Conference on Youth and Religion in the 21st Century

CONFERENCE ON YOUTH AND RELIGION IN THE 21ST CENTURY

A Moscow regional reflection-action conference on Youth and Religion in the 21st Century took place on November 22, at the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary in Sergiyev Posad. It was organized by the Moscow Regional Youth Committee in cooperation with the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary and the Youth Department of the Ministry of Education and with the participation of the SYNDESMOS world Orthodox youth fellowship and the Orthodox Education public organization.

The Conference opened with a thanksgiving at the Academy’s church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, which was led by the chairman of the Synodal Committee for Education and rector of the Moscow Theological Schools, Archbishop Eugene of Vereya.

Opening the plenary session, he read out a message from Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia blessing the participants’ efforts and reminding them that as the basic problems of today’s world and today’s youth are spiritual ones, they cannot be solved outside the Church. “It is a common task for the Church and society to see to it that the younger generation avoid embarking on the road of spiritual impoverishment and passing by the great spiritual treasures which have been cherished and multiplied by the Orthodox Church for two millennia”, His Holiness emphasized.

The Conference also received messages from Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, which was read by Archbishop Gregory of Mozhaisk, and the chairman of the All Church’s Orthodox Youth Movement, Archbishop Alexander of Kostroma and Galich, as well as from leaders of the Orthodox Education public organization.

The chairman of the Moscow Regional Youth Committee, Yu. T. Boiko, presented a key report on Cooperation of the Government with the Russian Orthodox Church – An Important Direction of Youth Work in the 21st Century.

Among the speakers were also Archbishop Eugene of Vereya, Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov, Rev. Maxim Pervozvansky, Rev. Roman Zaytsev of the Synodal Youth Department, Deacon Andrew Kurayev, the president of the SYNDESMOS/Eastern Europe E. Petrovsky, the Moscow Regional Deputy Minister of Education G. Popov, and the deputy head of the Ramensky County O. Borisov. Among the participants was T. Zolotusky of the DECR secretariat for church-society relations.

In the afternoon the participants continued their work in sections on “Civic-patriotic and moral self-determination of youth”, “Socio-economic problems of the youth: the situation and prospects”, “Social support of the youth. The young family”, “Aesthetic education and the intellectual development of youth”, “Information policy, religion, youth. Dangers, tendencies and technologies”, “International contacts”, “The role of religion in the life of a state”, “Organization of Orthodox mission among youth”, and “Traditional religions and totalitarian sects”.

The Conference adopted a final document, stating in particular that “the millennia-long experience of Orthodoxy, a traditional and widely spread religion in our country, can and should be used in educating the youth”. The document also emphasized the need “for governmental bodies and Russian Orthodox church structures to combine efforts for strengthening morality, spiritual, cultural and patriotic education, charity, the protection, restoration and development of the historical and cultural heritage, the prevention of lawless behaviour and drug-addiction, the support of the institution of family and the protection of the environment”.

The participants in the forum also spoke for using the resources of the Youth Information and Publishing Center in formation, established by the Moscow Regional Youth Department, to create a single regional informational network of Orthodox youth with the purpose to facilitate Orthodox informational and educational projects both in traditional media and in the Iternet. They also agreed to hold annual youth festivals of the Orthodox press and to set up a Moscow regional and municipal Orthodox cultural centers.