The musical and poetic program “The Light of Valaam” was shown on the stage of the regional philharmonic - members of the famous group performed ancient church chants, Russian classical and modern sacred music, as well as patriotic songs from the times of the First World War and the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

The concert of a unique creative group, created in 2005 in Karelia, took place the day before on the stage of the Birobidzhan Philharmonic. Despite the ongoing socio-economic crisis in the country and the significant prices of entrance tickets (400-1000 rubles), many Birobidzhan residents decided to join spiritual values. By the beginning of the concert, there were practically no empty seats left in the Philharmonic concert hall. Among the spectators were representatives of the Birobidzhan diocese, the regional government and the governor of the Jewish Autonomous Region, Alexander Levinthal.

On the stage, glowing crimson, the artistic director (regent) of the choir of the Valaam Monastery, Alexei Zhukov, appeared and bowed to the audience. Applause rang out in the ranks.

Your Excellency, your Eminence, beloved brothers and sisters, residents, workers and guests of Birobidzhan! We are sincerely glad that the Valaam monastery, represented by its choir, has arrived on your blessed Russian land. Today secular singers of the Valaam Choir, not monks, will perform before you. But these are people who devoted a significant part of their creative life (more than 20 years) to the Valaam Monastery, said Alexey Zhukov.

Then he spoke about the concert program. Listeners were treated to ancient chants in honor of the Venerables Sergius and Herman (the founders of the Valaam Monastery), as well as chants in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos.

You will hear not only ancient chants, but also Russian sacred music (Sergei Rachmaninov, Pavel Chesnokov, modern St. Petersburg composer Alexander Bordak). Several chants will be performed in honor of the Resurrection of Christ. The dedication of our soldiers who gave their lives on the battlefields is akin to Christ’s sacrifice. You will hear songs and poems from the First World War, as well as songs in honor of the glorious victory of our entire people in the Great Patriotic War. They will form the main part of our concert program,” said Alexey Zhukov.

After this, 16 members of the Valaam Monastery choir (middle-aged men) came out from behind the scenes, whose appearance was greeted with friendly applause. First, ancient chants were performed, where the overall magical picture was created by the clear and strong voices of the vocalists. In a bright sound palette, bass profundo, baritone, tenor and other “natural instruments” miraculously complemented and enhanced each other. At times, theatrical elements and situational performances were woven into the mesmerizing musical outline.

Christ is Risen! - one of the vocalists suddenly addressed the audience, throwing up his hands.

The response from the audience was a powerful threefold “he is risen indeed.” After this, the invisible barrier between artists and listeners disappeared - everyone became participants in the “sacrament” of living art, an extraordinary mystery of the spirit.

I've never heard anything like this before. The soul sings and rejoices from these songs, one of the spectators shared her impressions.

The concert of a unique creative team, reminding that man does not live by bread alone, left no one indifferent. The audience gave a standing ovation to the talented artists who performed more than 20 creative numbers marked with the stamp of eternity.

He experienced many spiritual and material ups and downs.
The most significant of them occurred in the 20-21st centuries. these are: the complete evacuation of the monastery from the Valaam archipelago into the interior of Finland during the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40; the subsequent ruin and oblivion of the monastery for many decades; the return of the monastery to the Russian Orthodox Church and the beginning of its spiritual revival and restoration in December 1989, the final restoration and consecration of the main Valaam shrine by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II - Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in August 2005. In connection with this event, with the blessing of the abbot of the Valaam monastery, Bishop Pankratius of Trinity, the Festive male choir of the monastery was organized.

Compound
The choir included professional musicians from St. Petersburg, graduates of the Choir School at the State Academic Chapel named after. M.I. Glinka and the St. Petersburg State Conservatory. N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, certified conductors and vocalists, the best singers of vocal, choral groups and musical theaters of St. Petersburg. Among them are two unique bass profundo: Honored Artist of Russia Vladimir Miller (born 1964) and Honored Artist of the Republic of Karelia Mikhail Kruglov (born 1972).
Also in the choir: Honored Artists of the Republic of Karelia - Dmitry Popov, Oleg Palkin,
soloist of the State Mariinsky Theater of St. Petersburg Vladimir Tselebrovsky; soloist of the State Bolshoi Theater of Russia Stanislav Mostovoy, soloist of the State St. Petersburg Musical Theater "Through the Looking Glass" Anton Rositsky, laureates of international vocal competitions - Alexander Bordak, Gavriil Davydov, Boris Petrov.
Most of the choir members have been singing every summer for more than 15 years. Valaam for the numerous guests of the monastery, they participate in Liturgies every day, and help the fraternal monastery choir during festive services. The average age of the choir members is 35 years.

Artistic director
The artistic director (regent) of the choir is laureate of the international competition Alexey Zhukov (born 1969), a graduate of the St. Petersburg Choir School at the State Academic Chapel named after. M. I. Glinka and the Academy of Culture, who began his career as a church conductor in 1989; in August 2008, he was awarded a diploma from Metropolitan Vladimir of St. Petersburg and Ladoga “For diligent work for the glory of the Holy Church.”
Holiday Choir Valaam Monastery- a unique creative team, whose activities are connected with the direct blessings of the abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Bishop Pankratius of Trinity.
The choir participates in all services performed on Valaam by His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' - the holy abbot of the Valaam monastery, accompanies ceremonial receptions on the island of Russian President V.V. Putin and members of the Government of the Russian Federation, other high-ranking guests of the monastery, and participates in meetings of the Patriarchal Board of Trustees Valaam monastery in the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
During the pilgrimage season on Valaam (from May to September), the choir singers help the fraternal monastic choir in singing Sunday and holiday services, give charity concerts, introducing the numerous guests of the monastery to the traditions of Valaam church singing.

Concert activities
In January 2007, the first public performance of the Festive Choir of the Valaam Monastery took place at the ceremonial meeting of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia, headed by E. M. Primakov. In May 2008, the choir gave a solo concert in the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari as part of the Festival of Russian Art in Italy, organized by personal initiative of V.V. Putin and S. Berlusconi. In 2009-2013 the choir performed solo concerts in Arkhangelsk, Krasnoyarsk, Saratov, Tambov, Veliky Novgorod, Petrozavodsk, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod; in 2012-2013 gave 4 concerts in the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic as part of the International Festival “Academy of Orthodox Music”, organized with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II.

With the support of the Timchenko Foundation
Since January 2013, the choir’s concert and liturgical activities have been supported by the Gennady and Elena Timchenko Charitable Foundation. The first public and charitable concert of the choir, organized under the Foundation’s program, held in St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg on January 10, 2013, attracted about 6,000 listeners. The choir presented the Christmas program “Christ is born, glorify” together with the professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev.

Repertoire
The choir's extremely wide repertoire is reflected in some of its concert programs.
“From Byzantium to Russia” - liturgical singing of Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Old Russian Spolpo and Early Partes chants.
“Majestic tones of Valaam” - original tunes Valaam Monastery and their polyphonic presentations.
“Russian Spiritual Concert” - spiritual works by Russian classics of large form (Bortnyansky, Degtyarev, Arkhangelsky).
“Melodies of the Russian Soul” - Russian folk songs and romances (Alyabyev, Bulakhov, Vertinsky), songs of the Russian army and Cossacks of the 19th-20th centuries, lyrical and patriotic songs of the Soviet period (Soloviev-Sedoy, Ponomarenko, Afanasyev).
“Faith and Victory” - Easter chants of Russian classics and modern Russian composers (Rachmaninov, Chesnokov, Bordak), songs about the Great Patriotic War (Migulya, Tukhmanov, Molchanov).
"Hello Spring!" - chants and songs of spiritual content by composers of the Soviet period (Sviridov, Gavrilin, Krylatov).

He experienced many spiritual and material ups and downs.
The most significant of them, which occurred in the XX-XXI centuries, are:
— complete evacuation of the monastery from the Valaam archipelago to the interior of Finland during the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940;
- the subsequent ruin and oblivion of the monastery for many decades;
- the return of the monastery to the Russian Orthodox Church and the beginning of its spiritual revival and restoration in December 1989;
- the final restoration and consecration by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of the main Valaam shrine - the Transfiguration Cathedral in August 2005. In connection with this event, with the blessing of the abbot of the Valaam monastery, Bishop Pankratius of Trinity, a professional male choir of the monastery was organized.

Compound

The choir included professional musicians from St. Petersburg, graduates of the Choir School at the State Academic Chapel. M.I. Glinka and the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after. N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, certified conductors and vocalists, leading singers of vocal, choral groups and musical theaters of St. Petersburg. Among them are Honored Artists of the Republic of Karelia Mikhail Kruglov (born in 1972, bass profundo) and Dmitry Popov (born in 1967, counter-tenor), laureates of international competitions Alexander Bordak (born in 1973, tenor) and Boris Petrov (born . in 1984, baritone). The choir's permanent creative partners are Honored Artist of Russia Vladimir Miller (b. 1964), soloist of the State Mariinsky Theater of St. Petersburg Vladimir Tselebrovsky, soloist of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of Russia Stanislav Mostovoy, soloist of the State St. Petersburg Musical Theater "Through the Looking Glass" Anton Rositsky. The average age of the choir members is 35 years.

With the blessing of the abbot

The choir of the Valaam Monastery is a unique creative group, whose activities are connected with the direct blessings of the abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Bishop Pankratius of Trinity. The choir is simultaneously a liturgical singing and concert creative group. He participates in festive services at the Valaam Metochion in St. Petersburg. The church of the courtyard is the only place in the city where authentic Old Russian chants are performed according to the ancient custom “antiphonally” (alternately) by two “faces” and by one common choir together. The team accompanies Patriarchal services on Valaam, ceremonial receptions on the island of the President and members of the Government of the Russian Federation, and other high-ranking guests of the monastery. During the summer pilgrimage season, the choir singers help the choir of the brethren of the Valaam Monastery sing and give charity concerts, introducing the numerous guests of the monastery to the traditions of Valaam church singing.

Concert activities

The choir began in 2007 with a performance at a gala meeting of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, headed by E. M. Primakov. In May 2008, the choir gave a solo concert in the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari as part of the Festival of Russian Art in Italy, organized on the personal initiative of V.V. Putin and S. Berlusconi. The choir's solo performances took place at the most prestigious academic concert venues in Russia - in the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, in the Concert Hall. P.I. Tchaikovsky Philharmonic, in the Great Hall of the Conservatory, in the International House of Music of Moscow. The choir's tours took place in Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnoyarsk, Saratov, Tambov, Ryazan, in all major cities of the Northwestern Federal District (Arkhangelsk, Petrozavodsk, Murmansk, Vologda, Pskov, Vel. Novgorod, Syktyvkar), in Minsk, in Almaty. Since 2013, the choir annually organizes and performs a Christmas concert in St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg at the beginning of January, the first of which attracted about 6,000 listeners. The choir was the first Russian performer to create a special program dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War - “THE FORGOTTEN WAR”, and presented it in January 2014 on the stage of the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg. In January 2015, at the invitation of People's Artist of the USSR Vladimir Spivakov and Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) of Volokolamsk, the choir took part in the V Moscow Christmas Festival of Sacred Music on the stage of the Moscow Moscow Musical Music Festival, presenting the program “The Light of Christ Enlightens Everyone!” At different times, many famous performers have been and remain creative partners of the choir: People's Artists of the USSR Alibek Dnishev and Roza Rymbaeva, People's Artist of the RSFSR Lev Leshchenko, People's Artists of Russia Vasily Gerello and Dmitry Malikov, Elena Vaenga. At the end of January 2016, the concert tour of the Light of Valaam choir began, within the framework of which more than 80 concerts have already taken place in different cities of Russia. On May 2, 2016, in Moscow, on the stage of the State Kremlin Palace, the choir presented the program “Faith and Victory” with the participation of Hieromonk Photius and People’s Artist of Russia Oleg Pogudin.

With the support of the Timchenko Foundation

Since December 2012, the concert and liturgical activities of the choir have been carried out with the support of Charitable Foundation of Gennady and Elena Timchenko . The first public and charitable concert of the choir, organized under the Foundation’s program, took place in St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg on January 10, 2013 and attracted about 6,000 listeners. The choir presented the Christmas program “Christ is born, glorify” together with the professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, protodeacon Andrey Kuraev .

Repertoire

The leading idea of ​​the choir's concert work is cultural and educational activities and spiritual and patriotic education through the creation, concert performances, recordings and publications of musical, historical, memorial and thematic programs. The extremely wide repertoire of the choir is reflected in them. “From Byzantium to Russia” - liturgical chant of Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Old Russian spolp and early partes chants. “Majestic Tones of Valaam” - original melodies of the Valaam Monastery and their polyphonic presentations. “Russian Spiritual Concert” - spiritual works by Russian classics of large form (Bortnyansky, Degtyarev, Arkhangelsky). “Melodies of the Russian Soul” - Russian folk songs and romances (Alyabyev, Bulakhov, Vertinsky), songs of the Russian army and Cossacks of the 19th-20th centuries, lyrical and patriotic songs of the Soviet period (Soloviev-Sedoy, Ponomarenko, Afanasyev). “The Forgotten War” - original hymns, songs and romances of the First World War, Russian classical and modern sacred music. “Faith and Victory” - Easter chants of Russian classics and modern Russian composers (Rachmaninov, Chesnokov, Bordak), songs about the Great Patriotic War (Migulya, Tukhmanov, Molchanov). “The Light of Christ enlightens everyone!” - Old Russian and Valaam chants of the Nativity of Christ, Christmas songs of Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, England, France, Argentina.

Male choir "Valaam"- a modern St. Petersburg musical group. Organized in 1994. The creator and artistic director of the choir is a graduate of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Igor Vladimirovich Ushakov.

Repertoire

The choir's repertoire includes more than 600 works: examples of ancient Russian singing art, traditional and modern Russian church music, folk songs, and original compositions. The leading idea of ​​the group's activities is the revival of the Russian military-patriotic song heritage, therefore songs of the Russian Imperial Army and Navy occupy a special place in its repertoire. The priority in the choir's activities is the recording and publication of musical, historical and memorial programs. The team rarely performs in public.

Discography of the male choir “Valaam”

• Chants of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery (VTPO “Firm Melodiya” p90 32159 002, 1991)
• Songs and anthems of the army of the Russian Empire (slr 0019, 1994)
• Chants of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery (slr 0020, 1994)

Triptych of spiritual chants “Russian Golgotha”

• Part I “To the New Martyrs of Russia” (rcd 29001, 1995)
• Part II “To the Royal Martyrs” (rcd 29002, 1995)
• Part III “Odd Easter” (rcd 29003, 1995)

Anthology “Orthodox Shrines of the Russian North”

• Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery. Chants of the Valaam monastery. Author's harmonizations of chants. (RCD 29004, 1995)
• Solovetsky Monastery, part I. Chants of the Solovetsky Monastery. Author's harmonizations of chants. (RCD 29005, 1995)
• Tikhvin Monastery. Ancient monastery chants. Author's works. (RCD 29006, 1996)
• Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Chants from the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Author's works. (RCD 29007, 1996)
• Konevsky Monastery. Ancient monastery chants. Author's works. (RCD 29008, 1996)
• Solovetsky Monastery part II. (2 cd) Chants of the Solovetsky Monastery. Author's harmonizations of chants. (RCD 29009, 1996)
• Borodino. To the 185th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino. Russian soldiers' songs from the era of the Patriotic War of 1812. Spiritual chants. (vgr 001, 1997)
• Temple of the Russian Land. Russian soldiers' songs from the era of the Patriotic War of 1812. Spiritual chants. (imlcd 029, 2000)
• Chants of the Valaam Monastery - issue I. (imlcd 034, 1999)
• Chants of the Solovetsky Monastery - issue I. (imlcd 035, 1999)
• Spiritual choral concert - edition I. Works of Russian composers. (imlcd 037, 2000)
• Holy Rus'. Chants of the monasteries of the Russian north. (imlcd 038, 2001)
• For the Tsar, for Holy Rus'! Hymns and songs of the Russian Imperial Army. (imlcd 039, 2001)
• Send us, Lord, patience... Dedication to the family of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II. Hymns of the Russian Orthodox Church. (imlcd 040, 2001)
• God save the king! Hymns and songs of the Russian Imperial Army. (imlcd 041, 2001)
• Song chronicle of the Caucasian War. Dedicated to the memory of Russian military leaders and soldiers who fell in the Caucasus. Soldiers' songs of the Russian Imperial Army during the pacification of the Caucasus. (rlcd 001, 2002)
• Corps of Pages of His Imperial Majesty. Hymns, marches and songs of the Russian Imperial Army. (RLCD 009, 2002)
• Glory to Mother Russia! Soldiers' songs of the Russian Imperial Army. (rlcd 002, 2003)
• Praise to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Hymns of the Russian Orthodox Church. (rlcd 003, 2003)
• Praise the name of the Lord! Chants of the Valaam Monastery in the works of Russian composers. (imlcd 042, 2002)
• Songs of the Russian Navy. (imlcd 043, 2001)
• Chants of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery (imlcd 045, 2003)
• Russian sacred music of the 16th-17th centuries. (imlcd 046, 2002)
• Spiritual choral concert release II. Works of Russian composers. (imlcd 048, 2003)
• Christmas Carols of the Russian Orthodox Church (imlcd 052, 2001)
• Songs of the Russian Imperial Guard (imlcd 053, 2002)
• Christ is Risen! Easter hymns of the Russian Orthodox Church. (imlcd 060, 2002)
• Thunder of victory, ring out! Songs and marches of the Russian Imperial Army. (imlcd 061, 2002)
• Hymns and Marches of the Russian Empire (imlcd 063, 2002)
• Prayer books of the Russian Orthodox Church. P. G. Chesnokov. Litany. (imlcd 064, 2006)
• Praise to God's love. In memory of priest Pavel Florensky. Hymns of the Russian Orthodox Church. (imlcd 065, 2002)
• Moscow is the heart of Orthodox Rus'. Soldiers' songs from the era of the Patriotic War of 1812. Hymns. (imlcd 078, 2003)
• The Tsar is a craftsman, an all-Russian autocrat. Kants of the era of Peter the Great. Hymns of the Russian Orthodox Church. (imlcd 083, 2003)
• We are cadets, we are children of Russia! Dedicated to Russian cadets of all times. Hymns, marches and songs of military educational institutions of the Russian Empire. (imlcd 084, 2003)
• Invincible warrior Theodore. Fdmiral of the Russian Fleet F.F. Ushakov. Russian sailor songs. Hymns of the Russian Orthodox Church. (imlcd 085, 2003)
• Hymn to heroes. to the 100th anniversary of the Russo-Japanese War. Russian sailor songs. Author's works. (imlcd 112, 2004)
• Praise to Russian saints. Hymns of the Russian Orthodox Church. (imlcd 113, 2004)
• A thorny path of struggle and torment. Songs of the White Movement and Russian Diaspora. (iml cd 114, 2004)
• Praise be to you, Paskevich - Ross! Russian soldiers' songs from the times: the Persian War of 1826-28, the Turkish War of 1828-29. and the pacification of Poland in 1831 (imlcd 115, 2004)
• Hymns of the Russian Orthodox Church. Solo recordings of Vladimir Miller with the male choir “Valaam”. (imlcd 116, 2004)
• Legendary Sevastopol. To the 150th anniversary of the Eastern (Crimean) War. Russian soldiers' songs from the Eastern (Crimean) War of 1853-1856. Modern works dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the heroic defense of Sevastopol. (imlcd 117, 2004)
• Russian historical songs. Solo recordings of Vladimir Miller with the male choir “Valaam”. (imlcd 118, 2005)
• Chants of the Solovetsky Monastery, issue II. (imlcd 144, 2002)
• Forward, for the brothers! Russian soldiers' and historical songs from the war for the liberation of Bulgaria in 1877-78. (imlcd 170, 2008)
• Annexation of Crimea to Russia under Empress Catherine II (2 cd) To the 225th anniversary. Russian soldiers' and historical songs from the times of Empress Catherine the Great. Works of Russian poets. (iml cd171, 2008)
• Chants of the Valaam Monastery - issue III. (imlcd 174, 2008)
• Songs of the former Russia (imlcd 173, 2008)
• Songs about the heroes of the Russian army and navy (imlcd 172, 2008)
• Generalissimo Prince A.V. Suvorov. To the 210th anniversary of the Italo-Swiss campaign. Russian soldiers' and historical songs. Works of Russian poets. (imlcd 175, 2008)
• Poetic psalter (2 cd) Poetic transcriptions of psalms, spiritual poetry and odes - M. Lomonosov, G. Derzhavin, A. Krylov. (imlcd 176, 2008)
• Knight of the white army. To the 90th anniversary of the death of General M. G. Drozdovsky. Songs of the Drozdov units and poems of the White movement during the Civil War. (imlcd 177, 2009)
• Poltava. To the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava. Russian soldiers' and historical songs. Works of Russian poets. (imlcd 178, 2009)
• Borodino. Russian soldiers' songs and original works about the Patriotic War of 1812. (imlcd 179, 2009)
• Let us remember, brothers, the glory of Russia! Drill songs of the Russian Imperial Army. (RLCD 024, 2008)
• God save the king! To the 175th anniversary of the Russian national anthem. (RLCD 008, 2008)

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Excerpt characterizing Balaam (chorus)

“Be like everyone else, otherwise life will become unbearable. If you lag too far behind normal people in knowledge or skill, they will no longer understand you and will consider you crazy. Stones will fly at you, your friend will turn away from you”...
This means that even then (!) there were “unusual” people in the world who, from their bitter experience, knew how difficult it all was and considered it necessary to warn, and if possible, to save, people just as “unusual” as they themselves were! !!
These simple words from a man who once lived a long time ago warmed my soul and instilled in it a tiny hope that someday I might meet someone else who would be as “unusual” for everyone else as I was, and with whom I can freely talk about any “oddities” and “abnormalities”, without fear that I will be received with hostility or, at best, simply ridiculed mercilessly. But this hope was still so fragile and incredible for me that I decided to get carried away less when thinking about it, so that, in case of failure, it wouldn’t be too painful to “land” from my beautiful dream into harsh reality...
Even from my short experience, I already understood that there was nothing bad or negative in all my “oddities”. And if sometimes some of my “experiments” did not quite work out, then the negative effect now manifested itself only on me, but not on the people around me. Well, if some friends, for fear of being involved in my “abnormalities,” turned away from me, then I simply didn’t need such friends...
And I also knew that my life was apparently needed by someone and for something, because no matter what dangerous “mess” I got into, I always managed to get out of it without any negative consequences and always somehow... as if someone unknown was helping me with this. As, for example, what happened that same summer, at the moment when I almost drowned in our beloved Nemunas River...

It was a very hot July day, the temperature did not drop below +40 degrees. The white-hot air was dry, like in the desert, and literally “crackled” in our lungs with every breath. We sat on the river bank, shamelessly sweating and gasping for air, like overheated crucian carp thrown onto land... And almost completely “roasted” in the sun, we looked at the water with longing eyes. The usual moisture was not felt at all, and therefore all the children wildly wanted to plunge into the water as quickly as possible. But it was a little scary to swim, since this was a different bank of the river, not familiar to us, and the Nemunas, as you know, has long been that deep and unpredictable river with which it was not advisable to joke.
Our old favorite beach was temporarily closed for cleaning, so we all temporarily gathered at a place more or less familiar to someone, and for now everyone was “drying out” on the shore, not daring to swim. A huge old tree grew near the river. Its long silky branches, at the slightest breath of wind, touched the water, quietly caressing it with delicate petals, and powerful old roots, resting against river stones, intertwined under it into a continuous “warty” carpet, creating a peculiar lumpy roof hanging over the water.
It was this old wise tree, oddly enough, that posed a real danger to swimmers... Around it, for some reason, many peculiar “funnels” were created in the water, which seemed to “suck” the person caught into the depths and need to it was necessary to be a very good swimmer to be able to stay on the surface, especially since the place under the tree was very deep.
But, as we know, talking to children about danger is almost always useless. The more they are convinced by caring adults that some irreparable misfortune can happen to them, the more they are confident that “maybe this can happen to someone, but, of course, not to them, not here and not now”... And the very feeling of danger, on the contrary, only attracts them even more, thereby sometimes provoking them to the stupidest actions.
We, four “brave” neighbor guys and I, thought about the same thing, and, unable to bear the heat, we decided to take a swim. The river looked quiet and calm, and did not seem to pose any danger. We agreed to watch each other and swam together. At the beginning, everything seemed to be as usual - the current was no stronger than on our old beach, and the depth did not exceed the already familiar familiar depth. I became braver and swam more confidently. And then, for this same too much confidence, “God hit me on the head, but he didn’t regret it”... I was swimming not far from the shore, when suddenly I felt that I was being sharply pulled down... And it was so sudden that I didn’t have time to react to stay on the surface. I was spinning strangely and being pulled very quickly into the depths. It seemed that time had stopped, I felt that there was not enough air.
Then I still knew nothing about clinical death or about the luminous tunnels that appeared during it. But what happened next was very similar to all those stories about clinical deaths that much later I managed to read in various books, already living in distant America...
I felt that if I didn’t breathe air now, my lungs would simply burst and I would probably die. It became very scary, my vision grew dark. Suddenly, a bright flash flashed in my head, and all my feelings disappeared somewhere... A blindingly bright, transparent blue tunnel appeared, as if it were entirely woven from tiny moving silver stars. I quietly floated inside him, feeling neither suffocation nor pain, only mentally amazed at the extraordinary feeling of absolute happiness, as if I had finally found the place of my long-awaited dream. It was very calm and good. All sounds disappeared, I didn’t want to move. The body became very light, almost weightless. Most likely, at that moment I was simply dying...
I saw some very beautiful, luminous, transparent human figures slowly and smoothly approaching me through the tunnel. They all smiled warmly, as if they were calling me to join them... I was already reaching out to them... when suddenly a huge luminous palm appeared from somewhere, grabbed me from below and, like a grain of sand, began to quickly lift me to the surface. My brain exploded from the rush of sharp sounds, as if a protective partition had suddenly burst in my head... I was thrown out to the surface like a ball... and deafened by a real waterfall of colors, sounds and sensations, which for some reason were now perceived by me much brighter than it was habitually.
There was real panic on the shore... The neighboring boys, shouting something, waved their arms expressively, pointing in my direction. Someone tried to pull me to dry land. And then everything floated, swirled in some kind of crazy whirlpool, and my poor, overstrained consciousness floated away into complete silence... When I gradually “came to my senses,” the guys stood around me with their eyes widened in horror, and all together somehow resembled identical frightened owls... It was clear that all this time they were almost in real panic shock, and apparently they had already mentally “buried” me. I tried to fake a smile and, still choking on the warm river water, barely squeezed out that everything was fine with me, although I naturally wasn’t in any kind of order at that moment.