Slavonic literature and culture festival

SLAVONIC LITERATURE AND CULTURE FESTIVAL

A tradition of the national celebration of the memory of Sts. Cyril and Methodius has been revived in Russia in 1985. This year the Sts. Cyril and Methodius festivities are held in 54 major cities of Russia.

On May 24, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Assumption in the Kremlin. After the service, at the festive bell-ringing a procession of the cross proceeded to the monument of Sts. Cyril and Methodius at Slav Square in Moscow. The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church officiated at the prayer service to the Enlighteners of the Slavs, Equal-to-the-Apostles. People prayed for the strengthening of unity of the Slavonic peoples, reconciliation of discord and strife and preservation of the Orthodox faith.

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy addressed the participants of the festivities with a word in which he said in particular: ‘Now, in the last days of Easter-tide, the Holy Church prayerfully commemorates Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Equal-to-the-Apostles, the Teachers of the Slavs. Being moved by the words of the Risen Lord: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations’ (Mt. 28:19), the holy brothers have brought the light of the Resurrection of Christ and the permanent Paschal joy to many generations of the Slavs who have established their glory as the God-loving people out of whom the innumerable assembly of the saints have shown forth…

Now we have to preach the Word of God to our compatriots over and over again and to care for the fulfilment of the commandments of Christ in our deeds, words and thoughts. The Slavonic peoples are living in difficult time. We are well aware of the enmity and disagreement, immorality and crime, destructive outer tendencies and vices which corrode the human soul from the inside. The gap between the rich and the poor is becoming even more wide, and millions of people are crying to Heaven and to the powers that be in despair as they do not have an opportunity to return to a worthy life from perpetual poverty.

The best minds are thinking today about the way of overcoming all these painful phenomena. But for the Church of Christ and for the Orthodox consciousness a way out from the present crisis is first of all the way of moral renewal of the human person, the way of discerning and fulfilling the will of God, the way which the first teachers of the Slavs have once passed on for our people’.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church congratulated the participants of Slavonic literature and culture festival and noted the importance of fraternal contacts between the Slavs, of their cooperation and common participation in common European and world processes.

The programme of the feast in Moscow also included a conference on “The Slavonic roots of spirituality and culture in the education in Russia at present’, an exhibition ‘Traditions of Russian painting’, a children’s’ pilgrimages to the monasteries of Moscow and its vicinities, an international symposium on ‘An idea of Slavonic reciprocity in the past and at present’ dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the first Slavonic congress, and a festival of religious music by Slavic composers at Poklonnaya hill.

This year the city of Yaroslavl has become a major centre of festivities. On May 24, after the Divine liturgy, a procession with the cross proceeded from the square where the church of St.Eliajah is located to the monastery of the Saviour and the Transfiguration where a memorial plaque to the illuminators of the Slavs, Cyril and Methodius, was established and the restored cathedral of the Saviour and the Transfiguration was reopened.

Representatives of 12 Slavonic states gathered in Yaroslavl on May 23-24 to pay respects and homage to Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the authors of the Slavonic alphabet. An international scholarly and practical conference on ‘The Slavonic world: community and diversity’ was held taking part in which were the President of Byelarus A.G. Lukashenko, Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna and Ms. N. L. Dementyeva, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation. Among the speakers at a plenary session were Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin, assistant professor of the Moscow Theological Academy with a presentation on ‘The Russian Orthodox Church and the Slavonic world in the past’ and the Rev. Vsevolod Chaplin, the DECR secretary on Church and Society with a presentation on ‘Orthodoxy, the Slavonic world and general European processes’.

During festivities a film-festival ‘The Slavonic world’, exhibitions and concerts were held in the city. On May 23, the first in Russia academic auditorium for lectures on ‘The culture of books in Early Russia’ was opened in the Yaroslavl State Pedagogical Institute in commemoration of the finding of a masterpiece of the early Russian literature, ‘The Tale of Igor’s Host’, in Yaroslavl.