December 1, 2011
"In order for Orthodox Christians to preserve and spread their faith in this country, we must work together…" ‒ An Interview with I.K. Popov

The Orthodox Business Association is a unique new organization whose goal is to help Orthodox Christians outside of Russia. They accomplish this in many different ways, from financing small projects in various ROCOR dioceses to organizing monastery construction projects and the "Orthodox Farm" project, which on the one hand will help monasteries in the Church Abroad get on their own two feet, and on the other will afford Orthodox Christians an opportunity to help the monasteries by purchasing high-quality products. The OBA is headed by Igor K. Popov, whose interview is available to readers below.

Igor K. Popov was born in Kharkov. He moved to New York in 1982 and currently runs his own company, EMR4DR, which specializes in programming and digital archiving for doctors’ offices.

Igor Konstantinovich, tell us about yourself. How did the idea to create the Orthodox Business Association originate?

I have been living in "Russian" Brighton for over 25 years, but in all that time I have been unable to find a way to interact and communicate with the Orthodox people here on a larger scale. Considering the number of Orthodox Christians living in Brighton, I am amazed that no one has made the effort to unite them. After consulting with my friends, we decided to get a blessing for creating such an organization from the only Orthodox priest in Brighton, Priest Vadim Arefiev (rector of the Church of Our Lady "The Inexhaustible Chalice"). He supported our idea and suggested announcing the Association’s creation in Rodnik magazine, which is published within his parish. Calls started to come in immediately. People were interested and offered their help and participation. That’s how it all started.

When was the Association founded, and what is its mission?

The Association received the blessing of His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion (of Eastern America & New York – ed.) in August 2011, so it is still in its infancy. Our basic goal is to consolidate the intellectual potential of Orthodox Christians regardless of nationality, language, or social status, for joint work in realizing our projects, the planning and execution of which is carried out with the direct involvement of the clergy.

How does the Association work?

Work began with our website, www.orthodoxunited.org, through which we try to reach out to anyone interested in our activities. Anyone can, in a matter of minutes, create his own profile and also register his business or project. The site platform also features an "Orthodox Message Board," which our parishioners can use for free to post announcements advertising or soliciting goods, essential services, job offers, and more. We consider such material collaboration of particular importance for the Orthodox community. Both the other members of the organization and I are convinced that only by pooling the resources of the Orthodox community, not only in this country, but around the world, will we realize our full potential and bring to fruition our many projects.

Why do you want to help Russian Orthodox churches specifically?

I will begin from afar. In the course of my work, I pay fairly regular visits to Russia, where, by God’s grace, Orthodoxy is undergoing a massive revival. On Sunday, most churches are packed to the gills, so to speak, and people stand outside. In the U.S., the situation is somewhat different: there is no monolithic Christian denomination, and the Orthodox are in a different position altogether. For instance, I recently saw statistics compiled by Alexey Grindach relating to Orthodox demographics in the U.S. over the last ten years. I was unpleasantly surprised to see that, compared to our brothers in the Bulgarian and Romanian Churches, which each saw a more than 100% increase in parishioners, the Russian Church Abroad increased only 8%, while the Moscow Patriarchate lost 6% of its faithful population. It is clear that here the Russian Orthodox Church is in need of help and support, and we are prepared to help in any way possible to fortify and grow Orthodoxy in America. At the same time, it is absolutely clear that the Association can accomplish nothing without the support of the clergy.

Tell us about the joint work being done between the OBA and the Eastern American Diocese.

When we received a blessing to form the Association, Metropolitan Hilarion personally blessed our new office and addressed us with some warm, kind words and spiritual instruction. In His Eminence’s words, helping the Church is a noble endeavor, but it is a trying one, as well. When people unite to help the Church, the Enemy of man immediately sends a multitude of temptations to destroy the good work begun. We interpreted this to mean that we must work closely with the hierarchy and clergy in order for our work to truly benefit the Church. Oftentimes the clergy sees more than the laity. Therefore they can let us know how we can help, and what we can do better. His Eminence gave us his blessing to work alongside the diocesan administration, in particular with Archpriest Serge Lukianov (the diocesan secretary – ed.), in order to decide which projects will benefit the Diocese. The diocesan administration has been helping us organize these projects, including "Project Kellia," "Doctor Aybolit," and the "Orthodox Farm," which will all benefit the Diocese greatly. The Association’s goal is to unite Orthodox Christians for the benefit of the Church and one another. This is impossible without close collaboration with the Church administration. The hierarchy knows the needs of its clergy, and the clergy know the needs of their flock.

It important to understand that no one knows his parishioners better than the parish rector, their pastor, who has a realistic understanding of the capabilities and potential of his parishioners. In order to become a member of the Association, one needs only be an active parishioner in good standing with his parish, who can show initiative and faith in himself and in our community; and, of course, we need the contact information of his parish and rector.

Every parish has dedicated people who actively help the Church: some have experience, others means, others innovative ideas and projects, not to mention promising youth, on whom our future and the future of all Orthodox Christianity in general rests – these are the people with whom we would like to work, with whom we’d like to join forces. Listing all of our potential projects is difficult, but if we will work together under the aegis of the Church, then we can accomplish much. Our community has enormous potential and we must absolutely make use of it to help the Church and ourselves.

Your first project was "Project Kellia," thanks to which the idea for the "Orthodox Farm" was born. Please tell us more about these projects.

With the blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion, "Project Kellia" became our first joint project with the Eastern American Diocese. The Lord Himself quite literally led us to this project, and from the first days of our work with Holy Cross Monastery it became clear that we were on the right path. The Association’s basic goal is to provide whatever assistance is necessary to the monastery for the construction of monastic cells and a new church. This project has already shown what we can accomplish when we work together to help the Church. We met with Bishop George (of Mayfield – ed.) and diocesan representatives, and we worked out various methods of providing Holy Cross Monastery assistance with its building projects. With the help of Fr. Vadim Arefiev, we quickly arranged for a visit by Russian architect Aleksei Neiman to West Virginia, and he eagerly agreed to draw up plans for the new cathedral and a general plan for the monastery. We met with members of the monastery’s benevolent committee and discussed various methods of seeking out and attracting funding, which in turn will increase the monastery’s public presence and draw attention to the difficulties it faces.

The idea for the "Orthodox Farm" came about some time ago, but we had no idea that the opportunity to realize it in partnership with an Orthodox monastery would present itself so soon. Help with financing, organization, and realization of monastery production is a direct concern. Of course, we are not trying to turn this godly habitation into a bazaar. The Association is only making itself available as a reliable partner, willing to defend the interests of the brotherhood and presenting its environmentally friendly products, made in prayer, to the American Orthodox market. One certainly couldn’t conceive of a monk haggling at market! In addition to distribution of monastery-made goods, we are also helping monasteries expand their property and production. The Orthodox community has no shortage of experts in the areas of farming, animal husbandry, and production, who are ready to help the monastery free of charge. We would like to help the monastery expand their production, providing them with new equipment and paying for the construction of more optimal buildings suited for farming and storage.

If we help our monasteries advertise and distribute their products, we will help our brothers form a more stable source of income, which in turn will help the monasteries survive. I was shocked to hear that our monks are barely making ends meet, while many monasteries are facing financial crisis. When your main revenue comes from donations, then you are constantly in a state of financial uncertainty, especially in difficult economic times. The "Orthodox Farm" project will help our monasteries establish regular, stable revenue, without disrupting their peaceful prayer life. This is one way to help our monasteries, and I sincerely hope that people will, on their own initiative, begin to offer assistance to this noble cause.

What other projects are you working on at the present time?

At present there are several directions in which our work has branched out: the "Doctor Aybolit" project aims to provide free medical care for those who can’t afford to pay, as well as create a database of Orthodox physicians in the U.S. The Association is also planning an expo for Orthodox artists and jewelers in the near future. One of the projects we’ve recently begun to develop is the creation of an "Orthodox Credit Union," in which we hope to invite representatives of various banks and financial institutions to participate. During this present financial crisis, our parishes and parishioners could benefit greatly from an Orthodox mutual credit union, allowing them to aid themselves, their loved ones, and their businesses – in turn, churches could continue being built, and work in the Church would not cease. More information about these projects is available on the Association’s website. We would also be grateful to anyone willing to share new ideas and propositions for projects that we can engage in together.

What difficulties is the OBA facing?

The most fundamental problem we run into is the sluggishness of the Orthodox community. Sadly, we are having immense difficulty convincing people that the Association was not created to benefit just a small group of people, but all of us Orthodox Christians, for every parish, for every clergyman. Unfortunately, not everyone takes into account the fact that, in order for Orthodox Christians to preserve and spread their faith in this country, we must work together and we must do it now, or else the consequences could be dire. The second difficulty we face is distrust on the part of both the clergy and parishioners, which is entirely understandable, considering the history of our people, especially the events of the past century. I think that, with God’s help, this situation will correct itself when people see our work and concrete results.

What kind of future do you see for the Association?

Not being possessed of the gift of prophecy, I don’t think it right for me to make any affirmative statements in this regard – everything is in our Lord’s hands, and we but fulfill His holy will! However, considering the fast pace with which our work is expanding and the intensity with which our brothers and sisters are joining our efforts, desiring to participate in this or that project, and suggesting their own projects, I am bolstered in my opinion that the fruits of our work might very well be immeasurably greater than our initial expectations.

I believe in our intellectual potential, which every community should envy, and I hope that ultimately we will all be able to come together!

Reader Peter Lukianov
Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese ROCOR