I don't want to be registered in a monastery

The editors of the "Daily Journal" received a letter from the shelter at the NAS Foundation ("No to Alcoholism and Drug Addiction") "The Road to Home." The author is a 16-year-old girl who lived in the Bogolyubovsky convent near Vladimir for eight years. The confessor of the monastery is the “elder” - Archimandrite Peter (Kucher). He is known for his veneration of Tsar Nicholas II and Stalin, and his irreconcilable fight against the INN. This is what Patriarch Alexy II had in mind when in 2007 he condemned the “Mytishchi rite” of nationwide repentance in front of the statue of Nicholas II and called for the defrocking of clergy who indulge in such experiments that sow discord and confusion. His pupil, who miraculously escaped from it under the cover of night, tells about the morals of the monastery cared for by Father Peter.

To the President of the Russian Federation

YES. Medvedev

copies:

His Holiness Kirill,

Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus';

Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation ;

Commissioner for Rights

child under the President of the Russian Federation

From a minor

Perova Valentina Evgenievna ,

registered at:

Vladimir region, Suzdal district,

village Bogolyubovo, st. Lenina, 51 v,

Holy Bogolyubsky Monastery.

I actually live at:

Moscow, st. Profsoyuznaya, 27, building 4.

Dear Dmitry Anatolyevich!

I, Valentina Evgenievna Perova, was born on September 26, 1992. Until I was 6 years old, I lived in the Rostov region in the village of Golubinka. My parents, Tatyana Anatolyevna Perova (did not work anywhere) and Evgeniy Mikhailovich Perov (first worked in the police, then as an electrician), divorced because my dad began to drink often. After that, we, three sisters Zhenya, Masha and I, and my mother left for Kozelsk, st. Victory. We lived there for 3 years. Then, in 2001, my mother took me and my older sister Zhenya to the Vladimir region, Suzdal district, Bogolyubovo village, to the Bogolyubovsky convent. I didn’t want to stay in the monastery, but my mother said that Zhenya and I would live for two weeks and then she would take us, and she and her younger sister Masha left.

She arrived a year later and also stayed in this monastery. There we were assigned to different groups, Masha and I in the younger group (in different rooms), and Zhenya in the older one. In the monastery, my mother worked in haymaking (in summer) and in the kitchen in winter. We saw each other very rarely (they weren’t allowed). My mother forbade me from writing letters to my family or calling them, and took away all my addresses. Mom didn’t live long, got cancer and died in 2003. When my mother was ill, we were not allowed to see her, and for two months before her death we did not see her at all.

It was difficult to live in the monastery; people were punished very severely, for almost nothing. If you look at it wrong, the teacher won’t like it, he can give you a lot of prostrations, do 1000 bows without rest, put you on an unstable chair to pray all night. They can easily be deprived of food for a day or three days. They beat me with a belt and buckle until I get bruises. And if you enter a room without the Jesus Prayer, they will force you to open and close the door 1000 times and at the same time read the prayer. We go to service every day, whether you want it or not, they will still force you to go. It was very difficult to stand, the services were long, 4 hours long, but you had to stand without moving. Because of this, many girls have sore legs and so do I. The doctor forbade standing for more than 30 minutes, but we stood anyway.

In the summer we worked in the field, and the field is large, 4 hectares (this is a children's field). There were only a few of us working, 20 girls. We worked from 6 to 8 pm. And the break was short, one hour and 30 minutes. Or 2 hours. We were very tired, they constantly urged us on, and at night they woke us up at 12 o’clock, and we prayed together for an hour and a half as a whole group, and those who fell asleep standing were kicked out into the corridor to pray all night. Me and another girl, Veronica Sarina, got tired of everything, and we decided to run away from the monastery.

It was in 2007 in the morning, at 7 am. This girl and I, while no one was looking, climbed over the fence behind the church and ran away to the city of Vladimir to Ksenia (this Ksenia also used to be in this monastery, and her grandmother worked as a lawyer, so we decided to run away to her). We stayed there for a short time, only until 12 noon, because my grandmother was not at home at that moment and they came for us from the monastery in a car, they twisted our hands behind our backs and dragged us into the car. Our teacher Malkevich Anastasia Sergeevna (m. Rafaila), the monastery driver and Veronica’s mother came to pick us up. When they brought us to the monastery, they began to call us names, scold us very strongly, and laugh at us. And on the same day they put us in seclusion (that is, for three days we did not eat or sleep, but prayed. These seclusions were frequent in the monastery. Adults were in seclusion every month, and children from 12 years old were in seclusion every month).

And in 2008, they changed our teacher - Malkevich Anastasia Sergeevna (M. Rafaila) was appointed assistant to the dean (these are responsible for order in the monastery), and we were given Natalya Ivanovna Efremova as our teacher (she came to the monastery in 2007 and has a legal education). At first she treated us normally. Then our former teacher began to teach her how to treat us, she listed all the former punishments and what to punish for too. Natalya Efremova overdid it, we prayed more, and there were punishments almost every day. Then she ordered black, thick nighties from the sewing shop and made me sleep only in them, and if you washed them and they didn’t dry in a day, she made you sleep in them damp. She forced the nuns to wear such nightgowns under their outerwear, and those who did not wear them were severely punished with a belt. Our teacher asked the monastery authorities for the ancient charter (the rules by which monks live) from 1803 and forced us to live according to this charter, and there were strict rules. When in the morning our children's choir sang the service, and then two akathists at once, me and one girl Sveta Kuznetsova sat down during the akathist, when they weren't singing, the regent didn't like it, and so she wanted to tell the teacher about us. We asked her for forgiveness, but she still told us.

Natalya Efremova did not punish us, she went and told the authorities about us, and they decided to cut off our hair for this. We didn't know anything about it. In the evening, the teacher calls me and Sveta Kuznetsova and takes me to the main building in the bishop's room (where the bishop is received), we go in, the doors are immediately closed behind us and Dean Valentina Sumina (M. Lyudmila) leans on them. In this room were Archimandrite Peter, the abbess of the monastery, nun George, the treasurer, nun Arsenia (the aunt of the former teacher), and our former teacher, Mother Raphaila. The abbess silently takes scissors out of her pocket and gives them to Archimandrite Peter (Kucher Petr Petrovich). He first calls Sveta, cuts her hair, and then me. I was very upset because there was no one to stand up for us. After that, my older sister was transferred to live in the main building so that I would not complain to her or communicate with her.

After this, the teacher became even more angry with me. She started making up all sorts of gossip about me. The fact that I steal money from the temple, go to the store, buy cosmetics and give them to the girls. She went to the authorities about this, and they came up with all sorts of punishments for me. Although everyone knew perfectly well that I was not stealing any money, and even adults were not allowed to leave the monastery. She also came up with the idea that I was kissing boys in the monastery (they don’t even allow me to look at them there, they punish me with a belt for this). The authorities believed this too. Me and another girl, Ksenia Golovchenko, were punished very severely. We were put in different rooms with no amenities and virtually no furniture for 12 days without food (only crackers and water). These rooms were cold, and we communicated through the window, because... The windows faced one side. At this time we walked 3 km to take exams at the Novosel school. The teachers did not come to study with us at this time. Because of all this, I ran away a second time with Kristina Fedorova (a girl from our group). I don’t want to go back there and I don’t want to see these people either, except for my own sisters. I want to go to school and get an education. I want to live a normal life. I ask you to protect my rights and interests, I do not want to be registered in a monastery.

Since August 19, 2009 I have been living in Moscow at the address: St. Profsoyuznaya, 27, building 4, phone: 8-499-128-66-20, shelter “The Road to Home”.

On August 31, 2009, the guardianship authorities of the Suzdal region came to me and wanted to pick me up. I refused to go because... I’m very afraid that they will return me to the monastery. My sisters Masha and Zhenya continue to live in the monastery. I really hope for your help and protection.

09/11/2009

Perova V.E.

PS As far as the editors know, the prosecutor's office of the Vladimir region has already become interested in the case and has begun investigative actions. The Daily Journal will follow developments.