Artist: DJ Furth
Edition: 1/1
Father Alexiy is an Orthodox priest who oversees a monastery outside of Ulan-Ude. The nuns and monks there were kind enough to provide us with one of the most delicious soups of our lives on a frigid autumn afternoon.
His commitment to his faith and desire to help us were quite intense.
As he explained, “The world where we live in right now, this world is temporary…The meaning of life is not in money, not in pleasures, not in wealth and not in fame, - that’s not the meaning of life, that’s all temporary. All the people who have acquired that, they are all dead, rotten and their souls are in hell. Convert while there is still time, while you are still alive. Do not put it away for tomorrow, because there might be no tomorrow. If at least one of you with turn to God, it’s not pointless… and saves his soul for eternal life, doesn’t go down there, then talking to you was not pointless.”
He suddenly asked us, “Do you know the difference between a believer and a non-believer? A non-believer has just his regular eyes, and the eyes of a believer are shining. Your eyes are not shining yet, they are just eyes, just an organ of sight.”
As to the region’s intersecting spiritual traditions, he explained, “I have friends of other religious beliefs, I have acquaintances who are Shamanists and Buddhists, we drink tea together, and nothing sets us apart.”
Toward sharing his thoughts about the unique Siberian character and culture, he said, “The more difficult and complicated it is for us, the closer we are to each other. And the more comfortable we feel, the fuller our bellies are, when we are well-dressed, when we have a light and not difficult lifestyle, the further away at heart we are from each other. We can smile together, communicate together and so on, but in reality we are getting further away from each other.”