DECR chairman attends a meeting of Presidential working group on prеparations for marking the 1000th anniversary of the death of St. Vladimir
On 10th December 2013, the second meeting of the working group with the President of the Russian Federation on preparations for the 1000th anniversary of St. Vladimir, the Baptizer of Russia, took place at the Moscow diocesan house in Likhov lane under the chairmanship of Alexander Beglov, presidential envoy in the Central Federal District.
Taking part in the meeting with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; Archbishop Dimitry of Vitebsk and Orsha; Archbishop Mark of Yegorievsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administration for institutions abroad; and Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s administrative secretariat.
Participants in the meeting had a tour of the Moscow diocesan house built in 1902, currently under reconstruction.
In his address, Metropolitan Hilarion underscored that the jubilee date of the forefather of the Holy Rus’ was a feast occasion for the entire Orthodox civilization. He believes that the large-scale events due to take place in Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia to mark the 1000th anniversary of the death of the Holy Prince Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostles would be an occasion to remind people of our common history, culture, civilizational identity and, most certainly, of our common faith. The participants discussed preparation of the jubilee events in 2014-15, including the erection of the monument to St. Vladimir in Moscow, a scholarly conference, processions with the cross, and publications.