Nun who served in the Armed Forces and jumped with a parachute over five hundred times helps military personnel.

Sister Anisiya Sokolova, who is a psychologist at the Centre for Services for Combatants, shared her military experience and assistance to veterans. She mentioned that she has jumped over 500 times with a parachute and taught mathematics before joining the army. According to Sister Anisiya, service in the Armed Forces and in the monastery turned out to be similar. Since 2014, she has been working as a crisis psychologist, helping military personnel with sleep issues, PTSD, and interaction with civilians. She considers herself useful in her position and currently has no plans for the future.

At one championship, I was offered to work in the army and I agreed and transferred, because I had such a beloved activity – parachuting. There were huge opportunities in the army, so huge that while working, I jumped everything that was possible under the conditions of the Armed Forces and not only there, as I also transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and I jumped so much that when someone offers me now that when the war ends, a heavenly space for such things will open, come and let’s jump, I have no desire,' says Sister Anisiya.

The first jump from 500 meters is a strange feeling, the body no longer distinguishes what's on the ground, it becomes such a homogeneous picture, you can’t see the houses, dogs, or Christmas trees. For me, that uncertainty is very uncomfortable. But conversely, when it was 4,000, it was a total freedom, so many meters that you can fly, do whatever you want, and there is enough Time. Consequently, a jump from 100 meters is considered a very difficult jump, because there you don’t have time to do anything for yourself; if there are any adverse processes, it becomes very risky,' the woman recounts.

I was in the Armed Forces, and then I immediately transitioned to the monastery. It is also a structured way of life with its limitations, but here the spiritual focus is different than the armed focus there. Considering the monastery I chose, the Studite Rule, it is contemplative, as spiritual persons call it – spiritual special forces, and where I was in the last year, there was also a specialized unit, so nothing really changed for me, just the type of troops changed, so I can’t say something terrible happened there,' the woman shares.

I was in the monastery and it concerned me a lot because before the monastery I was in the Armed Forces and had my 5-year training, felt like a soldier and am registered with the military. And when I wanted to go to the front, but at my time, being in the Armed Forces, I had already made such a turnaround that there is a weapon stronger than the army’s, and I didn’t want to change that. I shared my thoughts with a sister, saying there are such considerations, and she said that there is a hospital, so let's go work. And the two of us went to work as crisis psychologists,' says Sister Anisiya Sokolova.

Metaphorically, they can say that it’s as if I came out of the forest, went wild during the war, as if everything is happening behind glass or as if I was taken out of my environment and placed here, and I feel nothing here, and it resonates with me in no way. Many arrive here with significant tension, and that tension needs to be processed, it hinders,' says the crisis psychologist.

Sister Anisiya feels useful in her post and currently has no plans for the future.