"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you..." Matthew 7:7
Life went on as usual. Life was bustling; many events occurred in our lives. Sveta and I, now husband and wife, continued our stage work.
Gradually, the events preceding our marriage faded from memory.
In 1982, we were invited to work in a new show program in the city of Sochi. There we met Igor Talkov, then unknown to anyone, a talented singer. We began a new joint project, and Igor, long-haired and bearded, performed at a nationwide Young Performers' Competition held in the city of Sochi. The director of the ensemble accompanying the singer was I, Alexander Atlas. Like all ensembles yearning for fame, we sought to stand out, to be original. In the end, we apparently overdid it considerably. We were told that our appearance was completely inappropriate and, without saying a word about the musical side of our performance, were barred from further participation in the competition. Such were the times! Igor was deeply disappointed by the jury's decision and left Sochi to seek other paths to the musical Olympus. And, as it is known, he found it—but the price was too high. He had to pay for the climb with his own life...
And I received an invitation to head a philharmonic ensemble in the city where my creative career once began. I accepted, and Sveta and I said goodbye to sunny Sochi and returned to my native city. Married couples were not allowed to live in the philharmonic dormitory at that time (!), and we were forced to rent accommodations. Everything went along as usual, but one day something occurred that had a strong influence on my attitude toward God and faith in Him.
One evening I went to another concert, and Sveta didn't feel well and stayed home. After some time, our drunk landlord began pounding on our apartment door. He was shouting for Sveta to open it immediately and be kind to him; that he knew she was home alone; that if my wife would be amenable to him, he would reduce our rent. Svetlana was very frightened by what was happening and told him through the door that if he didn't leave immediately, she would call the police. Cursing filthily, he left, saying on his way out that he would come again tomorrow.
When I returned from the concert, Sveta told me this story. Blood boiled within me, and I decided that I absolutely must put this lover of other men's wives in his place.
The next day was a day off, and I, pretending to leave, quietly returned to the apartment. At exactly seven o'clock, the drunk "hero-lover" appeared in our doorway. He began pounding on the door again and shouting. I went to open it. The landlord's eyes bulged from their sockets in surprise when, instead of Sveta, he saw me in the doorway. Of course, our strength was unequal. He was completely drunk and much older than me. I was completely sober, young, and full of desire to protect my "better half."
What happened next is hard even to call a fight. It took very little time for our "hero" to realize that tenderness he would not get today. With a smashed face, he hastily retreated. This was only the beginning. The next morning, he called and informed us that we had only three days to vacate the apartment. We felt cornered. Winter was outside; the city had about a million students. Where to look for housing? It was simply an impossible demand!
Determined, I rushed off to search for an apartment. Everyone was mobilized: friends, acquaintances, close and distant relatives... I examined all the advertisements in newspapers, at apartment markets (there was such a form of renting apartments back then), but all to no avail. It was impossible to find an apartment in such a short time. Two days passed. Evening, returning home after fruitless searches, I did something I had never done before, something no one had ever taught me: I went into our bedroom, closed the door behind me, and uttered very strange words for me. I said: "God, I don't know if You exist or not, but if You do exist, then You are the only One who can help me in this situation. Please do something; I am completely helpless." Having finished this first prayer of my life, I immediately felt ashamed of myself: "What are you talking about? What God? This is all made up by uneducated people! Eh, you, Atlas, and still call yourself a modern man!" I laughed at myself, called myself a fool again, and went to sleep.
From early morning the next day, I was rushing around our enormous city again in futile search for an apartment. This was the last chance to find any housing at all. The entire day passed in useless searches. Evening came; tired, hungry, having lost all hope, I was heading home. It was already dark. The bus was passing by the apartment market. And suddenly, inside myself, I felt a strong urge to get out and look at the announcements one more time. I began to argue with myself, arguing that I had already memorized all the announcements by heart, that I had been there a thousand times already, that there was no one there. But the inner voice sounded ever stronger and more insistent, like in a children's game: "warm, getting warmer," and I gave in.
I got off at the stop and sadly trudged to the long-familiar place. There, as I had said to myself, there was no one except one young fellow, apparently as much a sufferer as I was. He was carefully studying the bulletin board. I wondered what he had found there. Maybe it would be useful to me too? As I approached, I noticed he was reading announcements under the heading "Apartment for Rent." Thoughts spun in a rapid carousel. So he's RENTING an apartment, I understood! Hardly daring to believe my luck, I quietly asked him: "Say, you're renting an apartment, aren't you?" He spun around sharply and answered with a question: "What made you think that?" I explained my reasoning to him.
After listening to my confused speech, he said that he actually was renting an apartment, but he needed tenants who could move in immediately, as he was urgently called to work in another city. He needed the apartment to be rented TOMORROW! I was taken aback, not daring to believe my luck. Pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming, I convinced myself that I really was listening to this fellow describe his apartment.
It had two rooms, all furnished, and he wanted half the market price because he urgently needed the money! In the night sky, snowflakes swirled; I stood opposite this "angel" sent to me from heaven, overwhelmed with happiness. And high, high above his head, for a moment I glimpsed a smiling GOD, who, winking, said: "Well, son? Do you see now that I exist? Do you believe in Me?" The image flickered and disappeared. I was happy, but true faith and the decision to follow God were still very far away. A long path awaited me.
