At the beginning of December, the Patriarchal House in Lviv is busier than ever – there are no free parking spaces, children and their parents are bustling in the yard. In the courtyard there is a huge sleigh, “studded” by children.
And inside it is noisy, as if in a beehive. All because in the run-up to Christmas, the Patriarchal House became the residence of St. Nicholas.
The residence opened on November 26 and will be open until December 17. It is open on weekdays from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., on weekends from 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Everyone who buys a ticket can enter the house of St. Nicholas. In addition, all funds received from the sale of tickets will go to charity – to the support of the International Center for the Support of Women and Children “City of Good” in Chernivtsi and to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Not only the charitable intentions of the organizers contribute to the support of the ZSU, but also the requests of the children themselves – the guests of the residence. “First of all, all the children ask for victory, peace, and health for our soldiers,” says St. Nicholas* himself, “and then everyone mentions their needs – some have sweets, some have toys, some even ask, for example, a battery for a radio-controlled cars… One boy once told me that he wanted God to send a lot of weapons for Ukraine.”
Saint Nicholas says that children often check whether his beard is real. “I say, try it, pull it! – laughs. — And then they believe: a real beard means that Nicholas is real. The only thing that worries them is that the beard is not gray… Then I answer, who told you that Nicholas should be an old man?”.
On weekdays, about 300 children visit the Mykolaiv residence every day, on weekends – more than 400. In total, this year more than 4,000 children visited the residence during its entire operation.
Mykolai admits that his “work” is not easy, not only because of physical exhaustion. “I usually ask the children if they love mommy and daddy. However, I have heard several times that they have no parents. These were the most difficult moments for me. I understood that I had to say something, support the child, cheer him up. A few days ago, a girl approached me. I asked her if she prays to God. And this girl suddenly started crying… And I couldn’t know if she had some kind of injury or not, and what exactly. Such moments are the most difficult.”
Younger children are the most sincere, notes Mykolay. But you need to find contact with the elders. After all, he wants to give good advice to everyone, to encourage him to pray and do good deeds. Communicating with children inspires the saint himself: “I am happy that I can serve God here and now. I can be the reason for their smiles. I can hug them, cheer them up, encourage them. I am enriched by inner joy. For me, being Nicholas is a miracle, it’s being an instrument in God’s hands, it’s being the reason for a child’s smile, that sincere, special joy.”
* Mykhailo Filyanets.
Information Department of the UGCC