The second enlarged meeting of the Russian Organizing Committee for the 2000th Anniversary of Christianity

THE SECOND ENLARGED MEETING OF THE RUSSIAN ORGANIZING COMMITTEE FOR THE 2000TH ANNIVERSARY OF CHRISTIANITY

The second enlarged meeting of the Russian Organizing Committee for the 2000th Anniversary of Christianity took place on September 1 at the President Hotel in Moscow. Its honorary chairman is President Yeltsin, and it is cochaired by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia and Prime Minister Putin. The meeting was attended by prominent public, political and religious leaders in Russia. Among them were Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna; Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; and Metropolitan Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The Organizing Committee considered a draft plan of principal Millennium events developed by the contest commission of which Metropolitan Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk is member.

Addressing the meeting, His Holiness the Patriarch focused on major points of the Church’s preparatory work aimed at organizing the celebrations in a way appropriate for the occasion. The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church said in particular: “As you know, there is a Millennium Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church working under the chairmanship of the Patriarch. It has formed sub-commissions which are engaged in theological, liturgical and historical issues and supervision of publishing, educational, missionary and organizational work, as well as interchurch contacts and cooperation with the public and the academic community.

The consecration of the Church of Christ the Savior and the Millennium Bishops’ Council to be convened by a decision of an enlarged session of the Russian Orthodox Church Holy Synod will become the culmination points of the celebrations in Moscow. We shall also take part in the pan-Orthodox celebrations. Thus, on January 7, the Nativity of Christ, the Primates of all the Local Orthodox Churches will celebrate the divine liturgy in Bethlehem, while on August 6, the Holy Transfiguration according to the new calendar, the churches will hold celebrations in Constantinople.

Preparations for the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ are going on in dioceses, monasteries and parishes. On September 5, the procession with the cross, which went down the rivers Volga, Dnieper and West Dvina in the three states: Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, will culminate in a solemn thanksgiving at the Church of Christ the Savior. This procession with the cross set itself the task to help rally these fraternal nations. It is planned to conduct many meetings, theological conferences and cultural events. Churches and monasteries are being restored as Orthodox spiritual centers. The list of Millennium editions is increasing. The clergy, monastics and the laity have displayed a lively interest in the forthcoming celebrations, filling it with their prayers, toils, ideas and creative achievements.

The Russian Orthodox Church is fully open to pre-Millennium interchurch and interreligious cooperation, final plans for which we are going to specify in the nearest future.

We attach a great importance to the development of cooperation for the Millennium between the Church, the state and society. The Church Millennium Commission has set up a church-public coordinating group which has received many projects and proposals from public, political, artistic and other similar organizations seeking to enter into cooperation with the church authorities.

As a result of this cooperation, materials have been prepared for a document on the conceptual principals of church-state and church-society cooperation in preparations for the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ. This document was adopted by the Holy Synod on July 19.

The primary idea of this document is the understanding of the Millennium as a unique possibility for an in-depth analysis of the course of world history with the aim to change it radically. Without it the 2000th anniversary will run the risk of remaining only an excuse for formal and empty festivities, to which we, unfortunately, have grown so much accustomed.

The Millennium will give us an opportunity to review the course of global political and economic processes, the spiritual and moral state of people and humanity, the present development of science and technology and the formation and education of the youth.

These are key questions not only for Russia but for the whole world. That is why we, the Church, the people, the state and the academic and artistic communities and various public forces, should start together an honest dialogue on these and other problems. Our cooperation should be equitable and sincere. That is why it is so urgent that the Russian Organizing Committee and the Millennium Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church should come into close cooperation”.

Then His Holiness the Patriarch reminded the meeting of the need to pay as much as possible attention to all the aspects of the pre-Millennium work carried out under the leadership of the Organizing Committee. “We respect the views of those who put emphasis on the celebrations and the coming of a third millennium. It is important however to keep the religious and secular components of the Millennium balanced in the spirit of the conception of the Organizing Committee’s work we have adopted”, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church emphasized.

During the meeting, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church handed over to V. Putin the document “On the conceptual principles of church-state and church-society cooperation in preparations for the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ” adopted by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on July 19.

It was agreed that the Organizing Committee would be chaired by the two chairmen by turns. The next meeting of the Organizing Committee was planned for early November. It will be chaired by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.