In Russia, Mobile Church Comes to the People

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:53 pm by Kathy Schiffer

It’s a train. It’s a mobile hospital. It’s a church.

The Doctor Voino-Yasenetsky Saint Luka train brings medical care and care of souls to remote parts of Russia, in the Krasnoyarsk and Khakassia regions of Siberia. Aboard the unique train, trained medical staff are able to provide free consultations to some 200 people per day.

And an Orthodox priest offers sacraments and spiritual guidance.

Russian church train — A Russian Orthodox priest rings the bells after baptizing an infant in his mobile “choo choo church”

Russian church train - interior — A baby is baptized in the richly adorned interior of the mobile church

A photo story on NBCNews.com explains that the unique train with its on-board church and clinic is named after Russian surgeon, Orthodox archbishop and Gulag prisoner Valentin Voino-Yasenetsky.

Archbishop Luka (Voino-Yasenetsky’s religious name) was recipient of the Stalin Prize in medicine in 1946. His medical textbook Purulent Surgery Essays (published 1934) is still used today as a reference book and a manual for surgeons.

He was also a great spiritual writer. He suffered political repressions, and was exiled in Siberia for eleven years.

Archbishop Luka was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000. His feast day is May 29/June 11.