Russia: SYNDESMOS East-West Youth Exchange

From 2-10 September, an East-West Youth Exchange was organised by SYNDESMOS at the Moscow Theological Academy here. The 50 participants came from Greece, Western Europe, other Slavic countries, and Egypt. The programme included keynote speeches by lecturers from France, Russia and Greece, prayers, discussions on various themes, meetings with local SYNDESMOS members and parishes, sight-seeing, and moments of relaxation. We were particularly well hosted by His Eminence, Archbishop Evgenij. During the days spent at the Academy, we had ample time to hold many informal discussions on such topics as "Orthodox youth and parish life," "The Church and mass media: Use and abuse," and "The role of the laity in the church." We also visited many local sites. An entire day was devoted to an excursion to Rostov, where we were very impressed to hear the famous bells being rung. We also visited several monasteries and other sites. On Thursday we attend the Divine Liturgy in the Academy, which should have been the central moment of unity among the participants. Unfortunately, a priest forbade to give Holy Communion to the participants who had not confessed the day before and, although they had prepared themselves, they did not dare to take Communion. This introduced uneasiness among the group, leading to a spontaneous and free discussion during which Father Grigorios reminded us that "Communion is the right of the baptised, not of the confessed." After that we felt even closer to each other for the rest of the programme. The following day we visited sites in Moscow, including Saint Tikhon's Theological Institute, an Orthodox nurses' school, and the Kremlin. We also venerated the Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir, in front of which some participants sang the hymn "Axion estin." On Sunday, the event ended with the Divine Liturgy at Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow. During the week I had the impression that, despite the language problem, a real exchange had taken place, even if not always directly. Obviously, we all came back to our respective countries with something in our hearts, and I am personally looking forward to the next SYNDESMOS event in Russia.