Now on air
18:30
Father Yevgeny — mission to the edge of the Earth
Some might dismiss the four rocky islands in the northern Pacific Ocean known as the Commander Archipelago to be a far-off land forgotten by God himself. They would be quite mistaken. There the joyful sound of church bells ringing carries on for miles and the onion dome of Russia's most eastern Orthodox church shines. On one of these islands, the country's first prayer of the day is led by a young priest by the name of Evgeniy Tsukalo, a graduate of the Moscow Seminary who chose the remote island on the edge of the country as his first place of service. Being new to the island is no easy feat — it's difficult to adapt to living in such a natural environment and to such isolation. This is a perfect place for a church as living under such conditions seems impossible without faith. Father Evgeniy was given a difficult mission: Not to simply adapt to island life, but to change it — to teac...
Zelenchuksky Astrophysics Observatory
A telescope with a mirror that measures six feet across and that was once the largest in the world can be found in the mountains of the Republic of Karachaeva-Cherkessia. This altazimuth telescope is positioned at an altitude of more than 2,000 metres - a good point from which to research the astrological climate of outer space. The area’s almost perfect atmosphere, the high number of clear nights and the large distance from manufacturing plants are what make it so ideal. It is thanks to these factors that Russian astronomers and scientists from abroad are able to look at and examine the starry sky. What is so special about the six-metre telescope is its Alt-azimuth mount. This mount allows the telescope to move along the horizontal and vertical axes, giving scientists the opportunity to focus more closely on a specific area of the sky to study the galaxies and stars. The telescope is on...
Now on air
18:30
Zelenchuksky Astrophysics Observatory
Mikhailo-Afonsky monastery
At the end of the 19th century, there was no monastery larger than that of St. Michael’s Monastery of Mount Athos in the Northern Caucasus. In 1877 the monastery’s location on the slope of Gora Fiziabgo was decided. It was constructed with the help of many hands from people all over the world - following the suggestion of Father Martyrius, the monastery’s first abbot, each pilgrim travelling to the monastery brought a stone with him that would be used to help build the holy structure. Over ten years the monks managed to build an entire religious complex with multiple churches: The Church of the Transfiguration, of the Holy Trinity and of the Assumption as well as churches built in the name of Archangels Michael and Alexandra. A century ago thousands of pilgrims visited St. Michael’s Monastery of Mount Athos every day. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 however, the r...
Now on air
18:15