home Heating installation Mass media of the Russian Orthodox Church on the threshold of the third millennium. To the Day of the Orthodox Book (report and presentation)

Mass media of the Russian Orthodox Church on the threshold of the third millennium. To the Day of the Orthodox Book (report and presentation)

So, let's take a little digression into history. Why was March 14 chosen for the celebration of the “Orthodox Book Day”? Everything is very simple. It was on this day, in 1564, that the first book, the liturgical "Apostle", was printed by deacon Ivan Fedorov. I want to remind you that before the advent of the printing press, books were weighty folios. They were copied by hand, using very expensive materials such as parchment, i.e. specially crafted leather. Such books were real works of art, which combined calligraphy, painting and jewelry. Naturally, only the richest people could afford handwritten books. The advent of the printing press significantly reduced the cost of creating books, and they have now become more accessible, a mass phenomenon. Thus, it is believed that the aforementioned "Apostle" was issued with a circulation of approximately 2,000 copies.

It is safe to say that 1564 was a turning point, as the printed book gave a tremendous impetus to the development of modern culture and science in Russia.

The holiday itself, which we are talking about today, is very young. It was established by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on December 25, 2009. And, like any holiday, it has a function not only of a cultural and educational nature, when we meet people, mostly young people, and talk about the Orthodox book as a kind of historical phenomenon, about its significance for the development of society, the state. Its other important function is to highlight some of the problems that modern education faces. We can say that the appearance of the “Orthodox Book Day” is the reaction of the Church to the general decline in the cultural and, first of all, the spiritual and moral level of a person.

According to the VTsIOM data for 2014, which we see on the presented slide, compared to 2009, the number of people who practically do not read books increased from 27 to 36 percent. I want to note that in 1992 there were only 20 percent of such people. 43 percent of those surveyed said that they do not like to read at all. In another poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation, a more disturbing trend can be seen: it turned out that 58% of Russians cannot name any books at all that would make a strong impression on them. Why is this happening? The answer to this question is found in the same statistics. For the modern reader, light, entertaining reading is of the greatest interest - 37%. The second place is occupied by fiction - 29%, the third - by specialty literature - 21%. In last place, unfortunately, is religious literature - only 5%. What proportion of these 5 percent is Orthodox literature is an open question, there are no such statistics, however, I do not think that it is very large.

Based on these data, it is not surprising that today the question of the need to carry out work to popularize books with spiritual and moral content is acute. But it's one thing to make a book popular, and another thing to arouse the reader's interest in this topic. The latter is the most difficult, since the modern world with all its nature, wide propaganda imposes on us the idea that it is good for a person to correspond to a certain fashion, a certain trend. Suffice it to recall the excitement that appears at the release of the next Hollywood film. At this moment, especially among young people, one can often hear the question: did you watch? At the same time, it is surprising that the plot of the film itself can be retold in just a couple of minutes. I'm not going to say what this plot is, good or bad, films are different. But we are attracted to a greater extent by the picture, and the "cool" special effects in isolation from the real content. There are very few people who, after viewing the next picture, will try to find the literary work on which it was shot. Even fewer people are able to comprehend what they saw and heard. This is probably because by the time such a sensible idea can be born in our head, we are already headlong carried by a new wave of fashion. In addition, we are very lazy, because thinking about morality is hard work, and we want something light that can momentarily cheer us up. Unfortunately, everything that I just said about films is also true for literature.

However, each of us has an idea of the enduring, that is, permanent, values, which include love for one's Motherland, knowledge of its history and culture. All these are signs of education for us. I think that all those present here will agree with me if I say that being an educated and cultured person is better than being uneducated and uncultured. And it is no secret to anyone that the development of our state is closely connected with the Church. You cannot run away from this fact or pretend that it simply does not exist. And if I love my country, if I want to be useful to my compatriots in the future, if I care about who my children will become, then I have no right to throw into the dustbin of history that huge layer of culture accumulated by the joint efforts of the Church and the state, starting from Prince Vladimir, who was baptized more than 1000 years ago, in 988. And in such a situation, the book, as a material carrier of knowledge, should be of great interest to us.

The Orthodox Church has always set and still sets the spiritual and moral development of the individual as its main task, and the state, especially since the era of Peter I, encourages scientific knowledge. Let's think about what an educated, but unspiritual and immoral person can become? One does not have to look far for examples, it is enough to recall those inhuman experiments that were carried out on prisoners during the Second World War in Nazi concentration camps. So, so that we, or our descendants, never become those who trample on everything human, we need to learn now to be Humans, Humans with a capital letter. And naturally, in this teaching it is best to turn to the experience of the Church, which has more than 2000 years.

Today, on the shelves of our bookstores, or in online libraries, you can find entire sections called "Orthodox literature." And that just does not belong to it: calendars with indications of the days of memory of saints, prayer books, cookbooks, lives, teachings, answers to everyday life questions from Orthodox priests, stories, historical and theological works, etc. However, few people imagine what exactly is called an Orthodox book and by what criterion can one judge its Orthodoxy?

Indeed, according to the generally accepted opinion, an Orthodox book can be called one in which there will be no contradictions with the teachings of the Church and its dogmas. Also, it will most likely be talking about something that is more or less connected with Orthodox traditions and faith.

But is it possible to find a book that is both Orthodox and does not explicitly mention Orthodoxy? The answer to this question is more interesting, but at the same time complicated, because "it does not lie on the surface." It is complicated because here we face such problems as assessing the personality of the author and the reader himself. Who are they? Atheists of the present or of the past? Liberals who consider it possible to revise the doctrine of the Church for the sake of new discoveries of natural science? Maybe sectarians? Or, what is even more terrible, people close to the church, those who often confuse the Orthodox faith and popular superstitions?

It should be understood that the division that is present now, into secular and spiritual literature, is actually conditional, since there is a deep connection between them. Suffice it to recall the works of our classics, such asG. R. Derzhavin, A.S. Pushkin, F. M. Dostoevsky, N. V. Gogol, A. I. Kuprina or K. G. Paustovsky, etc. In the works of these writers, themes of love, humanism, the meaning of life, the place of man in the world, the constant struggle between good and evil and the choice between them are constantly raised. All these are Christian themes that were present earlier, in ancient Russian literature. And the main goal of the latter was just the education of our ancestors, former pagans and idolaters, through the assimilation of Christian truths, through familiarization with the vast spiritual heritage of the Byzantine Empire and, of course, through faith in God. The result of this upbringing is a huge country with the richest culture, which managed to preserve itself in very difficult times and emerged victorious from them. This is what our Orthodox literature is. However, it should be understood that its heart and primary source is the Gospel and no other works can replace Him.

So, if you decide to turn to reading serious literature, which book is better to take to start with? Of course, it's hard to please everyone's tastes at the same time. Moreover, on the Internet, if you set yourself such a goal, you can find a huge list of works, of which at least one is right for you. And yet, to begin with, I would suggest that you read the book of a modern author, archimandrite of the Russian Orthodox Church, father Tikhon (Shevkunov), "Unholy Saints". The book included short stories from the life of the author. Many of them are associated withwhere the author began his monastic life. As Archimandrite Tikhon himself said: “I told almost all the stories that were included in the book during sermons. All this is part of our church life. Sermon... after all, it is built on the comprehension of the Holy Scriptures, on the interpretation of church eventsholy fathers and real life examples.

Another work, common to Christianity, and by its name should be familiar to all of you, is The Chronicles of Narnia,cycle out of seven children's fantasy books (fairy tales ) written . They tell about the adventures of children in a magical land callednarnia where animals can talk,magic surprises no one,good struggling with evil . The Chronicles of Narnia reveals the meaning of a large numberChristian ideas in a reader-friendly way.

If you want to get acquainted with modern Orthodox periodicals, then your attention should be focused on two wonderful magazines. The first is called "Thomas", whichpositions itself as an "Orthodox magazine for doubters." The name of the journal isThomas the Apostle denoting an incredulous listener (due to the apostle's initial unbelief inresurrection of jesus christ ). Main theme: a story about Christianity and its role in cultural and social life. "Thomas" is addressed to all interested readers, regardless of their religion, attitude to faith and political views.

STATISTICS According to VTsIOM for 2014, compared to 2009, the number of people who practically do not read books increased from 27 to 36 percent.

AGIOTAGE - Artificially induced excitement, excitement in order to draw attention to something. (Explanatory Dictionary of Ozhigov)

“Remember that the earthly Fatherland with its Church is the threshold of the Heavenly Fatherland, therefore love it fervently and be ready to lay down your soul for it.” (right. John of Kronstadt)

In the destinies of the present and in the destinies of the future of Orthodox Christianity, this is the whole idea of the Russian people, this is their service to Christ and the thirst for achievement for Christ. This thirst is true, great and unceasing in our people since ancient times, unceasing, perhaps never - and this is an extremely important fact in the characterization of our people and our state. (F.M. Dostoevsky)

1. Introduction

With the blessing of His Holiness, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, for the first time in the history of our Church, this anniversary year we are holding an Orthodox Press Congress.

The founders of the Congress are the Publishing Council of the Moscow Patriarchate, other Synodal Departments, the Ministry of Press of the Russian Federation, the Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation, Moscow State University, the Orthodox Society "Radonezh" and a number of other organizations. As of today, about 450 people from ten countries and 71 dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church arrived at the congress, most of all from Russia (about 380 people from 52 dioceses), then from Ukraine (from 12 different dioceses), Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Latvia, Estonia and from the Berlin diocese. Among the participants are representatives of the diocesan media, secular media writing on church topics, Orthodox journalists from the Local Orthodox Churches.

The goals and objectives of the Congress are:
- consolidation of the efforts of Orthodox journalists in the matter of Orthodox education and familiarization of the general public with the position of the Church on the main issues of social and political life;
- work to improve the qualifications of Orthodox journalists;
- strengthening the cooperation of the Church with secular journalists writing on church topics;
- creation of the "Union of Orthodox Journalists of Russia" and the formation of its regional branches.

We propose to consider at the Congress such aspects of journalism as freedom of speech and information in the modern world, the independence and responsibility of the press, issues of journalistic ethics from an Orthodox point of view.

Our congress is taking place in the jubilee year, on the threshold of the third millennium from the Nativity of Christ, so we inevitably have to not only talk about current problems, but at the same time keep in mind a broader perspective, sum up the results of a wider period of time. The last 10 years in the life of the Church turned out to be very important for the revival of all aspects of church life, including Orthodox journalism.

A few words should be said to clarify the main topic of the Congress. Two thousand years ago, the greatest event in the history of mankind took place: the appearance in the flesh of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This event radically changed the world: as it became Christianized, people became more and more clearly aware that a person, being the image and likeness of God, is free: he has the inherent right to life, the right to freedom of opinion, and finally, freedom of speech in defending his convictions.

No matter what they say about the reforms of the last decade in our country, no one denies one thing: our society has gained freedom of speech. The only question is how we use this freedom.

The outgoing century was tragic for our long-suffering Fatherland. The world has witnessed confrontation, intolerance, anger in society, which led to civil war, bloodshed, and the death of millions of people.

But even today, do we not feel that the spirit of division is beginning to take possession of our souls? After gaining the freedom to profess and preach any belief, a period of violent clashes immediately began. And again, people oppose "their own" to "alien", again "their" power, "their" ideas - they consider them more valuable than "foreign" ones, and not only ideas, but also lives! So, 1917 is not a random page in the history of Russia!

The power of the mass media is enormous, but, like any power, it can be both harmful to the people and beneficent.

Recently, many archpastors, clergymen and believers of the Russian Orthodox Church have increasingly expressed concern that the state remains indifferent to the propaganda of violence, interethnic, interfaith, social and other enmity, moral licentiousness, debauchery, as well as other phenomena that contradict both Christian and and natural, universal morality, through printed and audiovisual products, radio and television. As a rule, the press perceives such judgments as an encroachment on the freedom of the press. But after all, the activities of modern media can be seen as an attack on a person's freedom to live morally, since the imposition of a cult of immorality limits the freedom of human choice just as much as cruel censorship.

Therefore, recognizing ourselves as citizens of a great country, heirs of a great Orthodox culture, we can and must resist the vulgarity, cynicism, lack of spirituality of modern life, no matter who we are, whatever we do, wherever we work: in a newspaper, in a magazine, on the radio , on TV. Not to let the human soul get bogged down in everyday worries, to remind it of its primordial vocation to reach divine heights is an important part of journalistic service to society.

And first of all, it is the Orthodox press that must be moral and responsible, free and independent.

2. The state of Orthodox periodicals before the revolution

The question arises: is not what has been said a mere declaration, are free and independent Orthodox media possible in reality? I must say that on the eve of this congress, a series of publications took place in the secular media aimed at casting doubt on this possibility. The newspaper "NG-Religions" did its best here, devoting a whole selection of materials to the forthcoming Congress; except for an interview with a member of the Organizing Committee of the Congress, priest Vladimir Vigilyansky, apparently placed "for objectivity", everything else is sustained in a sharply critical tone, as the very titles of the articles indicate: "Strangulated word", "Closed nature of activity", "Deal with everyone" , "Is church journalism possible?" Of course, it is impossible if one understands the freedom of journalism in the way that is convenient for most secular journalists today. But today we have already heard the answer to such questions in the Word of His Holiness the Patriarch, who reminded us of the Orthodox understanding of freedom. Another answer to the same question is given by church life itself - both present (the existence of many Orthodox periodicals) and past, our church history, to which we must constantly refer, comparing our actions with church tradition. Therefore, I think it appropriate to give a short historical background on the state of Orthodox periodicals before the revolution.

Its beginning dates back to the first quarter of the 19th century, when the reforms of the Theological and Educational Institutions gave a new impetus to the development of our Theological Academies. In 1821, the St. Petersburg Theological Academy was the first to publish the magazine "Christian Reading". But it was a scientific, theological journal, and the first popular, public publication was the Sunday Reading weekly, which began to appear in 1837. It contained articles of an instructive nature; it was published by the Kyiv Theological Academy. The first seminary periodical was the Riga journal School of Piety (1857). Thus, we see that the beginning of Orthodox periodicals is closely connected with our Theological School. It should be noted that before the revolution, our four academies published 19 periodicals, the Theological Seminaries also published about a dozen journals, of which the most famous is the Kharkov theological and philosophical journal "Faith and Reason", founded in 1884 by Archbishop Ambrose (Klyucharev).

In the second half of the 19th century, in addition to academic journals, many other spiritual journals appeared, which can be called theological journalism. Along with theological articles, they published sermons, reviews of current events in the Orthodox Churches and the non-Orthodox world, criticism and bibliography of current book and magazine publications, essays on remarkable church figures, biographies of ascetics of piety, stories from church life and spiritual poetry. Of the most famous journals of this kind, we note the St. Petersburg "Wanderer" by Archpriest Vasily Grechulevich (in the appendix to it the "Orthodox Theological Encyclopedia" was published in 1900-1911), the Kyiv acutely polemical "Home Conversation for People's Reading" by Askochensky, the Moscow "Soulful Reading" and a lot others. All these theological and journalistic publications of the 1860s and 1870s were characterized by a bold discussion of ecclesiastical and ecclesiastical social issues.

Speaking about official publications, it should be noted that before the revolution, each diocese had its own printed organ - Diocesan Gazette. The initiative to found them belongs to the famous hierarch of the 19th century, the outstanding preacher Archbishop Innokenty (Borisov) of Kherson, who developed their concept in 1853. Its main element was the division of the magazine into two parts: official and unofficial. The official part was intended for decrees and orders of the Holy Synod, news from the highest state authorities, especially for a given diocese, for orders from the diocesan authorities, for messages about movements and vacancies, for extracts from the annual reports of various diocesan institutions. In the unofficial part, excerpts from the works of the holy fathers, sermons, edifying articles, local historical, biographical, local history and bibliographic materials were printed.

However, only six years later this concept was presented to the Holy Synod for approval by Vladyka Innokenty's successor in the cathedra, Archbishop Dimitry (Muretov). The synod not only approved it in 1859, but also sent out the proposed publication program to all diocesan bishops. The following year, according to this program, diocesan bulletins began to appear in Yaroslavl and Kherson, and 10 years later they were already being published in most dioceses. It is interesting to note that the remote dioceses acquired their own magazines before the metropolitan ones.

Even later, central organs of the Russian Orthodox Church appeared, that is, published by the Synod or some Synodal department, - in 1875 the Church Bulletin began to appear, and in 1888 - Church Gazette.

Toward the beginning of the 20th century, the number of publications increased, in which the main place was occupied by publicly available religious and moral articles for edifying reading, such as "The Russian Pilgrim", "Sunday", "The Pilot", "Christian's Rest". Of the popular edifying pre-revolutionary journals, 30 were published by Orthodox monasteries. In particular, "Trinity Leaflets" published by the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra enjoyed great popularity. There were also special church magazines devoted to apologetics, public education, the fight against schisms and sects, the naval clergy, and bibliographies of theological and church-historical literature. As for parish periodicals, before the revolution there were few of them, only about a dozen.

3. Church journalism in the Soviet era

However, all these Orthodox periodicals (about four hundred titles) ceased to exist already during the first five years of Soviet power - just like the publications, mainly renovationist, that arose after 1917. True, émigré Orthodox publications still remained, for example, Vestnik RSHD, Pravoslavnaya Mysl and others, but in the former USSR they were practically inaccessible to the average reader, being the property of special depositories.

For many decades, the only periodical publication of the Russian Orthodox Church was the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchy. We also had some other periodicals that were published abroad and were designed for a Western audience, for example, "Bulletin of the Western European Exarchate" in France (in Russian and French), "Voice of Orthodoxy" in German.

As for our oldest magazine, ZhMP, which will celebrate its 70th anniversary next year (it began to appear in 1931, was closed in 1935 and resumed again during the Great Patriotic War, in September 1943), then , despite the well-known limitations of the era of totalitarianism, the magazine still played a very important role in the life of the Church. Of course, in terms of its level it was incomparable with pre-revolutionary publications - not in terms of volume (suffice it to recall that in the 30s it had 8-10 pages, in the 40s - 40-60, and only since 1954 - the current 80 ), neither in terms of circulation (it was almost impossible for an ordinary believer to get it), nor in terms of content. And yet it was that small flame that the hostile winds of the era could not extinguish. All the few theological, literary church forces at that time were drawn to him, around him gathered. Worked in the Journal at various times, outstanding Russian theologians, liturgists, church historians, and Slavic scholars collaborated with it. This tradition continues today. Its editors carefully preserve and promote church traditions, maintaining the high culture of Orthodox journalism.

During all these years, the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate has been the voice of the Russian Orthodox Church, carrying the word of the gospel to the believers of Russia, an invaluable source of information about the events of church life. He made a significant contribution to the training of future Orthodox pastors, to the Christian upbringing and enlightenment of church people, to the preservation of the purity of our faith.

During the entire period of its existence, the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, in fact, was a chronicle of the labors and days of the Russian Orthodox Church. Patriarchal messages, greetings, statements and decrees, the Resolutions of the Holy Synod, Acts of Councils and Bishops' meetings, official reports on important events in church life were regularly published on its pages. Materials were also published on the naming and consecrations of newly appointed bishops - from these publications one can trace the path of service to the Holy Church of each hierarch. Since the basis of the spiritual life of the Church is worship, the Journal has always contained messages about the services of the Primate of our Church. The Journal of Parish Life paid much attention to monasteries and theological schools, constantly told readers about the life of other Local Orthodox Churches, and paid great attention to the development of fraternal inter-Orthodox relations.

Over the past decades, the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate has published many hundreds of sermons on Orthodox holidays, doctrinal and moral topics; hundreds of articles devoted to the interpretation of Holy Scripture, Orthodox dogma, moral and pastoral theology, liturgics, canons, church history, patristics, hagiology, church art. Services, akathists, prayers to saints were published; some liturgical texts were printed for the first time from handwritten monuments.

Recently, the volume and proportion of articles devoted to understanding the historical past of our Church, the ways of reviving the Orthodox Fatherland, and other church and social problems from Orthodox positions have begun to increase. The journal began to regularly publish materials about the martyrs, confessors and ascetics of piety of the 20th century, to acquaint readers with the religious views of figures of Russian culture, with the theological heritage of the Russian emigration. The Journal reflects all spheres of modern church life, including the problems of spiritual education, pastoral care, social service of the Church, its interaction with the Armed Forces, and missionary work. On the pages of the Journal one can read both about the primatial trips of His Holiness the Patriarch and about the labors and concerns of a small church community. It publishes articles on all sections of theology, sermons, church history works, bibliographic reviews. Materials from the richest heritage of representatives of Russian theological and religious-philosophical thought of the XX century are devoted to the section of the Journal "Our Publications".

In the new conditions, when the resurgent Russia, not only with ever-increasing interest, but also with hope, turns its eyes towards the Church, when church life arouses ever greater interest in society, there is a growing desire to understand it, to understand its features, in order to then join it. , a periodical organ is especially needed, promptly and in full informing about everything that happens in the vast church organism. Such an organ is the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchy.

It should be noted that in the current conditions of the still unaccustomed lack of censorship and, as a result, the excessive "emancipation" of other authors, when a mass of various religious publications appeared, the role of a periodical publishing official documents of the Church, covering the activities of its Primate - His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, acquainting the reader with the official point of view of the Russian Orthodox Church, as never before, is great.

With the beginning of perestroika in 1989, one of the first church newspapers, the Moscow Church Bulletin, appeared in the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate. The history of its formation is replete with many twists and turns: it was also published on coated paper in a very small edition, it came in 2-3 copies per diocese, so some bishops hung it in the church as a wall newspaper. It came out for some time and as an appendix to "Evening Moscow" with a circulation of over 300 thousand copies. At present, it is published twice a month, and the newspaper publishes a quarterly supplement, "Overview of Orthodox Publications," which contains reviews and annotations of emerging church literature.

4. The current state of Orthodox periodicals

Describing the situation as a whole, it can be noted that over the past decade the Church has not only restored its periodical press in its traditional forms (magazine and newspaper), but is also actively mastering new forms of such activity. Their appearance is due to modern technological progress, the achievements of which are by no means always bad in themselves - it is only important to use them for good purposes. Thus, the Publishing Department of the Moscow Diocese has not only revived the Moscow Diocesan Gazette, but also publishes a video supplement to them (two issues have been published so far).

Nowadays, almost all dioceses have their own church media. Of course, they differ greatly in volume, frequency and, of course, quality, which, unfortunately, often remains low. There are many reasons for this, including economic ones: the lack of funds to attract bright and highly qualified journalists.

In Moscow alone, about 30 different Orthodox periodicals are published. Some newspapers, such as "Radonezh", are already well known not only in Moscow, but also far beyond its borders. This newspaper is characterized by high professionalism, competent construction of materials, the level of many articles in it is high, the newspaper is easy to read. Of the Moscow newspapers, one should also note the well-known parish newspaper Pravoslavnaya Moskva, whose publishing team is successfully working in the field of Orthodox journalism, sowing the reasonable, the good, the eternal. It can be said that such newspapers as Moskovsky Tserkovy Vestnik, Pravoslavnaya Moskva or Radonezh have their own identity, in some ways they have managed to advance further than others, some are more professional, some are more ecclesiastical.

The activity of Orthodox youth brings to life Orthodox youth publications - first of all, here we should mention the student newspaper of Moscow University "Tatyanin's Day", the magazine of students of the Moscow Theological Academy "Vstrecha", the magazine for doubters "Foma". Unfortunately, there is still a small number of Orthodox children's magazines for which there is a very great need; First of all, it is necessary to note the magazines "Pchelka", "Kupel", "God's World", "Sunday School".

A special kind of periodicals is the Orthodox church calendar, published once a year. As you know, now many organizations, both church and private, are striving to publish calendars, since they are invariably in demand among the population. And this is to be welcomed. But it is one thing when it comes to popular publications that contribute, so to speak, to the gradual “churching” of the ordinary secular calendar, and quite another thing is the publication of the Patriarchal Church Calendar. The latter has its own special tasks: intended mainly for the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church, it serves to streamline worship, to achieve the liturgical unity of the Church. It is one thing to have a secular calendar (indicating holidays in it does not yet make it a church calendar), and quite another thing to have a calendar with liturgical instructions and readings: the problems that arise when compiling the latter are such that in a number of cases even experienced employees of the Moscow Patriarchate Publishing House have to apply for clarification to the Liturgical Commission at the Holy Synod, and sometimes personally to His Holiness the Patriarch. It is unacceptable that in the calendars of different dioceses these problems were solved in different ways (as sometimes happened in pre-revolutionary Russia). It is all the more unacceptable for individuals to interfere in the solution of calendar problems.

The most common type of publishing activity in the dioceses is the publication of the diocesan newspaper. It can be multi-page or just a piece of paper, but one way or another it carries information about the life of the diocese. Moreover, in a number of cases, not one, but several newspapers are published in the diocese at the same time (and I do not mean the Moscow and St. Petersburg eparchies, where the situation with publishing and journalistic activities is special).

The number of dioceses in which Orthodox magazines are published is much smaller. This is understandable: publishing, say, a monthly magazine is much more labor-intensive than a monthly newspaper (which, by the way, is often published as a supplement to some secular newspaper and uses the appropriate resources). The practice of reviving Orthodox publications that appeared before the revolution under the new conditions deserves every support (for example, the oldest Orthodox magazine, Christian Reading, was revived at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, etc.).

It is important to note that in a number of dioceses church periodicals are published not only in Russian, but also in the language of the peoples living there (for example, in the Komi language in the Syktyvkar diocese, in the Altai language in the Barnaul diocese, etc.).

As an example of a diocesan newspaper, we can cite the weekly "Word of Life", which has been published in the Tashkent diocese for many years. This publication worthily fulfills the important task of spiritual nourishment of the Orthodox Central Asian flock, and one of the reasons for its success lies in the great attention paid to publishing by Archbishop Vladimir of Tashkent and Central Asia. For all his busyness, he by no means limited himself to the archpastoral parting words to the new periodical, but, in fact, he became its most active author: almost every issue of the newspaper contains his word, sermon, message. An important place in the newspaper is given to Christian pedagogy, the thoughts of the holy fathers on the upbringing of children, excerpts from the works of Ushinsky and Aksakov, essays on the Tashkent theological school, and Sunday schools in various parishes are printed. From the very first issue, the newspaper covers the topic of the history of the diocese; Thus, an essay on the history of the creation of the monthly journal "Turkestan Diocesan Gazette" was printed - in fact, the predecessor of the current newspaper: a number of publications were devoted to the initial preaching of the Apostle Thomas in Central Asia, articles were published about prominent Central Asian hierarchs, as well as materials related to the name of the student and a follower of the last Optina elder Nectarius, confessor of the Central Asian diocese in the 50s-60s of our century, Archimandrite Boris (Kholcheva; †1971). The specificity of the Central Asian diocese is in its location among the Muslim world; therefore, a number of the newspaper's materials are aimed at improving mutual understanding between Christians and Muslims, dispelling the atmosphere of omissions and suspicion. The publication of this newspaper, which can be considered an exemplary diocesan publication, has been going on for nine years.

5. New types of media

a) radio, television

Both in the capital and in the regions, the Church is actively mastering radio broadcasting. In Moscow, the many years of activity of the radio channel "Radonezh", the program "Logos" of the Department of Religious Education and Catechism, the program "I Believe" on radio "Rossiya" and others should be noted. There are certain achievements in the development of cinema (it should be emphasized the great importance of the annual film festival "Golden Knight" held by the Union of Cinematographers) and television, where the annual festival-seminar of Orthodox television, the founders of which are the Publishing Council of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Orthodox Society "Radonezh" plays the same role. "and the Institute for Advanced Studies of Television and Radio Broadcasting Workers. Over the past years, many interesting programs have been created on television, such as "Orthodox Monthly Book", "Orthodox", "Canon" and, of course, the author's program of the Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad "The Word of the Shepherd". Unfortunately, not all of them survived to this day. Of great importance in the development of the Orthodox presence on television is the activity of the Information Agency of the Russian Orthodox Church, which covers the most important events of church life (previously this was done by the PITA agency), as well as such television programs as "Russian House" and some others.

The main wish for these forms of media is greater interaction with the Hierarchy. Cases are inadmissible when speakers at radio stations or on television sometimes put their opinions above canonical norms - this causes temptation among believers.

b) Internet

Two words should also be said about the beginning of the development of a new type of publications by church organizations - electronic media. I mean the worldwide computer network Internet, which has already become a familiar means of obtaining information in Western countries and is now becoming widespread in Russia as well. With the help of this network, each of its users can receive information from anywhere in the world. A number of church structures, both in the center and in the dioceses, are now making efforts to install computer equipment to provide Internet access. This will allow the Church to use another channel of influence on the minds of our contemporaries, through which the most enlightened part of the youth audience, as well as the Russian-speaking population abroad, where, due to the high cost of shipping, our periodicals practically do not reach, will be able to access the treasury of Orthodoxy.

Currently, there are already dozens of Orthodox servers in Russian. Both Synodal institutions and individual dioceses, churches and monasteries, and educational institutions go online. One of the largest is the "Orthodoxy in Russia" server, created with the assistance of the "Russian Cultural Initiative" foundation; on its pages are placed, in particular, such newspapers as Radonezh and Pravoslavnaya Moskva. The Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate has also created such a server; it hosts all the official publications that we publish, including the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, the newspaper Moscow Church Bulletin, the Orthodox Church Calendar, the Chronicle of the Patriarchal Service, and much more.

6. Orthodox themes in the secular media

In connection with the increasing social significance of the Russian Orthodox Church in our country in recent years, the direction of journalism associated with the coverage of church life has been intensively developing in the secular media. At first, such information passed through the mass media through the departments of culture, now many secular magazines and newspapers have special columnists writing on church topics, and some media have special headings, sections, pages, tabs and appendices that are entirely devoted to church life.

Examples include the "Lampada" column in the "Trud" newspaper, the "Blagovest" column in the "Rabotnitsa" magazine, and many others.

But there are also publications that have long since exposed themselves as open enemies of Orthodoxy. Their goal is clear: to inflict maximum damage on the Church, to tear the Orthodox people away from it. Even the global celebration - the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Christ - some of these publications used to publish blasphemous articles on their pages.

What are the reasons for the unfriendly attitude of many secular media towards the Church, to put it mildly? There are, of course, conscious enemies who, as before, imitating Yemelyan Yaroslavsky, look at the Church as a hotbed of alien ideas. Such people are extremely worried about the great and ever-increasing authority of the Church in society. However, most often, I think, this is a reaction to the ideological dictates of the recent past, a kind of complex. They see in the Church not an opportunity for the renewal of life, but a threat of the spread of a new ideology associated with certain self-limitations, while they would like to live without any ideology, absolutely "free". But it is not for nothing that they say: a holy place is never empty, and, rejecting the good yoke of Christ, they doom themselves to a much worse slavery to various idols. For freedom without the restraining principles of Christianity is self-will and arbitrariness. And the fruits of such freedom are disastrous for man, dooming our civilization to extinction.

7. So-Called Independent Orthodox Media

Recently there have appeared such supposedly "Orthodox" publications that proudly call themselves "independent". Let us ask ourselves: from whom are they independent? When such headings or subheadings appear in the secular media, this must be understood, of course, not as an indication of true independence, since we know that the periodical press is very dependent on its economic masters, sponsors, etc., but as an indication on the absence of censorship from the authorities, as opposed to all kinds of official print media published on budgetary funds. When a publication that calls itself Orthodox, at the same time calls itself "independent", it either uncritically uses a cliche suitable only for secular media, or it really wants to be independent of the authorities - from church authorities, from the Hierarchy. But is it possible?

The Church is built on a hierarchical principle and there are not and cannot be any structures and associations independent of the Hierarchy. There has already been a period in our church history when, after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1917, meetings were held in many dioceses that removed objectionable bishops and elected new ones. We all remember what a wave of renovationism, betrayal, break with Orthodox Tradition ended this period. "Without a bishop there is no Church" - this fundamental principle, first clearly formulated by the Hieromartyr Irenaeus of Lyon, is true in all its force today. Therefore, in my opinion, a newspaper cannot be considered Orthodox if its publication has not been given the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch or the ruling bishop.

In this matter, the current situation to some extent resembles that which took place with respect to the Orthodox brotherhoods, which were created in dozens at the beginning of perestroika. Some of them engaged in political and other activities that not only did not benefit the Church, but also directly harmed it. The Council of Bishops in 1994 even had to make a special decision to re-register the Statutes of Orthodox brotherhoods, supplementing them with a clause stating that they are created only with the consent of the rector of the parish and with the blessing of the diocesan bishop, so that they are under the responsible guardianship of the rectors.

It is obvious that we will have to return to the same topic more than once, since such "independent" media are waging an open struggle against the Mother Church. The reasons for this are varied. Allegedly worrying about church problems that cannot be resolved, in fact, such newspapers only bring new disorganizations into the church organism, work to weaken the Church. Behind the articles published in them one cannot fail to see far-reaching plans aimed at splitting the Church and, above all, at belittling its role in the cause of the national-state revival of Russia. In this, such "zealots of Orthodoxy" merge with the most rabid enemies of the Church.

In their publications, they sling mud at prominent church figures of the past and current hierarchs. Meanwhile, not only ordinary believers, but also priests and even bishops continue to take part in such newspapers - whether indirectly (by subscribing, reading) or directly (by articles, giving interviews, etc.). The question is: is this allowed canonically? Of course, this is a rhetorical question - for a truly Orthodox consciousness it should be clear: such publications destroy church unity.

Speaking about the Orthodox media, it should be noted that only those publications that are established by the official structures of the Russian Orthodox Church - directly by the Patriarchate, Synodal institutions, monasteries, parishes - can be called ecclesiastical in the full sense. Of course, there are many publications that are not in the strict sense of the church, but turn to the Hierarchy for the blessing of their activities. Most of these media are run by church-going laity, and we support them. At the same time, one cannot ignore that legally they are private enterprises that are not responsible to the Church for the content of their publications. This is fraught with a number of dangers, since under certain circumstances the editorial policy of such structures can be and is influenced by factors and forces alien to the Church. Therefore, it seems especially important that the founders of religious media include official structures of the Church, which would have the opportunity not only to formally bless, but also to actually direct the line pursued by this or that publication into the church channel.

I note that from the point of view of the non-church consciousness, what I am talking about now simply looks like a struggle between the Church and independent church media and secular journalists covering church issues. We are not afraid of such an interpretation, since the Church is by no means a parliament where pluralism of opinions and factional struggle reign. But when such judgments are accompanied by fictitious reports, such as the one that recently appeared on the pages of Russian Thought, that the Publishing Council allegedly sent out to all Diocesan administrations a "black list" of mass media, from whose meetings with journalists the clergy are advised to refrain, we must directly state that this is slander.

In essence, this should not be surprising: you know very well that the world has been in a state of war with it since the emergence of Christianity; but in war, as in war, they do not disdain any means. But this general consideration at the present moment in relation to Orthodoxy in Russia also has a purely political component: Orthodoxy is the last bond of Russia, and therefore for many in the West it is the main target. At the same time, attacks on the Church of Christ are carried out both from outside and from within. And the enemy within the Church, who puts on the mask of a zealot for the purity of Orthodoxy, is more dangerous than an external enemy, for it is more difficult to recognize him. His favorite trick is slandering the Hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, using unclean methods of lies, distortion of facts, their biased interpretation. In the name of what are these people zealous? The answer is simple: the authors and leaders of such newspapers either themselves want a split in the Church, or simply fulfill someone else's order.

8. General problems of Orthodox journalism

a) Addressee, language, subject

The first question that arises in relation to Orthodox periodicals is their addressee. Are they internal church publications, designed for already churched readers, or should the main tasks that they set themselves be missionary, that is, should they be addressed primarily to those who are only on the threshold of the temple? The choice of language, the choice of topics, and the volume of the necessary commentary depend on the solution of this main issue.

In my opinion, both are necessary: there should be publications designed for a prepared reader who is well acquainted with church life, theology, and history; and there should be editions for beginners. But considering that the ministry of the Church is now taking place in the conditions of a significant de-churching of a society that has departed far from its spiritual foundations and, so to speak, does not remember its kinship, I believe that the missionary bias in the Orthodox media should be predominant. In accordance with this, the language of newspapers and magazines should be understandable to most people. But there is also a danger here that I would like to point out. Whatever missionary goals journalists set for themselves, yet not every language is suitable for articles and notes that deal with lofty, holy things. The laudable desire to expand the readership, to get in touch with this or that social group in order to conduct Christian preaching in it, should also have its limits. It is unthinkable, for example, when carrying the Good News to those in bondage, to express it, "applying" to the mentality of criminals, in their language; it is clear that such a journalist will lose himself and will not find readers. The same can be said about the use - in an effort to capture young hearts - the jargon of youth parties.

Now about the subject. There is such a type of publication as a newsletter. The intensity of church life is very high now, and filling newspaper pages with news (with the Internet, this is very easy to do) is the easiest thing an editor can do. But for most newspapers and magazines, information about the events of church life is too little for the publication to be truly interesting to readers. It is also not enough to simply reprint passages from patristic writings. The good news of the Lord Jesus Christ is addressed to every person, but each generation of people perceives it in its own way, because it is in a new historical situation. And the main thing that may interest the reader is how the eternal truths of Christianity are refracted in the minds of his contemporary. Therefore, I believe that the main place in the Orthodox media should be occupied by the speeches of modern clergymen, believing scientists and cultural figures, Orthodox publicists.

Today, many preachers speak the language drawn from the books of the last century, do not seek to revive their knowledge, to convey it to modern man. Such preaching is not effective, and the deepest truths of the gospel and the life of the church must be spoken of in clear, modern language.

I would like to note one more point related to the language of the press. It is very characteristic of modern ideologized consciousness that the understanding of this or that publication in the old sense, i.e. following the author's arguments and similar work of thought are often replaced by the identification of "one's own" or "alien" by a few conventional signs that can be found in the material at the very cursory glance. At the same time, reading texts and listening to speeches turn into a search for a few key words like "patriot", "democrat", "nationalist", "ecumenist". I urge Orthodox journalists to make less use of such clichés, which inevitably vulgarize thought and do not contribute to unity in society.

Another example is provided by people who talk a lot about the need to translate the liturgy into Russian for its better understanding (I will note in parentheses - an extremely delicate matter that requires many years of work), but in fact they limit themselves to the fact that instead of "packs and packs" they say "again and again", instead of "let's listen" - "listen" and instead of "stomach" - "life", which adds absolutely nothing to the understanding of the liturgical text. Here, these modified words, an example of bad taste, also have the functional meaning of a password, an identification mark, supposed to demonstrate progressiveness to all surrounding conservatives.

The most important topic for the Orthodox media is the fight against the dominance of information that corrupts our society in the secular media. The church press should participate in the development of mechanisms to protect against the corrupting influence on the media of freedom, which is not restrained by either Christian morality or a sense of responsibility.

I would also like to wish Orthodox journalists that the opinions of the older generation of clergy, who endured the heavy cross of standing in the faith during the years of the atheistic regime, are better reflected in the church press. There are not so many such people now, and we must hurry to talk with them, interview them, learn from their spiritual experience. Comparing their views and thoughts on key church issues with the opinion of younger people, Orthodox journalists, would, I think, be extremely useful.

b) Controversy in the Orthodox media

Another question is whether it is necessary to cover in the Orthodox media the disorganizations and conflicts that take place in the church environment, or, speaking in a professional language, what should be the ratio between positive and negative in general? You know that not all is well in our church life. The Church is a living organism, and it would be strange if some of its members did not get sick from time to time, especially in the conditions of such rapid changes that we have been experiencing in recent years. Yes, we now live in an open society, and the Church has no secrets from both its members and society as a whole. But in covering these conflicts, wise judgment must be exercised. There are no forbidden topics for Orthodox publicists. It is only important to remember the words of the Apostle Paul: "Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is useful ... not everything edifies" (1 Cor. 10, 23). The task of church journalists is creation, not destruction. Therefore, criticism in the church press should be sharp, but not murderous, but benevolent.

It is important not to give in to emotions, to show spiritual sobriety. It is far from always useful to criticize publicly noticed shortcomings, knowing that this will first of all cause the cries of newspaper scoffers in the secular press. Sometimes it is more useful to apply directly to the Hierarchy with a request for action. The point is not so much to denounce this or that sin, shortcoming; it is important to correct it, and in such situations, the church press should, without succumbing to provocations, help not to inflate, but to heal such conflicts, their final disappearance from our church life.

We live in difficult times, we still do not have the strength and means for many things, and we must keep this in mind and try to understand the actions of the Hierarchy, instead of ardently blaming him for certain sins.

Being carried away by criticism is also spiritually unsafe. It's not just about the danger of violating the Lord's commandment "do not judge." The polemical attitude gives rise in the publicist to a special lightness, the habit of solving sometimes difficult, dogmatically difficult problems - off the shoulder, with extraordinary speed. The consequence of all this is the loss of a sense of reverence for the saint, the loss of piety, that is, the traditional Orthodox frame of mind.

Particularly unattractive is the desire of some publicists writing on ecclesiastical topics to appeal to secular public opinion in their polemics with the Hierarchy. Of course, there are no direct provisions in the holy canons forbidding such an appeal, but I think that it can be considered in exactly the same way as an appeal to civil authority in church matters, which is expressly prohibited by the canons. I also note that in the same canons it is said that before considering a complaint from a cleric or layman against a bishop or clergyman, one should study the question of the complainant himself: what is public opinion about him and whether his motives are pure.

Many problems are caused by insufficient contact between Orthodox journalists and the Hierarchy. It is clear that for technical reasons this contact is not always easy to make, but everyone must remember that we are doing a common thing and therefore we must strive to understand each other.

c) The ethics of an Orthodox journalist

An Orthodox journalist must take the issues of journalistic ethics very seriously. It is important that the Orthodox press does not adopt the unscrupulous methods of some secular publications, that it, without evading acute problems, at the same time does not engage in slander, does not sow discord between believers and pastors, between faith and culture, between Church and state. It should be remembered that the words of the Lord are applicable to journalism, as to no other sphere of human activity: "for every idle word that people say, they will give an answer on the day of judgment: for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned" (Matthew 12:36-37).

An Orthodox journalist must constantly remember the commandment of love for one's neighbor, of responsibility for every word spoken, and show respect for the author or interlocutor. If he makes any changes to the words spoken or written by him (whether it be a literary adaptation or an abbreviation), then it is imperative to acquaint the author with them before publishing or broadcasting them. Before publishing, be sure to show the text to the person with whom you had a conversation.

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for editors of Orthodox newspapers to reprint materials from other Orthodox publications, not only without proper permission, but also without any references. The point here, of course, is not copyright, and many authors take this practice quite calmly, believing that if their publications benefit people, then thank God; but we are talking about a certain culture of relations, of which Orthodox journalists should act as an example.

d) The problem of censorship

We live today in a society that is still experiencing the euphoria of freedom. And this prevailing mindset influences us in a certain way, and therefore it seems embarrassing for us to talk about the need to restore church censorship. Meanwhile, there is a need for it. The lack of even basic theological training among many authors writing on church topics leads to significant distortions of the Orthodox dogma in their works.

As a result, "spiritual" literature appears, on the pages of which one can find blatant heresy, arguments about corruption and the evil eye, and a lot of unverified rumors are placed. But many truly wonderful events took place in the past century, but they are literally drowning in this sea of legends and myths. Therefore, I believe that the problem of church censorship is not removed from the agenda today.

At present, a certain replacement for the institution of spiritual censorship is the placement of vultures on the corresponding publications: "printed with the blessing" - of His Holiness the Patriarch, the ruling bishop - or "printed by decision of the Publishing Council." In my opinion, all spiritual literature sold in temples should be marked with a corresponding examination and the name of the censor should be indicated.

I must note that through the efforts of modern media, the idea of the unacceptability of censorship as such is being introduced into the church consciousness. But censorship for us is not an attack on freedom, but a way to preserve our church wealth, accumulated over thousands of years. Restrictions on the way authors express themselves can upset pluralists of all kinds; but in matters of salvation, that is, life and death, the Church has other priorities.

As for periodicals, in my opinion, only church media proper (diocesan, parish) can have the stamp "printed with blessing" on the first page. When we see a similar stamp on a secular Orthodox publication, this raises questions: does anyone authorized by the Hierarchy review these publications? Indeed, otherwise the publisher is given a blank form with a signature, a kind of carte blanche, and sooner or later problems may arise.

The practice of placing a "blessing" of the late Metropolitan John of St. Petersburg and Ladoga on the title page of an Orthodox "independent" newspaper testifies to the fact that in this case one can reach complete absurdity. Meanwhile, more and more new authors appear in it, whom the late Vladyka did not even know, and the tone of the newspaper has changed significantly in recent years.

The advent of the Internet has essentially made it possible for everyone to have their own media. At the same time, from the user's point of view, purely externally, personal sites are indistinguishable from those created by well-known press authorities. Moreover, the publication of traditional media requires a license from the Ministry of Press of the Russian Federation, and no permission is required to create an electronic newspaper. It is clear that under these conditions the problem of the Church's blessing of such publications will become especially acute, and we will face this in the near future.

e) The need for state support for Orthodox media

Following its sacred duty - to promote the spiritual and moral improvement of society, the Russian Orthodox Church is making significant efforts to publish spiritual literature and Orthodox periodicals, which are in dire need of many of our compatriots who have lost their spiritual orientation. This task is very difficult in conditions when considerable resources are allocated for various anti-church campaigns. But even for those secular media that do not directly oppose the Church, a desire for "spiritual exoticism" is characteristic - theosophy, magic, occultism, Eastern religions and similar materials that are dubious from the point of view of the Church.

Unfortunately, the activity of the Orthodox media against this background is not sufficiently noticeable. The main reason for this is economic, arising from the general difficulties of our state. The Moscow Patriarchate invests all its main funds in the restoration of churches destroyed by the state - this is not only its sacred duty, but also the duty of the whole society; there are practically no funds for large-scale journalistic projects.

The Church especially lacks at present its central newspaper, in which it could, without directly interfering in politics in any way, evaluate certain phenomena in society from spiritual and moral positions, so to speak, "from the point of view of eternity." This line, strictly maintained in the newspaper, would help bring the various opposing forces closer together, soften the bitterness of the political struggle, and unite society as a whole. It seems to us that such a position and the general church newspaper that expresses it deserve state support, despite the fact that the Church in our country is separated from the state. Spirituality and morality are something without which a nation cannot be healthy.

It seems that the creation of a church-wide Orthodox newspaper is a truly state matter, and therefore we have the right to count on state support, which is provided to many secular "independent" media. A detailed plan for such a publication exists and will be submitted by us to the Press and Information Committee of the Russian Federation.

9. Management of Orthodox periodicals

Given the great importance of the media in the modern world, I would like to draw the attention of the Most Reverend Archpastors to the need to pay the most serious attention to those Orthodox media that are published in the dioceses they manage. Moreover, we are talking not only about the need to provide them with all possible support, including material, but also about the care of the relevant publications, about their spiritual guidance. Then the current conflicts between the press and church structures will not arise.

The Publishing Council of the Moscow Patriarchate is called upon to carry out general management of Orthodox publishing activities, including church media. The hierarchy of our Church attaches great importance to its activities, as evidenced by the fact that in the fall of last year, by the Decision of the Holy Synod, it was given the status of a Synodal Department. But so far, the main activity of the Council is not connected with periodicals, but with book publishing - it reviews manuscripts voluntarily sent by publishers with a request to bless their publication. In most cases, submitted manuscripts are subject to benevolent criticism and, with corrections and comments, are recommended for publication, but there are still those for which the Council cannot give the requested blessing due to serious defects, if not the non-Orthodox nature of the work.

The Publishing Council is ready to extend the already accumulated experience of such reviewing to periodicals, but there are no necessary conditions for this yet. I must note with regret that we still do not receive all the newspapers and magazines that are published in the dioceses. Perhaps an all-church competition of Orthodox media should be organized, within the framework of which it will be possible to compare various periodicals with each other and give them an Orthodox assessment.

10. The need to publish a church-wide newspaper and create a press center under His Holiness the Patriarch

Glancing over the activities of the Orthodox media, one cannot get rid of the feeling that forces are being dispersed. Many different periodicals are published, while one really large, solid, influential publication is clearly missing. In addition, most of our periodicals, in fact, are internal to the Church, their subject matter and language are not always understood by a wide audience, therefore, they cannot fulfill a missionary function. In other words, there is clearly a need to create a mass all-Russian weekly Orthodox newspaper that would write not only about internal church life, but also about the world from the point of view of the Church and the Orthodox worldview.

When discussing the concept of a Russian Orthodox socio-political cultural and educational newspaper, first of all, we must determine several important positions: its addressee, principles for selecting information, sources of information, material base, and the like.

As for the addressee, in our opinion, such a newspaper is needed by the widest range of readers, all those people in Russia who profess to be Orthodox and sympathize with the Church, but are not churched (according to some estimates, such are 60% of the entire population of the country). Considering that people are tired of newspaper lies and slander, the political bias of Russian publications, propaganda of debauchery, witchcraft and violence in them, worship of material values and base "mass culture", then the presence of an Orthodox public newspaper covering all topics from the point of view of Christian values , will attract a huge number of readers to it.

The main task of such a newspaper is to consider the urgent problems of modern life from the point of view of the Church in order to influence public opinion and political institutions. Of course, in addition to its utilitarian purpose - to be a source of information - an Orthodox newspaper must be a witness to the Truth: to carry this Truth, to affirm and defend it.

Of course, the reader has no right to expect impartiality from such a newspaper, the selection of information is already a certain bias. But if for the non-Christian consciousness the criterion of objectivity is completely earthly ideas about the truth, then for Christians such a criterion can only be the One Who Himself is "the Way and the Truth and the Life". St. John Chrysostom gave an important approach to the Christian idea of “objectivity” for us: “We pray or fast,” he wrote, “we accuse or forgive, we keep silent or talk, or do something else: we will do everything for the glory of God.”

The question of the material base of the publication is very serious. Now control over information is power, so I am sure that many political forces will want to support it with finances. However, financing in the modern sense is always "ideological" control, so direct control by the Church is extremely important here. Perhaps such a newspaper could become an organ of the "Union of Orthodox Journalists", which we propose to create at this Congress. In any case, the activities of the sponsors of the newspaper should not be contrary to Christian precepts.

As for sources of information, the Church today has practically no information service of its own, except for the Information Agency of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is mainly focused on television. Such a service needs to be created, and the sooner the better. Its basis could be the "press service" under His Holiness the Patriarch. Of course, to some extent, church information passes through ITAR-TASS and other agencies, but one should use the existing secular agencies with caution - many of them are associated with political parties and certain ideological structures. The task of creating a church-wide Orthodox information agency is now quite real, because it is not so difficult to find believing correspondents at Diocesan administrations and large city churches throughout Russia and abroad.

The newspaper in question should be made not just by Orthodox, but by all means church journalists. There are such journalists in Moscow. An Orthodox newspaper must necessarily become a center uniting the church intelligentsia.

Of course, it would be ideal if such a newspaper were daily, but at the moment this is hardly achievable. However, for the first two or three years, we are quite capable of publishing a weekly newspaper. This simplifies the work in terms of prompt response to events and facts, but also obliges to be analytical, excludes the "right to make a mistake" and any unreliability.

As for the distribution of such a newspaper, the Church has a unique communication system: Diocesan administrations, deanery districts, churches - on the one hand; and shops, kiosks, stalls selling church utensils and church literature - on the other. Only they, in addition to subscriptions, can ensure the distribution of at least one hundred thousand copies of the newspaper.

The newspaper should not only avoid "difficult" topics, but, on the contrary, seek them out, talk about them with the reader, presenting the Christian understanding of these problems. Of course, church life will be a priority topic for it: the newspaper should inform about the events and problems of the Russian Orthodox Church and give them a proper assessment, as well as resist anti-church actions and anti-Christian publications in the secular press. Priority topics also include social problems: disadvantaged people (refugees, the disabled, orphans, pensioners, the sick, etc.), people who are captured by passions and reject God (alcoholics, drug addicts, criminals, players, etc.) , the problems are not in general "human rights", but the rights of specific people. The newspaper should stand on the positions of principled non-partisanship, protection of national and state interests, openness to all who contribute (regardless of party membership and religious affiliation) to stability, who are looking for ways of understanding, unification and peace in society.

11. Issues of training journalistic personnel

In connection with the intensive development of Orthodox journalism in recent years, the issue of training journalistic personnel has become very topical. The publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchy pays great attention to this problem. Five years ago, the Institute of Church Journalism was created under him, two years ago it was transformed into the faculty of the Russian Orthodox University named after John the Theologian, which will already have the 3rd enrollment this year. Now future church journalists receive more thorough training in theological disciplines, study ancient and new languages. Many students today are full-time employees of various church publishing houses. As an educational practice, they publish their student newspaper "University Bulletin", where everything - from writing articles to computer layout - is done by themselves. The second issue of this newspaper is currently being prepared.

There are many requests from dioceses to open a correspondence department at the faculty, this issue is currently being studied.

12. Creation of the "Union of Orthodox Journalists of Russia"

The facts cited in the report testify to the fact that in the field of mass media the Church and society have been taking ever new steps towards each other in recent years. Meanwhile, the activities of the Union of Journalists of Russia proceed as if this new phenomenon in the life of the country, the new direction of journalists' activity, simply does not exist. Church journalists are not invited to join the Union, we are not sent invitations to various events held under the auspices of the Union - "round tables", professional competitions, etc. Among the many negative consequences of this situation, one can point out the extremely low level of publications on church issues in secular periodicals.

It seems that the conditions are ripe and the time has come to correct this situation. A year ago, the participants of the "round table": "Publishing Activities of the Russian Orthodox Church", held as part of the VII Christmas Educational Readings, discussing the state of church periodicals in our country, expressed the opinion that one of the significant shortcomings in this area is the disunity of figures of church funds mass media. As a measure to improve coordination and interaction between church journalists, a proposal was made to create a Union (or Brotherhood) of Orthodox Journalists. This proposal was unanimously supported by the audience and it was decided to turn to the Hierarchy with a request to bless the creation of such an association. Having received such a blessing, we propose to discuss in our Congress the question of the establishment of such a Union.

In our opinion, the "Union of Orthodox Journalists of Russia" should be a creative public association established to assist the Russian Orthodox Church in educating society, promoting Orthodox spiritual, moral and cultural values, increasing professionalism, skill and mutual support of its members. In carrying out its activities, the Union will observe the canonical rules, doctrinal, theological and other traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church. Its members will be Orthodox professional creative workers of diocesan publishing houses, editorial offices of newspapers and magazines, editorial offices of radio, television and Internet channels, news agencies, as well as individual journalists and entire public associations who share the goals and objectives of the Union and promote its activities.

There is a certain fear among secular journalists that the creation of the "Union of Orthodox Journalists of Russia" will lead to the division of people who have a common profession of a journalist along religious lines. But we consider our future organization not in opposition to the existing All-Russian Union of Journalists, but as a division of it.

On the other hand, it is important not to repeat the mistakes that were made during the registration of the Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods, the Charter of which did not correspond to church law and state legal provisions. This discrepancy consisted in the fact that the Union declared itself a public organization, but determined the directions of its activities at the general church, diocesan and parish levels, without providing for interaction with canonical church structures and responsibility to the hierarchy.

Concluding my speech, I would like to wish the participants of the Congress success in the forthcoming work and fruitful discussions on the issues briefly outlined by me in the presented report.

Archbishop Tikhon of Bronnitsa
editor-in-chief of the publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchy

1. About our publication

Orthodox magazine for children "My Joy".

The first issue of the magazine was conceived as a gift for the children of Donbass for the Bright Holiday of Christ's Resurrection in 2003. The editorial board decided to ask the young readers themselves how they would like the magazine to be called. A contest was announced among Sunday schools for the best title of a children's Orthodox magazine. From the whole variety of name options, we singled out the proposal of Bogdana Vorobyeva - the greeting of St. Seraphim of Sarov - "My joy, Christ is Risen!". It seemed to us that the words from the reverend's address most suited our idea of the magazine. The magazine aroused genuine interest among readers, and our Vladyka Hilarion gave his blessing to publish it monthly. Last year, "My Joy" celebrated its fifth anniversary. At the moment, 80 exciting and colorful numbers have seen the light.

2. Why are we doing this?

"My joy" is an informative and at the same time soulful magazine. With the help of the magazine, we strive to create a counterbalance to the consumer worldview and the current trends in the penetration of Western culture. We are trying to show the younger generation Orthodox guidelines, i.e. landmarks of our culture.

3. Who are we doing this for?

Initially, the magazine was created for pupils of Sunday schools. To some extent, this limited the magazine: in terms of information - by the regional level, in terms of presentation of material - by the level of knowledge of Sunday school students. Subsequently, it was decided to expand the readership. We tried to create a magazine that would be interesting to read not only for church children. We opened new headings, found accessible forms of narration and presentation of material, as well as our own design style.

To date, the journal has a fairly extensive rubricator, which makes it possible to comprehensively develop and satisfy the spiritual interests of the young reader.

If we talk about the age category, then these are children from 10 to 15 years old.

3. What do we consider the main thing in our work?

"My Joy" is an Orthodox publication, and, of course, its concept is based on the main commandments of Orthodoxy: faith, love for God, love for one's neighbor.

There are several vectors of communication with a young reader in the magazine. One of them is aimed at the personality of the reader himself: age-related (psychological) problems are raised through the characters of the magazine and ways of solving them are suggested.

Another vector can be designated as historical. Here the reader will learn world history, the history of his native land, and the history of the Orthodox faith.

The educational vector acquaints the reader with the basics of Orthodoxy, the Holy Scriptures, with the lives of saints and ascetics of the faith.

It is also possible to single out the vector of leisure, which is served through the aesthetics of the poetic and artistic headings "Sounding pipe" and "Vernissage", as well as "Our quiz" and "Making with our own hands", which have fallen in love with the first issues.

4. What side of our publication do we consider strong and why?

It is not in the spirit of Orthodoxy to praise oneself. The strongest side of any media project is its relevance: when there is a permanent audience that watches, listens, reads, gives feedback, lives with us.

We receive a lot of letters to the editorial office. We enjoy reading them aloud. Someone just writes to us about themselves, someone sends their poems and drawings. We admit that these are the most exciting and joyful minutes of our work. And we are grateful to everyone who reads and writes to us for their participation and love.

We consider our team as our internal achievement. The creative team of the editorial staff is working on the creation of the magazine: the editorial board, editors, proofreaders, designer, artist.

It is especially gratifying that a team of contributors to the journal has also been formed. These are students and graduates of the Department of Spiritual Culture at the Faculty of Additional Professions of the Donetsk National University, correspondents (employees) of the press service of the Branch of the Donetsk Metallurgical Complex, on the technical basis of which the magazine is published.

5. What does our publication look like?

Volume - 36 printed illustrated full-color pages of A4 format, with its original logo.

Release frequency - 1 time per month

Circulation - 10,000 copies.

Editor's page - a thematic appeal by one of the representatives of the editorial board to young readers (published on the occasion of an informational occasion, for example, Great Sunday, Christmas, the anniversary of the magazine, innovations, competitions).

Theme of the issue - the central heading of the magazine, which sets a cross-cutting topic that touches on topical issues for our category of readers, refracted by the prism of the Orthodox worldview (for example, friendship, habits, relationships with parents, courage and courage, good deeds, the image and likeness of God in man, etc.). P.). The rubric is aimed at positioning the Orthodox view of the reality around us.

History lessons - description of historical events (important, significant episodes of world history). Returns the reader to history, culture, traditions, gives an understanding of the patterns in history, shows the power of God, God's providence.

Your calendar (chronograph) - links significant Orthodox memorable and historical dates into a single calendar chain, highlighting the most interesting, from the point of view of a young reader, the events of these memorable dates.

Reached heaven - about ascetics and saints; examples of their lives contribute to the formation of a pious personality and the need for missionary service to one's neighbor.

Basics of Orthodoxy - acquaintance with the basics of Orthodoxy, its culture and traditions; fulfills its educational purpose.

Pray child - introduces the prayer practice of Orthodoxy; teaches the child to pray.

holy image - about icons (the history of miracles) and icon painters. Fulfills educational purpose.

holy warriors - the life of the holy warriors, reveal the theme of self-sacrifice and martyrdom for the sake of Christ, contributing to the formation of a pious personality.

Food for the soul - soulful reading - wise stories, stories and fairy tales for children. Reveals the beauty of the world created by God, His wisdom and providence.

let's get acquainted - Acquaintance with interesting people, with the activities of Sunday schools. Exchange of experience, involvement in community life.

Cyrillic - teaches the basics of the Church Slavonic language in a form accessible to children (with instructive, historical examples).

Children's stories - the world through the eyes of a child, i.e. children's perception of the surrounding reality in an Orthodox arrangement (with Orthodox analytics).

chronicle - diocesan events - interesting events in the Orthodox life of children at the level of the district, city of the region. Fulfills the information goal.

Vernissage - children's work (drawings, crafts). It reveals the beauty of the world created by God, teaches children to glorify the Lord through their creativity.

Voiced flute - poems and songs (including those sent by readers). It reveals the beauty of the world created by God, teaches children to glorify the Lord through their creativity.

It's interesting to know - facts, events that deserve attention. Realizes the educational and educational goal.

Little feet in holy places - pilgrimages to holy places. It realizes the information and educational goal, acquainting the reader with the shrines of Orthodoxy.

Do it yourself - teaches the young reader to be creative.

Our quiz - the topic raised in the issue is fixed in a playful way.

New headings added - Visiting the master - introduces the young reader to the profession of people working for the good of the Orthodox Church (bell-caster, prosphora maker, icon painter, wall painting, wood carver, gold embroiderers, etc.). Headings introducing the young reader to famous personalities (Storytellers and their tales, 12 great people of history).

For 20 years, the library has been working in the direction of "Revival and preservation of the national and spiritual traditions of the Russian people." The revival of spirituality, intelligence, morality is always relevant in the work of the library. The project "My Russia, Orthodox!" allows our readers to expand their horizons in the study of literary heritage about the history of our Motherland, the history of the church, Orthodox holidays

Goal and tasks

Orthodox education of children, adolescents, youth of the village; Preservation of the memory of the great Orthodox saints; Teach readers - children, adolescents, youth to read Orthodox literature correctly, understand it and think correctly; Show readers Orthodox customs, traditions, life. Attracting readers-children, adolescents, youth and their parents, institutions and organizations existing in the village to participate in the events held by the library for the Orthodox education of the younger generation;

about the project

"Peter and Fevronia. Day of Family, love and fidelity" - we were filmed by the Orenburg television

Dear supporters! In our difficult times, the spiritual upbringing of the younger generation is of paramount importance. And this is not accidental, because the moral development in a person is connected with his spiritual development. An educated person and a person who reads books will never go astray, will not become a drug addict, an alcoholic, etc.

The holiday "Day of Family, Love and Fidelity" was repeated in the registry office of the village of P-Pokrovka. Anniversaries were honored - those who lived in love and harmony for 35, 40 years.

And that is why the library is often called the temple of the book, and the word temple itself is associated in the mind of a person with a spiritual temple, therefore, spiritual enlightenment is the leading place in the library. Our library has extensive experience in this noble cause. Spiritual and moral education consists of many moments, this is the education of patriotism "Forever in the memory of the people!"

And citizenship, instilling family values, cultivating love for one's small homeland, one's land, preventing bad habits, cultivating a desire for a healthy lifestyle. my motherland Working on the project "My Orthodox Russia" we have achieved considerable results.

"Light of book understanding. Day of Slavic culture and writing. Cyril and Methodius".

Fragments of the holiday "Easter! Great Resurrection!"

Illumination of the Library by Father Daniel

From our events readersacquire knowledge about the Orthodox past of our Fatherland, about Orthodox saints and their deeds in the name of the Faith. We also cooperate with the Orthodox Church. We show all the hardships of the trials that our country has inherited.

"Nativity!"

The hours of Orthodoxy that we spend in the library and beyond on the basics of Orthodox culture not only contribute to the dissemination of information about the role of Christianity, national culture, but also draw attention to the moral foundations Orthodoxy, introduce the younger generation to the national shrines... Work on the project will continue in the next 2015.

On the International Day of Childhood at the station "Pravoslavnaya" librarians held loud readings about the "Lives of the Saints". Children took part in quizzes and received prizes bought with the funds of library readers.

Fragments of holidays

Studying the history and cultural heritage of our region, we introduce readers to famous poets and writers. Live communication gives a good result. After all, the formation of a civic sense of personality begins with a small thing: a careful attitude to the village, city, town where you live; respect for the family; participation in what is happening around ... So that our children do not grow up as "Ivans who do not remember kinship ...".

Meeting with the famous Orenburg poetess N.Yu.Kozhevnikova

Meeting with the famous Orenburg poet, prose writer P.G. Rykov

Meeting with S.I. Zhdanov. famous photographer, author of the book "Notes of a Photohunter", Thanks to Sergei Ivanovich, we know what wonderful birds and animals inhabit our steppe region, how to protect our native nature ...

Meeting with the Orenburg writer, poet SIBurdygin.
We do not have enough chairs to place our readers in the library at the holidays that we hold, there are no books to encourage children participating in competitions, quizzes, etc., we need stationery, we need money for gifts for children at the most beloved Orthodox holidays "Christmas", "Easter", "Trinity", which are traditionally held in the library. Thanks in advance if you'd like to help us! To instill spiritual and moral values in readers, to pour goodness into their souls is the goal of all our work. You can also see about our holidays in the library work blog on the Orenburg news portal on the library website about the work of the library you can also see

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Orthodox calendar

St. Eutychius, archbishop Constantinople (582).

Equal to ap. Methodius, archbishop. Moravsky (885). Rev. Platonides of Syria (308). Mchch. 120 Persians (344–347). Mchch. Jeremiah and Archilius the priest (III).

Mchch. Peter Zhukov and Prokhor Mikhailov (1918); ssmch. John Boikov presbyter (1934); ssmch. Jacob Boikov presbyter (1943); Rev. Sevastiana Fomina, Spanish (1966).

Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.

At the 6th hour: Isa. LXVI, 10-24. Forever: Gen. XLIX, 33 - L, 26. Prov. XXXI, 8-32.

We congratulate birthday people on Angel Day!

Icon of the day

Saint Eutyches, Archbishop of Constantinople

Saint Eutychius of Constantinople, Archbishop

Saint Eutyches, Archbishop of Constantinople , was born in a village called "Divine", in the Phrygian region. His father, Alexander, was a warrior, and his mother, Sinesia, was the daughter of a priest of the Augustopolis church, Hesychius. Saint Eutyches received his early education and Christian upbringing from his grandfather, a priest. Once, during a children's game, the boy wrote his name with the title of patriarch, and this, as it were, predicted his future ministry. At the age of 12, he was sent to Constantinople for further education. The young man succeeded in the study of the sciences and realized that human wisdom is nothing before the teaching of Divine Revelation. He decided to devote himself to the monastic life. Saint Eutyches withdrew to one of the Amasian monasteries and received the rank of Angel in it. During his strict life, he was appointed archimandrite of all Amasian monasteries, and in 552 he was elevated to the patriarchal throne.

When the convocation of the Fifth Ecumenical Council was being prepared under the holy noble Emperor Justinian (527–565), the Metropolitan of Amasia was ill and sent Saint Eutychius in his place. In Constantinople, the aged patriarch Saint Mina (536-552, Comm. 25 August) saw the blessed Eutyches and predicted that he would be patriarch after him. After the death of the holy Patriarch Mina, the Apostle Peter appeared in a vision to Emperor Justinian and, pointing with his hand to Eutychius, said: "Let him be made your bishop."

At the beginning of the patriarchal ministry of Saint Eutyches, the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553) was convened, at which the fathers condemned the heresies that arose and anathematized them. However, a few years later a new heresy arose in the Church, the autodocets, that is, the "incorruptibles", who taught that the flesh of Christ before the death of the Cross and the Resurrection was incorruptible and did not experience suffering.

Saint Eutychius boldly denounced this heresy, but Emperor Justinian, who himself bowed to it, brought down his anger on the saint. By order of the emperor, the soldiers seized the saint in the church, tore off his patriarchal vestments, and sent him into exile to the Amasia monastery (in 565).

The saint meekly endured exile, stayed in the monastery in fasting and prayer, and performed many miracles and healings.

So, through his prayer, the wife of the pious husband Androgin, who had previously given birth only to dead babies, had two sons born and reached adulthood. Two deaf-mute youths received the gift of speech; two children, seriously ill, recovered. The saint healed the cancer on the artist's hand. The saint healed another artist by anointing his sick hand with oil and making the sign of the cross over it. The saint healed not only bodily, but also spiritual illnesses: he expelled from the girl a demon that did not allow her to receive Holy Communion; cast out a demon from a young man who had run away from the monastery (after that the young man returned to his monastery); healed a drunkard leper who, having been cleansed of leprosy, stopped drinking.

During the Persian attack on Amasia and the general devastation of the inhabitants, at the direction of the saint, grain was given from the monastery granaries to the starving, and the grain reserves in the monastery, through his prayers, were not depleted.

Saint Eutyches received from God the gift of prophecy; so, he indicated the names of the two successor emperors of Justinian - Justin (565-578) and Tiberius (578-582).

After the death of the holy Patriarch John Scholasticus, Saint Eutyches returned to the cathedra from a 12-year exile in 577 and again began to wisely manage his flock.

Four and a half years after his return to the patriarchal throne, on Fomino Sunday, 582, Saint Eutychius gathered all the clergy, gave a blessing, and with peace went to the Lord.

Troparion to Saint Eutyches, Archbishop of Constantinople

The rule of faith and the image of meekness, / the abstinence of the teacher / show thee to your flock / the truth of things, / for this sake you acquired high humility, / rich in poverty. / Father Eutyches, / pray to Christ God / / be saved to our souls.

Translation: By the rule of faith and the image of meekness, abstinence as a teacher, the immutable Truth has revealed you to your flock. Therefore, by humility you have acquired high, by poverty you have gained wealth. Father Eutychius, pray to Christ God for the salvation of our souls.

Kontakion to Saint Eutyches, Archbishop of Constantinople

Divine faithful Eutychius all sing, people, / let us appease love, like a great shepherd and minister, / and a wise teacher, and a banisher of heresies, / / prays to the Lord for all of us.

Translation: Truly Saint Eutychius is glorifying everything, people, with love we will glorify as a great shepherd, minister and teacher of the wise and banisher of heresies, as he prays to the Lord for all of us.

Reading the Gospel Together with the Church

19 April. Great post. Studying the Holy Gospel History. About the Cross

Hello dear brothers and sisters.

And so the Great Lent came to an end. This week we remembered the most important events that were a type of the coming Passion of Christ. Ahead of us are the memories of the resurrection of Lazarus, the Lord's entry into Jerusalem, and Holy Week.

Every day we read the Gospel, becoming witnesses of the great blessings of God and hearers of the words of Christ's Truth. But once a year, before the great feast of the Pascha of Christ, for several days we read very terrible words about the betrayal and suffering of our Savior, about His death on the Cross. And today I would like to talk about the Cross.

Back in the days when none of the apostles could even imagine that someone was capable of raising a hand against Jesus Christ, our Lord began to warn His disciples about the suffering He was about to experience. In the Gospel of Mark we read:

8.31. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer much, be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and rise again on the third day.

8.32. And he talked about it openly. But Peter, having called him away, began to rebuke him.

8.33. But he, turning and looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter, saying: get away from me, satan, because you think not about what is God, but what is human.

8.34. And calling the people together with His disciples, He said to them: Whoever wants to follow Me, deny yourself, and take up your cross, and follow Me.

(Mark 8:31-34)

This part of the Gospel of Mark contains the central and important points of the Christian faith. So, from our conversation with Peter, we learn that for Jesus as the Messiah, as the Christ, there is only one way, the way of suffering. And this road is for everyone who wants to follow Him. The Lord has never tried to bribe people by promising them an easy way. He promised them the glory of the Kingdom of God, but he never promised people comfort. Therefore, the Savior calling the people together with his disciples, he said to them: whoever wants to follow me, deny yourself, and take up your cross, and follow me(Mark 8:34).

To tell a man that he must be ready to bear his cross was to tell him that he must be ready to be looked upon as a criminal, that he must be ready to die. It is clear that the first Christians understood this expression not in the same way as we do, but literally: “to carry the cross” means to be crucified.

The execution of crucifixion was the most shameful, the most painful and the most cruel. In those days, only the most notorious villains were executed with such a death: robbers, murderers, rebels and criminal slaves. The suffering of a crucified man is indescribable. In addition to unbearable pain in all parts of the body and suffering, the crucified one experienced terrible thirst and mortal spiritual anguish. Death was so slow that many were tormented on the cross for several days.

The Lord does not just offer such a terrible image of following Him. The memory of the cross should not only frighten, bring to life the people who accompanied the Lord, but strengthen them in faith in Him when these same people become witnesses of the sufferings of Christ.

The cross itself, as a kind of shameful and painful death, will be transformed by the Savior's Honest Blood into a symbol of sacrificial love - a clear example of all the gospel words of the Savior. If in the first centuries the Cross was a symbol of suffering, now it is a symbol of the glory of millions of Christians around the world.

But what does the Cross of Christ call us to? Only one thing - love! After all, the Cross is love, the all-conquering, merciful, compassionate love of God for every person. To be outside this love means not to accept either the Cross of the Lord or the Gospel of Christ in general. And every Orthodox Christian is called to embody the Gospel, the sacrificial service to one's neighbor, in his life.

There is one instructive story in the life of St. Paisios the Holy Mountaineer. When Elder Paisios was carrying out his feat of prayer in Sinai, next to him were Greek missionaries who had come on a mission to the Bedouins. One day the monk learned that one of the missionaries gave his clothes to a Bedouin to be washed for money. This aroused the astonishment of the saint, and he asked the missionary: “And what were you doing while he was washing?” - to which the young man replied: “What? I read commentaries on Holy Scripture so as not to lose a minute of time without spiritual benefit. Then the Monk Paisios wisely remarked: “Perhaps you have not lost time, only you have definitely lost the Gospel. You yourself had to wash the pants for the Bedouins. Only then will the gospel become your life. If you sit and read a book while others wash your clothes, there will be no spiritual sense.

Saint Paisios himself was a model of evangelical love for people. To some, as a consolation or blessing, he gave icons of the Most Holy Theotokos and crosses, which he himself made from Athos trees. Looking at this cross-blessing of the Monk Paisius the Holy Mountaineer and remembering the numerous instructions of the Athos elder, you understand how important it is to accept Divine love in your heart, how important it is to respond to the Cross sacrifice of our Savior and trust God.

Ahead of us lies Passion Week, a time when we must realize: who will we be at the terrible moment of Christ's suffering? Idle and indifferent onlookers, who are watching with interest the events of the Gospel, not letting them into their hearts, or we will find ourselves among the faithful followers, carrying their cross with Him.

Help us in this Lord!

Hieromonk Pimen (Shevchenko),
monk of the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra

cartoon calendar

Orthodox educational courses

BATTLE WITH OUR DEATH: Word on the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem

G the Lord is now entering Jerusalem, His city, in order to enter into battle with death. Whose death? With the death of each of us - with yours, with mine, with the death of each of the people. Join the battle and win.

AT After all, death is not a one-time event, when a person passes from this life into some state that is completely incomprehensible to him. What is called biological life ceases. Death goes on and on. This is only the beginning of death, something that we sometimes witness - the death of our loved ones or some other people. This is just the beginning. And then it continues in another life. And how terrible and sad it is when we see it with our own eyes here, it is infinitely more terrible when it continues in the spiritual world, when death embraces not only the body, but also the soul. All thoughts, everything that makes up the soul of a person: his feelings, aspirations, the enormous experience that he has accumulated during his life, everything that we do not even suspect is contained in the human personality - everything begins to undergo terrible destruction and decay.

Download
(MP3 file. Duration 10:08 min. Size 6.96 Mb)

Hieromonk Irenaeus (Pikovsky)

Preparation for the Sacrament of Holy Baptism

AT section " Preparation for Baptism" site "Sunday school: online courses " Archpriest Andrey Fedosov, head of the department of education and catechesis of the Kinel Diocese, information has been collected that will be useful to those who are going to be baptized themselves, or who want to baptize their child or become a godparent.

R The section consists of five categorical conversations, which reveal the content of the Orthodox dogma within the framework of the Creed, explain the sequence and meaning of the rites performed at Baptism, and provide answers to common questions related to this Sacrament. Each conversation is accompanied by additional materials, links to sources, recommended literature and Internet resources.

O The lectures of the course are presented in the form of texts, audio files and videos.

Course Topics:

Conversation #1 Preliminary Concepts
Conversation #2 Sacred Bible Story
Conversation No. 3 Church of Christ
Conversation #4 Christian Morality
Conversation No. 5 The Sacrament of Holy Baptism

Applications:

Frequently asked Questions
Orthodox saints

Reading the lives of the saints of Dmitry Rostov for every day

Radio "Vera"

Radio VERA is a new radio station that talks about the eternal truths of the Orthodox faith.

TV channel Tsargrad: Orthodoxy

Mass media of the Russian Orthodox Church on the threshold of the third millennium. To the Day of the Orthodox Book (report and presentation)

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Saint Eutyches, Archbishop of Constantinople

Reading the Gospel Together with the Church

cartoon calendar

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BATTLE WITH OUR DEATH: Word on the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem

Preparation for the Sacrament of Holy Baptism

Reading the lives of the saints of Dmitry Rostov for every day

Recent Entries

Radio "Vera"

TV channel Tsargrad: Orthodoxy

Recommend other articles

Mass media of the Russian Orthodox Church on the threshold of the third millennium. To the Day of the Orthodox Book (report and presentation)

Goal and tasks

about the project

Your help to the site and coming

GREAT LENT (SELECTION OF MATERIALS)

Calendar - records archive

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Orthodox calendar

Icon of the day

Saint Eutyches, Archbishop of Constantinople

Reading the Gospel Together with the Church

cartoon calendar

Orthodox educational courses

BATTLE WITH OUR DEATH: Word on the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem

Preparation for the Sacrament of Holy Baptism

Reading the lives of the saints of Dmitry Rostov for every day

Recent Entries

Radio "Vera"

TV channel Tsargrad: Orthodoxy

Recommend other articles

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