To the VIII Congress of Church for social Ministry, which was headed by his Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill, was confined for two internships for the presidents and assistants to the heads of the diocesan departments of social. During the first internship, which was attended by 18 people from 12 dioceses, from 12 to 16 October, the participants got acquainted with successful Church charity projects of Moscow. In the second internship from 20 to 23 October, representatives from 11 dioceses took part in the worship in home churches under the Moscow hospitals and social institutions, learned about the features of the service experienced hospital priests and how to systematically build the hospital service in medical institutions throughout the diocese, according to Diakonia. During the internship, participants met with the Chairman of the Synodal Department for charity Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevo Panteleimon.
“Not all regions of our country and the near abroad have the opportunity to extensively develop these or other areas of assistance to the needy, not all cities have the resources to start their own Church social projects, but medical institutions are absolutely everywhere, – said the coordinator of internships from the Synodal Department for charity deacon Igor Kulikov. – For the year using each hospital is a large percentage of the population, regardless of the scale of the settlement. Most of the people there need not only medical care but also support, attention, spiritual help, and some need the solution of any social problems – that we are called to help them”
Father Igor also noted that such assistance does not need serious resources, enough to have a priest and some volunteers or nurses who regularly visit this establishment.
“Hospital Ministry is an important area of Church social work, – said the deacon Igor Kulikov. – We plan that the training in the hospital service will be regular and it will help in the development of hospital service in the Russian Church”.
During the internship, the senior priest of the temple blessed Tsarevich Demetrius at 1ГКБ Archpriest John Emelyanov shared his 25 years of Ministry experience in the first hospital Church in modern Russia. The rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity at the Institute of Emergency care. Sklifosofsky Archpriest Roman Batsman talked about how the ritual work of the sisters and sick clergy in the Sklifosovsky research Institute and the Institute of cardiovascular surgery them. Bakulev. Psychiatrist Archpriest Vladimir Novitsky answered questions from alumni about pastoral care of people suffering from mental disorder.
“The pastoral issues that arise in the hospital very helpful to talk among the other priests and professionals – shared her impressions the participant of training of the Vyksa diocese, Archpriest Arseny Arshaulov. – In addition, it is always very inspiring. I checked on the training of the Synodal Department is always pushing for new action.”
In addition to the hospital of the priests, who Intern was found by professional psychologists – doctor-reflexologist, author of “Separation will not” psychologist Frederick de Graaf spoke about the peculiarities of working with seriously ill people, the development of empathy and communication skills with dying people. Specialist Scientific and practical center of specialized medical care for children Arkady Kharkiv told about how to speak with a critically ill child, what you need to pay attention to the conversation, how to talk to parents and what to do if the family is hiding the child from his illness.
“Unfortunately, it happens that performing religious rites, sacraments, we, the priests, are not included in personal human contact, and that many lack. How to properly enter the contact in this matter the opinion of the psychologist is very useful,” said Archpriest Arseniy Arshaulov.
On October 22 the participants of the training visited the Center for palliative medicine, where the priest Vladimir Sukhanov discussed the issues of care of incurable sick people, and met the founder of a charity hospice charity Fund “Vera” Newtoy Federmesser. In 2016 she is the head of the Center of palliative medicine of the Department of health of Moscow. On meeting her priests dismantled the joint work of the Church, community organizations and health care providers to care for seriously ill and dying people.
“Hospital Ministry is new for me, and now I know how to build it in Serovskiy diocese – said the Deputy head of the social Department of the Serov diocese priest Alexis Bata. – Like every priest, I have had experience of hospital care, but it was not systemic. In this internship we studied the types of agreements with hospitals and boarding schools and the whole system of how to build a hospital Ministry.”
In addition to internships in the hospital service to the General Church of the VIII Congress on social service was also dedicated training for social service. The 14th in a row training organized by the Synodal Department for charity, took place from 12 to 16 October. During this time the participants got acquainted with the work of St. Sophia homes, and other projects of the Orthodox service “Mercy”, hospital of St. Alexis Metropolitan of Moscow Marfo-the Mariinsky monastery, visited the state medical and social institutions and met with leading specialists of the Synodal Department for various areas of social activities.