The Shepherd, October 2009
5. The Podvoria.
Bishop Nicolas immediately set about acquiring a church and base for the parish in a reasonably central location. It should be remembered that St Philip’s had been acquired through the generosity of the Anglicans, & any property the parish was to buy for itself would be of far more modest proportions. The bishop started a collection, to which he added some funds of his own, & a grant was obtained from the Spalding Foundation, through contacts with the Galitzine family. Soon the freehold of a house at 14 St Dunstan’s Road, in West Kensington, was purchased. Today this is considered a desirable area, expensive even by London standards, but at the time it was bought by the parish, it represented a low-priced piece of property in a very run-down part of London.
“They bought it for just a hundred pounds,” recalls Mrs Goodman, “but a hundred pounds was quite a substantial sum in those days, - a year’s salary for some people. It was areal slum area. Along the road between Baron’s Court underground station and the Podvoria, where now houses are being ‘done up,’ alongside the railway ... I remember seeing all the children with filthy knees and sometimes no socks and shoes at all; it was really very dirty. We preferred to come by tube, because otherwise it meant one had to walk from West Kensington, and all that area was very squalid - a really bad London slum. Nevertheless, being in West London, it was reasonably central for the Russian community. Many of the Russians lived in Fulham, where there were two Russian shops. (There was Shestakoff & another. Both were parishioners, and there was a sufficient number of people living there to use them. They had kasha [buckwheat] and such things, but it was all on a very modest scale.)”
Once inside the door of No. 14, one was in a different world. The ground floor was converted into a church, which Vladyka Nicolas consecrated in honour of All Saints, thereby fulfilling Metropolitan Antony’s precept to accord special veneration to the feast on which he had been ordained to the episcopate. This tiny church, beautifully converted in ancient Russian style, impresses visitors as a holy place, an oasis in the middle of the noisy city. The rest of the house was used as the bishop’s residence and also as accommodation for the monastic brotherhood started by Vladyka Nicolas. The house was small, but at least it was owned outright by the parish. Originally it was described as ‘Arkhieréiskoye Podvoriye’ - the Bishop’s Residence. In later years it has not always been occupied by a bishop, but the name has stuck, so it is known simply as ‘The Podvoria’ or affectionately, in English, as ‘The Pod.’ [It was closed and sold off in 1996 - ed.]
Bishop Nicolas attracted the young people of the parish to help him in the task of setting up the church. Anatoly Vasilisin, then in his late teens, vividly remembers helping with the carpentry, making analois (icon stands) and other objects. He had a great admiration for Bishop Nicolas, whom he found very approachable, and who inspired him to devote his time and energy to the Church. He is now [date of typescript uncertain] the senior sub-deacon and able to apply the experience he had gained in the days of Archbishop Seraphim. On the Sundays when the Podvoria church was used, the services were conducted there according to the episcopal rite, despite the cramped conditions of the small chapel.
In his work with youth, Bishop Nicolas placed great importance on the summer camps, organized with the aid of the church sisterhood, which were held in different places each year - Windsor, King’s College, Canterbury, Ewell, Enfield, Bexhill. They were attended by about 40 to 50 children. The bishop held morning and evening services and gave religious instruction. Other subjects such as the history and geography of Russia and Russian literature were also taught. But these were intended mainly as holidays. Bishop Nicolas also played games with the children, who all greatly loved him.
Bishop Nicolas was a natural leader and inspired preacher. On one occasion, during a sermon about the Church schism, he is sad to have become so carried away that he broke his bishop’s staff!
|
