Father Sergiy Baranov

The Liturgy from our skete is ready!

​Blessed Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God!

The recording of our night Liturgy is finished, and we’ve titled it Anamnesis. You can now listen to and watch the full recording across all platforms:

YouTube

Rutube

Dzen

​Recently, Father recorded a preface explaining why we decided to take this step and how this recording reflects the life of our community. You can watch it here. People have been asking us for a long time to share this, so that those far away could stay connected to what happens in the skete every night. We recorded an ordinary weekday service, not in a studio, capturing all the nuances and authentic ambient acoustics of the church. Father sings the lead melody, accompanied by the sisters.

​Anamnesis (Greek) means remembrance — a return to the origin, to what the soul knew before birth. In Christianity, it is the fulfillment of Christ's words, "Do this in remembrance of Me." We created a surreal visual accompaniment for the recording because the Liturgy is, first and foremost, the Liturgy of the angels running parallel to our earthly one, and we wanted to convey this otherworldly atmosphere.

​Father does not read sheet music; he simply sang simple melodies as they came to his heart, and the sisters picked them up in harmonies. As Father Andrey says, we half-speak the Liturgy, speaking in a whisper, intimately, standing before God. We consciously step away from theatricality and artificiality. The Liturgy is a reflection of how we live. Our credo is to be authentic, natural, and not play a role, because the truth of a person is far more valuable than external form.

​We aren't sharing this as a standard to follow. Even if it seems unmusical or "incorrect," people asked us, and we created it with love.

August at the hermitage. Our Ruling Bishop, Iriney, Bishop of Orsk and Gay, often visits us—he comes to serve the Liturgy, rest, talk, fish, and enjoy some pilaf. Not many know, but officially our hermitage is named an Episcopal Metochion. During his last visit, Vladyka gave us a promised fishing rod for our angler, Sister Tamara, as well as an outdoor grill. Before this, we cooked on the outdoor grill for guests and sisters right over coals on bricks. You can watch a video about this Sunday here.

There are many pilgrims in July and August—everyone has finally escaped the cities to breathe the steppe air and pray together at the night services, and we are glad to welcome our guests. After the service in the starry church, you step out under an incredible starry canopy of heaven, and it feels like nothing else is needed except this sky, the steppe wind, and the night services.

As usual, our 'beacons'—young people from the 'Mayak' Supported Living Home, graduates of the Gay Boarding School for Children with Disabilities—are also visiting us.

We are currently recording our hermitage Liturgy, while the Orthodox gymnasium supported by the hermitage is already hard at work preparing for the school year. While the heat persists, there is no hint of autumn yet, though it always arrives imperceptibly and unexpectedly.

Donate to the hermitage / Submit a prayer request / Order books and gifts from the hermitage

For pilgrimage inquiries, please call: +79102025579