Interview
with Irina Karpovich, a sister of mercy
July 18 is
the day of the holy martyr Grand Princess Elisabeth who is best known on the
Russian soil because of her deeds of mercy. She left the world where she had
high standing and went to another world, the world of the needy and the
suffering. Many years passed since St Elisabeth reposed in the Lord but the
good works she started are going on and many Christians continue to remember
her. For instance, a Sisterhood and a Convent in Minsk are named after her. The
sisters of mercy, also known as “white” (lay) sisters, follow in the footsteps
of their heavenly patroness by helping the ill and the suffering today. Over 70
sisters and brothers have their obedience in the National Centre for Mental
Health.
“People who
undergo treatment here need other help, i.e., spiritual help, beside medical
assistance,” the sister-in-charge of the National Centre for Mental Health
Irina Karpovich believes. “Who is able to provide this spiritual treatment? The
Heavenly Doctor.”
Many of the
“white” sisters have regular jobs in other places beside the Sisterhood where
they may be good specialists or even top managers. However, this fact does not
prevent them from talking with the mentally challenged on equal terms, helping
them to get to know God and to draw closer to Him. Irina has been a member of
the Sisterhood for nine years. Three years ago she used to combine her duties
in the Sisterhood with a secular job of a private company CEO. She used to keep
the fact that she was a sister of mercy in secret. “I did not hesitate for a
single moment,” Irina says. “I just did not know how I could explain the
reasons why I do that to my unbelieving colleagues. Finally, I gave up hiding.
Once our company founder made an appointment with me on an evening when we were
going to have confession in the unit of the hospital I was in charge of. I
asked him to move this appointment to another date, and when he asked me why, I
answered, “I am a sister of mercy, I visit the mental clinic and we have
confession there on Wednesdays.” He was very surprised and muttered, “Yes... I
see... Okay!”
“A couple of
years ago, a friend of mine asked me why I go there. She choked when she heard
my answer, “There is so much love!” How can I explain this to someone who has
never visited the hospital as a sister of mercy in order to hear and answer, to
support and to tell the patients about God's presence? No, this hospital is in
no way different from what you can see on TV but “there is so much love!”
Sometimes you cannot force yourself into going there but each time you return
from this obedience, you feel that “there is so much love!” It is hard to
understand if this love is “thanks to” or “in spite of”... “Thanks to,” I
suppose. In general, there is no “love in spite of...” at all.
Not all
patients are willing to communicate, especially if they are in the state of
depression. A person may be lying on their bed and staring at the wall without
uttering a single word. S/he does not want anything, s/he is unwilling even to
get up, wash their face, dress and eat, respond to our greetings, and this
condition may go on for weeks. There was such a patient in one of the hospital
units. Our sister did not make attempts to stir her up or to irritate her with
questions but would simply say hello, say a short prayer for her, leave a hard
candy for her and go out. In the meantime, that woman was discharged from
hospital, and the sister of mercy who had visited her met her in public
transport. That woman thanked the sister for her care and said, “You know, that
hard candy helped me to recover so much!” Even a hard candy might be important
if it is an expression of attention and compassion.
The primary
task of a sister of mercy is to prepare the patients of the hospital for
confession and communion. This is not always easy because there are people of
various beliefs and convictions here. Irina told us that it is here where
heterodox people often become Orthodox. Irina became Orthodox when she was 39.
“I remember that I used to be a self-confident and proud person since my
childhood. There was no God for me, I thought the priests were puppeteers, a
church was a bad theatre and the faithful... oh, I did not know how to call
them.”
“I was
30-something when I decided to take a closer look at the phenomenon of faith.
Lots of people endured torture because they were reluctant to renounce their
faith in the “non-existent” God. How could I explain that? I bought the New
Testament and tried to read the Psalter. It was totally impossible to
understand. I started reading the Gospel but I could not even appreciate its
artistic value; I forced myself into reading it. I was driven by my ego: how
come that I do not understand any of those things so many different people living
in different places and in different times have in common? I read it for six
years and almost learnt it by heart but I still could not understand it.
Once I caught
a cold and stayed in bed for a couple of days. I was lying and reading books.
All of a sudden, with no visible reasons, I was gripped by the feeling of
repentance. I suddenly saw how many evil things I had done, I saw how dark my
soul was and I could not live with it anymore. A friend of mine told me that I
should go and confess my sins. I rushed to my mother, “Mum, I need to go to
confession!” - “In a Catholic church?” - “No, in the Orthodox church!” - “Then
you have to become Orthodox first because you were baptised in the Catholic
Church.”
So I went to
SS Peter and Paul Cathedral. I was afraid that as soon as I step into the
church, the priests would attack me and begin to brainwash me. It turned out
that they did not; in fact, they hardly even noticed me. I cried for a while
and decided to stay because it was God who I had come to, not other people. I
learnt that I was in need of Holy Chrismation and that I had to attend several
lessons of catechism taught by a priest before that. It was then that I took
the Gospel from my book shelf again. It seemed to me that this time the Gospel
swung wide open and welcomed me in. When I was reading it, I felt a strange
feeling of the presence of Christ, as if I was standing in the midst of the
people listening to Him. My faith came as a revelation. When God touches one's
soul, this is evident.
Then I was
chrismated, confessed and took communion; I was overwhelmed by the totally new
feeling of absolute freedom and understanding that I can and will no longer
live without Christ, without His Church and the Sacraments. This is not a
one-in-a-lifetime experience: each new day brings more experience.
I started
visiting the talks of Fr Andrew and he became my confessor in about a year
since I became Orthodox. I thank the Lord that he blessed me to become a member
of the Sisterhood and to carry out my obedience in the mental clinic.”
If we read
the biography of the heavenly patroness of our Sisterhood, we will notice that
she had not been born Orthodox. Saint Elisabeth was born to a Protestant family
but later she came to realise that Orthodoxy was a better fit for her than
Protestantism. Irina recalls how one of the female patients of the National
Centre for Mental Health was attending both an Orthodox church and a Protestant
congregation because the latter provided material assistance to her. Recently,
she confessed it and told Irina about it, saying that she came at peace with
her soul after that.
It is rather
difficult for a person who stays in this hospital to confess and take
communion. Sometimes an individual struggles with God, grudges and does not
want to humble himself. A sister of mercy has to be patient and pray for that
individual so that the Lord would teach him and soothe his pain. Nevertheless,
the majority of the patients of the National Centre for Mental Health look
forward to the visits of a priest and to the confession; many of them share
their impressions and observations with the “white” (lay) sisters and tell them
how they change after the communion and what grace they can feel. Some people
have to stay here for a long time, and their relatives grow tired with them;
but God cares for everyone, He welcomes all. Some people confess and take
communion in the hospital for the first time in their lives, and then, when
they are discharged, they continue to attend church, change their lifestyles
and begin a new life with God.
There is a
separate building within the walls of the Centre for the people who committed
crimes under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance. Our sisters visit
them as well. It is common knowledge that many people regard such activity
useless because they are certain that such people cannot be changed. However,
do you remember who was the first to enter the paradise? A thief. He had no
time to do anything in order to make up for his bad actions; all he did was honestly
repent and say that he deserved the punishment he had to endure and call upon
God. Everybody today needs prayer and repentance. Even the Grand Princess
Elisabeth prayed for the assassin who murdered her husband and called for his
repentance.
Irina recalls
how they told her on the very first day of her obedience in the hospital, “If
it is too hard, you are free to stop doing it.” “How could I stop?” she says.
“However difficult things would be for us, these people suffer much more than
we do, and they need not only medical assistance but also spiritual support.
Some of them need a kind word, some need a kind look, some need to feel that
they are not abandoned nor forgotten. It is often said that a word can kill and
a word can cure... The Scripture says, Bear ye one another's burdens, and so
fulfil the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)
Regardless of
the difficulties that the “white” sisters have to face today, they know that
their heavenly patroness, the holy martyr Grand Princess Elisabeth, keeps
praying for them. They ask her for help and feel her support seeing what fruit
their ministry bears and how useful it is for other people. Their ministry
transforms human lives, and it inspires and strengthens their hearts in all
circumstances.
By Helena Gulidova
Translated by Fyodor Vaskovsky
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