Movement for life. New Life: rehabilitation of drug addicts or a sect? Life in motion rehabilitation center

"Territory of life" in the suburbs

Have you tried all the available ways to deal with the alcoholism of your loved one? Nothing helps? Try to go through rehabilitation in Moscow! Or in the nearest suburbs - in a quiet place, around only the forest, silence and caring staff of the Territory of Life clinic.

Most of our patients were in no hurry to contact us. At first, their loved ones tried many affordable and cheap, but rather dubious ways - for example, go to a healer and speak an ailment. But unfortunately it doesn't work.

What then works?

Modern medicine. Namely, an integrated approach. Psychotherapy combined with physiotherapy give an amazing effect! Humanistic, body-oriented, laughter, art, hydro, and other types of therapy, including transactional analysis, really work. Our specialists have been working on these methods for more than 8 years, so the programs are thought out and perfected to the smallest detail. There are both individual and group programs.

One of the features of the clinic Territory of life is an ongoing group therapy. The fact is that our patients live in wards for 2 or 4 people for the duration of treatment. This means that they can support each other around the clock in difficult situations, share experience and possibly continue mutual support after the end of the course of treatment. If you do not want to communicate, then there are separate chambers. There is a separate bathroom in each ward, regardless of its status. Anonymity is guaranteed for any choice.

On the territory of the clinic itself there is a swimming pool and a gym - these are important elements in the recovery of your loved one.

Rehabilitation of alcoholics should take place under the strict supervision of experienced professionals. We guarantee you such specialists with 8 years of practice and internships abroad. We have collected all the best from European, Eastern and Russian methods here on " Territories of life».

Our drug rehabilitation program includes working with loved ones, that is, with you. It is important not only for the patient to adapt to the new reality, but also for you. Experienced psychologists will tell you how to create comfort and coziness for a person, but at the same time not put pressure on him and not overload him with excessive care.

But that's all later. Right now your close person, most likely, does not admit his illness even to himself and categorically refuses all types of treatment. We will help with this! In our clinic there is such a service as patient motivation for treatment. As a rule, after it, 9 out of 10 people agree to an initial free consultation. And then an experienced doctor will convince them to take the second step and agree to undergo a course of treatment. Then you get a guarantee of recovery. That is, in case of relapse, you can contact us for free. We can afford such expensive guarantees because we keep statistics. Of the 28 discharged patients, only 1 can relapse.

For emergencies, we offer home visits with a dropper.

Modern medicine works wonders. Call us at any time of the day or night - and a miracle will come to your home. Your loved one will change. Voluntarily.

Our center uses modern psychotherapeutic techniques aimed at the correction and social adaptation of clients:

Humanistic psychotherapy
Transactional Analysis
Body Oriented Therapy
Art therapy
Laughter therapy
Hydrotherapy
Group psychotherapy
Individual counseling

To fully recover from drug and alcohol addiction, you need to go through several important steps. First you need to cleanse the body of accumulated toxins and toxins - this is done using medications. At the same stage, concomitant diseases are treated and the optimal type of further therapy is selected.
Then the rehabilitation course begins. The first step is to find out why the patient started using drugs or alcohol. Then a person begins to consciously study his life and work out various situations. This allows you to restore healthy self-esteem and develop the skills of a successful person. In the process of rehabilitation, the patient chooses the right position in life, where there is no place for addictions, and learns to be responsible for his actions.
And, finally, the patient consolidates in practice the acquired knowledge about a healthy life in a social environment. This stage is already taking place on an outpatient basis: a person learns to live independently, but still continues to be under the supervision of specialists remotely.

Photo project "Life in motion" not yet a year old, but he has already attracted the attention of society.

The photo project was created by Yevgeny Mironov's Artist Charitable Foundation, Honored Artist of Russia Maria Mironova and Director of the Happy Families Charitable Center Natalia Shaginyan-Needem. Its main goal is to draw the attention of viewers to the problems of children with handicapped.

We rarely think that our whole life is movement. But for each of us, these words have their own meaning. For some, movement is a spiritual or professional development, for some it is travel, and for some, movement is a dream to walk.

The exposition of the exhibition is divided into two parts. The first part includes pictures taken by 10 photographers of the School of Photography and Multimedia. A. Rodchenko and the International Center for Photography of New York. Led by world-renowned photographer and World Press Photo winner Ed Kashi, they traveled across Russia to capture the daily lives of children in rehabilitation centers and orphanages. Spending time with them, they tried to penetrate into their world, to learn to understand the "other" life and the "other" movement.

The second part of the project is "Day in the City". And she tells how well-known actors, journalists and athletes (including Leonid Parfyonov, Valery Panyushkin, Dmitry Nosov, Vladimir Shirokov) spent one day in Moscow with children with disabilities, helping them to believe in their own abilities, instilling in them confidence that , what Big city can be open and friendly.

A small block of the project is dedicated to artists - veterans of the stage, who are cared for by the charitable foundation for supporting artists "Artist".

The project "Life in Motion" is carried out within the framework of the "I want to walk" program, the purpose of which is to help orphans in the realization of their main dream - to take a step towards entering the Big world outside the orphanage.

And let's add: the exhibition "Life in Motion" is held at the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow - the only Moscow museum accessible to people with disabilities. MAMM is equipped with a special ramp at the entrance and a convenient elevator, from which any hall of the museum can be reached by wheelchair.

Dear mothers and fathers, grandparents, a child was born in your family! This is a great joy! And suddenly, like a sentence, the diagnosis: cerebral palsy! There is bewilderment, panic in the family, walking around various medical offices, the most famous specialists, begins. Time passes, it is time for the child to walk and run, but he does not crawl and does not even raise his head.What to do?

First of all, it is necessary to understand that in a sick child, as well as in a healthy one, the foundation of his psychophysical development is laid in the first years of life, and an active motor mode plays an important role in this, since the normal development of a child is determined by motor activity corresponding to the characteristics of the child. body at this age.

If a child is inactive from childhood, does not acquire the necessary motor and social skills and abilities, it is difficult for him to adapt to the social environment from the first year of life, since this requires significant neuropsychological and motor stress. All this causes a functional inferiority of the neuromuscular apparatus and leads to deformation of the limbs and disruption of the most important motor and static reactions, which limits the full development of the child. The lack of physical activity or its absence leads to negative changes in the body, which reduces the level of adaptation of the body to the environment and leads to a significant lag in social development. Today, 60–80% of children with cerebral palsy have the potential for a significant restoration of impaired functions, but for this it is necessary to invest work and knowledge.

Parents who have a child with movement disorders in the family are rushing about in search of a more effective and faster method of restoring motor functions, and very little attention is paid to the most important thing - movement - in these searches. As a result, having drunk for ten years, some parents, in despair, say: “We tried everything, nothing helps,” others understand that they missed the time. And why? There is no consistency in rehabilitation and the role of the rehabilitation of disabled people by means of physical culture and sports is underestimated. But for the formation of the movement must be the movement itself.

At the Russian Scientific and Practical Center for Physical Rehabilitation of Disabled Children, together with the laboratory physical education and Sports of Disabled Children of the All-Russian Research Institute of Physical Culture (VNIIFK), studies were conducted to determine the level of social development of children with cerebral palsy. The study used the W. Strassmeier test, which assessed the development of self-service skills, general and fine motor skills, speech and thinking from 0 to 5 years (monthly) in children with limited motor abilities. Analysis of testing showed that children with cerebral palsy lag far behind healthy children in terms of development. The greatest lag is observed in general motor skills (55%). High values of the indicators were revealed in the lag behind self-service skills (42%) and fine motor skills (48.5%). A significant percentage of the lag is observed in speech (70%), and to a lesser extent in thinking (30–40%). This suggests that parents of disabled children, unfortunately, pay very little attention to the physical development and development of the child's self-care. A sedentary child does not strive for independence, he increasingly hopes for parental care.

In a family, a child often develops under conditions of hyper-guardianship on the part of parents who perceive him as weak (does not walk or walks poorly, speaks poorly, etc.), so they try to do a lot for him. Movements in children are very slow, awkward, so it takes a lot of time and patience to learn the necessary skills. While the children are small, this seems unimportant to parents, they do everything for them, but, in the end, it develops into a big problem, which is becoming more and more difficult to solve over the years. If the mother constantly replaces the actions of the child, his development stops, the fear of helplessness and dependence on outside help grows, and in such an environment the child loses independence. All this ultimately leads to social passivity. Physical disabilities lead to the isolation of the child from the outside world and communication with peers and adults. A vicious circle is created - the link of "physical defects" replaces the link of "mental defects". Growing up, such a child is unable to live independently, not so much because of his defect, but because of the untimely formation of personal development.

The task of parents (and specialists) is to break this vicious circle and create conditions for the adequate development and formation of the personality of disabled children. But we must be aware that learning motor skills takes time, practice and repetition. It is possible to achieve high-quality and effective motor activity only if parents are involved in the process of classes in close interaction with the child. The inclusion of parents in the training program and their participation is considered by us as an important component of the psychophysical development of children with cerebral palsy and preparing them for everyday activities.

An analysis of the oral survey of parents of children with disabilities revealed that a small percentage of parents understand the need and importance of painstaking daily activities. exercise on special technique, only 11% of parents work with their child every day using a special method, 13% think that they do a lot, doing it occasionally, but they cannot show the methodologist what specific exercises were performed. More often it happens from time to time, spontaneously, as if by the way. This activity is rather complacency for parents. And 76% of parents do not know how to exercise with children at home and that this must be done daily, regardless of the methods of treatment used in parallel. Only 17% of parents purposefully teach their child self-service techniques! Parents do not understand the importance of the game for the child. Often they think that the child does not understand anything, and they do not know how to play with him. Only 33% of parents constantly play with their child.

Usually, for motor disorders, drug treatment, massage and physiotherapy exercises are prescribed. but physiotherapy It is carried out, as a rule, in a passive-active form and in a horizontal position. But the main limiting element of physical development is the limitation or absence of independent movements in a vertical position, which hinders the maximum realization of the child's motor abilities. It is known that the development of the musculoskeletal system in healthy child is formed in an upright position, and the development of a child with cerebral palsy should also be formed in an upright position.

If the baby was born with some kind of motor impairment and lies motionless almost continuously, without turning over on its side, hardly raises its head and experiences difficulties with every movement, then it is very likely that the musculoskeletal, vegetative-vascular systems involved in maintaining a vertical posture , i.e., the entire complex of the anti-gravity muscle group, it will form incorrectly. If a child in an upright position is not able to independently develop his movements or these movements are accompanied by many erroneous reactions, then the development of motor skills does not occur at all, or occurs incorrectly. In addition, when taking a vertical position, locomotion movements become more complicated due to the transfer of body weight to the feet.

The staff of the Center has developed a methodology consisting of the selection various forms and complexes of physical exercises, which are a single process of developing the motor and functional capabilities of the child's body and preparing him for social life. The general focus of the classes is focused on stimulating the natural vertical position of the body in space and independent walking. In the Center, first of all, conditions are created for the normal physical development of disabled children, their approach to the physical activity of healthy children. And since healthy children are always in a mobile state, sick children must also move a lot. In addition, a child with movement disorders must work on his own in order to develop not only the functions of individual organs, but the whole organism as a whole. This applies to even the heaviest bedridden children.

For more effective performance of physical exercises, the “Gross simulator” is used, which allows, in case of insufficient muscle function, to create facilitated conditions for their work, dosing the load on the musculoskeletal system, thereby ensuring normal mobility in the joints. The simulator allows you to create conditions even for those children who do not fully master motor functions, to perform various kinds of exercises in a natural vertical position and move in all planes of space (forward, backward, sideways, up, down), and the ability to rotate around their axis, without restricting the movement of arms, legs, and also insures against falling. With the help of the simulator, you can train the ability to measure and regulate the spatial, temporal and dynamic parameters of movements and develop coordination abilities: crawl, sit, stand up, jump, walk, rotate, ride a bike, move and roller skate, perform elements sports games. Classes that are close to natural conditions enable the child to quickly adapt to physical activity and the surrounding space.

Active exercises have a positive effect on a number of morphological and functional parameters of the heart, the regulation of the circulatory system at rest and during physical activity. In addition, the deep back muscles that hold the entire spine begin to work, a rectifying reflex, a support reaction, and spatial sensations are developed, which significantly speeds up the process of forming motor capabilities, in a word, everything that is necessary for a full-fledged life of a child. The effectiveness of classes depends primarily on the motor and functional capabilities of the child and the tasks that are set for him. So, for children who can walk, take and hold a posture, the main task is to correct postures and expand the volume and number of movements close to the norms of healthy children, according to the principle of sports circular training, of different directions, with increased density and intensity of training.

For children with limited motor activity who do not move independently, the main tasks are to correct postures and movements of a local nature and perform them with an extended range of motion, teaching walking skills using the Gross Simulator, cycling and roller skating. For children who do not know how to take and hold postures, the main task is: stimulation of motor activity, teaching the ability to take and hold postures, walk on all fours, knees, and learn walking skills. The use of the proposed methodology for the complex impact of physical exercises using the Gross Simulator and other training devices and adherence to the principle of long-term and continuous exposure in a vertical position throughout the entire rehabilitation period showed that all children with cerebral palsy managed to achieve a practical solution to the main tasks of physical development. The most pronounced shifts in physical development were noted in children who can take and hold postures, but are not able to walk, and one cannot but note as significant the emergence of the ability to carry out a number of movements that were previously not feasible in children with no vertical support. Using the developed methodology, we obtained the following results: in 78% of cases, a decrease in the pathological activity of tonic reflexes, 98% - activation of independent movements that were not previously observed in a child; improvement in movement coordination was observed in 80% of children, in 70% - improvement in the general mental state of the child, in 50% - activation of emotional, verbal communication and motivation to master movements. Summing up, it should be emphasized that physical rehabilitation classes for children with cerebral palsy should be carried out not in courses, but continuously for many months and years until the maximum compensation of movements and social adaptation is achieved, when the child ceases to depend on adults and can actively engage in life. Success in the physical and social development of children depends on the joint work of specialists in various fields - pediatricians, neuropathologists, psychiatrists, speech pathologists, speech pathologists, educators, teachers, orthopedists and, above all, parents. Parents and specialists must reach mutual understanding and continuity at different age stages.

Archpriest George Ioaffe - a critical reflection on the "rehabilitation" activities of the neo-Pentecostal sect "New Life"...

subject of conversation

The Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah, where I serve, is located on the northeastern outskirts of St. Petersburg. This is practically the only temple in the huge residential area of Rzhevka-Porohovye, infamous for its drug dens. When visiting the sick and the elderly who cannot get to church, I myself often see syringes thrown in the hallways and on the stairs. And the wall paintings of modern troglodytes are replete with the so-called drug-symbols.

IN last years weeping mothers and grandmothers, dejected fathers and abandoned wives often come to our temple, whose grandchildren, children or husbands have been caught by the ruthless octopus of drug addiction. Since 2002, with the blessing of the ruling bishop, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Vladimir, weekly prayers have been served in our church for those suffering from drug addiction. Parents are also present at these prayers.

After the service, we hold talks in the building of the parochial school. Gradually, learning about God and the Church, reading the Gospel, children and parents realize their place in the world, gain faith and the meaning of life, embark on the path of repentance.

Getting closer to my wards, I learned that some of them had previously tried to be healed in the New Life rehabilitation center near Kingisepp, but escaped from there. One of my church obediences is to work in the missionary department of the diocese.

And such a phenomenon as a Christian rehabilitation center could not fail to interest me.

I began to purposefully study the available literature on this issue, communicate with people who have gone through this organization, and find out the positions of various specialists. I found a number of materials and reports of eyewitnesses in the archives of our Diocesan Information Center for Combating Drug Addiction at the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Some illustrative extracts from this information, their analysis and my conclusions are offered to the attention of readers in this article.

A few necessary references

One day, the phone rang at my house and a friend who knew about my work with drug addicts advised me, putting aside other things, to turn on the TV to one of the low-frequency channels broadcasting mainly music videos. The following picture was broadcast there: a certain young man was making a rather long speech about how, only by believing in God, he left drugs and came to the grace of the Holy Spirit.

According to his vocabulary, it became clear to me, as a priest, that all this was being said by a non-Orthodox person. At the same time, the speech was composed in such a way that it was impossible to determine the confessional affiliation of his religious organization. However, the video itself was accompanied by luminous contact phone numbers, which everyone who wanted to get rid of drug addiction was invited to call.

***

Thus, having shown a fair amount of perseverance, I finally managed to find out that it was precisely the advertisement of the so-called New Life Church that was broadcast on television, offering drug addicts a referral for healing in a rehabilitation center. However, what this church is like and what are the methodological principles of the work on the rehabilitation of drug addicts, the people who answered the contact phones refused to explain.

I think that the reader will be able to get the most approximate idea from several excerpts of a different nature that I have selected. Here is what the head of the center writes to them. Hieromartyr Irenaeus of Lyons Alexander Dvorkin: This movement came to us through the Swedish organization Word of Life. Originating in the US, the neo-Pentecostal, or neo-charismatic, "Faith Movement" is also known as "Prosperity Theology," "Prosperity Gospel," "Preaching Faith." The most characteristic names of groups belonging to this movement are as follows: "Word of Life", "Living Water", or "New Life", "Living Spring", "Word of Truth", "Church of the New Generation", "Church of the Covenant", " Glorification Church", "Living Faith", etc.

The "movement of faith" is not built in the form of a rigid structure, but within each sect, each based in its own city, control is no less than if they were part of a centralized structure. Local sects keep in touch with each other, exchanging preachers, providing mutual assistance. The entire north-east of our country is literally flooded with sects belonging to this movement. However, in the European part of our country there are quite enough of them and they successfully lobby their interests in the corridors of power.

I note right away that not only in special articles and the church press, but also in ordinary public publications, anxiety has been expressed for a very long time in connection with the multiplication of sectarian organizations of this kind. In the archives of the Information Center I found a faded newspaper clipping-letter to the Petrozavodsk newspaper Karelia from the most ordinary reader. The note was called "Road to Nowhere":

How often people think that they have found the way to the Faith - and they are mistaken. This happens especially often in our time, when freedom is given to organize various sects, when certain magicians and psychics openly collect tribute at "healing sessions", and on TV we are "given instructions". Unfortunately, almost all figures of this kind do a lot of harm, and among the sects there are both frankly satanic, and those that serve darkness, hiding behind ... the name of Christ! In one of the city Houses of Culture, on the next Sunday, the service of the so-called Church of Christ took place (" New life"). The pastor began by reading the Bible. Gradually, people entered a state of ecstasy. I have no doubt that the pastor was a psychic and it was he who brought the crowd into an ecstatic state. At some point, at a sign from the pastor, everyone stood up, and I felt that some kind of - a wave - not the wind, but, as it were, an electric shock.

Everyone began to pray loudly, many in incomprehensible languages (which, as they later explained, they themselves did not know). Many wept, some took the position of the crucified, convulsed, lamented, thoughtlessly submitting to an incomprehensible force. Why do people who seek God end up in such "Christian" organizations? Apparently, because they cannot distinguish evil from good... (Gazeta Karelia, Petrozavodsk, May 1997).

The letter does not mention an important circumstance: it is often those people who are looking for a way of salvation from drug addiction in religious knowledge that often cannot distinguish good from evil. Unfortunately, there are many assistants to find such a deliverance from drug addiction (the road to nowhere).

Here, for example, is an excerpt from a short guide on organizations and institutions involved in the rehabilitation of drug addicts, information for which is provided, as indicated in the text, from AZARIA (Mothers Against Drugs):

Bee magazine. Special issue booklet. (Distributed for free)
Information about organizations and establishments.
Section: Non-Profit Organizations.
REHABILITATION CENTER NEW LIFE
Consulting and rehabilitation services.
Meetings: Thursday - 18.00; Sunday - 11.00
Etc. Shaumyan, 22, in the premises of the cinema "Okhta".
Leader: Sergey Asaturovich Matevosyan.

(Published by St. Petersburg. Russian-German Exchange, project Local government and NGOs: increased cooperation and transfer of experience. Help for drug addicts. Circulation 4000 copies. Signed for publication on April 7, 2000)

Information about what kind of church is engaged in the rehabilitation of drug addicts near the city of Kingisepp, Leningrad Region, quickly appeared in the Orthodox church press. Another excerpt - from the brochure Inoculation Against Drug Addiction - has direct relationship precisely to this form of expansion of the said church:

The Holy Apostles on the 50th day from the Resurrection of Christ received the ability to preach in other languages. So that everyone heard from them their own dialect. From this testimony of the Holy Apostles, today's Pentecostals have concluded that at divine services one should utter meaningless sounds (other tongues), as if in prayerful ecstasy, while dancing.

Here's how they operate: a film about the "Christian community and the church (!) center for the rehabilitation of drug addicts" is launched on TV. Address: Leningrad region, Kingisepp... People go there with hope from all over the country, sometimes giving their last money. And they join a sect. Head - S. Matevosyan. Of course, "honest journalists" did not give a word or a frame about these rituals and the religious originality of this "church" ... .

Finally, for a clearer consideration of the subject, I will present two more passages. The fact is that the active work of the New Life Church could not but come to the attention of Orthodox organizations dealing with issues of combating drug addiction. Until the end of the 90s. Petersburg, the Orthodox Brotherhood New Pilgrims worked, whose wards also faced the influence of sectarian formations.

An excerpt from the brotherhood's report and a fragment of a memorandum compiled by the Diocesan Information Center for Combating Drug Addiction for the Danilovsky Blagovestnik Publishing House (Moscow) contain references to the fact that representatives of the New Life Church often and actively use references to blessings and support from our clergy and the Church .

I will dwell on the origin of such references, as well as on their validity, below.

Information center

According to the registration lists of the Orthodox charitable anti-drug brotherhood "New Pilgrims", for the entire period of the organization's work on the rights of conditional membership (as wards) 617 people were registered.

According to available information, about 20% of them, to varying degrees, were subjected to various attempts to influence various kinds of sectarian organizations on the grounds of involvement in the use drugs(from invitations to meetings to offers of "treatment and rehabilitation"). At the same time, representatives of the New Life sect are the most active.

The register contains reliable information about 4 wards who became active members of this sect. A case of arrival at the monastery on about. Konevets of three young people who fled from the "rehabilitation center" in the village. Preobrazhenka, who explained the escape with complaints about unbearable demands for the performance of agricultural work, the savage nature of "worship services", the lack of medical care and the general system of suppression of the individual in the hierarchy of the sect.

In total, the register noted 15 cases of falling into the sect of the wards of the brotherhood, mainly for the following reasons:

Representatives of the sect hide the non-Orthodox and sectarian nature of their activities and even refer to the blessing and support from the Orthodox clergy.

Narcological clinics (in city, regional and inter-district drug dispensaries) advertise with the addresses and contacts of "rehabilitation communities", incl. sect "New Life", without indicating the religious-sectarian orientation of its activities. Commercial clinics offer referrals to such "rehabilitation" as one of the forms of paid drug treatment services.

Some wards were recruited through the insistence of their parents, among whom the activities of this sect are advertised (for example, through the meetings of the "Azaria" society...).

Secretary of the Board: (signature)

Information center

MEMORY (excerpt)

We do not have any copies of the statutory documents of the sect. There is evidence that the initial base for the New Life sect was buildings and land former psychiatric hospital in the village. Preobrazhenka. In addition, according to our data, in St. Petersburg, in addition to the base in the Okhta cinema, there is a network of safe houses for primary placement of patients from other cities and regions of the Russian Federation. There is also a charge for arrival and accommodation.

There is evidence that some parish priests at the contact addresses of the "New Pilgrims" brotherhood, as well as other Orthodox organizations, were repeatedly approached by people who left the sect or such apartments with requests for money for the journey home. There is a use of video cassettes with advertising of the sect, etc.

We received a telephone request from the deputy corps of Petrozavodsk with a request to characterize the representatives of the St. Petersburg "church-rehabilitation" organization "New Life". It is also known that representatives of the sect applied for support to the regional and city governments, as well as to the leadership of UBNON (to the head of the Department, police colonel Zazulin G.V.).

In the summer of 2000, negotiations were held between infectious disease doctors in St. Petersburg, representatives of one of the Swedish foundations and the New Life sect about launching a special bus (a mobile fixed point for exchanging used syringes for drug addicts) on Swedish funds in order to "prevent HIV infection ".

The representative of the sect referred to the blessing received from the Orthodox priest from Moscow, Archpriest Alexy Baburin (see also the book "Drug Addiction: Sin or Disease". Moscow: "Danilovsky Evangelist", excerpts.).

In connection with these negotiations, with the blessing of the curator of the information center, Archimandrite Nazariy (Lavrinenko), the chief infectious disease specialist of the city, prof. A.G. Rakhmanova was sent a letter with the warning information we have....

It is possible that the aforementioned Orthodox collection Drug Addiction: Sin or Illness, which was intended for drug addicts and their parents, could also arouse the interest of many specialists. In particular, it clearly and intelligibly outlined the issues of the Orthodox attitude to a number of vicious phenomena in the field of drug treatment and methods of rehabilitation of drug addicts.

Among other materials, there were also warnings about sectarian organizations operating in this area. However, in a book published by a reputable Orthodox publishing house with a circulation of 10,000 copies. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, information was discovered that clearly contradicts both this blessing and the very content of the collection.

Since we are talking specifically about the New Life Church, I will take the liberty of disavowing these passages here. Here is a quote from Archpriest Alexy Baburin's article "To Unite Our Efforts" from the collection "Drug Addiction: Sin or Disease:"

Since May 1995, in the village of Preobrazhenka near Kingisepp, a rehabilitation center for drug addicts called "New Life" has been operating on a charitable basis. It is headed by Sergey Matevosyan. Seryozha, unfortunately, is not an Orthodox person by confessional affiliation. But we Orthodox can learn a lot from him.

He works with the hardest drug addicts that everyone else refuses to work with. He pulls out the abandoned, dying guys from the basements, washes their wounds, heals them, feeds them, gives them shelter, work, returns them to a full life. In our country, no one except him is engaged in such neglected drug addiction. And we must give Sergei his due, he does not call anyone to leave the bosom of the Orthodox Church.

How true all this is, the reader will learn a little lower, from the stories of people who received such great help. Well, I also found out the question of the very origin of this text - just in a personal conversation with Father Alexy Baburin.

The fact is that this highly respected priest, who makes a lot of effort in working with drug addicts, was misled, or, more simply, deceived, that is, he was informed about the activities of the New Life organization from the promotional video film shown to him by S. Matevosyan, and from advertising information for external ones, where the goods are shown in person and where nothing was said about the confessional affiliation of the organization or about internal methods of rehabilitation of drug addicts. Of course, Archpriest Alexy Baburin did not give any blessings for the activities of the New Life Church.

At the very end of the mentioned collection we find a special section: Addresses of professional treatment and rehabilitation programs, centers and communities related to the solution of drug addiction problems.

And here we also read: "New Life", a rehabilitation center (community) for drug addicts. Leningrad region, Kingisepp district, pos. Preobrazhenskoe. Interviews at the cinema "Okhta" (addresses, telephones, etc.).

This message can be supplemented with the following information.

Having reviewed the memorandum received, the director of the publishing house Danilovsky evangelist V. Malyagin sent a special letter to the curator of the Diocesan Information Center for Combating Drug Addiction, the vicar of the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Archimandrite Nazariy. In it, the head of the publishing house sincerely thanked for the information about the Novaya Zhizn sect, said that the compilers of the collection were victims of unreliable sources, and also apologized to Orthodox readers (especially St. Petersburg).

It remains to add: any references by any of the representatives of the New Life church to the blessing of priests or support from the Orthodox Church should be considered as fraud and deceit. Moreover, the victims of such deception most often become the most ordinary people who, instead of support, risk being involved in a destructive sect.

This problem has to be posed much broader than consideration of a separate sectarian organization. In this regard, I would like to mention one more book.

At the XI International Christmas Readings in Moscow (end of January 2003) I purchased one curious book published in 2002 by the Caritas Catholic Charitable Foundation: A Practical Guide. Drugs and drug addicts. The handbook is also subtitled Hope in Trouble. In the content part, it is composed quite correctly; it also reflects the Christian view of the problem. However, in its recommendatory part, it is not much different from all similar publications that focus on the so-called Minnesso model, that is, the 12-step program (Narcotics Anonymous - NA).

At the same time, Appendix No. 3 of the directory (help centers) contains a list of 111 organizations involved in helping drug addicts in the post-Soviet space. Of these, 45 organizations use the already mentioned American 12-step NA program, 19 organizations are engaged in social assistance and 47 - religious types of rehabilitation.

Of these 47, only 6 are Orthodox. Other organizations are basically what fits the following extremely polite name: neo-charismatic religious communities.

Possible objections

One often hears the opinion: the result is important, and who achieved it - Orthodox, Catholics or Protestants, is not important. All this, they say, is your inter-confessional competition, and most importantly, to reduce the number of drug addicts. What can be said about such statements? Let's try to start with the main one.

What is a chemical addiction and how is it akin to a psychological addiction? Let's turn to the Practical Guide mentioned above.

In the chapter What is Addiction? it is rightly pointed out that if we are logical and consistent, then addiction to completely legal, prescribed medicines by a doctor: sleeping pills, sedatives or painkillers, many patented drugs and diet pills can be attributed to dependence on chemicals.

Chemical dependence probably includes alcoholism, nicotinism (addiction to smoking), dependence on stimulants (including coffee and tea), as well as dependence on food (meaning distortions in relation to food, for example, gluttony or, conversely, almost complete refusal of food due to fear of gaining weight).

All these types of addiction have long been related to drug addiction (in the broadest sense) in those countries where approaches to the treatment of such diseases have been developed. Moreover, the same approaches to the treatment of classic drug addicts, the same concept of addiction as a disease, apply to such types of addictions as unhealthy addiction to other people, addiction to sexual relations, addiction to work, gambling, computers, uncontrolled spending of money and etc.

In a way people use like a drug various means that change their emotional state, contributing to relief heartache, distraction or avoidance of internal problems. Some kind of chemical narcotic substance can become such a means, but something else can also become. For example, excitement, sex, power and money. Relationships with another person, work, and even a misunderstood religion can turn into a drug.

All these types of addiction just seem different. In fact, they almost do not differ in their essence, causes and consequences. Consequently, the people suffering from these diseases are not so different either. In other words, there are no fundamental differences between a person who uses illegal drugs and a person involved in a destructive religious organization.

All these types of addiction carry a formidable danger both for the person himself - for his physical, mental and spiritual health, and for society as a whole. Will the substitution of one addiction for another lead to positive results? Of course no.

A few years ago, I also encountered the situation mentioned in the memorandum of the Information Center: I was stopped near the church by a young man who was clearly, as psychologists say, in a borderline state. He asked for money for the journey home.

During the conversation, it turned out that he was being treated for drug addiction in the Novaya Zhizn community near Kingisepp, having stayed there for several months, and now he cannot get home to the Urals. When the conversation touched on being in a rehabilitation center, his speech became confused and he answered slurredly. Apparently, this was due to some traumatic circumstances.

I strongly advised him to go to an Orthodox church upon his return home, since, quite obviously, he needed spiritual rehabilitation after being in a sect, and possibly psychiatric rehabilitation as well.

The representatives of the New Life themselves, as an argument in the controversy, when it comes to internal methods of treatment, ask the question: Which is better - a living Protestant or a dead drug addict? This question is completely incorrect. Firstly, it is unethical to speculate, playing with the words life and death, because both the life and death of each person are in the hands of God. Secondly, it seems that only Protestants, and especially New Life, are involved in the salvation of drug addicts, and this is far from being the case. And thirdly, as will be discussed below, neo-charismatics do not belong to Protestantism confessionally.

What is the neo-charismatic movement?

At the end of April 2001, an international scientific-practical conference was held in Nizhny Novgorod. Totalitarian sects - a threat of the 21st century. At this conference, the opinion of not only representatives of the Church was voiced, but also the opinions of specialists in the field of law, medicine, the opinions of government officials and teachers. The special definition of neo-Pentecostals says:

We, the participants of the conference "Totalitarian sects - the threat of the 21st century" gathered in Nizhny Novgorod, draw attention to the most serious danger emanating from the neo-Pentecostal charismatic "Faith Movement". This movement is represented in our country by different sects, for example: "Church of the New Generation", "Word of Life", "Church of the Covenant", "Living Faith", "Living Water", "Church on Stone", "New Life", "Dew ", "Grace", "Potter's House", "Church of the Love of Christ", various "Full Gospel Churches", etc.

Some of them are members of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians, others are members of the Russian United Union of Evangelical Christians, others are members of the Global Strategy Association of Evangelical Christians (also known as Harvest of Peace), and others are not registered at all.

But all of them are actively conquering living space in Russia, declaring themselves as a real factor in the modern life of our society. Today in Russia the number of their adherents has already exceeded 200 thousand people (according to the data of 2003 - more than 250 thousand). Along with Jehovah's Witnesses, they are the largest and fastest growing sects in our country.

Neo-Pentecostal sects suppress any criticism leveled at them: more and more often they initiate lawsuits against journalists, justice authorities, and even ordinary citizens who dare to speak negatively about them.

Neo-Pentecostal sects often resort to confessional anonymity by not identifying the religious affiliation of their preachers on their advertising posters, which is a flagrant violation of the Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations. Attracting them to their meetings, they promise mass healings and all kinds of miracles to those who come, thus capitalizing on the problems and troubles of citizens. Naturally, no one bears responsibility for unfulfilled promises and for deliberately unfair advertising.

Neo-Pentecostals also use confessional pseudonymity: often, when asked about their religious affiliation, they call themselves "simply Christians." This position is an outright lie used to mislead recruited citizens. In their official documents and statements, neo-Pentecostals call themselves Protestants and a traditional denomination both in the world and in our country.

Unfortunately, this advertising tactic proved to be effective: now in Russia, Neo-Pentecostal associations are commonly called Protestant, and many Russians form their attitude towards Protestantism based on personal impressions of meetings with neo-Pentecostals.

We, the specialists gathered at the conference: theologians, religious scholars, educators, law enforcement and government officials, psychiatrists and psychologists, testify that the neo-Pentecostal "Faith Movement" never belonged to Protestantism. Moreover, it has departed so far from the original Pentecostalism (which arose at the beginning of the 20th century as an alternative to Protestantism) that it can no longer even be called Christian.

Its main components are the occult “Positive Thinking” that originated in the second half of the 19th century in the United States (revealed in the “Faith Movement” by the doctrine of “positive confession”), which is widely used in the neo-pagan New Age movement - a visualization method, an unhealthy craving for various supernatural experiences and experiences, the primitive pagan doctrine of "small gods", the gross magical doctrine of the power of the believer, and the frankly materialistic "Prosperity Theology" (emphasis. - Auth.).

According to the criteria accepted in international practice, a destructive cult is a religious association that uses deception to involve and control the minds of its adherents without their consent. Engagement deception consists of denominational anonymity or pseudonymity and the promise of indispensable miracles and healings at the meetings of the organization, as discussed above. Mind control consists of behavior control, information control, thought control, and emotion control.

Many members of neo-Pentecostal religious groups suffer from depression, among them suicide attempts are extremely frequent. This is confirmed by international statistics. There is a conclusion of the head of the Department of Psychology of the State Institute for Higher Education in Novokuznetsk Kubasov V.A. about the use of hypnosis by neo-charismatic missionaries, about introducing people into a state of deep trance, in which any suggestive programs can be introduced into the subconscious.

The danger of the techniques of mental suppression of the personality used in this charismatic movement is confirmed by the data of Swedish statistics, according to which the percentage former members sects of the movement, who turned out to be patients in psychiatric clinics, is much higher than the average. Russian data can also be cited, for example, from the clinical practice of the 3rd psychiatric hospital in Novosibirsk, where doctors had to treat patients - adherents of the Church of the Covenant.

According to experts, due to the active influence on the psyche of adherents, after several sessions of worship, they develop a close to drug dependence on sensory experiences that arise during the glorification of Christ, joint prayers, and speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues very often resembles an epileptic seizure, accompanied by screaming, screeching, indistinct muttering, often loss of consciousness, falling to the floor, and is interpreted by sectarians as a manifestation of the grace of the Holy Spirit in them.

Each worship service begins with the glorification of Christ, which is carried out by repeatedly repeating any one simple phrase such as I glorify you, Christ, to the deafening accompaniment of rhythmic music that falls on the adepts from powerful speakers.

The glorifiers are led by several people specially designated for this purpose, more often young girls who are on stage (such services most often take place in theaters or cinemas), repeat the words of glorification many times in a singsong voice, dance and raise their hands. They act as a visible role model for newly converted members of the sect and guests who do not yet know themselves how to behave at this moment of the service.

The rhythm of musical accompaniment during the glorification changes several times from fast to calm, lulling, causing a reaction in a new person of a benevolent, uncritical perception of what is happening. Some of those on stage by the end of the worship fall into a trance state (or imitate it), which is manifested in exalted postures and movements, kneeling down, sensual prayer whispering and other similar actions. Apparently, glorification is a meditative technique designed to put a person into a state of controlled trance.

The adherents of the sect are in an information vacuum, as television, radio and the press allegedly carry a demonic charge. Many of them leave their parents, as the attitude is formed that a parent who has not accepted the teachings of the sect is also an instrument in the hands of the devil. Adepts regularly deduct a tithe (a tenth of their income) for the maintenance of the local community and its leadership. In addition, numerous other current fees are provided, designed to greatly relieve the burden of managing their own money for ordinary members of the sect.

It is practiced to hold mass religious meetings with healings, which are sometimes organized in stadiums, which are reminiscent of similar events of healers and psychics.

The name of the Faith Movement - Prosperity Theology - is due to the fact that, according to the teachings of this movement, a true Christian must necessarily succeed, flourish in earthly life, which is regarded as confirmation of his salvation, as evidence that he has sufficiently mastered the laws that operate in the spiritual world, and now he can demand from God whatever he wants and receive what is required, since God, according to sectarians, simply does not have the right to refuse a person who has firm faith and is confident in his salvation.

Charismatic leaders teach that the presence of God can be felt through abnormal physical manifestations and sensory upheavals. All the so-called relationship with God for them comes down to physical sensations, emotional excitement and mental ecstatic states, when a person does not control himself and often does not even remember what happened to him. These sensations become a kind of drug for charismatics, and if they disappear, sectarians experience a kind of withdrawal syndrome.

It is quite obvious that many leaders of neo-Pentecostal groups use occult-magical practices of influencing a person at their meetings, resort to methods of mass hypnosis and mind control, leading those present to many hours of mass hysteria.

Such widespread and often obligatory practices for the experience of neo-Pentecostals, such as speaking tongues, Toronto blessing (prolonged senseless laughter), defeat in the spirit (fainting), prayer of birth pangs (convulsions), etc., are destructive means of influencing the psyche.

The so-called doctrine of theocracy, understood by neo-Pentecostals as the undivided power of a pastor who can manipulate his parishioners, completely control their lives, manage their time, give them any orders, impose any obligations on them, cannot but inspire concern. There are many cases when pastors used believers for selfish purposes and for personal gain.

Pastors achieve unquestioning obedience of the members of the sect, including referring to the prophecies and revelations, supposedly received by them directly from God. Members of the sect, under the guise of paying tithing, are subject to exorbitant requisitions and often give everything they have to the sect. Thus, in sects that share the theology of prosperity, it is mainly the leadership of these sects that actually flourishes.

***

For more detailed information about this religious phenomenon, I refer the reader to the monograph by priest Igor Efimov Modern Charismatic Movement of Sectarianism. But to clarify the issue of the practice of speaking in tongues among neo-charismatics (this practice is present in the New Life), I would like to quote a short excerpt from study guide on the course of sect studies:

If you ask them why they mumble in nonsense tongues and roll on the floor in hysterical ecstasy, doing something that was definitely condemned by the apostle Paul, they will answer that Paul was just a man who could make mistakes, unlike Jesus Who was God and could not make mistakes. Therefore, they are very selective about the legacy of the Apostle Paul: accepting what suits them, and rejecting as "undivine" everything that they do not like in it.

In fact, the phenomenon of "glossolalia", that is, the semiconscious hysterical mumbling of inarticulate sounds (what charismatics call "speaking in tongues"), has been known since antiquity and is an indispensable accessory of many ecstatic pagan cults. Let us recall the shamanistic dances with cries, the transcendental shaking of Shaivite monks, the muttering of ecstatic dervishes, or the inarticulate prophecies of the ancient Greek sibyls and Pythia. Actually, it is rare for a pagan cult to do without glossolalia. New converts from paganism brought glossolalia to the early Christian communities, where it was opposed by the Holy Apostle Paul, who, with pedagogical wisdom, pointed out the need to preserve decorum and order during worship (1 Corinthians 14). By the end of the 1st century, as the former pagans became churched, the phenomenon of glossolalia completely outlived itself in Christian communities.

Charismatics who claim that "speaking in tongues" is a sign of the real presence of the Holy Spirit can be reminded of these facts and asked how the Holy Spirit can manifest itself in pagan anti-Christian cults and why the sacrifice of Christ was needed, if salvation by the Holy Spirit can also be through, shall we say Shaivism or Shamanism?

If they begin to refer to the fact that the apostles spoke in tongues on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:4-11), then this can be easily explained: the apostles, not knowing other languages, preached the Gospel in such a way that they were understood by the natives of various nations , and did not mutter incomprehensible inarticulate sounds that no one understood.

The Holy Spirit - the Spirit of Truth - gives the gift of understanding. And speaking in inarticulate, incomprehensible languages is not a gift, but a punishment from God, which is sent to proud, arrogant people who consider themselves equal to God. Let's remember the biblical story about the builders of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9).

eyewitness testimony

As I said, some of my drug addicts who come to our church of St. Prophet Elijah have previously encountered or even tried to go through rehabilitation at the New Life center.

Explaining that I was working on material for a publication about this rehab center, I asked them and their loved ones to share their experiences. Some of the testimonies, with the consent of my respondents, I present below.

Temple of St. Prophet Elijah

Respondent T., mother of a drug addict, parishioner attending prayer services in the Church of St. Elijah the Prophet. In late February - early March 2002, my son and I went to the Okhta cinema for interviews so that our son could get into the center of Sergei Matevosyan "New Life". After passing the tests, he talked with those drug addicts who had already been there to find out what living and working conditions were there, and he lost the desire to go.

For my part, I went to parent meetings who were well organized. Each time new guys performed on the stage and told how they got cured or why they left there and why they will go there again. But at the end of these meetings, the leader began to turn to God so frantically loudly (into the microphone), called on Him so often and obsessively, that for me personally this caused a feeling of embarrassment for the leader and an unpleasant aftertaste.

My son, having once come there with his girlfriend (also a drug addict) and listening to this, said that only abnormal people can have such howls and cries, and called them sectarians. The desire to go to the New Life center and work for them completely disappeared.

Trying to somehow help my son, I found out about various organizations that deal with the rehabilitation of drug addicts, and visited them. In my opinion, the organization "Sons of Thunder" at Tyushina Street, 9, is also not much different from the "New Life".

Now the son is under investigation, before the trial he will go to Melnichny Ruchey (there is a rehabilitation center under the care of the Orthodox Church). I hope that with God's help my son will be cured and repent

The entry was made on 11.02.2003.

Temple of St. Prophet Elijah

Respondent B., a parishioner, attends prayer services in the Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah, stable remission, recently received Orthodox Baptism with his mother.

I'm 25 years old. I have been addicted to drugs for over 7 years. The first time I tried to get rid of addiction in 23 years. Parents were admitted to the hospital in the commercial department.

I stayed, or rather, slept there for about a week. The withdrawal was removed and with parting words that now everything depends on me, they sent me home without providing any spiritual and psychological support. As a result, after 3 days I again "stuck". Mom, having invested a lot of money in treatment, did not lose hope. What could be more precious than a child?

A year later - again the hospital; however, after the course of treatment, they offered psychological assistance. It consisted in the fact that I would spend the night at home, and during the day I would be in a hospital under the supervision of a psychologist and a doctor. Of course, it cost a lot of money. Mom agreed, but I didn't. Probably, he hadn’t “got his hands on it” yet, as they say now, there was no motivation.

Once, when I was driving to work (I was, so to speak, “drug-drunk”), some guys came up to me. They said that "God loves me" and I "have a chance to be human." To do this, I have to go to the New Life rehabilitation center for a period of 1 year. They gave me the address of the Okhta cinema, where meetings and conversations with people "in trouble" take place.

On Sunday, my mother and I went to a meeting where I was told that I had to come to the meetings 3-4 times on Sundays and each time confirm my intention to go to a rehab center. For the fourth time I went to Kotly. To do this, I collected a bunch of certificates (all tests are paid), two healthy trunks with things, including a blanket, pillow, bed linen and 650 rubles.

Naturally, before the trip, I asked the guys who were there about the living conditions in the center. All as one claimed that the food is better than at home, and the work is not hard. And just that there - "super". But what turned out in fact, I could not dream even in a nightmare.

The morning began with a sermon, the basis of which was "testimony." A former drug addict, now an employee of the center, spoke about his fate: how he found the "true God". Then work until late in the evening. And again "evidence". The food was very poor: empty soup, half a slice of bread and no meat. When they got up from the table, there was always a feeling of hunger.

I remember how one guy had a temperature of 38 in the morning and he could not work. An employee of the center approached him, put his hand on his head and said: "In the name of Jesus - you are well, go to work." The guy had to go, otherwise he would have remained hungry. Being late for any event (lunch, dinner, meeting, work) - fine: 2 hours of extra work. Any communication with the opposite sex - a fine of 2 hours. The penalty must be worked out before lifting.

From the first day everyone is convinced that Orthodox faith, to put it mildly, wrong. Churches and icons are the same as wooden idols. Orthodox crosses cannot be worn in the center. When I saw how they began to pray "in tongues" during the sermon, I realized that I had fallen into a sect. A few days later I ran home....

Recorded on February 15, 2003.

It must be said that all the stories of people who have somehow encountered this rehabilitation center, as a rule, are very similar. However, the following story of a young woman, an experienced drug addict, is distinguished not only by integrity and some, in my opinion, very mature assessments, but also by a sense of real human pain.

Therefore, it seemed important to me to use it at the end of the material about the New Life organization and its rehabilitation activities.

Information center

Respondent N., 23 years old, experience of anesthesia for 7 years. Baptized in Orthodoxy at the age of 9. She did not receive a church education. Grandparents ran into an advertisement for a rehabilitation center. At their insistence, I visited the specified church - the Okhta cinema.

At first I thought these people were just crazy. They run around the stage, jump, wave some kind of handkerchiefs, make strange sounds, etc. All in all, I didn't like it at all. But on the other hand, I didn’t care anymore, that is, there was nowhere to return, there was no need to live, and so on ... I just listened to their speeches about “healing”, “salvation” and thought - what do I have to lose? I will try this option as well. There was still a lot of press on stories about miracles: someone was healed of AIDS or hepatitis, someone shone with holiness, and all that ... Entire crowds gathered at this "Okhta" every Sunday: drug addicts and their parents, relatives who seem to that there is nowhere else to go.

I remember someone's mother spoke: they say, her son became blissful and "cured" of drug addiction. They also hold some kind of meetings and prayers for their parents and relatives, I don’t know exactly where, it seems, in the Leningrad cinema. In general, it would be time for everyone to understand that sectarians gather in cinemas. But I didn't understand it.

After the meeting, they said: who wants to get into this "rehabilitation center" should stay! They asked if I was baptized, in the sense - in the Orthodox Church. The questions are the same for everyone. They also asked if I was on a dose. She said yes. But at first no conditions were set, except for the obligatory attendance of their meetings for at least two weeks.

At the same time, I remained on the dose, because I was afraid of "withdrawal", and there was nowhere to get money for a paid clinic. I didn’t apply to the GND anymore, they just stuff them with antipsychotics, from which they “lift the roof”, and all sorts of useless rubbish. It's better than heroin. Which, by the way, is the case in this GND (some drug addicts even went there on purpose to trade in this misfortune).

Well, in general, I somehow managed to “get better” every day and at the same time went to their “worship services”. Whole 4 weeks. Prepared, hoped and slowly got used to all this. Got another referral for tests. They must be done within a week, and if you do not have time - all over again! It seems that there are 7 analyzes: there is a "stick", blood for AIDS, for hepatitis, for RV, a gynecologist, a dermatologist. In general, all this even looks official, as if you are doing something and preparing in full.

Then they told about the upcoming costs. They gave me a list of what you need to have with you: things, medicines - for 2,000. Then - to hand over 650 rubles for "medical needs" and another 80 rubles - for the return trip. This is for St. Petersburg. For some reason, for non-residents, 750 for "medicine", plus the cost of the return trip. By the way, then the purchased items are not returned, even if you have stayed and survived the prescribed six-month period. Collection with these certificates and things - on Sundays.

After the meeting, the bus is at 7 pm. And everyone is being taken to a village called Preobrazhenka. This is towards the Estonian border, the Kingisepp district, not far from Ust-Luga. Buildings of some former psychiatric hospital; they bought it all. From there they can still be sent to Kotly, this is a former military unit. There is not much land in Preobrazhenka. And basically all agricultural work in these Cauldrons, in the fields belonging to the sect. There is also a base on the bay, only the male staff goes there - to fish. All this I already knew a little.

Well, and on arrival suddenly - a search. All personal belongings - to the warehouse, except for wearable clothing and personal hygiene. They are searched like in a prison: you have to strip naked, squat down, bend over and all that. From whom they find - they take away cigarettes, lighters, matches, pills, books, even Orthodox ones - all this goes like a crime. Remove crosses, take away icons. They say that crosses and icons are idolatry.

They removed the cross from me, took away the old grandmother's icon; it all disappeared. And everyone is given Bibles or books of the New Testament. Only later did I find out and understand - in non-canonical versions, that is, where everything is translated either in Protestant or heretical.

And then everyone is separated - men from women. Not in the sense that living separately, but it is even forbidden to talk with the opposite sex or get closer than one and a half meters. This can lead to punishment. For handed over notes, for example, they generally threaten to expel them immediately, regardless of the content of what is written. The fact is important. Or for a couple of spoken words - three days in a row you get up two hours earlier than everyone else or stay to work at night. Under the regime, this is a very serious punishment, like torture with insomnia. And all this is called humility.

Formally, for such a crowd of drug addicts, it seems even necessary, otherwise how can they be controlled? In general, I allowed the cross to be removed from me and ended up among people who internally agreed with everything that was happening or tried, like me, to do it. Still, it is necessary to say something about the mode. In the cinema "Okhta" somehow these subtleties were not talked about very much. They just said that everything is strict and pious with them.

And piety looks like this: in every room and in the "conference room" they hang instead of an icon in a frame "10 rules" that must be strictly observed. All letters that come are opened, sometimes they are simply not given. Parents are only allowed to visit someone who has lived in the sect for at least 4 months, that is, has become its adherent and active member. Such a person will no longer complain to his mother that his brains are being turned off, but on the contrary, he will begin to involve his parents in the sect.

Each newcomer who arrives (they are called "junior") is immediately assigned a "senior" - one who has lived in the sect for at least 2 months. This is a convoy. You even go to the toilet accompanied by a senior (or "senior") and with his consent. He also makes sure that the newcomer does not stop working all the time. Non-compliance is punishable by an increase in time and volume of work.

Everything works like this: in summer from 8 am to 12 am, in winter - from 9 to 10. Breaks of 15 minutes twice a day: at 12 pm and at 6 pm. Lunch still falls out of this time: 15-00, with a "sermon" and C (Forgive me, Lord!) "prayer". And breakfast and dinner - before and after work. There are 5-6 hours left for sleep. All punishments are based on this.

All management rests on coercion and encouragement of a sense of power over those who are "younger". I had a moment when I also wanted to make a "career" within the framework of this sect, to become "senior" as soon as possible, to gain power, to work less. I think now that such delusion is possible only under the influence of others, when everyone thinks and behaves this way. But the most important thing is different.

The point is that everyone comes there on "breaking". But there is no medical care there, although they take money "for medicines." There is only one remedy for "breaking": complete submission and constant, wear and tear, physical work. If my back suddenly hurts, I leaned on a shovel and the attendant (the one who is above the "seniors") saw this - I am threatened with punishment: to work at night or in the morning - until I get up.

I, unfortunately, was then a large dose: one and a half grams per day. I remember that I vomited, my liver and kidneys failed, I almost lost consciousness, I tried to rebel - all this was useless. They say that no one has died in the “breaking” yet, but this is far from the case. For some reason, no one here talks about such misfortunes.

I tried to understand the meaning and meaning of these blind torments, and they explained them to me like this: then it will be very good, be patient for two weeks! Today I say: never and nowhere should the absence of mercy be an instrument of power, submission, suppression of will and consciousness. You can only suffer voluntarily and meaningfully, that is, understanding something more than such promises.

Now I think that for them all this cruelty is a way of drawing people into their system. Anyone who accepts this accepts everything else, any nonsense. Here, perhaps, it is necessary to tell how I began to pray in "other tongues."

One day, one of the ministers brought us to the stage in the "conference room" and said: there will be a "baptism in the holy spirit." Now, if the "holy spirit" descends on you, "other tongues" will pour out of you. Accept it, don't be afraid of it, don't reject the "holy spirit"! In general, approximately so admonished. And he himself began to "pray in other tongues" and "lay" his hand on everyone's head. At the same time, he "helped": come on, come on, pray! I remember that he himself was wet with sweat from such a "work".

And I couldn't do anything else. Because refusal meant the denial of the "holy spirit", blasphemy and rebellion against everyone. And I had to step over it: just to make it easier. I think the same thing happened to others. Then, of course, there was a general psychosis: everyone was happy, jumping, shouting. An addict would say it's a collective euphoria. Or, to put it simply, madness. That's all. Probably, for this, it was necessary to remove the cross from me.

Of the 10 people who came to Preobrazhenka with me, only three remained. The rest fled on the 2nd and 3rd day. But it's not so easy to do it there. Firstly, the desire to leave according to their rules must be warned 3 days before. Otherwise, they will not give any money for travel, or documents. In general - illegal imprisonment, of course, in order to save and lead to the "holy spirit." These three days will treat you all as best they can. But they can also lock them up in a "kapterka" (punishment cell). From the best intentions: to give thought. And the radical rebels are expelled already in disgrace - with a meeting and study. They say the black sheep ruins the flock.

But I thought about some things after, as if "hindsight", and after talking with different people on this topic. For example: what is the money of this "organization" made of? Of course, by squeezing free work out of "patients". The sect is at the same time a large and profitable agricultural enterprise. Kotly already has a huge farm (cows, pigs, ducks, chickens, goats are bred), its own fish farm on the Gulf of Finland and huge processing fields, its own tractors and other equipment, and also a pasta shop, a bakery, in a word, almost communism.

And no one has to pay anything for the work. This is probably why they talk not only about "their own work", but also about donations from individuals or some organizations. They even say that the Orthodox Church approves of their "good works."

Only, I think there are darker things here. Here, for example, "arrival fee" and all these fees. For those who come "for rehabilitation" from all over the country, getting into a sect is a complete surprise. I think no one knows how many people actually just brought them their money and rushed home in horror, in general - to their former life. Usually, neither drug addicts nor their parents complain about deceit anywhere, they are only afraid of everything. And it turns out something like a money pyramid.

I guess I should try to forget all this, but so many people get into this trouble. Now I have a cross, already new. And the fact that I did not stay in this "New Life" - in this, in my opinion, there is also the Providence of God.

I grew up only with my mother, without a father, and did not see him, and a few years ago he died. So: I recently found out that he also used drugs for a long time, and then he went to a monastery and lived there for the last years of his life. Maybe it is he who intercedes for me before God? I think everything that happens to us is a miracle, only we see it poorly.

Who am I? A drug addict whose husband is in jail for robbery and selling drugs. I tried to commit suicide, became a panel prostitute, I have hepatitis C and HIV infection, and in the end I also ended up in a savage sect. I confess.

Recorded 09/25/2001.

It is necessary to make one reservation: these records, of course, are not given in full. But all the texts cited basically retain the original vocabulary, with editorial amendments made only on the basis of additions, comments and under the control of the respondents themselves.

Let's try to draw conclusions

The conclusions that should be drawn about the activities of the New Life organization can be briefly formulated based on the stated facts and the conclusions of specialists:

Both when recruiting into the organization, and to attract financial or other means of development, the leadership of New Life uses clearly illegal actions: fraud and deceit (confessional anonymity or pseudonymousness, illegal, medically and legally unfounded offers of drug addiction treatment, etc.), as well as obviously unethical methods of self-promotion (for example, promises of miraculous cures for AIDS ) etc.;

The New Life uses an extensive arsenal of immoral forceful methods of influencing human consciousness: mental manipulation, unreasonable coercion, strict, violent control of behavior, information, etc.;

New Life, like the entire neo-Pentecostal movement, develops outside of cultural society and exists in isolation from civil and patriotic consciousness: its adherents are far from culture, both Russian, national, and universal (they not only reject classical literature, painting or music, they they are generally not interested in anything except their own internal sectarian affairs);

The leadership of the organization in the internal practices of classes and worship instills in its adherents intolerance towards other religions, primarily towards Orthodoxy, although outwardly it emphasizes complete tolerance for any confession;

For the leadership of the organization, its ordinary adherents are initially slaves, human material that is physically and financially exploited.

Thus, we can conclude that all of the listed signs are already sufficient not only for a spiritual-religious or moral definition, but also for the legal qualification of the New Life organization as a socially dangerous destructive cult (we hope that the concept of a destructive cult will be introduced into the domestic legal system). practice, as happened in Germany and France).

Postscript

Recently, the activity of the New Life has increased markedly. On the radio, on some TV channels, programs are regularly broadcast, where former drug addicts testify to the healing. In fact, this is recruitment into the organization. Neither confessional affiliation nor methods of treatment in the organization were announced in any of the programs. The author attempted to call live telephones, but affiliation with the Faith Movement was publicly denied by the speakers, and the question of healing practices was hushed up. The author invited representatives of the New Life to the Church of St. Elijah the Prophet, where, during a conversation with a group of drug addicts and their parents, they also failed (or did not want to) clarify these issues.

In the framework of this article, we touched on the activities of the New Life only, but there are many neo-charismatic organizations of this kind not only in Russia, but throughout the entire post-Soviet space, as mentioned above. When the article was almost ready, I was invited to a conference dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the regional public organization Return, which is engaged in the rehabilitation of drug addicts and HIV-infected people. There I met a priest from Kiev who was giving a report on neo-Pentecostal organizations in Ukraine and their rehabilitation centers. The methods of recruitment, exploitation and mind control of adherents, as well as the consequences of such rehabilitation, are no different from those described in this article. At the same conference, I was shown a leaflet in which it was proposed to treat drug addiction in the Scientology organization (also classified as a destructive cult by a resolution of the State Duma of 12/15/1996, an information letter of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of 08/21/1996, an analytical bulletin of the State Duma of 03.1998) using the Narconon program, banned for use in the healthcare system by order of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry back in 1996.

The problem of drug addiction and concomitant diseases, which took on the character of an epidemic in Russia in the 1990s, is becoming one of the issues of national security. But the problem of manipulating the minds of people in destructive cults, which is also becoming widespread, is undoubtedly one of the issues of national security, as representatives of the traditional faiths of Russia and many unbiased scientists and specialists have repeatedly warned about (see,). We call on honest officials, lawyers, doctors and everyone who cares about the future of our country to take a sober, objective look at these problems and on the way to solve them.

Georgy Ioffe, priest
mission officer
St. Petersburg Diocese
Anti-sectarian center of the cathedral
St. Prince Alexander Nevsky, Novosibirsk - 09/04/2007

References

1. Dvorkin A. L. Sect studies. Nizhny Novgorod: Ed. Brotherhood of St. Alexander Nevsky, 2000.

2. Materials of the international scientific-practical conference Totalitarian sects - the threat of the XXI century. Nizhny Novgorod: Ed. Brotherhood of St. Alexander Nevsky, 2001.

3. Drug addiction: sin or disease? M.: Danilovsky Blagovestnik, 2000.

4. Practical guide. Drugs and drug addicts. M.: Caritas, 2002.

5. Vaccination against drug addiction. St. Petersburg: Tsarskoe delo, 1999.

6. CD-ROM-reference book Religions and sects of modern Russia. Novosibirsk, 2003.

7. Materials of the website of the Information and Consulting Center. ssmch. Irenaeus of Lyons http://www.iriney.ru

8. Efimov Igor, priest. The modern charismatic movement of sectarianism. M., 1995.