In order to see something significant, it is necessary to look from afar. A person lives by daily labors and cares; it is not easy for him to stop and comprehend all that takes place. Only years later does God’s wondrous Providence become clear in everything, even in those events which first appear unimportant.

It all began very simply…

Two young women, parishioners from Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral, were working in local hospitals -the Municipal Clinical Hospital and the Republican Clinical Psychiatric Hospital. Understanding that first and foremost people are in need of God’s help, they asked a priest to come and give Holy Communion to the hospital’s sick.

That was in 1994. The service of the sisterhood began at that time. New sisters joined the first. They made visits to treatment units and gave comfort to the sick, helped them and taught them about the Church’s Mysteries. Later a priest came, heard confessions and gave Communion, and the Divine Light cleansed and healed people’s souls.

Imagine the amazement of the sisters if they could have peered a few years into the future and heard the peal of church bells beside the hospital! If they could have seen the snow-white church; if they could have seen themselves wearing the monastic habit!

Let us recount the events leading to the convent’s creation.

Looking back at the history of the convent, we recall many dates and events, as well as hundreds of people who encountered God, who saw the Light within the gray walls of the hospital. They are people whom the sisters of mercy warmed with their hearts, gave them comfort with a kind word, and inspired with hope by their prayerful service.

Pascha 1996 – First prayer service at the Republican Psychiatric Hospital

Christ is Risen! -- The priest exclaimed the great greeting, blessed all with holy water and the Paschal light and joy filled everything and drove away the hospital’s sorrow. As the Savior descended into hades and defeated death, so the darkness of hopelessness within the walls of the psychiatric hospital also disappeared.

Soon after the prayer service, the first meeting was held at which it was decided to create a sisterhood and forge ahead together on the hard path of serving Christ.

September 27, 1996 – The first Divine Liturgy took place at the hospital on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord.

December 7, 1996 – On the feast day of Great Martyr St. Catherine, in Minsk’s Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral, where the Sisterhood was born, His Eminence PHILARET, Metropolitan Of Minsk and Slutsk, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus, blessed the sisters for their service of people in need. Vested in white, the sisters were unexpectedly transfigured. The event possessed the breath of eternity as the faces of the sisters were revealed and people were changed.

December, 1997 -- On his name’s day, Father Andrei, the spiritual father of the Sisterhood, departed to Jerusalem, in order to receive a particle of the relics of the Holy New Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth. This holy particle became the source of great joy and strengthening of faith at the convent.

During their visits to the Republican Psychiatric Hospital, the sisters learned that nearby was located a psychiatric home care hospital for children and adults with psychological and physical disabilities. It was not possible to pass by those who were most in need of God’s love.

Winter, 1997 -- A bright and joyful event took place – a kind of victory – when on one day many inhabitants of the home care hospital received Holy Baptism.

At that time, still nothing existed on the site of the future convent. Images from a documentary film of that time show a barren plot of land, cold, a piercing wind and the warm words from the priest telling how one day God’s church would exist on the site and people would be saved.

His Eminence blessed the construction of a church on the territory of the Republican Psychiatric Hospital, but there were no funds to begin the building work. Other problems arose – mistrust and lack of support from neighbors. In order to dispel doubts, Father Andrei traveled to his spiritual father – the elder Nikolai (Gurianov) on the island of Zalit. The elder blessed the construction and, giving a small Russian coin with the image of a church, said, “People will bring the rest.” This was the first mite. And truly, people “brought the rest” – every brick of the church is somebody’s sacrifice, somebody’s pain or joy, a request for a prayer.

Holy Week, 1997 – As witnesses of eternity in this temporal life, the sisters went into the busy streets of the city with donation boxes, reminding all by their white vestments of love, chastity and kindness.

Summer, 1997 – The construction was delayed due to various problems. Our priest blessed all the sisters and brothers to read on a daily basis the akathist hymn to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The wondrous God-pleaser did not delay in bringing help and the problems were solved.

It is interesting to note that the architect of the church and the foreman are both named Nicholas.

From the very beginning of the construction, people residing in various treatment units of the hospital – including the ward for addicts – actively participated in the project. What is important to the sisters is providing spiritual help to these people and reintegrating them into society.

December 7, 1997 – On the feast day of Great Martyr St. Catherine, following the Divine Liturgy at Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral, all the sisters came to the site of the future church and participated in the ground-breaking. It is interesting that His Eminence Metropolitan Philaret anointed the Cross planted in the sand not with oil, but with myrrh, as is customary for the blessing of a church. On this day, His Eminence blessed the sisters for their service to people in need.

Palm Sunday, 1998 – The first divine service took place in the church while still under construction. Unexpectedly many people attended the service. From this time, the Divine Liturgy has been served every Sunday in the church. People are not turned away by the brick walls, concrete floor, the primitive heating unit – they come to be in the presence of God.