In March of this year, priests of the Russian Orthodox Church began to man the hotline for cancer patients. We decided to find out how this happens and what the calling priests most often ask about from Archpriest Andrei Bliznyuk, curator of the group of priests on duty, cleric of the Moscow Church of St. Nicholas in Kuznetsy.
Archpriest Andrey Bliznyuk
A toll-free helpline for cancer patients and their relatives (8-800-100-0191) was opened by a group of individuals in June 2007, and since 2009 it has been operating within the framework of the non-profit organization “Project SO-Action”. After four years of work, specialists working on the project concluded: 20% of callers ask for answers to spiritual questions - about the meaning of life, the meaning of their illness, the meaning of suffering and faith in God. Then the decision arose to turn to the Russian Orthodox Church for help.
With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, a group of priests (20 people) was created, who underwent special training and now receive calls from the hotline.
“The scheme of our work is simple,” says Father Andrey. — A hotline specialist contacts the priests who are on duty on a certain day and asks if we can now talk to the person who has a question. Then he connects us, and that’s it – the conversation takes place. Usually there are three priests from the group on duty, but if for some reason one of them cannot speak at the moment, the call goes to other priests.
You can call the SO-Action hotline from anywhere in the world: according to Father Andrey, calls were received from America, from Africa, from Siberia: Bratsk, Irkutsk, other settlements remote from the capital - in general, from everywhere. The phone call is absolutely free - conversations can last a very long time, the issues discussed are very serious.
“It’s not just the patients themselves who call, their relatives also need help, who don’t understand what’s happening, feel sad, and don’t have the opportunity to talk to someone who will share their pain.
People are looking for consolation - that's what they call for the most part. Some people can’t come to church for some reason - they’re embarrassed, they don’t know when it’s best to do it, or where to start a conversation with a “live” priest - but it’s psychologically easier on the phone. It happens that people call who simply do not have an Orthodox church nearby and who are interested in specific questions: for example, how to prepare for confession, Communion, how to properly conduct the deceased on his last journey, or to ease the transition from life to death.
But most often, the priests explain to callers how to correctly perceive death, the passing of a loved one beyond an unknown point:
— People are often in a panic that a quick separation is coming and communication with loved ones will stop - we explain that communication may be different, that there is no death, it is like a dream. Basically, this is what people are talking about,” says Father Andrey. — There are times when you just need warm participation, and not a story about the basics of Orthodoxy. Simple words of comfort to people (by their own admission) help a lot. Modern man is so closed and lonely that even a short heart-to-heart conversation can become relieving and life-affirming.
There are several million cancer patients in Russia. Every year, several tens of thousands die from cancer and many die in despair, unable to reconcile with the disease or with God. And the Church can help avoid this.
“Many people think that illness is a punishment, but in fact illness is a visit from God,” explains Father Andrei. “When a person is struck by a serious illness, he rethinks his life one way or another. Those who go to God for help, to the temple, reconcile with themselves, with loved ones, stop sinning. Illness is a blessing, but many cannot even think about it. And to bring people to an understanding of this, to prevent a person from going to hell and leaving in anger and sin, is our mission.
As Father Andrei reported, at the moment, with the blessing of Bishop Panteleimon of Smolensk and Vyazemsk, Chairman of the Synodal Department for Charity and Social Service, a church hotline is being prepared to open, which will operate within Moscow. The final organizational issues are currently being resolved. People will be able to call here to resolve any of their spiritual issues, and not only those related to illness:
- For example, a person with some kind of trouble came to the temple at the wrong time, when the temple was already closed - and what to do? In this case, you can simply dial the number and talk to a priest and a church psychologist.
In fact, the helpline is a Christian invention. The first helplines appeared in the United States at the beginning of the last century. On a spring night in 1906, Protestant minister Harry Warren, who lived in New York, was awakened by a bell. He heard on the phone: “I beg for a meeting, I have a hopeless situation,” but answered: “Tomorrow the church is open in the morning.” In the morning the priest learned that the caller had hanged himself. Shocked by what happened, Harry's father advertised in the newspaper: "Before you die, call me at any time of the day."
In the middle of the 20th century, the first helpline opened in London.
It was opened by Anglican priest Chad Vara, who read in the newspaper about the increase in suicides and thought that the dead people had no one to talk to and therefore they decided to take such a desperate step. Then he advertised in the newspaper with his phone number and an invitation to talk. Soon his phone was burning hot from the huge number of calls. Since then, helplines have been operating all over the world, supporting people in various difficulties and difficult situations. There is also a helpline for cancer patients, which can become a hotline for reconciliation with God for anyone who calls. Priest's phone number.
Kirill Milovidov, Mikhail Ustyugov
Every Muscovite can now consult with a priest without going into the church and without looking for the priest. All you have to do is call. 28 priests and 8 deacons are ready to answer your questions. The organizer of the hotline is the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service.
The “duty confessors” do not gather together, they are located in different parts of Moscow, on different phones, and the operators of the “Mercy” service switch those who seek advice to a free priest. “There are a lot of calls, from the very first days the phones were hot,” says Vasily Rulinsky, press secretary of the Synodal Department for Church Charity. “Operators don’t always cope with such a flow, so sometimes a person has to wait until his call is answered.”
The hotline allows many to overcome the psychological barrier that sometimes arises among non-church people. They want to communicate with the priest, but it’s scary to even go into church: how should I, an unbeliever, behave there? Wouldn’t it be blasphemy?
“Sometimes, due to all sorts of embarrassment and fears, people put off their conversation with a priest for years,” says project participant Archpriest Andrei Bliznyuk. “We ourselves took a step towards such people. It's easier to be frank over the phone. In addition, during confession there is often no time to talk heart to heart, and many at the beginning of their spiritual life need a confidential conversation.”
Father Andrey already has experience of spiritual communication over the phone. Since March of this year, he, along with a group of volunteer priests, has been on duty at a helpline for cancer patients. During this time, two things became obvious: first, such help is in demand, second, clergy could help more people. As a result, the idea was born to organize a special Orthodox hotline.
“We wanted to make it all-Russian, but then we decided to first test the project at the capital level,” says project curator Polina Yufereva. “Information about this appeared in the press, on television, we place it in social adaptation centers, hospitals, oncology clinics - wherever people suffer and are sometimes left alone.” The clergy who answer the calls are people prepared not only by their pastoral practice. They participated in the seminar “Listening Therapy in Acute Situations,” which was conducted especially for them by oncological psychologists from the CO-Action project, and also listened to lectures on the psychology of emergency situations as part of the Ministry of Emergency Situations courses.
The new initiative was supported by specialists from the Moscow Service for Psychological Assistance to the Population. “We separate mental and spiritual help,” says Innokenty Postnikov, deputy head of the “Emergency Psychological Helpline 051” department. — If a believer has thoughts of harming himself, it turns out to be easier to turn him in the other direction than a convinced atheist. However, sometimes I have the feeling that the questions that are addressed to me are beyond my competence. We are psychologists and are not specialists in spiritual help.”
According to him, if service employees feel that a person needs to be referred to a priest for a conversation, then they try to use this resource: they invite him to go to the nearest church. There are about ten percent of such calls. But whether the person will reach the temple, whether the priest will have time for a leisurely conversation on this particular day, is unknown. Therefore, according to service employees, a telephone number where the priest will answer “here and now” is more than in demand.
— You can contact the priest with any question. Just don’t ask for the sacraments (you can’t absolve sins over the phone) and don’t try to order services (to do this, it’s better to go to the nearest church), says press secretary Vasily Rulinsky.
— Is there any point in calling this phone number for completely non-believers?
— It always makes sense to call, because any non-believer can become a believer. If a person who has never even entered a church needs to talk to a priest, they need to call.
“Mercy” helpline phone number 542-0000, opening hours from 12.00 to 22.00 seven days a week (with a break on Saturday evenings)
Everyone knows what a helpline is. Why do you need an Orthodox helpline? In some dioceses there are such. For example, in Novosibirsk. The spiritual assistance service opened here a year ago, but has already become extremely popular - calls to its number do not stop day or night. The NS correspondent looked into what the meaning of such a service is and why it is so popular.
Orthodox priests answer the helpline
More than 20 Moscow priests have recently been on duty at the helpline 8-800-100-0191.
According to the plan, the service is designed to help cancer patients and their relatives, but people often have a need to talk not only about their illness, but in general about the meaning of suffering and everyday troubles, and therefore about faith and God. Four years after the creation of the CO-Action hotline, psychologists called priests for help: it was difficult to maintain dialogues about spiritual life. Moreover, today the helpline is called not only by patients of oncology clinics and their loved ones, but also by people with a variety of problems. Priest Igor Palkin, one of the “Helpline” volunteers, told Izvestia that calls from unchurched people and little familiar with Orthodoxy are most often transferred to him. Before connecting the subscriber to the priest, the dispatcher finds out who is calling and from where. Residents of different cities are contacting me - Irkutsk, Ulyanovsk, Voronezh (by the way, the Voronezh diocese has a local helpline where priests answer).
For example, the daughter of a deceased woman asks: Mom was a believer, went to church, prayed for recovery - why did she die anyway? The priest will try to explain that the Orthodox believe: God calls everyone at the best time for a person, and one day everyone will have to cross this threshold. The main thing for the priest is not to alienate the person who called with unnecessary edification or awkward words.
Recently, father Igor Palkin was talking with a 12-year-old boy, and he mentioned that he had recently come to his mother from a boarding school.
— How did you end up in a boarding school?
- Mom was sick, and her husband took only my brother to live with him, because I have a different father. My grandmother was deprived of parental rights, so I was sent to a boarding school,” the boy explained.
“These two phrases contain a whole life,” says the priest. “We talked for 40 minutes.”
The boy's mother is undergoing difficult treatment, and he decided to call the priest to find out how to pray so that she does not die. But it’s difficult to start right away with such a serious question, and first the boy asked if the priest knew anything about his hometown - Ulyanovsk.
“Yes,” answered the priest, “my car, a UAZ, was made in your city.”
“And I thought that priests have a lot of everything and they don’t ride like that,” the boy was surprised.
“But I really have a lot of things, for example, five children,” the priest consoled him.
They actively use the helpline in Voronezh. Sometimes there are several dozen calls a day. Priests are approached for advice, and sometimes even asked for financial assistance. Educated people, old people, and teenagers call. For example, one woman made a successful career, but missed out on her son, Archpriest Pyotr Petrov from Voronezh told Izvestia. The teenager became a drug addict, and the mother unsuccessfully turned to all the doctors and even sorcerers until she called the priest. Together with the church, she managed to “get her son off the needle.”
In St. Petersburg, you can talk to a priest using the Orthodox helpline. The center's main clients are pregnant women in crisis situations who are considering an abortion. Here, a telephone call becomes only the first contact, and then the expectant mother can be provided with a variety of assistance - both psychological and material, as long as she keeps the child. They help all women, regardless of their religious affiliation.
In Ivanovo, a helpline operates at the monastery. You can ask questions, including about the problems of HIV and AIDS. In Kazan they say that Muslims and atheists call Orthodox priests no less often.
As for calls to muftis, a helpline for Muslim women opened in Moscow three years ago, but lasted only a few months. As Galina, moderator of the women's Muslim forum, told Izvestia, there is simply no money to operate the hotline. But as soon as they appear, not just one phone will be in demand, but an entire consultation center. In May of this year, it was announced that a Muslim helpline would begin operating in North Ossetia-Alania, but today the specified number is also unavailable.
There are situations in which help and support are needed right now, regardless of holidays, calendar dates and time of day.
The Philanthropist material contains a selection of hotlines with current telephone numbers.
There are several hundred such phones in the country .
Many exist not only at the expense of state budgets , but also with money from charitable foundations . Launching such lines costs hundreds of thousands of rubles , and the people at the saving end of the line - psychologists , doctors , volunteers , “peer consultants” - often work pro bono, trying to support the person and, possibly, save his life .
Hotline on family issues “Children in the Family” and psychological support for families
Telephone
Opening hours: from 10:00 to 20:00 and from 1:00 to 10:00
Project of the “Volunteers to help orphans” foundation. Specialists provide legal, psychological, and informational assistance to both families who are just preparing to raise an orphan child, and established adoptive parents. You can call the line for those who want to adopt a child, but do not know where to start, for those who have encountered difficulties in the process of collecting documents, do not know how and where to look for children for adoption, for families who have problems adapting their adopted child child and family members, as well as to clarify what payments and benefits are due to adoptive parents. Advisory assistance on family issues can be provided to residents of any region of the Russian Federation (all calls are free).
On average, fund specialists receive about 400 requests per month. Most often, candidates for foster parents and established foster families call; in second place are the natural parents and relatives of the child; in third place are guardianship workers and orphans.
Since April 2021, the line has also been operating as a psychological help line for families experiencing anxiety and fears due to the epidemic and quarantine. If you are anxious and difficult and feel the need to talk to a psychologist, call us. Calls from anywhere in the country are free.
Psychological support
Phone: 8
(495) 025 15 35
Opening hours: open every day, you can sign up for a conversation with a psychologist via voicemail
A free psychological help hotline staffed by experienced clinical psychologists. The line was opened by the Just People charity foundation, the line is free and anonymous, psychological assistance is offered to all people suffering from mental problems (anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other disorders), their relatives and loved ones.
Help for victims of violence
Helpline ROO "Sisters"
Phone:
8
Sisters Center for Survivors of Sexual Violence provides support to women who have experienced abuse, as well as relatives of people who have been subjected to violence, and anyone who urgently needs help. You can call the helpline if trouble happens, to talk it out, ask for advice, get the necessary legal and medical information, psychological support, and also to sign up for a face-to-face consultation with specialists.
Support service of Charitable Foundation "Safe Home"
Telephone:
8
The Safe Home Foundation works to prevent violence and exploitation among vulnerable groups of children and adults (graduates of boarding schools, single and young mothers, visitors from near and far abroad and other risk groups), and also provides assistance to victims. Here you can get psychological advice and other necessary help and information.
Questions about the COVID-19 pandemic
Telephone
You can ask Moscow hotline specialists all questions related to the spread of coronavirus infection. They also receive calls from elderly and chronically ill Muscovites who are in self-isolation. They can receive social and psychological assistance, as well as obtain sick leave. The hotline is open daily from 08:00 to 21:00. Calls are processed by operators of two call centers - about 370 specialists.
Pain relief hotline
Hotline to help terminally ill people of the Vera Foundation
Telephone: 8-800-700-84-36
The fund’s line can be used 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by the patient, his friends or relatives, doctors and employees of specialized non-profit organizations. Line operators will explain in detail and clearly what palliative care is and how to get it, where and at what stage you need to go to get quality care for a terminally ill patient, how to get to a hospice and where the nearest branch is located, how to get pain relief and what to do, if the required medicine is not prescribed or is not available at the pharmacy, what to do if pain relief does not help, and how to properly care for the patient. In addition, operators will help you get advice from a doctor, lawyer and social worker, support from a psychologist or clergyman.
Caps of the world: how ordinary trash turns into good deeds
Hotline for pain relief of Roszdravnadzor
Telephone: 8-800-550-99-03
Working hours:
At night, on weekends or holidays, you need to record your message on an answering machine, report a problem with receiving painkillers - and wait for feedback. It is important that during non-working hours, urgent advice and assistance in solving the problem can be obtained from a hotline in your region.
A list of all regional hotline telephone numbers is published on the Roszdravnadzor website: https://amp.gs/RbiM.
Health care
Help hotline for people with hepatitis and their loved ones
Telephone: 8-800-775-92-00
Supported by the public organization “Together against hepatitis”.
Stroke Hotline
Telephone: 8-800-707-52-29
Social and psychological assistance to patients with stroke and their loved ones. The line operates every day from 9:00 to 21:00 Moscow time.
The free anonymous telephone line of the ORBI Foundation opened on October 29, 2021 and works for stroke survivors, their loved ones, and anyone who is faced with the problem of stroke or is interested in this topic.
By calling the hotline, you can get social and psychological help, as well as consult a doctor.
Search for missing people
Search team "Lisa Alert"
Phone: 8-800-700-54-52
The hotline of the famous search team receives calls every day about missing people from all regions of the country. Here everyone will be listened to, told how to behave in this situation, and instructed where to start searching for a person.
Legal assistance to patients
Hotline for legal assistance to citizens in protecting their rights to health care
Telephone: 8–800–500‑82‑66
Opening hours: from 7:00 to 10:00 and from 14:00 to 17:00 Moscow time on weekdays.
The All-Russian Patients' Union (VSP) launched the public project “Hotline for legal assistance to citizens in protecting their rights to health care.” Here you can get a free consultation on any issues related to the protection of health rights.
Practice shows that the most common questions that citizens ask on the VSP hotline are related to benefits for medicines, various aspects of receiving medical care: contacting a specialist, waiting for an appointment, the procedure for conducting necessary examinations. Very often, patients are faced with the problem of imposing paid services.
Helping people with cancer
Leukemia Foundation Hotline
Telephone:
8
The Leukemia Foundation provides comprehensive support to people with blood cancer, and is ready to answer any questions from the public even on holidays. Here you can get comprehensive information on the disease, consult on bureaucratic and legal aspects, learn everything about bone marrow donation, and also receive moral support, which is so often lacking for people who find themselves in difficult situations.
All-Russian hotline for psychological assistance to cancer patients and their loved ones “Clear Morning”
Phone: 8-800-100-01-91
The all-Russian hotline for psychological assistance for cancer patients and their loved ones, “Clear Morning,” operates free of charge and around the clock. By calling the line, patients and their loved ones can talk to a specially trained psychologist or medical law lawyer, and there is the opportunity to talk to a priest. Since 2007, hotline psychologists have provided assistance to more than 150 thousand subscribers who have been diagnosed with cancer. The service receives more than three thousand calls from all over Russia every month.
Hotline for pediatric oncology
Phone:
8-800-200-06-09
The hotline provides medical, legal and psychological consultations for loved ones of children suffering from cancer. Here you can get advice from oncologists, qualified psychologists, and lawyers on advanced medical technologies for the treatment of oncological/hematological diseases. The hotline provides information about the possibilities of hospitalization and about medical institutions that diagnose and treat oncological/hematological diseases, about patronage organizations, mechanisms for registering disability and benefits for free medical services and medicines. Hotline operators will tell you which charities and public organizations you can turn to for help, and are able to provide emergency psychological consultations. You can call the line daily from 10:00 to 20:00 Moscow time.
Help for children born prematurely
Hotline of the Right to Miracle charity foundation
Telephone: 8-800-555-29-24
The hotline of the fund for helping children born prematurely, “Right to a Miracle,” began operating a little less than a year ago. The number of requests is growing every day. Parents of premature babies, their relatives, as well as neonatologists call. Psychologists work on the line, ready to provide immediate support and build a long-term action plan.
Anti-slavery
Hotline of the "Alternative" movement
Phone: 8-800-550-71-40
The anti-slavery project started within the Alternative movement in 2012. Over several years of work, the “mafia of beggars” managed to rescue several hundred people from labor and sexual slavery. Service employees are ready to answer any questions related to a person’s being in slavery, provide guidance, and also provide real assistance in the release of friends or relatives.
Hotline of the Nevoli.net movement
Phone:
8-800-707-14-17
The Nevoli.net project works to prevent human trafficking. Here you can get psychological support and a set of practical solutions. If you find yourself in captivity or know people who are forcibly held in slavery, you will be helped here.
Blood donation
Blood service
Phone :
8-800-333-33-30
A single hotline for donating blood and its components - an opportunity to quickly find out everything about donation and the needs for blood and its components at the moment. The line operates around the clock and is waiting for new donors even on holidays, because on such days the number of active donors decreases, and the need for blood increases. Each caller will be able to find out where and how they can donate blood, as well as get advice about contraindications.
Drug and alcohol addiction
Hotline of the Charitable Foundation "Center for Healthy Youth"
Telephone: 8-800-333-20-07
You can call the line with any questions related to drug and alcohol use. In addition to psychological support, counselors will give advice on how to get rid of addiction, as well as suggest treatment options and ways to get help.
Most hotlines are supported by charitable donations . support NPO operational assistance projects on the website of each organization.
Spiritual and psychological assistance by phone: 36 clergy will answer questions from Muscovites
From October 18, any Muscovite will be able to receive spiritual help by asking questions to a clergyman by calling the Mercy helpline.
“Many people have a certain barrier in talking with a priest, and they put off this conversation for years,” says priest Andrei Bliznyuk. – Communicating with clergy by telephone is a step towards meeting such people. After all, during confession there is usually no time to have a heart-to-heart talk, and many people need just such a confidential conversation. It is very important. Moreover, there are bedridden patients who simply cannot get to the temple.”
At the moment, 36 clergy are involved in the work of the Mercy helpline, many of whom already have experience communicating on the helpline with cancer patients; some were trained in the Ministry of Emergency Situations courses on providing spiritual and psychological assistance in emergency situations. Operators of the Mercy help service will pre-filter questions and provide background information.
Phone number of the "Mercy" helpline: 542-00-00, opening hours - from 12:00 to 22:00 seven days a week (with a break on Saturday evenings). Announcements about the new one will be posted in Moscow churches, universities, hospitals and CSOs.
Psysovet
More than 500 certified psychologists cooperate with the service. To get a free consultation from one of them, you need to describe your problem, post a request on the website and wait in line. While you wait, you will be asked to answer additional questions about the reason for contacting a psychologist so that the specialist can better understand your request.
Consultations are conducted anonymously and around the clock. You can contact a psychologist on any topic: the site has sections “personality”, “relationships”, “addictions”, “parents and children”, “sexology” and others. Keep in mind that your correspondence with a specialist will be visible to site visitors.
b17.ru
You can get a free consultation on the site's forum. To do this, you need to register, choose a psychologist, formulate your problem and create a topic. The chat with a psychologist will be open to forum visitors, but you can consult under a fictitious name or nickname.
Communication with a specialist lasts a week or less. On the first day it proceeds most actively - the psychologist collects information and selects a way to solve the problem. Then the consultation takes place in a more “relaxed” mode: you can answer less frequently, think about the situation, and take time to solve exercises.
