A Watermelon and a Bucket of Crucian Carp

;You run into an acquaintance, and they don’t say hello. Suddenly you realize that, strictly speaking, you aren't acquainted at all; it’s just that I happened to edit a film where he was the main character. When you spend a week staring at a monitor with someone in close-up, listening to his speeches, he naturally becomes a close person to you. Without him ever suspecting it...
;When our film crew brought back footage from Kazan about the Catholic parish there, I was assigned the editing. Among other things, the tapes contained a long "soundbite" with an Orthodox priest. Mind you, he was visibly young for a "Batyushka." Blond, clear-eyed, energetic, named Ivan—just like in the fairy tales (what else?).
;I really liked the way he spoke about unity: convincingly, vividly, and to the point. He noted that Christianity split into Catholicism and Orthodoxy quite recently—only a mere thousand years or so ago—and prior to that, there was no division, meaning Christians originally abided in unity. He argued that division is a matter of politics, not of faith and the Gospel. He said that while rites may differ, works of charity can absolutely be done together, and this constitutes the very first step toward ecumenism. Helping the underprivileged, children's summer camps—here, he noted, the Catholic Church has so much experience that "we Orthodox have a lot to learn from you."
;Our cameraman, Kirill, had filmed an entire Orthodox Liturgy in the church where this Father Ivan served as rector.
;I noticed a mass of strange things. First of all, Father Ivan was celebrating the service... in a Catholic cassock and a white Roman collar(!). Secondly, standing near the altar alongside him was a Catholic priest from Argentina, Father Diogenes—granted, he stood off to the side, but he was still on the other side of the Royal Doors! Thirdly, Catholic nuns in blue habits and veils were quietly attending the service, and not a single old parish babushka tried to chase them away!
;From the soundbite of Father Diogenes, the rector of the Kazan Catholic community, I learned that he and the Batyushka had been close friends along with their parishes for a long time. Of course, religious tolerance in Kazan is nothing to surprise anyone with—that's just how it turned out historically—but to be actual close friends...
;And why a Catholic cassock instead of an Orthodox riza? They explained to me that Father Ivan had just gone with some Catholics on a pilgrimage to Cz;stochowa, to the miraculous icon. There, in Poland, he bought himself a Catholic cassock and now wore it with great pleasure.
;I was enchanted by the material, yet the segment turned out a bit too bold for Siberia. After watching it, our Father Bishop asked me, just to be safe, to call the young Batyushka in Kazan and ask his permission before broadcasting the film:
;"Lest he face some unpleasantness after a segment like this."
;I called Kazan and heard the familiar rapid-fire voice:
;"Don't worry, I won't take my words back, you can put it on the air," Father Ivan permitted. "On the contrary, let people find out!"
;When, about ten years later, I chanced upon an opportunity to go to Kazan myself for a shoot, I instantly remembered this Father Ivan. Now, there was someone worth filming! Especially since the occasion for the shoot was as ecumenical as it gets: a pilgrimage of Catholic youth to the Orthodox Icon of Our Lady of Kazan.
;“Father Ivan must have been overjoyed when the icon was returned to the city,” I imagined to myself.
;At the opening of the forum in the new Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross—built by the city as a gesture of gratitude to the Catholics for the return of the icon—many Orthodox believers were present, including priests. I kept scanning the crowd for Father Ivan. Surely he would come?
;But he wasn't there.
;Later, I asked Father Diogenes (who had transformed from an acquaintance on screen to an acquaintance in real life):
;"How is Father Ivan doing? Shall we pay him a visit?"
;"Father Ivan is no longer with us," I heard in reply.
;It turned out that Father Ivan had gone on a pilgrimage to Israel and died... right there in the Holy Land. He was buried there too. He had only just turned forty.
;When Father Diogenes speaks about him, he grows visibly sad, yet he smiles at the same time. He clearly misses his wonderful friend, but he seems certain that he is in heaven.
;"Ivan was the closest person to me; I don't have friends like that anymore," Father Diogenes asserts. "We were more than brothers. We met during my very first year after arriving in Kazan. Services back then were still held in an apartment.
;There was a ring at the door. I opened it—and there stood a young guy: a watermelon tucked under his arm, and a bucket of crucian carp in his other hand. 'Let's get to know each other,' he said. We fried up the fish, had a chat. Since then, we celebrated all the feasts together—church, family, and parish feasts alike. We helped each other in everything. When I was building the church, the number of useful tips he gave me!
;Ivan dreamed that we would go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land together, but I couldn't make it back then; I was tied up with the construction. 'Some other time,' I said. If only I had known we would never see each other again..."
;Father Diogenes learned of his friend's death from his wife, over the phone. She begged him to come to the funeral, since he was Father Ivan's best friend. But that meant flying to Israel.
;"Of course I permitted him to go," Bishop Clemens Pickel told us later. "A friendship like that must be treasured. I knew Father Ivan well too."
;"Still, what did he die of? Heart issues? The heat?"
;"From joy," Bishop Clemens said.
;"From what kind of joy?!"
;"From having visited the Holy Land," Bishop Clemens smiles, but he isn't joking.
;Well, indeed—to see the Holy Land and die...
;“I’ll dig up the old footage, add some photographs, soundbites from Father Diogenes and the bishop—it will make a splendid segment about the friendship between a Catholic priest and an Orthodox Batyushka,” I thought, fired up with the idea.
;But it was not to be: the latest new director of the film studio did not approve the segment. "Too sentimental," he said, "what's the point."
;But no one can forbid writing about it. May Father Ivan rest in peace! Especially since it is the Holy Land...