The 6th  International Christmas Readings

THE 6th INTERNATIONAL CHRISTMAS READINGS

The 6th International Christmas Readings organised by the Department for Religious Education and Catechisation of the Moscow Patriarchate were held in Moscow from January 26 to 31, 1998.

In the morning of January 26 participants in the Readings attended the Divine service at the Transfiguration Church of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The Divine Liturgy was celebrated by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia, an honorary chairman of the Christmas Readings together with many clergymen. After the Liturgy the Readings were opened in a festive ceremony in the conference hall of the building of the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of Russia. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II greeted the participants. While characterising the Russian society, the Primate of Russian Orthodox Church said that it was in a state of deep social crisis and moral decline. Orthodoxy, in his opinion, can and must help people to find the breath of a life and to revive the almost extinguished national life and dignity. His Holiness the Patriarch put forward new proposals for the extension of interaction between the Church and the state in the field of public education.

Plenary sessions on the first day of the Readings were continued with the addresses by V.G.Kinelev, Minister of general and vocational education of the Russian Federation and by N.D.Nikandrov, President of the Russian Academy of Education. Hegumen John Ekonomtsev, Chairman of the Department for Religious Education and Catechisation, delivered a report on “Orthodoxy and the problems of modern culture”.

The first day of the Readings was concluded by a festive concert the programme of which included religious hymns, classical and folk music.

Plenary sessions of the Readings lasted three days. Presenting reports were some thirty speakers, among them Orthodox clergymen and theologians, scientists and workers of culture, teachers and medical doctors. Bishop Eugene of Vereya, Rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary and acting chairman of the Education Committee of the Holy Synod dedicated his report to the problems of interaction between the Education Committee and the Department for Religious Education and Catechisation. Mr.Vassily Strazhev, Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Belarus, shared his vision of the connection between the reform of school education and the growing influence of the Orthodox Church. “Problems of the Youth at Present and Orthodoxy” was the title of the report presented by Ms.Tatiana Novikova, Chairman of the RF State Committee for the Youth. Archpriest Vladimir Vorobyev, Rector of St.Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Institute, expressed his conviction that the youth can be inspired by a living example of the Russian confessors of the faith rather than by multiplication of structures and organisations. Albert Likhanov, Chairman of the Russian Children’s Foundation, dedicated his report to the situation of orphaned children. Speaking about the lot of those who leave children’s homes, he cited the following figures: 40% of them become alcoholics and drug addicts, 40% – criminals, 10% commit suicide and only 10% lead a “normal life”. Albert Likhanov called upon representatives of the Church to pay more attention to the situation of orphaned children in Russia.

On January 28, a conference in the framework of the Christmas Readings was held at the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the theme “Spirituality, Law and Order, Minors” with the participation of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, state and public figures. According to Anatoly Kulikov, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the theme of the conference was chosen due to the concern of the Russians with the growth of criminality, drug addiction and alcoholism among the youth. The speaker drew attention to the ‘qualitative’ change in crimes perpetuated by the minors: they have become more professional and organised. The minister noted that a large role in this is played by ‘romantisation’ and ‘heroisation’ of the image of a criminal. ‘If we do not solve the problems of the youth now, – stated Anatoly Kulikov, – in some years Russia will have the whole army of professional criminals’. The Minister sets great hopes on the assistance of the Church in the solution of these problems. Sergey Stepashin, Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation, spoke in a debate and noted that criminality is nourished by poverty.

On January 29 and 30 the Readings were continued in issue sections, scientific-practical conferences and round tables. Participants in the round table on ‘Training and certification of the teachers of religion’ and the section on ‘Teaching of the Orthodox faith in a secondary school’ expressed their concern about the prohibition to teach religious subjects in secondary schools in some regions of the Russian Federation. On January 29 His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia met with heads of the Diocesan departments for religious education and directors of Orthodox educational institutions in St.Daniel’s monastery.

In the framework of the Readings there was held a presentation of a text-book “Our Life with God” prepared by the Department for Religious Education of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church in America and issued with the help of Bill Greig, an American patron of the arts and publisher. An author of the text-book, Ms.Constance Tarasar, a staff member of the Department for Religious Education of the Orthodox Church in America, proposed to continue the project “Our Life with God” and to issue nine courses of divinity for pupils of different age as well as textbooks of methodi?s for teachers.

Considerable interest was shown to the section “Book publishing and Orthodox church press” which worked at the Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate. Taking part in it were Orthodox publishers and representatives of mass media from Moscow and many dioceses. Archbishop Sergy of Solnechnogorsk, Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate, spoke about the position of the church hierarchy on the problems of book publishing and journalists’ ethics of today. He noted that Orthodox publishing houses and mass media enjoy complete freedom of speech and activities which are restrained only by economic opportunities. ‘Yet, – said His Eminence, – this freedom is tempting to the minds of many”. He criticised aspirations of some Orthodox publishing houses to conduct their activities while ignoring the Publishing Board of the Moscow Patriarchate. Many diocesan periodicals do not inform the Publishing Board of their activities either. Archbishop Sergey emphasised that such actions create obstacles to the normal work of the Publishing Board which task is to coordinate efforts of all church structures dealing with book publishing and journalism. He called all Orthodox publishers and journalists to be guided in their activities by the will of the church hierarchy and not to go along the pernicious way of decentralisation. Bishop Tikhon of Bronnitsy, Chairman of the Publishing Board of the Moscow Patriarchate made a report on ‘From the experience of work of the Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate’. Father Vladimir Vigilyansky presented a concept of a weekly church and public newspaper. Participants of the section got acquainted with the work of the Institute of church journalism and publishing business set up at the Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Last session of the Readings was held at the conference hall of the ‘Danilovskaya’ hotel on January 30. Adopted was the final document with practical recommendations to the Diocesan departments for religious education and to all those who work in the field of Orthodox education.

On January 31 the participants in the Christmas Readings visited the Holy Trinity-St.Sergius Laura and sang a Moleben at the shrine with the relics of St.Sergius of Radonezh. After that they had a meeting with the faculty of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary and thus the work of the Readings was concluded.

The 6th International Christians educational readings was extensively covered by the ‘Logos’ radiostation which has been recently set up by the Department for Religious Education and Catechisation. Programmes of the ‘Logos’ are broadcasted every Tuesday at 06.00 p.m. (medium waves 202 m, frequency 1485 kHz).