DAILY DISPATCH | MOSCOW — DAY THREE

	Students experience a full day of Russian Orthodoxy By ANUSHA SHRIVASTAVA Posted Sunday, March 17, 2002; 6:49:53 p.m. EST

Noah Haglund smiled when the tour guide at Christ the Savior Cathedral in the heart of Moscow said: "You know everyone stands in the Russian Orthodox Church."

After visiting five Orthodox churches, attending three different services, standing ramrod straight in them — all within a span of twelve hours — no one could have better attested to this fact than the class. "Thank God for Catholics and their pews," said Ailis Brown, exhausted after having stood for over 10 hours today.

Boxed breakfast in hand, everyone climbed into our mini-bus at 7 a.m. Ramil Khrustaleyov, an aide to the metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Old Believers Church, greeted us at the Rogozhskoye cemetery complex of the Old Believers and described the layout of the grounds, which included three churches and a 250-foot tall belfry that was built in 1913. In 1941, the Soviet government decided to blow it up, fearing it could be a military target for the Nazis. The explosives were set off in the basement and while one part of the belfry flew 35m away, the tower in the belfry did not collapse. "It was a miracle," said Khrustaleyov, who had a flowing white beard and wore a long, black kaftan.

He then showed us a small church that is used for daily prayers. One of the icons from this church, the icon of the transfiguration, was stolen in 1957. The Russian Ministry of Culture told the Old Believers the icon recently appeared at an auction in America, Khrustaleyov said. The Old Believers are currently negotiating its return to the Rogozhkoye cemetery.

Before allowing us to enter the larger church, there were a few rules. No writing, no notebooks. No moving, no talking. No bags on the shoulder; they must be carried by hand. Stand in the rear of the church. One student, Darren Foster, was even reprimanded for having his hands in his pockets.

We stood still and watched the prayer service that was conducted by the metropolitan in old Slavonic. The strict adherence to ritual was evident. The men stood in the front to the right of the hall and the women, comprising three-fourths of the congregation, stood at the back and to the left. Everybody bowed and crossed themselves in unison, unlike in other Orthodox churches, where congregants cross themselves seemingly at will. In contrast to the structure, a two-year old boy cried in an alcove in the rear of the church, only to be appeased by a bottle of milk given to him by his mother.

We left just before 10 a.m., reaching St. Tatiana's Chapel of the Moscow State University in time to attend the Divine Liturgy conducted by Father Maxim. The church was different from other churches we had visited so far in that it had a high blue ceiling with white floral designs, rather than frescoes or paintings. It had large windows that let in a lot of light and the icons did not cover all the walls. Simple but elegant, it had a mosaic-patterned picture of Christ behind the altar, with golden stars and concentric pink, white and blue circles in the background. The most striking common factor with other Orthodox churches was that we had to stand throughout the service. "When you participate with your soul, it is not that hard," said 50-year-old Lyubov Saponova, an artist. "When you are not sick, it is not a problem to stand."

Several young people were attending the service because the church is part of the university. St. Tatiana is the patron saint of students. Families with children also attended. Two-year old Tatiana, a namesake of the student's patron saint, had a Mickey Mouse scarf on her head and had to be held up by her father so she could kiss the icon on the wall.

Many children attended Sunday's service, one as young as six weeks old. Starting so young, the children grow to understand what is expected of them. "Sometimes it is hard for me to stand at church," said Maxim Kemenov, 9, who comes to church every Sunday with his family. "Most of the time it is easy."

We left the church to walk across to the grounds of the Kremlin where a new tour tour guide, Eugenia Graevskaya, was waiting for us. We had to check in our bags for a royal sum of 60 rubles, or two dollars. Nicole Neroulias thought we were buying tickets, so she gave the lady at the counter the money. The lady asked for a bag. Neroulias said, "No bag." The lady shrugged and kept the money anyway.

During the hour-long tour of the Kremlin complex, we saw the offices of the Russian president, administrative offices of state bureaucrats and some museums from the outside. We walked past what the Russians claim are the world's largest cannon and the world's largest bell. The bell, constructed by Catherine the Great, stands on a pedestal and does not have a clapper or a tongue. It has never been part of any church.

We were then shown the three cathedrals in the Kremlin complex - Cathedral of the Assumption, Church of the Annunciation and Cathedral of the Michael Archangel. These cathedrals were built by various tsars for coronations, private services, marriages and burials. We walked through the intricately decorated galleries of the Church of the Annunciation. The Cathedral of the Assumption was covered with frescos from floor to ceiling. Even the columns in the halls were painted with scenes from the Bible.

By this point in our day, 2 p.m., we were ready to have lunch. Most would have preferred to take a nap but there was no time for that. We were to get a guided tour of Christ the Savior Cathedral so we had a quick lunch at a pizzeria opposite the church. After the tour inside, we were taken to the observation deck.

The view from the observation deck cheered us all. We could see all of Moscow. Professor Ari Goldman snatched a couple of moments to talk to his wife in New York.

"I figured I was at the top of the world, or at least at the top of Moscow and the line would be clear so I called home," said Goldman. "I could tell my wife that I was on top of a church and she could hear the bell ringing." A stocky, bearded bell-ringer had climbed into the belfry and begun pulling a thick cord to ring the bell atop the bell-tower, announcing the arrival of Patriarch Alexy II, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.Everyone who carried a camera clicked pictures of the bell-ringer while Jennifer Ho rolled tape.

Then, it was time to see the museum inside the church. Stalin demolished the original cathedral in 1931. He planned to build a 440 m high Palace of Soviets topped with a huge statue of Lenin at the site. A helipad would be built in Lenin's palm. Sixteen floors of this grandiose building were constructed before the Second World War broke out. Funds ran out and the structure was demolished. Instead, a swimming pool was built. In 1994, the church reclaimed the land. The reconstructed cathedral was completed in 2000.

Before attending our third Russian Orthodox service of the day, some of us stopped at the souvenir store to buy matryoshka dolls, where several small dolls fit one inside the other. Our journalist friend, Andrei Zolotov, said these dolls are not as Russian as we might imagine. Zolotov said Savva Mamontov, a Russian merchant, imported these dolls from Japan in the early nineteenth century and had some artists paint Russian figures on them.

The Rite of Forgiveness service, which marks entrance into the "Great Lent," was led by Patriarch Alexy II. An hour into the service, a small group of students, including Alan Rappeport, Charnicia Huggins, Nada El Sawy, Anusha Shrivastava, Ailis Brown and Elizabeth O'Brien decided to take a short walk on the streets of Moscow. This was the first time they were stepping out without a guide, so they weren't quite sure where to go. They ended up at Red Square and decided to visit it at length later. By 7 p.m. they had to rush back to the church, where the rest of the class was waiting for them.

Our next and last stop was the Petrovich Club where Zolotov had invited a few members of the Moscow press to informally meet with us and answer questions. The club had interesting displays of old irons, electric shavers, transistors, record players, telephones and even a sewing machine. Hand graters were used as lampshades. Not many people noticed these quirky items, though. They were just glad to be able to sit down, glasses of chilled vodka or cranberry juice in hand. Molly Knight, who arrived from New York earlier in the day, and Manya Brachear, who had managed to return to the hotel for a brief afternoon siesta, joined us at the club, having successfully navigated the Moscow subway system on their own.

Charnicia Huggins sat next to Sergei Chapnin, the executive director of the Russian Orthodox Church newspaper, Tserkovny Vestnik, and asked him what the current problems of the church were. "There is a shortage of priests and lay people," said Chapnin.

Was it possible that some people were driven away by the length of the service and that members had to stand through them? "Well, people can bring their own chairs if they want to sit," said Chapnin. Historically, the problem was that there were only 44 churches serving the 8 million people of Moscow, he explained, and they did not want any of them to feel discriminated against if unable to sit.

"Besides, it is easier to pray when you are standing," he added.