Faces of the Festival

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia sent his blessing to Festival participants. His message was delivered by his appointed representative, Archpriest Dimitry Roschin, who heads work with community organizations at the Synodal Department for Church-Society and Media Relations.

The plenary session and thirteen Festival subsections were focused on church-society relationship, 20th century church history, charity and personal aid, education, worship, Christian witness, building Christian unity, bringing youth into the church, Christian parenting, catechesis, brotherhoods within the church, and the coverage of church life in the media.

As part of the Festival, a Divine Liturgy was celebrated at Christ the Saviour Cathedral with the blessing of his Holiness Patriarch Kirill.

The sermon at the Sunday liturgy at Christ the Saviour Cathedral was delivered by Fr. Georgy Kochetkov, the founder and spiritual father of the Transfiguration Brotherhood.

The Festival was attended by church and public figures, historians, journalists and writers, and representatives of Christian movements from 35 cities across Russia as well as from England, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Romania, Latvia, Belarus, Moldova and Uzbekistan.