Pupils attend different schools and kindergartens.

In spite of changes, we tried to support spiritual education of our pupils.

It is very important for me, that all my collaborators support this affair. They understand a person can live without good knoledge of physics or chimistry. But he can't live without inner harmony, with discord in his soul. He doesn't reach success, if he won't know religious rules: not to lie, not to steal, not to live without love and etc.

Our children will never have such love and care as children in normal good families. Teachers and collaborators from the children's home can't give them parents love. However, there is love and abundance, which must save our boys and girls - it is love to God and God's love. And our orthodox temple will help our children to learn the aim of the life, to feel themselves more confident they firmly by God's hand from shocks of the fate.