E.N. How did your service develop?

V.E. The Lord judged that for the years in which I practically did not work, in that I had a break of ten years at which stage I dedicated myself only to my studies, and so evidently, I needed a more varied education for the preparation for church service. Already, in 1987, I opened what was then one of the first schools in Moscow. It was called “Courses for Preparation of Catechisms for Teachers of Sunday Schools,” for at that time Sunday Schools themselves were forbidden. But among the populous, this school came to be known as “The School of Vera Mihailovna.” This school had worked for nearly half a year when I asked the blessing of the Patriarchate of Moscow. The school was blessed by Fr. Dmitri Dudko, but he very quickly refused to remain the spiritual advisor; the direction itself proved to be too brave for him. At this time, Fr. Igor Ekonomstev held the responsibilities of the Secretary of Administration Work and the Secretary of the Study Committee of the Moscow Patriarchate, and now Fr. Ioann [his name after taking monastic vows] is the Chairman of the Department of Catechism and Spiritual Education of the Moscow Patriarchate. It just so happened that I related this side of my work to him, to this person for whom it was exactly required in the future to head the spiritual education, and in particular, the spiritual enlightenment of the laity. And he, in his own turn, went on the first chance he had to Leningrad and received the blessings of the then Metropolitan of Leningrad, that is the present Holy Patriarch of Moscow and All of Russia Aleksei II, for the school. It all happened with providence and the hand of God is clearly felt in every event.