However, as early as in 1980 Sergey Simakov got disappointed in avant-garde. He drew his focus towards orthodox: baptized and got married with his spouse. At the same time the artist bought a house for summer workshop in Uglich village Zagajnovo. Nearby is Church of Archangel Michael in the pine wood — primarily Simakov visited it as a parishioner, helped with household matters to reverend John and after the death of his wife in 2005 he took the monastic vows and became an abbot of the church under the name Raphael.

 
The significant part of the painting is occupied by the image of the River of Fire Smorodina (the name stems from the word stench) or Puchay-river. This Slavonic analogue of the Ancient Greek Styx, a mythological river that separates the world of the living and the world of the dead. In the central image of the human being pressed down by the horse — the artist coupled the images of two legendary heroes: Anika-warrior and Vasiliy Buslaev. According to the legends, they possessed extraordinary strength, however, used it for their entertainment. As a result, they both perished attempting to prove their infinite dare devilry. The legendary hero on the painting attempted to reach Alatyr depicted at the upper field, however, he inevitably failed. 

On the right bank of the river one can see the horsemen that do not dare to cross the glowing Smorodina. The boy depicted in the right lower corner — he points with his finger to the fallen hero — reminds of the fate of those who would dare to do it. In the synopsis to this painting Simakov wrote: ‘A human being is a pilgrim on earth. Who would explain to him why he came to this life? ’ In this canvas, the author argues about the sense of human life and harmfulness of egoistic intentions.