Kostantin Dyachkov

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Air Force Confessor

        If you are a part of Church system (remember, System in Soviet time? – coverage and services are about the same), he is going to be the first person you speak to after getting off the plane at Anadyr airport. I mean father Vladimir – senior priest of Pochayevsk Church of Mother of God at Ugolki.

78th has come! | airport Anadyr`, Chukotka, Russia

        He meets people, puts them up in the church building, and puts them on a ‘frontier guard’ (Kamchatka border patrol airplane that regularly visits frontier posts in Chukotka). He never takes money (“Do you think the priest does not have any money?”). He won’t let you go to a store (“Do you think the priest does not have enough food?”). He won’t take gas either (“We have enough!”).
        The priest is of a strict disposition, lives without a passport (he burnt it) which is not unusual for local priests (I will tell more about passportless priests a little later). He respects all Russian things and does not speak about other things when he feels they are out of subject. He may change moods when speaking about his love to his native land, but on the whole his character is quite determined.

Father Vladimir from Ugolki | settlement Ugolniye Kopi, Chukotka, Russia

        On a refectory wall there is a Long-range aviation anniversary calendar for 1995 with 13 large pictures of the past – it’s the first thing visitors are shown. Father Vladimir is the confessor of Ryazan long-range aviation regiment number two hundred something (it is not a military secret, I just forgot and it is not important anyway). This fact explains light and hope in the eyes of the senior priest of the settlement. Ugolnyie Kopi, or just Ugolki, used to be the largest military settlement in Chukotka.
        Instead of 25 thousand military men who used to serve here in the beginning of perestroika, there are one hundred and a half inhabitants here now. They are the ones who were not able to find 50 thousand rubles to move to the main land. Most likely, they will never find this money. Dozens of empty (yet not destroyed) houses, broken streets, stink, dirt and a broken MiG on a pedestal – this is all left of once stronghold of our valiant army.

Air Force Confessor | airport Anadyr`, Chukotka, Russia

        “Let’s look at the 78th land! It is expected at 5.30 pm”. So we go through checkpoints and quarters to find a few soldiers and complete confusion at the headquarters. They say the ‘frontier guard’ will come the next day if the weather is good. At the same time the plane is taking off for Lavrentiy where we are. Depression steps back when the 78th finally lands and we joyfully ride towards it in our UAZ.
        Hurrah! The officers confirm common delight with toasts and greetings at the table laid just in front of the plane. Trucks, generators, water melons and bananas come out of the plane. The main event of the evening – fishing trip – is yet to come! Wow, one can see an escort of cars of different kinds, tables laid at the coast, heaps of caviar and a net stretched for appearance' sake.
        About five half-metre fishes were caught after all. For some reason they were given to me in bags dripping with blood (“It’s for you, take this fish to Moscow!”). I foolishly try to explain that I am coming from Moscow and not going there. In response a military pilot gets appointed to look after me and make sure I am not over-modest. In the morning there was a puddle of blood under the refrigerator and, again, the ubiquitous stink.
        Sometimes customs of these people influence the priest’s health in a bad way but even in difficult situations he is strong and remembers his role. Prayer before and after meal, demand “not to swear here!” and, of course, “fie! No smoking here!” We end at 3 am when the car slips and gets stuck in uliginous slush on the ebb edge. Tide is setting in. Well, I shouted before: “Father! We are going into the sea!” The Ural truck we called for help got stuck, too. “It’s time to call for another Ural truck! Fill up the glasses!” Father Vladimir looks at the ‘drinking party’ despondently: “You see, Konstantin, these people are real men! They understand the priest is to blame but they say no word of reproof. And they would not leave me here alone!” This is true – these people are characterized by exceptional kindness! I am serious.
        Pilots do like and respect father Vladimir, and call him ‘Our Father!’ He is the one who does occasional religious rites for them. If there is a need for blessing or baptism they call him (the other day he went as far as to Ussuriysk). The priest himself loves to talk about our glorious aviation, aircraft designers and test pilots.
        Such is the reality here. They say it is impossible to live here in a different way.

        P.S. It would be nice to quietly put some money into the church box, since the church building looks really poor.
        P.P.S. Birthday of a plane is a holiday, too!

Konstantin Dyachkov