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On 15 September 2010, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriachate’s Department for External Church Relations, currently on a visit to Estonia with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, visited the Russian Lyceum in Tallinn.

The Lyceum is the major education establishment of Tallinn, as over 900 schoolchildren study in it. They are taught in the Estonia language and have advanced placement classes of the Russian language and literature in the traditions of classical Russian school. The graduates study at the Russian and European higher education establishments.

Director S. Garanzha met Metropolitan Hilarion at the entrance and warmly greeted him.

Metropolitan Hilarion visited the only one in Estonia museum of Alexander Pushkin located in the Lyceum.

The DECR chairman blessed the banner of the Russian Lyceum, thanked the faculty and staff, saying he was happy to see that the tradition of teaching Russian language and literature is preserved in the Lyceum. “Whatever is a political situation, our children should not be deprived of the knowledge of Russian language, as it is the language of the great Russian literature, writing in which were Pushkin, Lermontov, Dostoyevsky, and Tolstoy.” Metropolitan Hilarion said further that works of the Holy Fathers are available in Estonia only in the Russian language. This underscores the unique role of the Russian language in the life of society in Estonia at present.

That same day the DECR chairman visited the church of the “Quick to Hearken” icon of the Mother of God, currently under construction in the Lasnamyae district of Tallinn.