Summer implies rest, summer implies vacations, it implies journeys and adventures… Summer brings forth visiting new places, new impressions and new friends. And when these new  encounters are correlated with the pilgrimages and glorification of God, when we come across people who are similar in spirit, the memories of such vacations will be cherished by us for a long time… Thus long remembered will be the recollections of our first summer trip to the Orthodox Biblical camp “Barvinok,” organized by the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada… This camp exists from the year 1994 and was created by the efforts of the clergy of Saint Barbara Cathedral in Edmonton and of the priors of the other churches of Moscow Patriarchy in the Province of Alberta.  Every year on the day of departure and the last day of camp the Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada – and from the year 2005 it is The Right Reverend Iov, Bishop of Kashira – serves there the Divine Liturgy… This year we were incredibly fortunate, for His Grace The Right Reverend Iov, Bishop of Kashira, also accepted the responsibility for the spiritual guidance of the camp and for the whole week he was living in “Barvinok” and praying with and for our kids.
Every day the kids had classes on which they studied the Twelve most important Feasts of the Orthodox Church-and every day a new priest, and on the last day-The Right Reverend Iov, Bishop of Kashira himself- conducted with the kids catechistic discussions… The impression that this Apostolic mission had had on the souls of our kids will clearly be seen only in the future… Maybe some participants of this camp will become priests-the saviours of people’s souls, – and maybe they, in their own turn, will bring many new souls to God and His Heavenly Kingdom… As for today –  they are now only merry boys and girls who for seven long days of the camp were running and jumping, making noise and getting involved every minute in different stories… They indeed did not have time to be bored, because the camp timetable was really tight: we had trips to the forest, were building wooden huts, were playing different games, while running barefoot on the green grass and field flowers, enjoying the view of the beautiful Pigeon Lake… Pretty little ducks and grey bumptious geese often came to the shores of the lake to pay us a visit- and we loved to look how they were stretching and flapping with their wings, as if in the attempt to flee… In reality they did not need to fly away at all and felt pretty cozy in the camp – because they also were treated with love and respect.  And every evening we built a big bright campfire…
The children studied not only the meaning and importance of the Twelve major Feasts of the Church: they also had a chance to read the morning and evening prayers and prayed together with His Grace Bishop Iov in the Christian Orthodox Temple, which is situated on the grounds of the camp. Children were singing the troparia and kontakia for different Orthodox Saints; for many kids this Biblical Orthodox summer camp was even the only chance to participate in the Church Services… Everything was new and evoked questions in them: the Orthodox symbols and rites looked simultaneously strange and beautiful… At the same time, those who frequent the Church Services had the chance to reopen for themselves and explain for others the Devine magnificence of the customs of Venerating of the Cross (“Why do we need to kneel?” – were asking them the novices), of the Cross Procession (“And what is the proper way to carry the crosses and the banners?” – were wondering then the neophytes). Indeed, there were many, many questions… “Why do we pick up flowers and even cut the branches of the trees and decorate the Church with them on the Holy Trinity Feast? Why apples are to be blessed in the Temple on The Transfiguration Feast? Why do Christians hold the lit candles all Pascal Night, while attending the Feast Service? Why the lit candle symbolizes the voluntary Self-Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ for us all and also His Resurrection from the dead…?”
During the camp week we tried to commemorate all the Saints whose days of remembrance fall into August. Thus on the 9th of this month children were allowed to help His Grace The Right Reverend Iov, Bishop of Kashira, with singing the Akafist to The Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon.  The Righteous Saint Seraphim of Sarov, Saint Prophet Elijah, Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, Saint Martyr Irene of Cappadocia, Saint Anna, the Mother of Theotokos, and Passion-Bearers Boris and Gleb  were invisibly present in the camp and were helping to settle arising arguments, were protecting from the evil and unceasingly praying for those who were honoring them… Their Holy shield, as well as the constant prayer for us of His Grace  Bishop Iov, was sensed at any minute… Children loved Vladika Iov so much that they were asking Him to play with them at any free moment… And it happened every time that Vladika, having multiple chances to win from one or another kid in the game of checkers, surprisingly “could not” do this – maybe because the “Bishop’s checkers” are special and are played according to absolutely different rules than the other games? Probably, those “special rules” are the rules of love to people…
What else I remember well is drinking tea… In the morning, when the kids were still asleep, all counsellors gathered together for a short meeting and discussed what we were planning to do and what we had failed to accomplish in the previous day… In order to catch up and be in the right place in the right time we had to wake up early- and it was not easy on the second day, for the first night the overexcited kids did not want to sleep till 4 a.m. , and we had to calm them down and persuade, and tell sleep-tight stories… No wonder that the next morning we were late for the 7 o’clock counsellors’ meeting : without even splashing water on the face, we were running barefoot on the lavish green grass covered with profuse morning dew… In the dining hall we were already awaited by the head coordinator of the camp-very responsible and seemingly grave, but very kind-hearted and compassionate in soul Kim Cochrane – a Canadian–Ukrainian, who has different degrees in science , and who made me (as a prospective volunteer) to write almost “a Master degree thesis” on Orthodox children games before coming to the camp…She was expecting similar to her own responsibility from all volunteers… And how glad we were after running barefoot on the wet grass (to save some time and keeping our sandals on high heels in hand) to find that the hot tea was ready for us in the kitchen! It is such a wonderful feeling to drink hot tea or coffee early in the morning and look through the wall-wide window of the dining hall chalet on the tender dream-like light-blue waters of the lake… The lake at these moments seemed infinite and rather resembled a sea or an ocean. It was also wonderful to have a cup of (ecologically healthy!) camp-grown mint tea late in the evening – when the kids were already asleep – and to talk to one or another parent-volunteer, who, like myself, came to play with the kids or to help in the kitchen. At night the incredibly large and bright stars were sparkling on the endless velvet sky, the campfire cracked and the purple sunset was slowly extinguishing above the water…
My warm clothes and boots were staying in the travel bag all the time: we did not have any heavy shower during the week, if not take into consideration a couple of light rains, after one of which – and right after the Pascal Cross Procession- we had -for about half an hour- a beautiful doubled rainbow, stretched – as it seemed – by the Mother of God over our camp as a Protection… Even the thunderclouds were “courteously” bypassing the camp in order to let everybody enjoy the good weather longer and to delight in the loveliness of nature of the Middle Alberta… And, indeed, the lake, as a pearl, lied surrounded by the picturesque shores, the softest grass was abundantly covered with charming field flowers,  tall pine-trees, as the old giants, were swinging somewhere above our heads, and – above all this – in the far distant sky-invisibly and mysteriously-rained and lovingly looked down at us Our Heavenly Father and God Himself …
This year the children of the camp also were welcoming a very strange and interesting guest from the distant and enigmatic ancient town of Bethlehem… And it was clear that she traveled from the past: for she did not know what a car or a train is, and was surprized by everything… She told our children a story that she witnessed: about the Nativity of the Divine Child – Jesus Christ… She told about the three Kings-Magi that came to bow in front of this Child from the distant Eastern Countries, and about poor shepherds who saw many beautiful angels singing and telling them that the Great Saviour of people had come to the world, and of cause, about an unusually bright Star that appeared on the sky at that time and that was showing the way to the Magi… The strange guest brought to our children a gift – white clay figurines depicting the main characters and the events of that distant Mystical Night. Later on we painted and baked those figurines and the children took them home as souvenirs for their moms and dads… Besides that, on their daily craft lessons the kids were making icons and crosses, decorative icon corner cloths and even the famous Faberge eggs! On the last evening before the departure they staged a grandiose show with the plays from the lives of different Saints… It is, probably, not surprising then that one child came to me after the show and promised that the next year he will try to persuade his parents to go to Sarov – to the places where Saint Father Seraphim of Sarov lived… I have not been there myself…  And this boy said that he would try hard to make his parents to change the route of their trip to visit the Holy Place… Maybe, this is the most important goal of our work as parents and teachers: to make children feel that they need God, to make them believe that in the world there is a Power greater than the greatest physical power: this is the Power of Love, the Power of Sanctity and of the Spiritual Enlightenment…
And it really did not seem a big deal that we were bitten by the importunate mosquitoes, or had scratches from the dry boughs, while traveling in the forest- the unpleasantness was soon forgotten and the happiness of that time was staying with us… And, besides, we had a wonderful doctor – Olga Kazakoff – who was always in time with her bandages and pills that really worked! Our kitchen volunteers headed by Constantia Hargrives and Larissa Batizhina – were also absolutely indispensable! I felt myself as a small child again or as if I were visiting my mom’s house-for nobody had been taking care of me like that for a long time!!! The young grandma of Medvedev’s family- Alla Ivanovna – became especially famous for her superb vegetable soups and squash stews! And another volunteer – Marina -who came on Tuesday – on the first place rushed to clean the shower cabins, which made it instantly clear that she is “one of us”, for “do not judge by the words, but by their deeds”, and also “You will recognize them by the fruits that they bring…”
It was a great pleasure to see again Reverend Father Sergey Kiprianovich and to meet for the first time Matushka Vera – they came to the camp three times!  And Matushka, along with other volunteers, was cooking and helping with the dishes… Somebody said: “The greater the person is, the more he or she serves the others…”- am I right? And also we made an acquaintance with the young Reverend Father Antony Philchuck, Matushka Elena and their little son Kirill… Father Antony and his family just recently – a year and a half ago – came to Canada – and still have the Spirit of our Motherland about them … One day the Right Reverend Archimandrite Phillip – a very emotional Orthodox-Italian- after teaching the Bible class for the kids – also shared the meal with us. He sang the prayers before and after the dinner in a stunningly professional way – as usually the Italians do – and then during the whole meal was merrily telling something to The Right Reverend Iov, the Bishop of Kashira… Such a great number of clergymen gathered in one place and in one time to educate our children – is, indeed, an excessive blessing of God for us…
Why had not I been to this camp before? I wanted to go there the two previous years – but all the time different obstacles arose… All my friends from Calgary had been there or sent their kids to the camp not once or twice… Maybe, everything that happens to us in this life – happens in the right time… Nothing occurs to us without the Will of God, Our Lord… He is the Guide and the Providence! We hope that this is not our last visit to the camp and that we will meet again with the children, the volunteers and the organizers… Sincerely and with deep gratitude we want to say: “Thank You!” to everybody who worked hard to make this camp take place… Glory to Our Lord, Jesus Christ! We thank Thee, O, Our Lord, for that endless blessing that we constantly receive from Thee! Glory to Thee, Our Lord, glory to Thee!  
Ksenia, the teacher of the Sunday Bible School at the Russian Orthodox Church of All Saints in Calgary