"We bless cars," read a sign posted one recent afternoon along Volgogradskoye Shosse, not far from the huge AZLK automobile factory and adjacent used-car market.
By the roadside, Father Alexander, a Russian Orthodox priest who said he had come to Moscow from the village of Turchinovo near Tver, did a brisk business burning incense, praying and sprinkling holy water on cars for 30,000 to 50,000 rubles ($15 to $25), depending on the make.
Chinese cabbies string Chairman Mao portraits from their rear-view mirrors. Americans favor fuzzy dice. But Russian drivers, convinced such talismans are no match for rising car theft and growing potholes, are increasingly requesting divine protection -- for a fee.
Blessings for apartments, businesses, bars and even casinos are also selling like hot cakes as the church regains popularity and scrambles for funds after 70 years of official atheism, according to priests interviewed Wednesday.
A church spokesman, Father Matvei, said all Russian Orthodox priests were authorized to perform traditional blessings of homes, businesses and even cars, but that "to ask for money for each blessing is not appropriate."
"It is not Christian," he said. "It is not in the tradition of our church."
A second priest, Father Alexander, was loath to condemn blessings for bucks.
"Many churches are in great need of money for renovations," he said. "When we are blessing a store or a casino and the owners say there is no money, that is simply naive. The money is there."
Father Alexander, the lone priest at the Church of the Savior's Transfiguration on the Sands near the Arbat, said he had received 10,000 rubles -- at the time around $100 -- for blessing Vesna, a large store on Novy Arbat, in early 1992.
"I walked up and down for two hours," he said. "I probably used up two buckets of holy water."
Such contributions go toward the renovations of his own church, a crumbling 1711 brick building that served alternately under Soviet rule as a film studio, a dormitory for metro construction workers and a public toilet.
Father Alexander, who says he has trouble keeping up with the demand for drive-in blessings, charges 25,000 rubles for weddings and 10,000 for baptisms.
According to a price list at the church door, being mentioned in Father Alexander's prayers at the altar costs the faithful just 600 rubles a month. Prayers can also be ordered for three or six months, candles not included.
"Our prices are very low," he said in the tones of a proud entrepreneur.
But, he added, he plans to raise them soon.
"Excuse me, when a kilo of sausage here costs 20,000 rubles, we are baptizing for half a kilo. Excuse me for the comparison," he said.
Still, Father Alexander criticized his entrepreneurial namesake for his high prices -- "Blessing a car takes two or three minutes" -- and said most priests customarily waive the cost of rites for impoverished believers.
In addition, he said, the church must retain moral limits on blessings. For example, a house of prostitution should not be able to "buy" a blessing, he said.
"We can't allow the church to be turned into a business. We need to find some kind of a balance," he said.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II himself has ventured into commercial clericism with the launch of officially blessed Saint Springs mineral water.
The Patriarch also blessed the White House to cap off its renovation after the former parliament building was shelled by troops loyal to President Boris Yeltsin last fall. But church spokesman Father Matvei said that rite was performed free of charge at the request of Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.
Elizaveta Trubnik, a church public relations official, said she had received many calls from Muscovites demanding to know whether car-blessing priests and their rates were approved by the church. She added that Orthodox officials could not regulate every individual calling himself a priest.
"You must go straight up to that person and ask to see his identification," she said.
By the roadside, Father Alexander, a Russian Orthodox priest who said he had come to Moscow from the village of Turchinovo near Tver, did a brisk business burning incense, praying and sprinkling holy water on cars for 30,000 to 50,000 rubles ($15 to $25), depending on the make.
Chinese cabbies string Chairman Mao portraits from their rear-view mirrors. Americans favor fuzzy dice. But Russian drivers, convinced such talismans are no match for rising car theft and growing potholes, are increasingly requesting divine protection -- for a fee.
Blessings for apartments, businesses, bars and even casinos are also selling like hot cakes as the church regains popularity and scrambles for funds after 70 years of official atheism, according to priests interviewed Wednesday.
A church spokesman, Father Matvei, said all Russian Orthodox priests were authorized to perform traditional blessings of homes, businesses and even cars, but that "to ask for money for each blessing is not appropriate."
"It is not Christian," he said. "It is not in the tradition of our church."
A second priest, Father Alexander, was loath to condemn blessings for bucks.
"Many churches are in great need of money for renovations," he said. "When we are blessing a store or a casino and the owners say there is no money, that is simply naive. The money is there."
Father Alexander, the lone priest at the Church of the Savior's Transfiguration on the Sands near the Arbat, said he had received 10,000 rubles -- at the time around $100 -- for blessing Vesna, a large store on Novy Arbat, in early 1992.
"I walked up and down for two hours," he said. "I probably used up two buckets of holy water."
Such contributions go toward the renovations of his own church, a crumbling 1711 brick building that served alternately under Soviet rule as a film studio, a dormitory for metro construction workers and a public toilet.
Father Alexander, who says he has trouble keeping up with the demand for drive-in blessings, charges 25,000 rubles for weddings and 10,000 for baptisms.
According to a price list at the church door, being mentioned in Father Alexander's prayers at the altar costs the faithful just 600 rubles a month. Prayers can also be ordered for three or six months, candles not included.
"Our prices are very low," he said in the tones of a proud entrepreneur.
But, he added, he plans to raise them soon.
"Excuse me, when a kilo of sausage here costs 20,000 rubles, we are baptizing for half a kilo. Excuse me for the comparison," he said.
Still, Father Alexander criticized his entrepreneurial namesake for his high prices -- "Blessing a car takes two or three minutes" -- and said most priests customarily waive the cost of rites for impoverished believers.
In addition, he said, the church must retain moral limits on blessings. For example, a house of prostitution should not be able to "buy" a blessing, he said.
"We can't allow the church to be turned into a business. We need to find some kind of a balance," he said.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II himself has ventured into commercial clericism with the launch of officially blessed Saint Springs mineral water.
The Patriarch also blessed the White House to cap off its renovation after the former parliament building was shelled by troops loyal to President Boris Yeltsin last fall. But church spokesman Father Matvei said that rite was performed free of charge at the request of Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.
Elizaveta Trubnik, a church public relations official, said she had received many calls from Muscovites demanding to know whether car-blessing priests and their rates were approved by the church. She added that Orthodox officials could not regulate every individual calling himself a priest.
"You must go straight up to that person and ask to see his identification," she said.
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