16-20 of May the second field study of parish communities took place in the Pereslavl diocese (Yaroslavl region) as part of the “Living Communities: Continued” project.
Employees of the laboratory “Sociology of Religion” Ivan Zabaev, Tatyana Krikhtova and Valeria Elagina joined the trip. This time, the researchers managed to interview priests, rectors and active parishioners of four parish communities. The conversations focused on the topics of social projects, inner-community practices of mutual assistance, features of liturgical life, the importance of preaching for the formation of a community and potential directions for the development of parish life.
On the territory of Pereslavl-Zalessky there are about eight active churches and four active monasteries. Despite the small size of the city (about 35 thousands inhabitants), each temple and monastery has its own community, which can undoubtedly be attributed to the local peculiarity of the place included in the Golden Ring route. Besides, it is worth mentioning the large-scale restoration project of the former zemstvo hospital, where St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) worked for seven years. Upon completion of the restoration work, it is planned to open a diagnostic center and a branch of the Central Clinical Hospital of St. Alexiy on the renovated territory, which in turn will make the former zemstvo hospital the second Orthodox medical center in Russia.
