On January 17, 2001, Sergei Nikolaevich Yakovlev, a marine biologist who is a recovering alcoholic, established a chapter of the "No to Alcoholism and Drug Addiction" program in Vladivostok. Members meet and offer each other encouragement and support. At this point, the chapter is only a support group, without any specially trained consultants. Click here to see a proposal to upgrade the support group to a rehabilitation center, complete with trained personnel.

The "No to Alcoholism and Drug Addiction" program, which was originally started in Moscow, is very similar to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and is fashioned after AA principles.

Healing the Body by the Soul

Sergei Yakovlev

translated by Sr. Mary Catherine Shambour, head of Russian Studies at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota

From the power of hell I will redeem them, from death I will save them. Death, where is thy sting? Hell! Where is your victory?  (Hosea 13:14)

IN THE BATTLE WITH ALCOHOL THAT WAS DEVELOPING WITHIN ME, THAT MEANS WITH MY VERY SELF, I WAS DOOMED TO DEFEAT, BUT HAVING APPEALED TO MY CREATOR FOR HELP, I RECEIVED RECOVERY.

Sergei Yakovlev, founder of Vladivostok chapter of "No to Alcoholism and Drug Addiction" program, and Sandra Sonnen.

Almost having lost hope for overcoming the alcoholism that was developing within me, I felt my own total helplessness. But the Lord showed me the way to recovery. This path lay through the "12 Step" program, worked out by the Alcoholics Anonymous Society (AA). The fall of 1993 passed. It was precisely then that I began to realize, that unless a miracle will happen, I will die. And a miracle happened! There appeared at our laboratory Thomas from Chicago who gave me the book “Alcoholics Anonymous." When I arrived at the first ever in my life meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, I indeed received a gift from on high! From that day I entered unto the path that was leading me again to life, to light, to God! For the past seven years in my life, there have been hundreds of meetings in various cities: In Vladivostok, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhni Novgorod, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Nakhodka, Arseniev. For myself I call meetings of AA "Meetings of Life" and these meetings returned not only me to life, but my whole family. They literally tore me out of the hell of my own earthly existence.

Now I am asking myself, could I not have become an alcoholic in our drinking country? Of course, not! The first time I was given vodka, I was ten years old, and I immediately experienced an enormous euphoria. Alcohol, together with the physiological peculiarities of my organism turned out to be not simply a chemical substance, but the purest narcotic. And I am certain that it becomes just that for many Russian citizens. Alcoholism has to do with deadly disease, but up to this time many consider it simply as dissipation. Yes, my narcotic, ethyl alcohol, was weaker than heroin and was killing me longer. For the first time, in 1979, I landed in Shepetkova (a psychiatric hospital} having at age 28 drunk myself into a white heat. Already then I decided that I would no longer take another drop, but, unfortunately, the disease isn't cured by decisions. The cure--that is still not recovery. Even doctors are in agreement with such a postulate, not wishing to be cunning. One cannot alter the work of the liver and enzymes nor take away the memory of the pleasant sensations which alcohol gave from my childhood. Thank God that it does not work that way on all people. Genetically I was protected from nicotine, but I felt absolutely helpless against alcohol and I valued drinks in which the alcoholic content was high. Now it is understandable to me why I so valued the "degree”. My dependent brain desired more and more pleasant sensations. However, its reserves are limited, and in place of pleasure, there remain pain and gloom. Life without joy, without pleasure is impossible, but they come back slowly, sometimes after years. Here is an example from my personal life. After five sober years I taught myself once again completely to live without torture and with pleasure. And although theoretically I knew that it does not pay to drink, but from the first glass of dry wine, my dependent brain produced such euphoria, that I once again found myself completely under the power of Satan (i.e. "the green serpent"). At that time I still did not quite understand that to be cured from chronic alcoholism is impossible. It is possible only not to drink in order to live, but how is one to achieve this if one is absolutely powerless? How can one conquer oneself? By now even death was wished for, and I saw in it only partial victory.

Sergei Yakovlev with American benefactors and grant writers.

When a person is deadly ill, he is loved, surrounded by attention, offered help, and even those who yesterday did not care for him, feel sorry for him. He himself, basically, sets his hopes upon the physiological reserves of his own organism, or on God, but rarely on medicine, and even more rarely upon his own will power. In the case of alcoholism and drug addiction, the sick person becomes persecuted and scorned. They speak to him about the power of will, which for him it is impossible to strain for, and explain by what means he is to take himself under his own control. And it's not only healthy people who talk about this, but even those in whom the syndrome of chemical dependency long ago has developed. Here is where the pity lies, that they see the illness in another many times easier than they see it in themselves. What would life be like in Russia, if every person would solve his own problems and would stop giving advice. It is most likely for this reason that recovery does take place in the Alcoholics Anonymous society, because at our meetings no one gives advice, no one is taken to be cured, only one's own troubles and the joys of a sober existence are shared.

In July, 2000, in the city of Minneapolis (U.S.A.) there was a forum commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Alcoholics Anonymous Society. More than 75,000 participants gathered from the whole world. It was especially pleasant for me to see elderly men and women, famous and not famous people for whom life was taking place, but each recalling out of which hell he was fortunate to escape, thanks to the program and his own colleagues in misfortune. Indeed, God himself granted us this program! The forum was conducted under the motto "The 21st Century Without Narcotics". I pray that this will be accomplished. A number of people know how beautiful life can be without narcotics. The majority, however, such as those who do not understand this, are dying. To solve this global problem is possible only with the whole world acting together! But every chemically-dependent person must begin with himself! With his own confession! This gives the knowledge of what he wishes to leave. Having recognized the vacantly spent years, to see even in each spent day the mistakes of the past years and to walk away from them.

The celebrated physiologists Sechenov and Pavlov paid great attention to conditional reflexes, striving by them to explain all human behavior. For a long time I could not look at alcohol without longing. The path towards recovery was long through failures and repentance, prayers and appeals to God. I convinced myself that a person's intellect is dependent not only on reflexes and one's physiological condition, but also on the fact of how the person relates to God and to the world created by Him! On his world view! Without God, a person's activity becomes thoughtless and destructive. It is impossible to create and to do good without a Creator--without a realization by the person of the Trinity and of the embodiment of His gifts given by Him. I wish everyone peace, love and improvement!

I have an enormous favor to ask all who have read this article: give it to read to some person dependent upon alcohol or narcotics. Our meetings take place in Vladivostok on Sundays at 14 hours (Stanyukovicha, 53) next to the DKM, on Mondays and Wednesdays at 12:00 at D.K.Zh.D., on Wednesdays at 19 hours (on Gogol Street, 35), on Thursdays at 19 hours at the church of the Kazan icon of the Mother of God (movietheater "Vimpel") and on Saturdays at 15 hours at the Catholic church of the Most Holy Mother of God (Volodarsky street, behind the circus). On Mondays at 18 hours at Gogol Street, 35, the relatives of drug addicts gather together. Come also to the consultations before the meetings. Each person, incapable to solve chemical dependency independently can create a group and begin to recover. Yes, it is not easy to do so, but it is more possible than to stop drinking independently.

Sergei Yakovlev—an Orthodox Christian