The spring session of the International Program
In the last week of spring at St. Petersburg Christian University an academic session of the international program was held.
This was the first time that 10 students from Pepperdine University (Malibu, USA) visited SPbCU. Students studied the Russian language, as well as the Russian culture and traditions. A special emphasis was placed on the work of famous Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky.
In the photo are the students of the international program, with their professor, Paul Contino, and the head of the International Program, Alexei Belov (center top row). Cheryl Corrado is at the center of the middle row.
After completing the program and visiting several important historical sites, the students from the United States return home, taking a unique experience with them.
On this trip, the students were accompanied by Cheryl Corrado, known in the Christian community as the author of "The philosophy of ministry Pashkov Colonel." Cheryl spent a lot of time in Russia, collecting material about the evangelical movement in Russia at the end of XIX beginning of the XX century. Cheryl Corrado has a longstanding interest in Russia and she shared her story of how it started.
Her fascination with Russia began with the Cold War. Knowing about the persecution of believers in the Soviet Union, she even wanted to learn Morse code, to have fellowship with believers. Then she found the opportunity to study the Russian language and began to study the history of the evangelical movement in Russia, and became interested in the person of Colonel Pashkov. She proceeded to write a master's thesis, which was later published in book form, including in Russian. In writing the research and translation into Russian, Cheryl helped honorary doctor of SPbCU Marina S. Karetnikova. Currently, Ms. Corrado is working on obtaining her doctorate in Russian history. She is currently working on a study of the history of Sakhalin and in the future plans to return to the study of the personality of Colonel Pashkov.
For Cheryl, studying Russia is important to answer the question of how we understand the world and each other, as Americans, and understand Russia and Russian believers, who they were, what were their traditions and customs, and identity. She is interested in the history, not only of the Church, but also the people and the relationship between the people and God.
"Visiting St. Petersburg is always a big event. The places here bear the imprint of history, where the evangelical movement was founded, and where there are libraries, archives, and people who are themselves part of history." Cheryl believes it is important that she works at a large university, where she has the opportunity to testify about God and Russia. She does not separate her academic and spiritual life. Her work is her ministry.