Moscow, October 1, 2019
Photo: diaconia.ru
The International Day of the Deaf was established in 1958 in honor of the creation of the World Federation of the Deaf and is celebrated every year on the last Sunday of September. A special event marked the day this year in Moscow as the capital’s first inclusive Sunday School for deaf children was opened and consecrated.
The school is optimized for both hearing and deaf children and currently has an enrollment of 18, including 5 deaf children, reports the Synodal Department for Charity and Social Services of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Photo: diaconia.ru
On this day, Sunday, September 29, His Grace Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevo, the Chairman of the Synodal Department, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God of the Simonov Monastery in Moscow, with representatives of the Orthodox deaf communities of Moscow, Tomsk, Petrozavodsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh, Kirov, Belgorod, and throughout the Moscow Province participating with sign language interpretation.
Photo: diaconia.ru
“In our community, hearing and non-hearing people are united by prayer and common work. We will continue to communicate with one another in the Sunday School in studying the Word of God and in creative works,” commented rector Fr. Evgeny Morozov. The church became home to the first Orthodox deaf community in Moscow 30 years ago.
Photo: diaconia.ru
The church specifically sought out teachers who know sign language and could teach in two languages at the same time.
In addition to the main subjects, the school will also teach English for reading the Holy Scriptures.
“Every soul, according to St. Macarius the Great, has eyes and ears capable of seeing Christ and hearing the voice of God. Our earthly life should prepare us to be able to hear and see the sounds and images of the Kingdom of Heaven,” Bp. Panteleimon said in his sermon. “Every Liturgy allows us, deaf and blind of soul, to feel, hear, and to partially see that world, that life to which we are called.”
Photo: diaconia.ru
Following the Divine Liturgy, Bp. Panteleimon blessed and consecrated the premises of the school, and a festive concert was held, prepared by members of three communities of deaf people.
According to expert estimates, there are about 400,000 hearing impaired people in Russia, most of whom speak Russian sign language. There are 71 Orthodox communities of the deaf in Russia.
Photo: diaconia.ru
With the blessing of his Holiness Patriarch Kirill, a coordination center for work with the deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing was established in 2014 within the Synodal Department for Charity and Social Services.
The first Orthodox video channel for the deaf and hearing-impaired in Russia was launched on August 12, 2016. Videos with the first three chapters of the Gospel of Mark translated into Russian sign language were published in July 2018.
