Far beyond Novgorod, in a remote village, a priest's position became vacant. At that time I myself served as a reader in the church of the village of Podgoschi, also in the Novgorod region. Services were held only on weekends, and while living in St. Petersburg, I visited Podgoshchi on visits. When I was offered a parish in Marodkino, without hesitation I set off to see the place. I was told that I needed to travel three hundred kilometers to a small town, then forty kilometers on a local bus, then walk five kilometers through a swamp. They also told me that in the village itself, near the church, there lived a family of bandits. A father who spent fifteen years in prison, two sons who imitated him in every possible way, and a suffering mother with another son, a weak-minded one. They greatly annoyed the old, lonely priest. Sometimes they beat him, robbed him, insulted him, but he humbled himself - cried and served. He died, according to the testimony of local parishioners, with traces of beatings on his body, which only these bandits could inflict. A young priest, Father Sergius, was sent to replace the deceased priest. But they also began to persecute him. The priest's mother was mercilessly beaten, and Father Sergius himself was threatened with death. He filed a lawsuit, one of the bandits was imprisoned. Then the family of thieves began a real hunt for the priest. Father Sergius had only one choice - to leave. The parish was left without a priest.