The festive opening of the Second Belarusian Christmas readings "1917–2017. Orthodoxy in Belarusian history and culture: century’s results" took place on December 1.
The clergy of Belarusian exarchate, diplomats, representatives of the government, cultural and scientific workers, heads and specialists of different libraries, heads and teachers of educational institutions, teachers of Sunday schools, medical and social workers, representatives of security agencies, journalists, students of religious and secular educational institutions participated in the forum in the conference hall of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Patriarchal Exarch of all Belarus, Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslavl Pavel greeted all participants at the plenary meeting. He expressed a deep recognition to all organizers of the Second Belarusian Christmas readings for their significant contribution to good relations and cooperation between the state and the church. The Metropolitan expressed hope that readings will strengthen peace and consent on Belarusian land.
Plenary reports touched problems of spiritual and moral life of Belarusian society, preservation of Orthodox cultural heritage and analyzed historical retrospective of the past century.
The round table "Book and reading as a spiritual heritage of the Orthodoxy in the history and culture of Belarusian people" took place in the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts in the framework of the Christmas readings on December 2.
More than 70 people from all Belarusian regions – priesthood, heads and employees of public libraries, ones of educational institutions, church libraries, pedagogs, teachers of Sunday schools participated in the meeting.
At the beginning of the round table there was congratulation of anniversary celebrants – Svetlana Vinogradova, head of the Central Library of the Belarusian Exarchate (Parish of Lady Mother of All the Afflicted in Minsk), Liudmila Drinyaeva, head of the library in honor of St. Seraphim of Sarov, Iraida Urzhinskaya, head of the parish library in honor of the Holy Virgin in Minsk, the candidate of pedagogical sciences, associate professor. The Bishop of Borisov and Mariina gorka Veniamin awarded Diplomas of Patriarchal Exarch "For work in praise of the Holy Orthodox Church and for contribution to the church library science" in the Belarusian state philharmonic during a creative concert for cultural workers.
Topics of the round table participants’ reports were united by one common question of cooperation between Belarusian Orthodox church and the state on spiritual enlightenment and spiritual and moral upbringing.
Olga Rynkevich, chief librarian of research department of librarianship of the National Library of Belarus, delivered a report "Enlightening activities of secular libraries in the framework of cooperation with Belarusian Orthodox church: results and prospects of development" and Olga Sobolevskaya, chief librarian of the corporate cooperation department, participated from the side of the National Library of Belarus.
Proposals for including in the resolution of the Second Belarusian Christmas readings were formulated according to the results of the round table.
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