Over ten years ago there was the following incident at our parish. I was an altar attendant at the time, serving with the rector of the Church of the Mother of God “of the Don” in the town of Mytischi (just north of Moscow), Fr. Anatoly (Proskurin). A man came to him and said, “Father, life is hard. Bless me to hang myself.” You can imagine father’s surprise. However, Fr. Anatoly listened to him, heard him out, and explained to him that taking one’s own life by suicide is a terrible sin, and that human life is a priceless gift of God. But the man would not hear it, and…