His Holiness the Patriarch awarded the Russian National Olymp Prize

HIS HOLINESS THE PATRIARCH AWARDED THE RUSSIAN NATIONAL OLYMP PRIZE

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia was awarded the Russian National Olymp Prize in a solemn ceremony on December 20 at St. Daniels’s monastery. The prize has been instituted by the Third Millennium social development foundation, the Millennium Organizing Committee, the Stars of the Fatherland foundation and the National Institute of Development at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The Honorary Olympian Jury also resolved on October 26, 2000, to give the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church the title of Man-Epoch in recognition of his historic contribution to the development of Russia in the 20th century.

Among the speakers during the ceremony were M. Gelvanovsky, director of the National Institute of Development, Marshal V. Kulikov, chairman of the State Duma committee for war veterans, S. Glazyev, chairman of the State Duma economic policy and enterprise committee, Prince A. Golitsyn, leader of the Russian Nobility Assembly, and Ms. S. Nemoyaeva, Russian People’s Artist. Congratulations were also offered by Professor S. Kapitsa and V. Roiter, director of the UNESCO’s Russian office.

The prize was presented by the chairman of the organizing committee of the Russian National Olymp Prize, Mikhail Gorbachev.

Addressing the participants in the ceremony with words of thanks, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy spoke about today’s life and social service of the Russian Orthodox Church, saying in particular, “We are standing on the threshold of the 21st century. The outgoing century was difficult for our people. We experienced upheavals and suffered enormous losses of life. Today as before the Church seeks to support people, sharing their burdens and hardships. I would like to thank you cordially for the high appraisal of my modest work, which I share with all the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church. Restoring churches and regenerating social service, the Church seeks to make up for the deprivations suffered by the generations who were brought up to deny faith in God and Christian spiritual values”. According to His Holiness, the high prize given in the year 2000 after the Nativity of Christ testified to the important role and significance given to Christianity in the life of our people throughout their millennium-long history.