The “Salvation Hangar” is located not far from the Kursky railway station at the address: Nikoloyamskaya Street, in the courtyard of house 55. Even from the street, the “Salvation Hangar” sign points to the courtyard - it’s hard to get confused. In the yard there is a chain-link fence, a gate and a large dark blue tent. Leaning over, you enter and in the first second you are completely lost: inside it is not just spacious, but very spacious, high ceilings, light, and most importantly, very warm.

Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, confessor of the “Mercy” service, was surrounded by journalists, short speech he explains that this year the Rescue Hangar has completely different tasks; it is no longer just a shelter for the homeless, but a full-fledged service center social assistance people who are in trouble:

“Despite the fact that we live in the 21st century, despite the development of high technology, medicine, science, there are people who continue to freeze on the street, suffer from hunger, people who find themselves thrown out of ordinary life. That is why the Rescue Hangar will now operate differently, not as a shelter, but as a center for providing social assistance to people in need. Here they will help with paperwork, buy tickets home, and think about finding jobs for homeless people.”

In the courtyard of house 55, and in the Angara tent itself, several homeless people have already gathered, and Archpriest Alexy Uminsky begins to serve a prayer service, an unusual one, with a special rite - for the homeless. The petitions contain amazing words:

“We also pray to You, Our Lord God, to look with Your merciful eye on Your poor, homeless and rootless servants, and to save them in these days from hunger, filth and destruction.

We also pray to You, the Merciful Savior, to soften our hearts, so that in every unfortunate, homeless, hungry person we see You, our Savior, who has nowhere to bow his head.

The new commandment given to Your disciples, to love one another, O Master, renew this grace of Your Most Holy Spirit truly in our souls and in our hearts.”

“The Lord speaks of every sufferer as brothers,” Archpriest Alexy explained at the end of the prayer service, “and for us this word of God should be the main thing. If we stop seeing a person in someone, then we ourselves are deprived of humanity. Therefore, today’s prayer service is not only for the homeless, but also for us, so that everyone who finds themselves in a difficult situation knows that the Lord is there where a person suffers. Our God is Christ, Love crucified on the Cross.”

Among the homeless people who came to the prayer service, a black Cuban stands out. He was surrounded by journalists and became the most visible hero of the day. Cheerful, sparkling with a completely classic smile of a black man, with a scar on his nose - the result of an encounter with the harsh Russian reality or his native Cuban reality - it is not known, he barely speaks Russian, but willingly gives interviews, distorting his words and delighting journalists with traditional answers to traditional questions: yes, he is also cold in winter, and yes, he does not want to leave Russia at all.

The Cuban is a problematic client, it is difficult to employ him, since he is a foreign citizen, and too noticeable - he will not get lost in the crowd. It’s not yet possible to send him home; he clings tightly to the frozen asphalt of Moscow and repeats as usual: “I love Russia, I want to work, Russia, Cuba is bad, work is bad, family – no, home – no.” The answer to the question “what to do?” neither he himself nor the social service employees have yet.

In the tent, another homeless man is sitting on a bench: the swollen face of a man who has been drinking for a long time, but he is dressed cleanly, and does not even look like a homeless person. He says, somewhat embarrassed, that he has already given an interview, but agrees to tell more, although the tea is getting cold, and there is nothing special to talk about. He generally speaks reluctantly, in monosyllables and turning away: “I’ve been here for a week now, I hope to return home to the Komi Republic, they told me to make a photocopy of my passport, I’m waiting.”

But it is clear that his taciturnity is not out of some kind of resentment or anger, the man was simply locked in for a long time in the daily cramped world of getting his daily living - lodging, food, alcohol. However, he finally didn’t drink himself to death, tried to look for work, came to Moscow, was robbed - everything was according to the usual scenario. He emerged from his closed world only when I asked what seemed to me a completely ridiculous question: “What is your specialty?” And this elderly man with a worn-out face, sitting on a bench with a plastic cup of tea and a candy clutched in his hand, immediately raised his head and loudly, proudly answered: “I am a driller’s assistant, and I worked for 30 years in the Tyumen region.”

What is the updated “Salvation Hangar”? Social service employees talk about the project:

Project manager Roman Skorosov:

“People who come to the tent can stay here from 9:00 to 18:00 and receive all the necessary help, and then, by agreement with the social adaptation center, buses come for them in the evening and take them for the night, if desired, of course.”

Homeless people come to Hangar in different ways - some found out by turning to a Moscow church for help, others were referred by acquaintances. Also, as Roman said, “social workers of the Mercy service are on duty at train stations so that people who are in trouble - robbed, late for a train, abandoned by relatives - can immediately get to a person who will understand the situation.”

Roman Skorosov

A tent for the homeless was officially opened in Moscow in January 2014. But if last year the project was supervised by the Synodal Department, now the curator is the Mercy service.

How exactly can anyone help, even just passing by Nikoloyamskaya 55, said the press secretary of the Mercy service Anna Ovsyannikova:

“You need to bring clothes, clean linen, seasonal warm clothes, shoes. It is clear that people will wash and they need to update their things. In addition, we have a certain budget for food: instant noodles, mashed potatoes - that’s all good, but we always need something for tea, the tea itself.”

Konstantin, a social worker at the Mercy help service, talks about those people who come to Hangar:

“I am on duty and I can say that anyone can find themselves in such a situation - robbed at the station, deceived, missed the train, now there is a very interesting situation with Crimea: many Crimeans who came to Moscow to work turned out to be completely unadapted to our reality . These are the islanders - good-natured and firmly believing that nothing bad can happen here.

Social worker of the "Mercy" help service Konstantin

Recently, one such visitor from Crimea was robbed - the man simply left his things unattended and went on business. I tell him: “Even in Soviet times they would not have forgiven you for this, where does such carelessness come from?” And he doesn’t even know what to answer, he thought that everything was great here, there were no crimes. They are from small places, completely preserved in their own world. We try very hard to help them so that they do not develop a negative attitude.

There are few professional homeless people, they do not live long. We help them too, but as a rule they don’t need anything, they just make inquiries about where things are. They come with this question: “What do you have?” And we ask: “Who are you, what happened?” There is nothing to answer. But there are few of them. In general, we either send 250-300 people a month home, or restore documents, or help them find employment.

There is also such a category of people – deportees. In the 80-90s they went abroad to work, and now they are being deported. These are also special people, it’s very difficult with them, they consider themselves Europeans and are not determined to settle here, but want to deal with those who deported them: “Help me prove to the migration services of Luxembourg that I was deported illegally.” Complex cases, we are trying to understand if there is something real behind it, real story. In some cases we can really help.

Regularly there are simply foreigners who miscalculated their time and energy and found themselves in a difficult situation. For example, there was one Serb, a young guy, who was traveling to monasteries, and his visa ran out - he miscalculated a little.”

It is important, as Konstantin says, not just to accommodate a person or help him go home, but also to make sure that everything goes well:

“Homeless people think very quickly. If somewhere they give something for nothing, then they immediately set up cordons and rob the inexperienced - we gave money to a person for a ticket, food so that he could get to the station, but they take everything away from him.

Therefore, we have to be very careful, take all this into account, sometimes accompany, and above all, warn our charges.”

Opening new project, Bishop Panteleimon shared with journalists the main misfortune and problem of this year - the financial crisis threatens the full-fledged work of many projects of the Mercy service:

“Many philanthropists will not be able to finance us in the same volume as they did last year. You say: “there’s a crisis, and you’re opening a new project?” What can we do? We have no right to postpone this work because of the crisis. We look forward to your help.

Our budget is quite large; all projects of the Mercy service require a lot of money. But we are short about 50 million for our projects next year. But I hope that with your help we will continue to do good. A crisis is not a reason to stop doing good,” concluded Bishop Panteleimon.

The Salvation Hangar and other more than 20 social projects of the Mercy service lack 50 million for the year - is this a lot, not enough? For one person - a lot, but if you go to the Miloserdie.ru website and make a monthly donation from a bank card, here are 100 rubles, which will be automatically withdrawn along with the same 60 rubles that we pay, for example, for mobile bank– is it a lot or is it unnoticeable? Unnoticed, somewhere far away. But there is a man who stands at a loss in the middle of a station in an unfamiliar city and pats his pockets in the vain hope that he imagined the loss of money and documents. Will he not disappear, will he find someone to turn to, will he return home? Or maybe we are standing at this station?

January 7, 2018 His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' visited the homeless assistance center “Hangar of Salvation” of the Orthodox help service “Mercy” in Moscow, located on the territory of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service.

According to tradition, on the days of Christmas and Easter, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visits medical and social institutions. Just as on Easter after his enthronement in 2009, His Holiness visited the homeless again this year.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill was accompanied by the Minister of Health Russian Federation IN AND. Skvortsova, Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service, Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky Panteleimon, leadership of the Synodal Department.

Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Minister of Health, accompanied by Bishop Panteleimon, inspected mobile units for helping the homeless - a hairdresser, showers, a warehouse for issuing clothes, a document processing point, a medical aid point.

At the Salvation Hangar, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill shared a festive meal with the homeless. The Primate of the Russian Church wished Merry Christmas to people who found themselves homeless. Communicating with them at the meal, His Holiness said, in particular:

“I am very glad to have the opportunity to visit you on the first day of Christmas. We often say that Christmas is a holiday of hope. Yes, the Lord came into the world, but He did not change the world in an instant. The poor did not become rich, justice did not immediately prevail, the sick did not become healthy. It would seem, what did He do? Many thought that a mighty king, a hero, a miracle worker would come and change the world overnight. But if this happened, then the person would not be a person, but just an automatic machine that was reconfigured, the program was changed, and it started working in a new way. However, God created us free. We can choose our own path in life, and the Lord came so that everyone can find their own path in life.

Human destinies unfold differently. Everything that I see now is very close to me, since my childhood was spent in poverty. By the grace of God, even though five people lived in one room in a communal apartment, there was still a roof over their heads. But they lived very poorly, so at the age of fifteen I was forced to leave home to earn a living. I worked and studied, but the salary was meager, less than a ruble a day. I remember how I wrote down this amount, even less than a ruble, per day - what I could buy, what I couldn’t. All my life I remember this experience of poverty, and, probably, I would not have understood much in life if I had not gone through this experience.

However, I could have remained in the same poverty for the rest of my life if I had given up, if I had said: “What can you do, nothing special can be done.” By the grace of God this difficult moment in life was overcome. I am telling you about this so that you understand: before you is a man who was not born in the royal chambers and did not live in wealth, who also had experience of getting out of a difficult financial situation. I know that many of you, by coincidence, ended up in this place. But there are two ways from here. One way is to come to terms with what is and say “well, let it be so.” This path will not lead to anything good. But there is another way - to say “no, it shouldn’t be like this, I have to do something to get out of this state.”

Here is the place where you can make that decision. If you say, “I want to get out of this state,” you will give the greatest gift to those who are selflessly working here because of their Christian convictions. Because of this they have no wealth, no glory, no honor. In these difficult circumstances, they are with you, and for them, I know, it would be the greatest joy if those who pass through this “Salvation Hangar” were truly saved.

So I would like to wish you all, my dears, to get out of this place and find yourself in life. And those who work here will help this as much as possible. Most of you, as I know, came to Moscow and are not permanent residents of the city. Therefore, the most correct thing would be to return to places where you are known and where you can get a job. And the Church will help you in everything.

Now work with people deprived of home, shelter, and resources is developing throughout our entire Church, and not just in the city of Moscow. I'm very happy about this. I call for each parish to have its own social service. There may not be homeless people among the parishioners, but there are often very poor people, and I am deeply convinced that the responsibility of the parish extends to them in order to help them improve their living conditions.

Everything I’m talking about concerns the most intimate thing - human relationships. We know how much attention people pay to the external side of life, to the development of technology and the economy. But all this can help a person, or it can also do harm. First of all, everyone is helped by the loving heart of another person. And if we don’t have hearts of stone, but loving ones, then we won’t have homeless people, and social imbalances will be quickly overcome, and society will be fairer than it is now. And I would once again like to wish you God’s help, strength, and hope. If you really want to get out of the situation you find yourself in, tell those who work here about it. I know their mood - they will be happy to help you.”

Employees of the Synodal Department for Social Ministry told His Holiness about the work of the homeless assistance center.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill handed over icons of the Savior and packages with food sets, hygiene products, and sets of linen to the homeless.

The homeless also prepared a gift for His Holiness - the Kazan Icon Mother of God handmade from wood. The image was made by the hands of homeless people - wards of the shelter at the Church of Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia in the city of Ozherelye, Moscow region.

Then His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visited the Humanitarian Aid Center for pregnant women in crisis, those in need and large families.

Next, the Primate of the Russian Church inspected the bus of the church charitable foundation “Helper and Patron” - one of 10 church mobile aid stations for the homeless. Since 2008, five times a week, a team of fund employees travels on a specially equipped bus to various districts of Moscow to help homeless people: they are given hot food, sets of seasonal clothing and shoes, and help to find shelters.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visited the building of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service. A meeting between His Holiness and the department staff took place in the conference room. The meeting began with the demonstration of a video about the activities of the department. Then there was a conversation between the Primate and the employees.

The Primate of the Russian Church, in particular, said: “If we talk about our main areas of non-liturgical activity, then social work probably plays the most significant role, because this work involves doing good deeds. The priest preaches in church, he calls on people to do good deeds, and I constantly insist that every parish should be a place for doing good deeds, a kind of laboratory where the skills of good deeds are developed. Because if we only talk about goodness and love, and do nothing ourselves, then we are only ringing brass and clanging cymbal(1 Cor. 13:1), and our religiosity turns into ritual religiosity.”

“I would like to thank all your employees and all our social workers, of whom we now have a whole corps, if we take dioceses, deaneries, large parishes, for everything that is now beginning to happen in our Church. But, I want to say again, we are at the very beginning of the journey. Everything that I see is wonderful, but the scale must be completely different,” noted His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.

“Now, of course, the state is actively engaged social work. We see that every year this is intensifying, developing, becoming more systemic, but the Church has its own niche, and it will always remain. Therefore, may God help you in your labors,” concluded the Primate.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill donated an icon of the Nativity of Christ to the Synodal Department, and icons of the Nativity of Christ were also distributed to the employees.

In turn, the employees of the department presented His Holiness with sprinkles and a painting by the artist S.N. Andriyaki “Solovki. Zayatsky Island" (2016). IN AND. Skvortsova was presented with a painting by S.N. Andriyaki “Summer River” (2017).

“Hangar of Salvation” is the only low-threshold center for comprehensive assistance to the homeless in Moscow. The main goal of the Rescue Hangar is to return homeless people to society.

On the territory of the “Salvation Hangar” there are: a heated tent, a mobile shower, a warehouse for receiving and issuing clothes, a first aid station, a free hairdresser, a social worker’s station who helps restore documents and buys tickets home, as well as a free pay phone, through which homeless people can contact their relatives. A social worker provides homeless people with assistance in restoring documents, establishing connections with relatives, finding temporary shelter and work, and purchasing tickets home. In addition, homeless people turn to the Rescue Hangar to stay warm in winter in a heated tent, wash and get a haircut, eat, get pre-hospital medical care and clothing.

Every day up to 100 people come to the Rescue Hangar. Over the 4 years of its existence, the project has helped 40,000 people.

The Mercy service pays special attention to the prevention of homelessness. In the “Salvation Hangar”, social workers of the “Mercy” service purchase tickets home for those people in difficult life situations who have a place to return (first, the employees of the “Mercy” service contact the person’s relatives or friends and make sure that the person will be met and that he has a place to go travel from Moscow). Over almost 4 years, more than 5,500 people who found themselves on the street and turned to the Rescue Hangar for help were able to return home. The geography of shipments is all over Russia and the CIS countries. Some shipments are made not based on a person’s personal request, but on a signal from Moscow train station employees who contact the “Mercy” service and ask to help the person leave. The Mercy service purchases about 1,500 tickets per year.

“Hangar of Salvation” is located on the territory of the Synodal Department for Charity at the address: st. Nikoloyamskaya, in the courtyard of house 55.

In addition to the Rescue Hangar, the Mercy assistance service has been actively working with the homeless in Moscow hospitals since 2003. Employees of Moscow hospitals contact the Mercy service when a person without a fixed place of residence ends up in a hospital bed. While the patient is undergoing treatment in the hospital, Mercy service employees help him restore his documents and contact his relatives. If necessary, he is provided with the necessary hygiene products, crutches, wheelchair etc., clothes and shoes. In addition, social workers ensure that after discharge the homeless person is placed in a city social adaptation center, or help him return home. Per month, the Mercy service helps 20-40 homeless people in hospitals - the number of wards largely depends on the season.

Among the new areas of work of the Mercy service is an experimental center for assistance in finding employment for the homeless. It was launched in early 2017. Since the launch of the center, 644 participants have received assistance in finding work in Moscow and regions of Russia.

The Mercy Help Service is the largest, but far from the only church social service that helps the homeless. In total, Russia now has 95 Orthodox shelters for the homeless, 10 church buses of mercy (mobile mobile units), as well as over 400 charity canteens, and in some regions (Tyumen region, St. Petersburg) there are palliative departments for homeless disabled people. In the Khabarovsk diocese, following the example of the Mercy service, there is a program to buy tickets for homeless people and send them home.

Press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'

During the operation of the heating point, more than 4.5 thousand homeless people visited here

Every Moscow resident knows firsthand that the hardest and coldest days of the year occur from November to March. You can no longer spend the night on the street, they are being kicked out of warm passages and station buildings... Where can you go if you have neither registration nor documents? Where can you wait out the cold night without freezing to death? On January 21, 2014, the Russian Orthodox Church gave a life-saving answer to these questions by opening the only warming center for the homeless in the capital.

City within a city

The news that a warm hangar had appeared in the courtyard of house number 55 on Nikoloyamskaya Street, where you can spend the night, change clothes and drink hot tea, spread throughout the city in a matter of days.

One of our services has a bus for homeless people to stay warm on. A week before the opening of the hangar, we began to tell its passengers that we were launching such a project,” says Ilya Kuskov, head of the department for helping the homeless of the Synodal Department for Church Charity. - On the first night, 30 people came to us, on the second - 70, and already on the third - 100. The homeless themselves began to find out about the hangar through their friends.

A unique social point is a whole complex of structures. There are two small huts here: one for a security guard, and the other for a social worker. Once on the territory of the checkpoint, the homeless person is checked using a small metal detector and surrenders all piercing and cutting objects. In the tent, according to the homeless person, his last name and first name, as well as his country or city of origin, are recorded. Documents are not checked here, since most of the project’s wards simply do not have them. Assisting in passport renewal is one of the responsibilities of the social worker at the point. The costs of preparing the document are covered by the Orthodox help service “Mercy”.

After talking with a social worker, the homeless man goes to a mobile shower. After taking a shower, he goes into the hangar itself to rest and sleep. Inside the PVC tent, into which hot air is pumped using a diesel generator, the insulated floor is covered with tourist “foam” rugs—the homeless sleep on them. In addition to providing people with accommodation for the night, they are fed noodles instant cooking and bread, and also give hot tea. In the morning, all homeless people are received by social workers who help in solving a variety of situations in which their charges find themselves.

Initially, the hangar was designed for 50 people, but the flow of people turned out to be much larger, so employees began to let everyone in without restrictions. On the coldest days, more than 100 people spent the night in the tent, and over the entire duration of the project, more than 4.5 thousand homeless people visited the hangar.

Homelessness as a reflection of the country's economic problems

How did it happen that so many people ended up on the street? Is drunkenness and an antisocial lifestyle really to blame? The experience of Ilya Kuskov shows that not everything is so simple. He is sure that homelessness is one of the consequences of the economic situation in the country.

In countries where every city has a job with the same salary as in the capital, there are much fewer homeless people

Many people from regions where wages are low or there is no work at all are forced to leave their hometowns and go to Moscow to earn money. But, unfortunately, not everyone manages to get a job here; many are deceived by unscrupulous employers. This is how visitors get to know the street,” Ilya Kuskov shares his observations. - Because of the false shame of their failures, people often lose contact with relatives and gradually decline. In my experience, their fault is secondary; first of all, this result is a response to the economic situation in the country. In countries where every city has a job with the same salary as in the capital, there are much fewer homeless people.

The words of the head of the direction for helping the homeless of the Synodal Department for Church Charity are confirmed by Sasha’s story. This is how one of the project’s wards introduced himself. He is almost 61 years old, a former sailor, from Tambov region, but was forced to come to work in Moscow. Sasha went to the capital with his wife, son and son-in-law. In Moscow he worked at the Kuntsevo reinforced concrete plant until he was promised “mountains of gold” in Dagestan. It turned out that a highly paid job at a brick factory is nothing more than slavery.

I don't wish anyone to go there. “I became disabled, and how many people died,” says Sasha.

It was not easy to escape, but one Dagestani man took the man’s plight and took him out of Makhachkala at night.

There is no bad nationality, there is bad people. He put me on the bus and told the driver that if I didn’t call him in two days, the driver wouldn’t work anymore.

Returning to Moscow, Sasha immediately came to his native plant, which turned out to be closed.

Therefore, I took “left” jobs, worked as best I could. I found out about the hangar a month ago.

According to Sasha, here they help him “in every way.”

I don’t violate the regime, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke. The most important thing is that they treat me well and are very supportive.

Now Sasha's main goal is to return home. He has something to strive for: a son, daughter and grandson are waiting for him at home in the Tambov region. But first he needs to restore the documents.

Most of the homeless people who find themselves in the tent are citizens of Russia, Ukraine and Moldova, as well as Central Asian countries. But it is not only representatives of the CIS countries who are looking for a way out of a difficult life situation. One of the foreigners who found shelter at the warming center for the homeless is 46-year-old Francis from. In Moscow, he was hiding from the criminal persecution he faced in his home country. Unfortunately, the Russian capital did not greet him hospitably. Last December, a black man was attacked by thugs. They beat him severely and seriously stabbed him. Francis was hospitalized with cuts to his stomach and severe injuries to his arms. After leaving the hospital, he went to an organization that helps refugees, where he was told about a warming center for the homeless. Francis now lives in the hangar. Having recovered from an illness caused by severe injuries, a Congolese citizen dreams of going to live in France. Unfortunately, today he does not know how to do this: he needs a visa and documents to travel, but he cannot contact his embassy for security reasons.

These people have money and power, they want to kill me,” Francis is sure.

Fortunately, the victim of bullies now has a chance to realize his dream. They agreed to help their brother catholic church(Francis Catholic). If the man manages to safely leave Russia and go to France, he plans to finish his education and obtain a diploma as an ophthalmologist, and also find a job.

Day care and choral singing

There is a strict regime in the hangar, and after spending the night in the warmth, the homeless undertake to leave the tent until the next evening. However, for people with poor health, like Francis, there is an exception: they can stay in the hangar 24 hours a day. In addition to resting and recovering at the social center, they are monitored by a volunteer doctor. He makes bandages, prescribes treatment, sends someone to. Homeless people staying in a tent for the day due to health reasons can take part in... choir rehearsals. The 24-hour residents of the tent liked this unusual type of therapy so much that they now happily sing famous Russian songs.

After singing in a choir, people talk more freely about themselves, and we better understand how to help them

Singing helps them open up and become more active. We had cases when, after singing in the choir, people began to talk more freely about themselves, and we understood how to help them. This type of therapy really works and brings positive results, says Ilya Kuskov.

Rehabilitation treatment, sanitary inspection and assistance from a social worker

Having become convinced that the shortage of restorative treatment for the homeless is extremely acute in Moscow, the management of the hangar decided to re-qualify the tent as a point of “restorative after-care” for homeless people who had recently been discharged from hospitals. Therefore, the project will not stop working with the arrival of the summer months, but will begin to act in a new direction. It's no secret that many hospitals are prejudiced against homeless patients. They are reluctantly hospitalized, and after the necessary operations are performed, they are in a hurry to be discharged. Thus, they find themselves on the street again, this time in a particularly vulnerable state.

Now, after undergoing a serious operation, homeless people can go to the hangar: here they will be helped to recover

Now, after undergoing a serious operation, people will be able to go to the hangar. There they will be helped to recover, gain strength and avoid complications. But the organizers will not limit themselves to the medical field. The point will also continue to operate as a sanitary checkpoint.

The fact that homeless people have dirty clothes and smell bad leads to them being treated poorly in society and making it difficult for them to get a job. Moreover, due to lack of hygiene, they become infected with various skin diseases. Therefore, we decided not to suspend the work of the sanitary checkpoint and continue it in the summer,” said Ilya Kuskov.

By going to the hangar, homeless people will be able to take a shower, have their personal items steamed, and receive new, clean clothes.

An equally popular service for the homeless is assistance in passport renewal. “We have a qualified social worker, he will continue to help with obtaining a passport and finding a job,” emphasized Ilya Kuskov.

Rescue Hangar

Despite the fact that the point has been operating for less than two months, it has already managed to save the lives of thousands of people and give them hope and a chance to return to society.

Of course, we have positive examples. Often drunk homeless people came to us. After some time, they became sober, began to go to a social worker and work on restoring documents. “Many took seriously the solution to their problems,” shared Ilya Kuskov.

If in winter the main task in working with the homeless is to prevent them from freezing to death, then in the warm months other problems come to the fore for people who find themselves on the street. Some people need rehabilitation after an illness, others need to get a job or restore documents... We can only hope and believe that with the help of concerned citizens, the homeless will have a chance to return to normal life with the assistance of a social assistance center for the homeless.

In order to achieve all its goals, the project, which exists solely on donations from citizens, needs financial resources. You can help the project by going to

As a result, many homeless people are forced to stay out in the cold. This leads to numerous frostbites and gangrene, and often to death.

The solution is to create a shelter where homeless people could spend the night during the cold season, receive first medical and social assistance (renew documents, get a ticket to their hometown, etc.). This shelter can be the Salvation Hangar.

What is a hangar?

A frame made of durable PVC fabrics is inflated with air, reliably protecting the interior from wind, rain and snow. The result is a building with an area of ​​150 sq.m., designed for 50 people. It is attached to the ground using anchor bolts and guy wires. No foundation or platform is required to place the hangar - it can be installed anywhere and easily moved from place to place. The building is heated using a heat gun. The kit also includes a fan group, lighting, heater, generator and other necessary equipment.

How does the hangar work?

The hangar is open all night, from 20.00 to 9.00. It is pre-warmed and prepared to receive homeless people. Upon entry, homeless people register and hand over all valuable items potentially dangerous to others for safekeeping to facility staff. After registration, the homeless enter the hall and settle down for the night. Placement is separated by gender. Until lights out, homeless people can go about their business. If film projectors and screens are purchased, it will be possible to show films to them. Homeless people will be able to receive first aid and food (if possible), as well as declare the need to receive social assistance (renewal of documents, purchase of tickets, etc.). At 23.00 the lights out are announced and the lights are turned off. The rise takes place at 9.00. Homeless people receive personal items and leave the hangar by 10:00.

The project will be managed by the homeless assistance service of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry, which has experience in organizing shelter for the homeless while maintaining sanitary and safety standards. A team will be on duty in the hangar to supervise its guests during the entire operation. Entry into the hangar with piercing and cutting objects is prohibited, as is the bringing of alcohol and drugs. The homeless will be provided with first aid. There will be a smoking area near the building and mobile toilets will be installed.

How much money is needed?

For the project to come true, 2-2.5 million rubles need to be invested in it. For comparison, a one-room apartment in Moscow can cost as much as several such hangars. 1 million rubles have already been collected.

Subsequently, maintaining the hangar will cost 300 thousand rubles monthly. This money will be spent on fuel, electricity, food for the homeless, medicines, salaries of doctors and social workers.

On January 7, 2018, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' visited the homeless assistance center “Hangar of Salvation” of the Orthodox help service “Mercy” in Moscow, located on the territory of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service.

According to tradition, on the days of Christmas and Easter, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visits medical and social institutions. Just as on Easter after his enthronement in 2009, His Holiness visited the homeless again this year.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill was accompanied by the Minister of Health of the Russian Federation V.I. Skvortsova, Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry, Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky Panteleimon, leadership of the Synodal Department.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Minister of Health, accompanied by Bishop Panteleimon, inspected mobile units for helping the homeless - a hairdresser, showers, a warehouse for issuing clothes, a document processing point, and a medical aid point.

At the Salvation Hangar, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill shared a festive meal with the homeless. The Primate of the Russian Church wished Merry Christmas to people who found themselves homeless. Communicating with them at the meal, His Holiness said, in particular:

“I am very glad to have the opportunity to visit you on the first day of Christmas. We often say that Christmas is a holiday of hope. Yes, the Lord came into the world, but He did not change the world in an instant. The poor did not become rich, justice did not immediately prevail, the sick did not become healthy. It would seem, what did He do? Many thought that a mighty king, a hero, a miracle worker would come and change the world overnight. But if this happened, then the person would not be a person, but just an automatic machine that was reconfigured, the program was changed, and it started working in a new way. However, God created us free. We can choose our own path in life, and the Lord came so that everyone can find their own path in life.

Human destinies unfold differently. Everything that I see now is very close to me, since my childhood was spent in poverty. By the grace of God, even though five people lived in one room in a communal apartment, there was still a roof over their heads. But they lived very poorly, so at the age of fifteen I was forced to leave home to earn a living. I worked and studied, but the salary was meager, less than a ruble a day. I remember how I wrote down this amount, even less than a ruble, per day - what I could buy, what I couldn’t. All my life I remember this experience of poverty, and, probably, I would not have understood much in life if I had not gone through this experience.

However, I could have remained in the same poverty for the rest of my life if I had given up, if I had said: “What can you do, nothing special can be done.” By the grace of God this difficult moment in life was overcome. I am telling you about this so that you understand: before you is a man who was not born in the royal chambers and did not live in wealth, who also had experience of getting out of a difficult financial situation. I know that many of you, by coincidence, ended up in this place. But there are two ways from here. One way is to come to terms with what is and say “well, let it be so.” This path will not lead to anything good. But there is another way - to say “no, it shouldn’t be like this, I have to do something to get out of this state.”

Here is the place where you can make that decision. If you say, “I want to get out of this state,” you will give the greatest gift to those who are selflessly working here because of their Christian convictions. Because of this they have no wealth, no glory, no honor. In these difficult circumstances, they are with you, and for them, I know, it would be the greatest joy if those who pass through this “Salvation Hangar” were truly saved.

So I would like to wish you all, my dears, to get out of this place and find yourself in life. And those who work here will help this as much as possible. Most of you, as I know, came to Moscow and are not permanent residents of the city. Therefore, the most correct thing would be to return to places where you are known and where you can get a job. And the Church will help you in everything.

Now work with people deprived of home, shelter, and resources is developing throughout our entire Church, and not just in the city of Moscow. I'm very happy about this. I call for each parish to have its own social service. There may not be homeless people among the parishioners, but there are often very poor people, and I am deeply convinced that the responsibility of the parish extends to them in order to help them improve their living conditions.

Everything I’m talking about concerns the most intimate thing - human relationships. We know how much attention people pay to the external side of life, to the development of technology and the economy. But all this can help a person, or it can also do harm. First of all, everyone is helped by the loving heart of another person. And if we don’t have hearts of stone, but loving ones, then we won’t have homeless people, and social imbalances will be quickly overcome, and society will be fairer than it is now. And I would once again like to wish you God’s help, strength, and hope. If you really want to get out of the situation you find yourself in, tell those who work here about it. I know their mood - they will be happy to help you.”

Employees of the Synodal Department for Social Ministry told His Holiness about the work of the homeless assistance center.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill handed over icons of the Savior and packages with food sets, hygiene products, and sets of linen to the homeless.

The homeless also prepared a gift for His Holiness - the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, handmade from wood. The image was made by the hands of homeless people - wards of the shelter at the Church of Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia in the city of Ozherelye, Moscow region.

Then His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visited the Humanitarian Aid Center for pregnant women in crisis, those in need and large families.

Next, the Primate of the Russian Church inspected the bus of the church charitable foundation “Helper and Patron” - one of 10 church mobile aid stations for the homeless. Since 2008, five times a week, a team of fund employees travels on a specially equipped bus to various districts of Moscow to help homeless people: they are given hot food, sets of seasonal clothing and shoes, and help to find shelters.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visited the building of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service. A meeting between His Holiness and the department staff took place in the conference room. The meeting began with the demonstration of a video about the activities of the department. Then there was a conversation between the Primate and the employees.

The Primate of the Russian Church, in particular, said: “If we talk about our main areas of non-liturgical activity, then social work probably plays the most significant role, because this work involves doing good deeds. The priest preaches in church, he calls on people to do good deeds, and I constantly insist that every parish should be a place for doing good deeds, a kind of laboratory where the skills of good deeds are developed. Because if we only talk about goodness and love, and do nothing ourselves, then we are just a ringing brass and a clanging cymbal (1 Cor. 13:1), and our religiosity turns into ritual religiosity.”

“I would like to thank all your employees and all our social workers, of whom we now have a whole corps, if we take dioceses, deaneries, large parishes, for everything that is now beginning to happen in our Church. But, I want to say again, we are at the very beginning of the journey. Everything that I see is wonderful, but the scale must be completely different,” noted His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.

“Now, of course, the state is actively engaged in social work. We see that every year this is intensifying, developing, becoming more systemic, but the Church has its own niche, and it will always remain. Therefore, may God help you in your labors,” concluded the Primate.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill donated an icon of the Nativity of Christ to the Synodal Department, and icons of the Nativity of Christ were also distributed to the employees.

In turn, the employees of the department presented His Holiness with sprinkles and a painting by the artist S.N. Andriyaki “Solovki. Zayatsky Island" (2016). IN AND. Skvortsova was presented with a painting by S.N. Andriyaki “Summer River” (2017).

“Hangar of Salvation” is the only low-threshold center for comprehensive assistance to the homeless in Moscow. The main goal of the Rescue Hangar is to return homeless people to society.

On the territory of the “Salvation Hangar” there are: a heated tent, a mobile shower, a warehouse for receiving and issuing clothes, a first aid station, a free hairdresser, a social worker’s station who helps restore documents and buys tickets home, as well as a free pay phone, through which homeless people can contact their relatives. A social worker provides homeless people with assistance in restoring documents, establishing connections with relatives, finding temporary shelter and work, and purchasing tickets home. In addition, homeless people turn to the Rescue Hangar to stay warm in winter in a heated tent, wash and get a haircut, eat, get pre-hospital medical care and clothing.

Every day up to 100 people come to the Rescue Hangar. Over the 4 years of its existence, the project has helped 40,000 people.

The Mercy service pays special attention to the prevention of homelessness. In the “Salvation Hangar”, social workers of the “Mercy” service purchase tickets home for those people in difficult life situations who have a place to return (first, the employees of the “Mercy” service contact the person’s relatives or friends and make sure that the person will be met and that he has a place to go travel from Moscow). Over almost 4 years, more than 5,500 people who found themselves on the street and turned to the Rescue Hangar for help were able to return home. The geography of shipments is all over Russia and the CIS countries. Some shipments are made not based on a person’s personal request, but on a signal from Moscow train station employees who contact the “Mercy” service and ask to help the person leave. The Mercy service purchases about 1,500 tickets per year.

“Hangar of Salvation” is located on the territory of the Synodal Department for Charity at the address: st. Nikoloyamskaya, in the courtyard of house 55.

In addition to the Rescue Hangar, the Mercy assistance service has been actively working with the homeless in Moscow hospitals since 2003. Employees of Moscow hospitals contact the Mercy service when a person without a fixed place of residence ends up in a hospital bed. While the patient is undergoing treatment in the hospital, Mercy service employees help him restore his documents and contact his relatives. If necessary, he is provided with the necessary hygiene products, crutches, a wheelchair, etc., clothing and shoes. In addition, social workers ensure that after discharge the homeless person is placed in a city social adaptation center, or help him return home. Per month, the Mercy service helps 20-40 homeless people in hospitals - the number of wards largely depends on the season.

Among the new areas of work of the Mercy service is an experimental center for assistance in finding employment for the homeless. It was launched in early 2017. Since the launch of the center, 644 participants have received assistance in finding work in Moscow and regions of Russia.

The Mercy Help Service is the largest, but far from the only church social service that helps the homeless. In total, Russia now has 95 Orthodox shelters for the homeless, 10 church buses of mercy (mobile mobile units), as well as over 400 charity canteens, and in some regions (Tyumen region, St. Petersburg) there are palliative departments for homeless disabled people. In the Khabarovsk diocese, following the example of the Mercy service, there is a program to buy tickets for homeless people and send them home.

Press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'