CHICAGO: February 14, 2013
Sretensky Choir Soloist Appeal

In October, 2012, the renowned Sretensky Monastery Male Choir of Moscow visited many parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, in celebration of the fifth anniversary of the reunification of ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate. During their tour of the United States, the choir was forced to leave behind one of their singers, a soloist and core member since 2002. Bass Petr Gudkov, age 37, stayed in Chicago, looking for a chance to live. He has Stage IV Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Doctors in Russia gave up on him, but in Chicago, leading experts in cancer care at Loyola Hospital agreed to treat him aggressively with a new drug, and, if all went well, a bone marrow transplant. Their only condition was payment up front.

Petr’s friends immediately began a world-wide fund raising campaign, and in a short time were able to raise enough funds to cover the cost of chemotherapy. The treatment has been successful, and Petr’s treating physicians are now preparing him for the bone marrow transplant. The only obstacle in the way of Petr’s surgery and projected full recovery from cancer is the cost of the transplant, which, together with post-operative treatment, will cost $293,000. So far, $153,000 has been raised towards this end, leaving a need of $140,000.

Petr, a gentle and talented young man, has devoted his life to the Church and the beauty of Russian Orthodox choral singing. He is a graduate of the Moscow Spiritual Academy and former student of the late Archimandrite Matfei (Mormyl). Today, he is receiving treatments while living at the Holy Protection Cathedral’s rectory in Chicago, far from his beloved family, a wife and their two daughters, aged just 10 and 14.

Please help! Remember Petr in your prayers, and please make as generous a donation as you can afford. Every penny and every prayer we can garner will aid this kind, talented, desperately ill person. Help return him to health and his family, and his obedience of singing to the glory of God.

Russian-American Community Services (“RACS”), a wonderful charitable agency based in San Francisco, has kindly agreed to facilitate tax deductible contributions. Please see their website at racssf.org.

Please contact Ksenia Papkova for further information.
kpapkova@gmail.com
(312) 636-7678