Translated material
To Athos - on a bicycle
In the seven countries, Chelyabinets Alexander Radchenko visited a month.
He pedals for 30 days almost without rest. Started from St. Petersburg, where he has been living for the past two years. He went to Greece, to Athos, to his friend-Uralsa Schimonah Barnabas. He just did not know if he was alive? The elder was alive. Not only confessed the guest, but also showed a miracle. A traveler-excess shares his impressions.
Confession extreme
- In the summer, it would be more comfortable to travel ... You deliberately did not look for easy ways?
- It was simply not possible to take a vacation earlier. In general, the trip was ploted a few years ago in Chelyabinsk. My friend Volodya was a novice in different monasteries, then left for Athos. From there he sent a letter-improving. Say, come, I would like to see, I pray for you ... This is a word, in fact, it was imprinted in memory. Wow, a person prays for me somewhere there, he is 67 years old, and the living conditions are very harsh. Maybe you need help? Then our family moved to Petersburg. A lot of time has passed. He did not answer my letter. Honestly, there was no confidence that we will meet. In extreme cases, I thought I would visit the grave, I will bow. But the elder, fortunately, was alive and healthy. Barnabas, famous on Athos, the scum of the Greek old -style church, met me with joy.
“Have you confessed to him?”
- In the most holy place! Moreover, on the go, when climbing Mount Athos (2033 meters). Actually, the confession was in the form of a conversation. Then, in the Pantelemonovsky monastery, I confessed and communed. But now I understand: the confession of Barnabas was the most important in my life. Although we talked on equal terms.
- And before leaving St. Petersburg, you visited the temple?
- The wife, children, friends blessed on the trip. It is very important to me. To the church ... did not happen. Only in Kyiv received the blessing of the priest.
- You are an unhumened person. What prompted spiritual search, associated with such difficulties?
- Just the desire to church and was moving. That's a step towards this I took. Barnabas is a demanding person to himself and to others. If it is coming, then in the diet there really is only water and bread. Lives alone in a cave. It is uncomfortable there, the wind shines. When it rains, water flows through cracks. The sea is nearby. The waves hit the cliffs, shaking the cell ... Many tried to live with him, but no one could withstand for more than a week, so severe conditions.
“But the old man is happy?”
- Yes, although this is a very difficult obedience - to live alone, getting a daily bread. No one cares about the hermit.
- How does he get bread in the rocks?
- Only the location. Friends come, pilgrims give food.
- What did you give?
- I gave money. I took anything else with me, I was light. I did not know that it had to be taken there.
- It affects your luggage. On such a trip - with one backpack! Well, what can he accommodate?
- Yes, that's it! Not so much and it is necessary for a person, by and large.
- The bicycle is the most dangerous mode of transport. If that, God forbid, in an unfamiliar area ... Didn't you think about it?
- The road is always dangerous. The bicycle is not a car. Small, fragile, invisible. Especially at night. There were many dangerous situations. Cars often tidied up. Troubles could happen every day and every minute. But I rode with prayer, and the Lord protected me.
The Barnabas cave is located on the edge of a large cliff. Stones of different sizes fall on top. His brother was visiting. So, when the guest left, the stone fell right to the place where he slept. Is this not an example of patronage?
- When it comes to rain, do you get wet through the road?
- No. My daughter gave me a wonderful cloak. He pounces on the steering wheel, knees and hands are closed. The thing on the trip is indispensable.
- It is clear that you moved you when you hit the road. But what drives people who let strangers-travelers into the house?
- In 1997, I drove a bicycle from Chelyabinsk to Jerusalem. At that time, there was more openness, bolder people were launched into their house. And now ...
I, in fact, did not particularly ask. Only when there was no way to install a tent. And then because I just wanted to talk. Of course, I can’t philosophize in English, but I know simple expressions. Not far from the city of Bai, he met a bicycle traveler from England. They also talked with him, told each other about their plans.
- Break a tent where you have to. Even in the field. But what about the criminal environment? Not afraid of bad people?
“I try not to see me when I go for the night.” If the settlement is nearby, I don’t even turn on the flashlight. I put a tent - I leave early in the morning.
- And the animals?
- I have not seen a single one. All the time, of course, you have to be. When you sleep in a tent, part of consciousness is tense, the body does not completely relax. Hear the slightest rustle - you jump up. The safest overnight was in my car in Macedonia. There, on the one hand, a grid blocking the path to animals, on the other - an impressive border separating the highway.
- A month without a shower - is a separate extreme?
- This is a problem. He washed in the river. Alas, my hopes at sea were not justified due to the storm. By the way, on Athos it is not customary to swim in the sea. The monks do not undress. The maximum that can be done is to wash your legs, rolling out the legs. Although they follow hygiene, of course.
Geography of impressions
Russia . Not far from the border of the Pskov region there is a place that struck with beauty. A lake, a two -story house on the shore, the sunset is picturesque, swans swans ... I admired! I see: a person near the house is trying to talk to me. But the noise of the cars drowns out, nothing is heard. Then he showed his hand how to go and ... he put his house at my disposal, inviting to the night. Unprecedented cordiality in the present time. A wide gesture of the owner. A single case.
And Russia as a whole struck just the absence of the owner in vast expanses. The villages are erasing a miserable existence.
Belarus . Here is a completely different picture. Everything is well -groomed. Feeling both forests and houses. The Orthodox eight -pointed crosses were especially pleased, which at the entrance and departure to the village and to the city are met and escorted by travelers. Belarus is my homeland. It is doubly pleasant that she gave a good impression. Since childhood, I remember such crosses. They disappeared later, but now suddenly arose again. Some kind of warmth, the memories surged from them. The patronage of God is felt. Although, of course, the country is going through difficult time now. Especially the state employees suffer, the salaries are scanty. Translated to sausage (simple, inexpensive) - five kilograms will only have enough monthly salary.
Ukraine . Transcarpathia is a paradise of God! Holy Earth! A lot of sun, water. And the people live good, and the expanses are huge. But such a confrontation in politics, in society! Even inside Orthodoxy. Ordinary people are tired of this infringement. But nowhere to go - they adapted and live quietly.
A route is being built to the European Football Championship throughout Ukraine. Huge money is invested. It seems that it is not only the country, but also the society shared in half. The track is lively. Forced to build noise fences. At the same time, crossing the street is not so easy. I stopped drinking, asked for water from one grandmother. She talked about her tragedy. The daughter came from the city and, crossing the highway, died under the wheels directly opposite the window of her mother’s house in front of her eyes.
Hungary . Life in small settlements is measured. The earth is well -groomed. There is not a single unexplored site. If the gardens, then they are certainly protected. You will not go just to profit from apples. Everything is soundly and thorough. In Budapest met a friend. He is in a terrible crisis, although the artist and psychotherapist known in Hungary. When the hospital was closed, he lost a permanent job. As a result, a 67-year-old, for the third time married, a cheerful man is forced to be content with a meager pension. And he has three schoolchildren from his last marriage. In the morning they didn’t even have anything to offer for breakfast.
Serbia . When compiling the route, I used the old map and, by inertia, indicated the following point - Yugoslavia. Belgrade tried to keep everyone, but the republics left the country with a battle. Cruel enmity does not stop. I was not aware of the latest events, and therefore planned to go through Protina. But in Kravli, the bus driver, demonstrating the broken windshield, drew me another route.
In the northern part of the Barricade region, the situation is intense. In the evening of the same day, sitting at night in a tent near the city of niches, I saw NATO military planes flying towards Kosovo ... an unpleasant feeling.
Macedonia . Beautiful mountain Orthodox country. There are few differences with Serbia. The main thing is that they live here peacefully, do not conflict. In 1991, after a referendum on the independence of Macedonia, a bloodless exit of this republic from Yugoslavia occurred.
At the same time, the appearance of this state led to the continuing political disputes with Greece to the use of the names “Macedonia” and “Macedonians”. Currency - Macedonian dinars. But I did not have a chance to hold them in my hands, I made all the calculations when buying products with a credit card. The highway mainly took place in a mountainous area. He overcame the passes through tunnels with a length of 100 to 600 meters.
The gaze kept a magnificent panorama. I saw several Orthodox monasteries, but could not stop. Every day I tried to drive a maximum of distance.
Greece . So dreamed of a meeting with the sea! But they did not have a chance to admire. When he arrived on the coast, such a storm broke out that from the rain and wind I wanted to hide somewhere as soon as possible. Bad weather complicated my progress. And two protracted slides that had to be covered on foot, and completely stretched 60 km for 10 hours. It seemed that I was pursued by all the misfortunes: a storm, a bicycle breakdown, punctures of the wheel ... I got to Uranopolis at one in the morning.
Lonely wandered through the streets hungry, wet. Everything is closed. Somehow I found a hotel with an unlocked door. Just began to eat, the police arrived. We checked the documents, scanned the passport, drew up a protocol. I thought that some fine would be presented on the exit from the country. But there was.
Athos . On the way to the mountain, Athos witnessed an ordinary miracle. Barnabas now and then tore off some herbs and put them under the belt. On Panaga, in the temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary, located at an altitude of 1,500 meters, he brewed these herbs. On the way to the top, we helped one young monk from Russia, who turned his foot. She was swollen, could not go, but also did not want to retreat either. I took his backpack, Barnabas advised the sore leg to hold in a cold spring water, and then gave the monk with his tea. Our friend came to life! After the night on Panaga to the top of the mountain, he walked almost without stops. And during the descent even ahead of us.
***
Alexander Radchenko returned to Russia on an airplane.
- Probably sprinkled for a week? - I first asked the traveler.
- Well, what are you! There was no time for rest. I was waiting for a marathon called the Rodnik, which I have been organizing for seven consecutive years in a row in the territory of the Chelyabinsk region. The spring beats from the obelisk "Europe-Asia". It is located at a distance of 17 kilometers from the mica, where it started with other athletes. So my Athos trip ended ... a new trip.