Faces of Pochaiv: Valka the Dog Lady and Elder the Athlete

Pilgrim's notes. Photo: UOJ

Valka the Dog Lady

Actually, her name is Valentyna Petrivna. In her time, she graduated from veterinary institute and retired due to illness. She lives alone in a private house in the town of Pochaiv and daily sits at the foot of the Pochaiv Lavra with a collection box depicting St. Gerasimos of the Jordan, who rescued a lion. The inscription on the box reads: "The righteous care for the needs of their animals."

True, no lions sit beside Valentina; instead, at her feet there huddles a whole motley pack of stray dogs of all sizes. Puppies squirm in a box, and blessed Valentyna often calls out to people heading to the Lavra, “God save you! Please give alms for the poor little dogs!”

Passersby throw her coins, and sometimes paper hryvnias. One little boy, having begged from his mother, threw a 100-hryvnia note into the box. "You will be a priest, son, may Christ save you for your mercy!..." Valentyna shouted after him in a hoarse voice. And she herself went for a smoke break in the small park across the street.

Her fellow beggars, local alcoholics, Valentyna rewards at dusk with a handful of small change, saying: "Drunkards and adulterers shall not inherit the Kingdom of God!" and sets off home with her doggy escort.

The righteous care for the needs of their animals

In her yard, there are many little doghouses and food bowls, into which she pours a cooked stew with meat trimmings. She gets the trimmings for free from a butcher’s shop, and the money she collects, along with her pension, goes toward sterilizing the animals and paying for their treatment. The puppies from the box, together with their nursing mother, are brought into the house. After that, she stands before the icons and reads her evening prayers.

She also prays to St. Gerasimos, asking for his help and protection. Most of all, Valentyna fears raids by sanitary service employees who catch stray dogs and take them away to unknown places. Then Valentyna takes out a large wooden cross and makes the sign of the cross over the dog catchers, shouting: "Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered!..." And the stunned animal control service retreats, away from trouble.

As Valentyna told it, in childhood she had a real German shepherd named Jerry, which her father gave her for Christmas. She loved her very much. And so, this past Christmas, a priest brought her a German shepherd female puppy. Valentyna accepted the gift with tears in her eyes, saying: "May the Lord save you! This is my papa sending me comfort from the other world through you..." And she wept bitterly, kissing the puppy.

If you, dear reader, come to Pochaiv, you will surely see Valentyna the Dog Lady, as people call her. Don't forget to donate to her if possible. For the Lord shows mercy even to animals.

Ascetic Elder

Many times, visiting Pochaiv, I saw this elder-wanderer in an old worn cassock with a monastic leather belt and a large backpack. I encountered him sitting by a column of the Dormition Cathedral or in the courtyard by the wall of the Trinity Church, on a grassy lawn with a prayer book in his hands, or in the pilgrims' refectory, where he sustained himself with a modest meal.

I first saw him in the city park, where I sat down to rest after a bus trip to Kremenets. This “elder”, as I named him in my mind, surprised me most of all by the fact that on the sports ground, under the horizontal bar, he was actively performing gymnastic exercises, and then did about ten pull-ups in a row. It reminded me of the physical training I had long forgotten in my youth, of the constant promises I had made to myself and my wife – to shed my shameful deacon’s belly, to get rid of my shortness of breath, to walk and run in the forest along the health trail, and to swim in the lake – practices I pursued vigorously thirty or forty years ago…

Lessons for a glutton

Just think, at 30 years old my weight at a height of 182 cm was 75 kg, and now I step on the scales not without fear, watching with fright as the needle wavers between 109 and 110 kilograms! Horror and shame!

The elder meanwhile crossed himself, took out a bottle of water and sat under a tree with a little book in his hands. I thought that he was probably my age and the Lord had sent him to me for shame and repentance in gluttony and secret eating. And intemperance, and laziness...

I recalled my evening meals with a loaf of bread and donuts, the lavish feasts (not without wine!) at holiday meals after the festive service, and dozing in front of the computer screen while my wife gently suggested reading an Akathist together, which she regularly did the day after receiving the Holy Communion. And it’s not about how long you live, fasting honestly or deceptively, I thought with shame – it’s about how you live the final years of your life…

"However, my cart is still there...," I said quietly, glancing at the wonderful elder.

The body as helper

On returning from Pochaiv, I had the opportunity to speak with our 86-year-old rector, Fr. Vsevolod, about the significance of the upcoming Lent and of fasting in general in the life of a modern Christian spoiled by all kinds of indulgences, even in Lenten dishes, to which the priest remarked:

"One should eat in such a way that, getting up from the table, you still want to taste something more delicious. You can exclude sweets too, they are very high in calories," Fr. Vsevolod joked, pointing at my belly. "Coffee, which everyone is obsessed with now, exclude entirely, and drink tea without sugar. And even better - herbal, monastic... How can we, city dwellers, replace physical labor? With good exercise. For example, I ran to the forest for morning training until I was 80. And in general, from age 16, sports activities were my daily companions. So I recommend to everyone, and especially to the clergy, not to neglect your body, which is given to us by the Lord not for pleasure, but as a helper for the salvation of the soul."

And again I remembered meeting the elder on the sports ground in Pochaiv. It's a pity I didn't get acquainted with him, didn't bother to ask his name and request his blessing. I hope to see him again in the holy Lavra and make up for what I missed.

Read also