Melissa

Paradoxes & Contradictions

Russia continues to be an amazing land-- a land of contradictions or paradoxes. They have technology, yet we rode on trains from the forties and fifties. They have new buildings and cars, yet cleaning the streets or sidewalks seems impossible. Moscow is a city of apartments not homes. The apartments are huge and most of them on the outside look like our public housing. Russia is a poor country in which the infrastructure is breaking down so we find there is much to pray for here. The people have endured terrible political and economic tragedy.

The Church

The church is coming out of a 70-year persecution and it is wonderful to see its rebirth. Moscow is dotted with old Orthodox churches being renovated or new ones being rebuilt. During Soviet times many of the churches became museums or small factories. The ones turned into museums are now shared. They function as museums during the week but on Saturday and Sunday become houses of worship. Once again these churches are filled with icons, candles and frescoes telling Bible stories and Russian church stories. We went to Tretyakov art gallery Tuesday. The center of the gallery is an Orthodox church filled with famous icons. It was absolutely beautiful and has one of the most ornate iconistasis* we have seen. We also saw many famous paintings, our favorite being one of Ivan the Terrible holding his son. He murdered his son because of the fear that his son was plotting a coup. Of course this act left Ivan with no heir to the throne and put Russia in chaos when he died.

When we came out of the museum there was a light snowfall which created a picturesque view of this great city--another great day in Russia.

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