On April 20, 2008, on the Feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), I went out for confession from the main part of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin to the vestibule. When you enter this magnificent church, you see on the left the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
I stopped at the entrance to the central part. The prayer "Our Father" was already sung under the high arches, the chanter read prayers for the confession. Like other church-goers of this church, I was waited for confession in this cold, and more spacious part of the church, understanding that due to the holiday there would be much people who want to confess and receive the Eucharist. When there were many people who wanted to confess, the Father Vladimir often gathered us together here before confession. I looked ahead, towards the holy gates, and saw a high arch at the entrance, I suddenly realized: once I was standing here in my dream ...
About 20 years ago I had an amazing dream. I saw that I was at the entrance having a high arch. On the left side of the entrance, in black clothes, the Mother of God Himself meets me. She is silent, her face is full of sadness. Mentally I read Her order: it’s time for me to say goodbye to this world. I fall on my knees before the Holy Mother of God, I cry, I apologize for all sins at once ... I cry because I am not ready to say goodbye to life, and I know that I have many sins ... And I cry bitterly because I have sinned a lot in life, but I repented little therefore I cannot hope to be forgiven by God. But it is impossible to disobey the Queen of Heaven ...
... I take a step beyond the arch. Suddenly, I begin to fly in a dark and long tunnel, about half a meter from the ground, with tremendous speed, with the whistle in my ears. After some time, the flight ends, and I enter a small room, somewhat similar to a museum, in which there are many icons or full-length portraits: the Lord, the Mother of God, the archangels. There is a carpet on the floor, people are sitting on it expecting to be called. There are simple benches. People are called and they leave. That's my name. I go, but I hear: "It is still too early for him." A small old man takes my hand (he also entered the room) and says: "Come back." And I am again flying through the tunnel with great speed. I wake up, and the pillow is wet from tears.…
I remembered this dream. 20 years of my life have passed without prayers and the fasting, the confession, the holy communion. Good deeds were few. The events of life made me turn to God: my mother began to get very sick, and two close people began to behave so badly that my legs began to refuse me ... I began to pray in my family, go to the church, confess, receive the hole communion. And now, waiting for the confessor, I suddenly realized that I was standing in front of the entrance, where the Holy Mother of God was waiting for me on the left, in my dream, near the crucifix. Yes, it was here, in this church, that the the Holy Mother of God was waiting for me at the entrance, here I made a desperate attempt to repent in my dream. The Virgin Mary wanted to tell me that IT HAS COME TIME TO REPENT. The Holy Mother of God once helped my mother: my mother being a child suddenly got wall-eye and the Holy Mother of God appeared in her dream on an icon on a birch tree. She told to my mother not to go to German doctor (Pskov Oblast and the district was occupied by Nazis, but to pray Her. And after the prayer in the church, the disease was gone.
I think that this long and dark tunnel in which I flew so quickly was the TIME. So THESE TWENTY YEARS FLEW WITH A WHISTLE. And I finally came to Your House, the Holy Mother of God. I remembered from a dream four images in full growth: the Mother of God, Jesus Christ, the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. I remembered a carpet on the floor and bench. Only we, the believers, did not sat longer on the carpet, we prayed on our knees asking the Lord to forgive our sins. The Father Vladimir began a prayer before confession. We listened to every word. Our hearts were open to repentance to the Lord.
The photo of the church in which I am a parishioner since January 2008 - the Church of the Intercession and Nativity of the Holy Virgin.
This right side of the single temple is the entrance to the temple of the Intercession. In 1581, the Holy Mother of God came in this church and the blind monk Dorotheus (he was blacksmith before) saw Her.
This is the Church of the Nativity (both churches are under a common roof, and they are similar, small, although the Church of the Intercession is a bit bigger).
Written in 20 April 2008-21 February 2009. Translated into English in 14 January 2019.