Patriarch Meets the Little Girl He Previously Asked to Adopt
September 2014
Patriarch Kirill: I am truly happy that Mila has found a family.
PRAVMIR. September 3, 2014. Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, while visiting the Pskovo-Pechor Monastery, met with the little girl who he asked to adopt this past winter.
At the Children’s Christmas Tree celebration this year, His Holiness met Mila, who sent him a letter in which she wrote about her desire to have a family. These people were found and the little girl was adopted by Olga and Igor Filimonov. After the Patriarch’s appeal that some family adopts Mila, 15 families expressed their desire to do so, according to Patriarhia.ru.
The meeting was held in the house of the monastery’s Abbot, and was attended by Mila’s foster parents and her grandmother Alevtina Kachkina.
“I am truly happy that Mila has found a family. We know this family very well”, said His Holiness as he blessed the crowd.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill presented Mila and her parents with gifts, including an icon of Christ the Savior and the Holy Scriptures.
Mila is now studying in Moscow’s Dmitriev secondary school and is being brought up in a family of graduates from the special Foster Parent School at the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy in Moscow.
Patriarch Kirill: I Believe That Kindness Has Not Left Our People
“Yet I am deeply convinced that when we do good deeds, especially when we make real sacrifices to do this good, that something very significant happens to our soul. We become different”
During a visit to Izborsk, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia gave a brief interview to the media, in which he talked about his meeting with ten-year-old Mila in the Pskov-Caves Monastery.
Mila, who grew up without parents, asked the Patriarch last year to pray that she find a mother, and now His Holiness met her and her new family. Responding to the question of whether this example will inspire other families to adopt orphans, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church answered:
“It is difficult for me to judge; it depends on the people who will become acquainted with Mila’s story—how closely they will take it to heart. Yet I am deeply convinced that when we do good deeds, especially when we make real sacrifices to do this good, that something very significant happens to our soul. We become different.
“Today I looked at the faces of Mila’s parents – the young couple Olga and Igor, who have bright, angelic faces. If you simply look at the faces of such people, you understand everything. And will some other person find the strength inside them to adopt a girl with disabilities and raise her? To do this, you need to have a very kind, sympathetic heart.
“I believe that such kindness has not left our people. There is just a lot of daily bustle, and people get caught up in this and often lose their life’s reference point. That is why I would wish to see that not only Mila’s example, but also that all the circumstances of our lives, push us towards doing good deeds.
“When trouble happens to our people, or with those who are close to us – as has happened in Ukraine – God gives us an internal responsiveness. I pray about this. Compassion and sacrifice converts the inner life of any person. Therefore, our Church will do everything possible to strengthen these feelings in our hearts.”
Press Service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
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