The federal social Assistance line "Mercy" of the Russian Orthodox Church receives more than 200 calls per day, including requests for psychological help in the event of the death of loved ones. This was announced by the creator and head of the Russian Orthodox Church's social assistance hotline, Deacon Igor Kulikov, at a press conference in TASS on the specifics of the work and effectiveness of the federal church's social assistance line "Mercy".
"It's 24-hour, multi-channel, and free, meaning even if a person doesn't have money on their phone and has a negative balance, they'll always get through to us. At any time of the day from anywhere in the country. During her work, more than 290 thousand calls were received. This is more than 200 calls per day, during business hours in Moscow, this is more than 20 calls per hour, of all kinds," he said.
According to him, 65,000 calls were received requesting psychological support and assistance from a priest. "Of these, 3,000 calls were received from people whose loved ones were dying right now, either in their arms or in the hospital. They needed support, help, psychological counseling, or they asked a priest to come and help and confess a person," the priest added.
There are 17 operators on the line, and the average waiting time is no more than a minute.
Archpriest Mikhail Potokin, acting chairman of the Synodal Department for Charity, called the special feature of the hotline its focus on human participation and the personal attitude of those helping. "The church line differs from other social projects precisely in that we have human history everywhere here. <...> When our volunteers and church workers begin to provide assistance, relationships between people often develop. That is, this is not a one-time case - they brought it, gave it away, helped, left, and forgot," the priest noted.
In turn, Vladimir Legoyda, chairman of the Synodal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate for Church-Society Relations and the Media, noted that the hotline is called not only by those who need help, but also by those who want to help. "Because we know that people respond to someone else's grief and misfortune, often they start bringing those things that are not needed. <...> From this point of view, the hotline helps to understand what people need," he concluded.
According to TASS materials