What helps people find their way to the temple? Difficult situations from your own life, someone's personal example, an accidentally heard sermon that touched the heart ... But it happens in a different way. The unusual hobby of a rural priest from Mordovia attracted a considerable number of people to the museum of miniature automobiles he created. And many of those who came eventually became parishioners of the local church. Which of the boys in childhood did not like to play with cars? Probably, there are very few such people. Someone built garages for them and arranged entire car fleets, someone collected exclusively collectible copies at a scale of 1:43. One way or another, almost all male children and adolescents had a 'car' period in their lives. But there are those who carried their hobby through the decades - and at some point felt the need to share the joy that his hobby gives with other people. This is exactly how it happened in the life of Archpriest Sergiy Sakovich from the Republic of Mordovia - Sergei Zemkin told the story about him and his hobby on the pages of the Orthodox magazine 'Foma'. Father Sergius is the rector of an ancient church in the name of the holy Archangel Michael, the Archangel of all the Heavenly Forces of the Ethereal in the village of Ichalki. Another smaller temple is attributed to this temple, located in another village called Kalyshi. Not so long ago, in this settlement, in a building adapted for holding services, consecrated the temple in the part of the Holy Fathers of the Six Ecumenical Councils. Father Sergius regularly comes here to perform the evening and liturgy here, as well as perform the services. But there is also something to which Father Sergius devotes part of his time in Kalyshi. It is a museum of automotive history equipped in the adjacent room. He grew out of his school hobby - collecting cars. Over the years, the collection has grown to several thousand copies and required appropriate storage conditions. Now trucks and buses, cars and special equipment have made a single exposition in the next room with the temple. However, you can see here not only cars: on the shelves there are drawings, sketches, rare magazines of past eras dedicated to the automotive industry. As for the models themselves, each of them occupies a strictly defined place in the exposition and is provided with a plate indicating the main technical characteristics, the year of manufacture and the history of production. As soon as the museum at the temple in the village of Kalyshi opened, it became clear that Father Sergius had a huge number of like-minded people. Boys, youths, men of all ages flocked to the parish museum - not only from nearby settlements, but also from all over the republic and even from beyond its borders. Just a few days ago, for example, a delegation of bikers - members of the Orthodox moto brotherhood 'Archangel'. Father Sergiy Sakovich says that initially he had a desire to show his collection to parishioners, but it turned out differently. People, having heard stories about an unusually large collection of car models or found out about it on the Internet, came to Kalyshi - and eventually became parishioners of the local church. The collection of Father Sergius has not yet been completed. According to the priest, from time to time new samples appear in the exposition. And more and more people come to the Mordovian village to visit the unusual museum. For some, collecting is a passion, for others it is a form of missionary work. It may be very unusual, but, undoubtedly, effective and, most importantly, fascinating! Photo: magazine 'Foma' V. Sergienko
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