Press conference on the forthcoming exhibitions entitled “Orthodox Russia” and “St. Petersburg. 300 Years of Spiritual History” to be held at the RIA-Novosti Agency

PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE FORTHCOMING EXHIBITIONS ENTITLED “ORTHODOX RUSSIA” AND “ST. PETERSBURG. 300 YEARS OF SPIRITUAL HISTORY” TO BE HELD AT THE RIA-NOVOSTI AGENCY

A press conference on the forthcoming exhibitions entitled “Orthodox Russia” and “St. Petersburg. 300 Years of Spiritual History” will be held at the RIA-Novosti News Agency, at 11.00 a.m. on 20 January 2003. The exhibitions will be held with the blessing and assistance of His Holiness Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, at Gostiny Dvor in Moscow, on 22-25 January 2003.

Speaking at the press conference will Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, DECR chairman, Bishop Arsenius of Istra, the ANO Pilgrims’ Center director general S. Zhitenyov and VO Restec director general S. Trofimov.

The ‘Orthodox Russia’ exhibition will give the first extensive insight in the variety of spiritual and cultural activity and social ministry of the Russian Orthodox Church both in Russia and near and far abroad.

Participating in the event will be Synodal institutions and dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Churches, monasteries, churches, parishes, church related organizations, Orthodox publishers and mass media, pilgrim’s services, architectural, art and manufacturing workshops, bell-casting plants, jewellery firms, workshops of art and people’s crafts.

The exposition entitled “St. Petersburg. 300 Years of Spiritual Culture” will be held on the same dates as the ‘Orthodox Russia’ exhibition. The exposition is the first event in a string of national projects to mark the jubilee of the Northern Capital. Along with the exposition dedicated to the restoration of the St. Petersburg historical center, the jubilee exhibition will present Orthodox places of interest in St. Petersburg and the restoration program of churches and monasteries.

Guests of these unique events will be state officials from the executive and legislative branches, public figures, scholars, teaching staff from various federal educational institutions and cultural workers.

Journalists can be accredited at the RIA-Novosti Agency press center by phones 201-50-19, 201-45-67

See also:

RIA-Novosti official site

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate