As agreed and confirmed by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (April 20, 2005) and by the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (May 23, 2005), hereby published are the following four documents jointly developed by the Commission of the Moscow Patriarchate on discussions with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia on discussions with the Moscow Patriarchate, approved by the Hierarchies of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Church Abroad.
Archimandrite John (Krestiankin)
Rating: 10|Votes: 5
Receiving the monastic tonsure should be preceded by our resolve for it, expressed not only in the mind and heart, but by our life itself. Therefore, do not rush to take the tonsure, but labor with firmness of will for self-crucifixion, and live monastically in the world, knowing only the institute, home, and church.
Vladimir Truchin
At the same time the question of beliefs of modern Russian students is far from boring. It is not rhetorical either. While not so long ago atheism seemed to dominate the population, nowadays any student is free to choose any religion one fancies.
Svetlana Khorkina
Rating: 10|Votes: 3
The heroic achievement of the navigator Albanov who crossed the distance of approximately 420 km, walking on drifting ice to Franz-Josef land, added a glorious page to the history of Russian polar research. This journey had a great scientific significance, and the story itself was well covered in specialized and popular scientific literature of the Soviet period. A famous Russian writer Veniamin Kaverin created the character of navigator Klimov in his novel «Two Captains» with Albanov as his prototype. However the heroic exploits of the navigator is not only the result of his personal courage, but also another evidence of St. Nicholas’ help to «those at sea and travelling».
Natalia Narochnitskaya
On the threshold of the current Russian-Japanese Summit talks Russian society follows every word of the leaders of Russia on so-called territorial problem with strained attention. So it did on November 14-15, 2004, when at first S. V. Lavrov, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and then the President himself confirmed “Russia’s allegiance to the commitments, arising from the Soviet-Japanese Declaration of 1956”. Mass media hack writers rushed for comments to diplomats and politicians, deputies from the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the State Duma and leaders of political parties to clear up whether this recurrent declaration is an illustration of willingness “to hand over the administration” of Southern Kurils or “to return” them to Japan.
