"The virus will go to hell." Who is Archbishop Pitirim, who is going to crucify the coronavirus and sue Rospotrebnadzor over the ban on visiting churches

On the eve of Palm Sunday, the chief sanitary doctor of Komi banned religious organizations from holding services with large numbers of people. Archbishop of Syktyvkar and Komi-Zyryansk Pitirim called the decision of the regional department of Rospotrebnadzor unconstitutional. He announced that “the Orthodox community is preparing lawsuits,” and then fell into mystical comparisons, remembering the prophecies about the coming of the Antichrist. What else is the chief priest of the republic famous for? - in the “7×7” review.

Pavel Volochkov, who in the future will take the name Pitirim, was born on February 2, 1961 in the village of Nizhny Korenovsky district of the Krasnodar region into a family of workers. At the age of seven he became the cell attendant of Archbishop Hermogenes of Krasnodar and Kuban. In 1980–1982 he served in the army.

In 1982, he entered the service of the Arkhangelsk diocese, and at the end of the year he was ordained deacon with an appointment to Komi. For more than a year he served as deacon of the Holy Transfiguration Church in the village of Aikino, Ust-Vym region.

In 1984, he took monastic vows in honor of St. Pitirim, the Ust-Vym miracle worker.

For the next 10 years, he studied at the correspondence sector of Moscow theological schools, served as a deacon in the Holy Kazan Church of Syktyvkar, organized a new parish and a convent in Pechora in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear,” and was the second priest of the Holy Transfiguration Church in the village of Aikino, rector St. Lazarevsky Church in the city of Onega, Arkhangelsk diocese, second priest of the Church of All Saints of Arkhangelsk, Arkhangelsk diocese, rector of the prayer house in Pechora, rector of the Holy Trinity-Stephano-Ulyanovsky Monastery in the Ust-Kulomsky district.

In October 1995, he was appointed Bishop of Syktyvkar and Vorkuta. In April 2021, during the division of the Syktyvkar diocese, he headed its southern part, which became the Syktyvkar and Komi-Zyryan diocese. Pitirim himself became archbishop.

In December 2005, he defended his PhD thesis on the modern history of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Kyiv Theological Academy. He is a Doctor of Theology.

Monumental views

Under Bishop Pitirim, in 1996, construction began in Syktyvkar of the main temple of the republic - St. Stephen's Cathedral. There was always a shortage of money, so the work dragged on for more than five years. The temple was consecrated in 2001. But even then it became clear that there would be enough problems with the operation of the building: its roof was leaking, plates were falling off from the domes, the interior was freezing, and the basements were flooding. Since then, Pitirim has been constantly asking for money for the maintenance of the cathedral and for repairs. But this did not stop him from starting another construction project, which he had long dreamed of - bell towers. The process was also delayed due to lack of funding.

St. Stephen's Cathedral in Syktyvkar

But Pitirim succeeded in less monumental projects - the territory of the temple was turned into monuments over the course of several years. In 2013, a sculpture of the Apostle of the Komi-Zyryans, the enlightener Stefan of Perm, appeared there. It was made by convict Andrei Galushkin, who was serving a sentence in Ukhta, and who already had successful projects to his credit - he made an elk and a bull for the Federal Penitentiary Service units. In 2014, Peter and Fevronia, made of cement, concrete and reinforcement and covered with bronze paint, appeared at the temple - the patrons of family, love and fidelity. Their creator was also Andrei Galushkin. That same year, the sculptor received parole. In 2015, a monument to Cyril and Methodius was erected, which was made by another convict, Sergei Levchenko. And one day, for Easter, a six-meter egg appeared at the temple, which was then replaced by a five-meter glass Bible.

The Lord's Revenge

Bishop Pitirim relieved Vitaly Polishchuk's relative, priest Konstantin Kachur, from his post as rector of the parish in Pechora with a ban on worship.

Olga Petukhova from the Orthodox community of Pechora said in an interview with Novaya Gazeta:

“At our first meeting on April 16, 2011, representatives of Bishop Pitirim who came from Syktyvkar told us that the cause of all the troubles of our parish is Deacon Vitaly. Having asked what he was guilty of and what it had to do with us, the parishioners of the Pechora church and our rector, we heard in response that Vitaly knows what he must do (emphasized by O. Petukhova - E.M.) in order for everything to be corrected. And that everything depends on him.”

“A group of believers from our community,” parishioners say, “went to Syktyvkar to bow to the Bishop. He did not even consider it necessary to receive the embarrassed people, but only conveyed through his secretary (after five hours of people standing in the corridor of the diocesan administration) that they get out quickly, and whoever else dares to delegate will receive a thousand bows as punishment. With this result we returned to Pechora. We bow down."

Screenshot of a photo posted on Bishop Pitirim’s personal VKontakte page

Community members say that they first closed the church refectory, where they fed all the homeless and hungry. Then the doors to the Sunday school were broken down, the locks were changed, and the children were no longer allowed to attend classes.

“On the site of the only parish in the city, Bishop Pitirim first tried to organize a monastic monastery (it would be surprising, of course, to have a monastic monastery in the center of the city), but nothing worked,” continues Olga Petukhova. “Then they began to create the appearance of active development of the parish. They wrote articles in local newspapers and attracted attention. For example, in December 2011, they invited children from the orphanage to a one-time tea party, led them in a religious procession around the church, filmed it all, and then posted articles and reports about the excellent work with the orphanage and the Sunday school. Although Hieromonk Clement himself lives in the Sunday school (appointed instead of rector Konstantin Kachur).”

According to parishioners, those who supported the former rector Konstantin Kachur, the new clergy “poured mud from the pulpit in the form of a sermon, were excommunicated from Communion, both adults and infants, the cross was removed from them and they were not allowed to venerate, they were not allowed into the church.” .

Retreat

Child denied communion

And the priest Konstantin Kachur himself was banned from visiting the church. “The Bishop called our temple a “monument to a fascist tank,” the parishioners continue. “The dean and his retinue arrived a few months later, created hysteria, shamed the grandmothers for disobeying the ruling bishop. <…> Those who stood in the forefront were then tried by the diocesan court, without the participation of the accused, and decisions were sent to excommunicate some from Communion for a month, some for three. <…> Some people could not stand it and left the Church. They turned to the Patriarchate for help more than once; they took away and sent there a ton of papers. Our parish and all parish activities have been completely destroyed.

In November 2012, the priests who now serve in the church from which we were expelled, on the orders of the bishop, demanded that we declare ourselves another (!) church, which is completely wild and unacceptable for us.”

Movement of the Cross

Processions of the cross are not uncommon in the republic. And crucifixions too (just remember the consecration of the commissioned section of the Syktyvkar-Naryan-Mar road).

There was even a fusion of the cross in the modern history of the republic. And in 2013, the first godfather took place. Then the rector of the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Kortkeros, Father Vladimir, consecrated the village from the open hatch of the An-2. Pitirim did not stay away from the trend. In 2016, he also made a pilgrimage over Syktyvkar and the village of Ust-Vym. He took an icon of the Holy Trinity on board the small universal aircraft L-410 and held a prayer service during the flight. In 2021, videos of an Infiniti driving around Syktyvkar went viral on the Internet, from the hatch of which a priest sprinkled the streets with holy water to protect the city from coronavirus. Behind this car was another one, inside which Pitirim was sitting and reading prayers.

PS

Question to Deacon Kuraev in LiveJournal: Do you know of cases where a clergyman has been brought to criminal liability for homosexual violence?

Answer from Deacon Kuraev: Former rector of the Moscow Church of St. St. George the Victorious Abraham (Sharafutdinov) was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for molesting a young parishioner. The convict died in 2009. Also, Abbot Khariton (Prostorov) from the Kostroma diocese was convicted of pedophilia and is now serving his sentence. And that's all...

Bishop Evtikhiy ( Kurochkin): “At every proskomedia, he began to take out a piece for Protodeacon Andrei (proskomedia is part of the liturgy, during which bread and wine are prepared for the sacrament. - E.M. ). The holy work he began exceeds human capabilities, but is extremely necessary.”

Author: Elena Masyuk

Against everything

As befits a true servant of the Orthodox Church, Pitirim from time to time spoke out against something: abortion, euthanasia, sects, condoms, cloning, robots - this list is very extensive. You can even find shoe soles in it. In 2015, he was outraged by images of crosses left on the snow and ground by shoes. He even wrote a poem about this:

Do not buy shoes with crosses, neither on the soles nor on the heels, otherwise you will grind your teeth in hell, like the blasphemers of centuries.

Martyr of rhymes

Lord Pitirim is the author of more than 2 thousand poems. And he is not going to stop there - he constantly publishes something new on his page on the VKontakte social network. In his work, the Savior fights with the devil and certainly wins, all the righteous go to heaven, and sinners are necessarily cast into hell. He also likes to write about birds and bees with flowers, through whose images he conveys to the reader a certain universal truth, and sometimes he remembers very ordinary things - such as icicles, which should not fall, but should wait until they are removed. Odes can be placed in a separate category. For example, in 2015, he sang in poetry Sergei Gaplikov, who had just been appointed acting head of Komi. Prior to this, the bishop’s special poetic gift condescended to the first head of Komi, Yuri Spiridonov, President Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill.

For several years, residents of Komi have been following another literary hero of Pitirim - the “Old Lady Audi”. At the end of 2015, he published the poem “My Audi”. In it, the clergyman said that his car is not new, but used, so it sometimes breaks down, but still often helps him out. And in 2021, a foreign car was stolen, which was also reflected in the archbishop’s work. The work received wide public recognition - it was even talked about on federal channels. It later turned out that the crime was committed by two 16-year-old teenagers who turned out to be relatives of church ministers. But no one was punished - the parties reconciled in court.

Despite the unique artistic value of his works (or, conversely, because of this), in 2021 Pitirim became a member of the Union of Writers of Russia. And in 2019, this same organization presented the archbishop with the Ivan Bunin medal for his contribution to the development of Russian literature.

“Ju-zhu-zhu, I love Christ’s bee honey”: a test for knowledge of the works of Archbishop Pitirim of Syktyvkar and Komi-Zyryan

See if you can understand the poetic intent of Komi's most prolific clergyman

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In his youth, Bishop Pitirim sang in a Cossack choir. And he liked it so much that he didn’t stop singing even when he grew up. In 2008, the bishop released a new album of spiritual chants, “Christmas Roses.” The collection included 16 patriotic and spiritual musical compositions dedicated to Christmas, which the Bishop performed together with the rector of the Holy Kazan Church of Syktyvkar, the press secretary of the diocese, Abbot Philip. Among the duo’s most famous works are “The Queen of Heaven” and “God Save the Tsar,” the anthem of the Russian Empire.

The first disc of spiritual chants “Sunday Morning” performed by the bishop and people's artist of the republic Lydia Loginova was released in 2007. The album includes 15 works, they are reported to have “received high praise for the level of performance and repertoire.”

Pitirim's poems are also turned into songs by condemned people. In 2021, a competition was held in correctional institutions in the region for the best performance of the archbishop’s works. There were three nominations: best reading, best song performance and best choral performance of his poems. The winners received certificates.

The wanderer is standing at the door...

Bishop Pitirim, in the world Pavel Pavlovich Volochkov, was born in 1961 in the Krasnodar region, was the cell attendant of the Archbishop of Krasnodar and Kuban Hermogenes (Orekhov). (Andrey Kuraev, Fr. In his interviews, Kuraev repeatedly spoke about the stable expression “Nicodemus’s sin.” - E.M. )

After completing his service in the army, Volochkov went to the Arkhangelsk diocese, where, quickly rising up the church ladder, already in 1995, that is, at the age of 34, he became the Bishop of Syktyvkar and Vorkuta.

Screenshot of the blog https://fivep2012.livejournal.com/ (Livejournal)

Pitirim is the author of the autobiographical three-volume book “Life in Christ and with Christ.” In December 2005, he defended his PhD in the modern history of the Russian Orthodox Church. And exactly a year later he became a doctor of theology at the Uzhgorod Theological Academy.

(To a reader’s question in LiveJournal: “Doctor of Sciences... author of an autobiography in 3 volumes... Seriously, or what?” - Kuraev replies: “There is such a corrupt homo-academy in Uzhgorod. It’s easy to become a doctor there.” - E.M. )

Several years ago, parishioners of the city of Pechora created a website where they described “how the Bishop of Syktyvkar and Vorkuta is destroying Orthodoxy in the republic.”

“Extreme need and long ordeals forced us to cry for help,” parishioners write. They tell how, together with their priest Konstantin Kachur, they built a church with their own money, how they began to serve liturgy, how a Sunday school was opened and a newspaper began to be published...

“We would probably live like this and develop further,” the parishioners continue, “but our priest (Konstantin Kachur) has a relative, the young subdeacon Vitaly, who served under the ruling bishop from the age of five and who, when he grew up, appeared to Bishop Pitirim a tidbit, and the bishop began to harass the young man. The guy rejected the shameless..."

Screenshot of a photo posted on Bishop Pitirim’s personal VKontakte page

From the statement of Deacon Vitaly Polishchuk to the Moscow Patriarchate:

“...In 2004, when I was already performing the duties of a senior subdeacon, Vladyka called me into his room and for the first time asked me to massage my head, then he began to ask me to massage my back and legs. Initially, Vladyka went to bed for a massage in his clothes, then he began to undress for massages down to his underpants and said that this is how it should be, and then began to undress naked, saying that this is generally the way it’s supposed to be, as for a professional massage.

Around 2007, Vladyka began taking me with him on business trips to Moscow and trips to other dioceses, he began to pay a lot of attention to me, I did not attach any importance to this, because I simply loved my service to God and fulfilling the duties of a senior subdeacon. Vladyka clearly began to pester me sexually. Asking to lie down next to me after the massage, I tried in every possible way to avoid this, citing the fact that there were still a lot of unfinished obediences.

When we were in Kapustino from July 22 to July 30, 2010, I slept there on a couch under the stairs that led to the Vladyka’s chambers. Vladyka began to tell me to lie down on his bed, since the bed was large. Then I began to understand what the Lord was getting at.”

(On the Kapustino farm in the Krasnodar Territory, children’s festivals “At the Vladyka’s Dacha” are held annually. - E.M. )

Screenshot of a photo posted on Bishop Pitirim’s personal VKontakte page

Deacon Vitaly did not agree to “friendship.” After this, according to Vitaly, Bishop Pitirim publicly accused him of “fornicating” with the singer of the bishop’s choir K. and demanded repentance.

“I just had a friendly working relationship with K.,” continues Deacon Vitaly. “We talked through services, she was also at a loss about the slander and was outraged by such an accusation from the Ruling Bishop. She was kicked out of the choir."

Recordings of telephone conversations between Deacon Vitaly Polishchuk and a man with a voice similar to Bishop Pitirim are available on the Internet. Here is a fragment of the transcript of these negotiations:

“...Vitalyushka, I’m reading out the love spell for you, I told you that she (K.) gave you the swill. You told me a thousand times that no, I didn’t drink anything from her. Why drink coffee? So it’s not her, but her friend who pours her menstruation into your coffee. Well, Vitalyushka, this is stupid, I read it, and they immediately add more to you.

Screenshot of a photo posted on Bishop Pitirim’s personal VKontakte page

Well, you can’t do that, I’m telling you this, don’t drink where she is, under any pretext, don’t create conditions for her to cast love spells on you. <…> She (K.) called me on the phone, she insulted me, I say: my beloved spiritual son, I say, Vitalik, and you, I say, stole him from me, so the Lord is for this you will punish you with a curse, she said: “I care about all these words of yours...”, and I say: “The Lord will punish you again, that you will have cancer in the place where you said,” and she says to me: “You first learn to listen,” listen, they say, you’ve already switched to, listen to me, what I tell you, and I say: “So that you die, so that I listen to you,” that’s the conversation.

Screenshot of a photo posted on Bishop Pitirim’s personal VKontakte page

Vital, until you (the singer of the bishop’s choir K. - E.M. ) desperately consider her a whore, a whore and such a bitch, you will be on different sides with me in all issues, in all, you understand? And this hole lay between us, damn it, you know, it’s an all-consuming hole, and there are holes like this - there on the panel there are full of whores, sluts and bitches, and until you condemn her as unrepentant, of course, you and I will not be like-minded people , understand? And before it was so good, we lived as one soul, because it was good for us, Vital, without this whore, without this hole, you know? We had joyful evenings..."

Retreat

The song “The Wanderer” performed by Bishop Pitirim

The wanderer stands at the door, knocks quietly: open. He has a staff in his hand, his long journey.

Something happened in the house, the door did not open for him. Tears flashed in his eyes, And he stopped knocking...

Your sin put you to sleep, forever separated you from me. If you love me, I will lift you up again.

I keep knocking, You keep silent. How can I come into your house as a friend and eternal father...

E.M. was subjected to strong pressure from the Ruling Bishop , they began to send her to monasteries, deciding for us that we needed to live separately...”

From Svetlana Polishchuk’s statement to the Moscow Patriarchate:

“When I stopped answering the Bishop’s phone calls, he told me that I was going against the bishop, and all this could end badly for me, and that sooner or later I would divorce my husband, Fr. Vitaly. “Vladyka tried to convince me that I have a sick husband and he urgently needs to be shown to a psychiatrist, to which I told him: I have an absolutely healthy and adequate husband.”

From the statement of Deacon Vitaly Polishchuk to the Moscow Patriarchate:

“...In January 2011, I noticed that the behavior of Lord Pitirim had changed a lot, he began to allow himself to drink in public and kiss everyone on the lips, dance tango and slow dances with young men.”

Screenshot of a photo posted on Bishop Pitirim’s personal VKontakte page

From Svetlana Polishchuk’s statement to the Moscow Patriarchate:

“...February 13, 2011 we, I and my husband Fr. Vitaly Polishchuk, were at a dinner with Bishop Pitirim, which was attended by Fr. Philip Filippov, subdeacon Ivan Bentsa, deacon Fr. Dmitry Protsenko with his mother Anastasia Protsenko, Inna (niece of Vladyka Pitirim), Hierodeacon Clement (Lyamin), Fr. Andrei Martynov, Hierodeacon Lavrenty (Sirenko) and others, to the surprise of everyone, Vladyka was in civilian clothes. It was especially surprising for me to see such a picture as Vladyka dancing a slow dance with his subdeacon Ivan Bentsa...”

There will be no holiday

On the eve of Palm Sunday, which the Orthodox celebrated on April 12, the acting head of Komi, Vladimir Uyba, during a video address to the population on April 11, asked people to stay home if possible and not visit churches. The chief sanitary doctor of the republic, Lyudmila Glushkova, acted more harshly - on the same day she signed a decree in which she prohibited religious organizations from holding events with large crowds of people, including worship services, pilgrimages, rituals and ceremonies. The ban also applies to Easter, which in 2021 falls on April 19, one of the main Christian holidays.

On the same day, Archbishop Pitirim of Syktyvkar and Komi-Zyryan called this regulatory act unconstitutional and announced that “the Orthodox community is preparing legal actions.” "Nightmare. They did this right on Palm Sunday, on Holy and Bright Week,” the priest quoted the words of one of the parishioners on his page on the social network VKontakte. His post contained other statements - about the fact that if Easter is celebrated at the wrong time, the Antichrist will rise, that churches can heal by ringing bells, that the coronavirus may be associated with the coronation and enthronement of the Antichrist, that a tough war has been declared in the world against Orthodoxy.

The next day, Pitirim developed his idea - he compared the coronavirus with a virus that “spread its tentacles throughout the globe and which, it would seem, should crown the Antichrist.” “He will be co-crucified, destroyed. He will go back to where he came from: to hell, the underworld,” the archbishop predicted the outcome of the pandemic.

Excerpt characterizing Pitirim (Volochkov)

Anatole sincerely loved Dolokhov for his intelligence and daring. Dolokhov, who needed the name, nobility, connections of Anatoly Kuragin to lure rich young people into his gambling society, without letting him feel this, used and amused himself with Kuragin. In addition to the calculation for which he needed Anatol, the very process of controlling someone else’s will was a pleasure, a habit and a need for Dolokhov. Natasha made a strong impression on Kuragin. At dinner after the theater, with the techniques of a connoisseur, he examined in front of Dolokhov the dignity of her arms, shoulders, legs and hair, and announced his decision to drag himself after her. What could come out of this courtship - Anatole could not think about it and know, just as he never knew what would come out of each of his actions. “It’s good, brother, but not about us,” Dolokhov told him. “I’ll tell my sister to call her for dinner,” said Anatole. - A? “You’d better wait until she gets married...” “You know,” said Anatole, “j’adore les petites filles: [[I adore girls:] now she’ll get lost.” “You’ve already fallen for a petite fille [[girl]," said Dolokhov, who knew about Anatole’s marriage. - Look! - Well, you can’t do it twice! A? – Anatole said, laughing good-naturedly. The next day after the theater, the Rostovs did not go anywhere and no one came to them. Marya Dmitrievna, hiding something from Natasha, was talking with her father. Natasha guessed that they were talking about the old prince and making up something, and this bothered and offended her. She waited for Prince Andrei every minute, and twice that day she sent the janitor to Vzdvizhenka to find out if he had arrived. He didn't come. It was now harder for her than the first days of her arrival. Her impatience and sadness about him were joined by an unpleasant memory of her meeting with Princess Marya and the old prince, and fear and anxiety, for which she did not know the reason. It seemed to her that either he would never come, or that something would happen to her before he arrived. She could not, as before, calmly and continuously, alone with herself, think about him. As soon as she began to think about him, the memory of him was joined by the memory of the old prince, of Princess Marya and of the last performance, and of Kuragin. She again wondered if she was guilty, if her loyalty to Prince Andrei had already been violated, and again she found herself remembering in the smallest detail every word, every gesture, every shade of play of expression on the face of this man, who knew how to arouse in her something incomprehensible to her. and a terrible feeling. To the eyes of her family, Natasha seemed more lively than usual, but she was far from being as calm and happy as she had been before. On Sunday morning, Marya Dmitrievna invited her guests to mass at her parish of the Assumption on Mogiltsy. “I don’t like these fashionable churches,” she said, apparently proud of her free-thinking. - There is only one God everywhere. Our priest is wonderful, he serves decently, it’s so noble, and so is the deacon. Does this make it so sacred that people sing concerts in the choir? I don’t like it, it’s just self-indulgence! Marya Dmitrievna loved Sundays and knew how to celebrate them. Her house was all washed and cleaned on Saturday; people and she were not working, everyone was dressed up for the holidays, and everyone was attending mass. Food was added to the master's dinner, and people were given vodka and roast goose or pig. But nowhere in the whole house was the holiday more noticeable than on Marya Dmitrievna’s broad, stern face, which on that day assumed an unchanging expression of solemnity. When they had drunk coffee after mass, in the living room with the covers removed, Marya Dmitrievna was informed that the carriage was ready, and she, with a stern look, dressed in the ceremonial shawl in which she made visits, stood up and announced that she was going to Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky to explain to him about Natasha. After Marya Dmitrievna left, a milliner from Madame Chalmet came to the Rostovs, and Natasha, having closed the door in the room next to the living room, very pleased with the entertainment, began trying on new dresses. While she was putting on a sour cream bodice still without sleeves and bending her head, looking in the mirror at how the back was sitting, she heard in the living room the animated sounds of her father’s voice and another, female voice, which made her blush. It was Helen's voice. Before Natasha had time to take off the bodice she was trying on, the door opened and Countess Bezukhaya entered the room, beaming with a good-natured and affectionate smile, in a dark purple, high-necked velvet dress. - Ah, ma delicieuse! [[Oh, my charming one!] she said to a blushing Natasha. - Charmante! [[Charming!]no, this is like nothing else, my dear Count,” she said to Ilya Andreich, who came in after her. – How to live in Moscow and not travel anywhere? No, I won't leave you alone! This evening M lle Georges is reciting and some people will gather; and if you don’t bring your beauties, who are better than M lle Georges, then I don’t want to know you. My husband is gone, he left for Tver, otherwise I would have sent him for you. Be sure to come, definitely, at nine o'clock. “She nodded her head to a milliner she knew, who sat down respectfully to her, and sat down on a chair next to the mirror, picturesquely spreading out the folds of her velvet dress. She did not stop chatting good-naturedly and cheerfully, constantly admiring Natasha’s beauty. She examined her dresses and praised them, and boasted about her new dress en gaz metallique, which she received from Paris and advised Natasha to do the same. “However, everything suits you, my lovely,” she said. The smile of pleasure never left Natasha's face. She felt happy and blossoming under the praises of this dear Countess Bezukhova, who had previously seemed to her such an unapproachable and important lady, and who was now so kind to her. Natasha felt cheerful and felt almost in love with this so beautiful and such a good-natured woman. Helen, for her part, sincerely admired Natasha and wanted to amuse her. Anatole asked her to set him up with Natasha, and for this she came to the Rostovs. The thought of setting up her brother with Natasha amused her. Despite the fact that she had previously been annoyed with Natasha for having taken Boris away from her in St. Petersburg, she now did not think about it, and with all her soul, in her own way, wished Natasha well. Leaving the Rostovs, she withdrew her protegee aside. - Yesterday my brother dined with me - we were dying of laughter - he didn’t eat anything and sighed for you, my precious. Il est fou, mais fou amoureux de vous, ma chere. [[He is going crazy, but he is going crazy with love for you, my dear.]Atasha blushed crimson hearing these words. - How she blushes, how she blushes, ma delicieuse! [[my precious!] said Helen. - Definitely come. Si vous aimez quelqu'un, ma delicieuse, ce n'est pas une raison pour se cloitrer. Si meme vous etes promise, je suis sure que votre promis aurait desire que vous alliez dans le monde en son absence plutot que de deperir d'ennui. [[The fact that you love someone, my lovely, does not mean living like a nun. Even if you are a bride, I am sure that your fiancé would prefer that you go out into the world in his absence rather than die of boredom.] So she knows that I am a bride, so she and her husband, with Pierre, with this fair Pierre, Natasha thought, they talked and laughed about it. So it’s nothing.” And again, under the influence of Helen, what had previously seemed terrible seemed simple and natural. “And she is such a grande dame, [[important lady,]so sweet and clearly loves me with all her heart,” Natasha thought. And why not have fun? thought Natasha, looking at Helen with surprised, wide-open eyes. Marya Dmitrievna returned to dinner, silent and serious, obviously defeated by the old prince. She was still too excited from the collision to be able to calmly tell the story. To the count's question, she answered that everything was fine and that she would tell him tomorrow. Having learned about Countess Bezukhova’s visit and invitation to the evening, Marya Dmitrievna said: “I don’t like hanging out with Bezukhova and wouldn’t recommend it; Well, if you promised, go, you’ll be distracted,” she added, turning to Natasha. Count Ilya Andreich took his girls to Countess Bezukhova. There were quite a lot of people at the evening. But the whole society was almost unfamiliar to Natasha. Count Ilya Andreich noted with displeasure that this entire society consisted mainly of men and women, known for their freedom of treatment. M lle Georges, surrounded by young people, stood in the corner of the living room. There were several Frenchmen and among them Metivier, who, from the time of Helene's arrival, had been her housemate. Count Ilya Andreich decided not to play cards, not to leave his daughters, and to leave as soon as the Georges performance was over. Anatole was obviously at the door waiting for the Rostovs to enter. He immediately greeted the count, approached Natasha and followed her. As soon as Natasha saw him, just like in the theater, a feeling of vain pleasure that he liked her and fear from the absence of moral barriers between her and him, overwhelmed her. Helen joyfully received Natasha and loudly admired her beauty and dress. Soon after their arrival, M lle Georges left the room to get dressed. In the living room they began to arrange chairs and sit down. Anatole pulled out a chair for Natasha and wanted to sit next to her, but the count, who had not taken his eyes off Natasha, sat down next to her. Anatole sat down behind. M lle Georges, with bare, dimpled, thick arms, wearing a red shawl worn over one shoulder, walked out into the empty space left for her between the chairs and stopped in an unnatural pose. An enthusiastic whisper was heard. M lle Georges looked sternly and gloomily at the audience and began to speak some poems in French, which dealt with her criminal love for her son. In some places she raised her voice, in others she whispered, raising her head solemnly, in others she stopped and wheezed, rolling her eyes. - Adorable, divin, delicieux! [[Delightful, divine, wonderful!] was heard from all sides. Natasha looked at fat Georges, but did not hear anything, did not see and did not understand anything of what was happening in front of her; she only felt again completely irrevocably in that strange, crazy world, so far from the previous one, in that world in which it was impossible to know what was good, what was bad, what was reasonable and what was crazy. Anatole was sitting behind her, and she, feeling his closeness, fearfully waited for something. After the first monologue, the whole company stood up and surrounded m lle Georges, expressing their delight to her. - How good she is! - Natasha said to her father, who, along with others, stood up and moved through the crowd towards the actress. “I don’t find it, looking at you,” said Anatole, following Natasha. He said this at a time when she alone could hear him. “You are lovely... from the moment I saw you, I haven’t stopped....”