Daily Journal:

My friend is a volunteer assistant in the missionary department of one of the largest dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church. Recently, he and other similar assistants helped the secretary of this department, an honorable lady of retirement age. The fact is that the missionary department does not even have funds for office expenses. And so, a poor woman buys envelopes, paper clips, paper, etc. with her pension. About 6 thousand rubles are spent per year. Naturally, the guys chip in. There are no people working on staff in the department. The priest is the real head of the department, he has to run around a multimillion-dollar city for days in order to somehow provide for his family. Actually, missionary work has to be done in the intervals between requests. Just don't think that any of them are complaining. Nothing like this. Everyone understands that missionary activity is a priority in the life of the Russian Orthodox Church.

And the other day, news from Paris caused real delight among local missionaries. In the center of Paris, a large Orthodox church will be built in the high-tech style: something like a glass cube sparkling with all its facets. And there is also a missionary seminary nearby. Isn't this a powerful confirmation of the priority of missionary activity? Where else to be a missionary if not in France? They are our helicopter carrier, and we are their spirituality. In Russia, the only thing missing is helicopter carriers, but there’s something else. And with spirituality in general and Orthodoxy in particular, there is complete order.