Round Table Projects

Round Table Projects: Mass media and publication projects

Publishing Literature for Religious Education

Publishing Educational and Theological Literature

Orthodox Radio and TV Broadcasting

The Publishing House of the Russian Orthodox Church

Publishing Literature for Religious Education

THE PROBLEM: Sunday schools, Orthodox gymnasia and lyceums, optional religious classes at secondary schools and parents who want their children to be educated as Christians - all have to face the same basic problem, namely, an absence of contemporary Orthodox catechetical books.

The aims of the project:

To prepare and publish contemporary catechetical aids for various age groups.
To develop a concept and guidelines for Orthodox education today and to work out a concrete program and recommendations for publishing educational aids.

The work under the project has been carried out in the following two directions:

A. Publishing catechetical literature;
B. Developing concepts of teaching religion, especially catechism.

A. The following modern catechetical books have been published under the project: The Liturgy - a coloring book for pre-school children in 364.800 copies, including 11.200 copies for Belarus; A Prayer Book for the Smallest Ones by Father Artemy Vladimirov, a book for pre-school and primary school in 100.000 copies; Orthodox Divine Services, Sacraments and Traditions - a book for primary, secondary and high school and also an catechetical aid in 534.000 copies, including 17.600 copies for Belarus; Thinking About Children in the Orthodox Church Today by Sister Magdalina - a book for high school children, parents and teachers in 101.200 copies. These books have been distributed to dioceses, monasteries, parishes, educational centres and Sunday schools throughout Russia either free or at a symbolic price covering only part of transportation and storage costs, because these books are intended for low-income families.

B. The development of conceptual aspects has been another thrust of the project. The project working group has held regular meetings. It is also engaged in scientific work which has already resulted in preparation of several methodological and analytical aids and a series called "The Catechiser", which is a collection of resources in aid to catechisers. Its first, second and third editions came out in 3.000 copies each. The project has conducted international meetings on education with the participation of Russian and foreign experts and advisers. The purpose of these meetings is to work out concrete recommendations for drafting catechetical curricula.

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Publishing Educational and Theological Literature

THE PROBLEM: Considering a traditionally very important role that the clergy plays in the Orthodox Church and a dramatic increase that has taken place in recent years in the number of Orthodox faithful and their educational level, theological education is facing a great challenge today. The main burden of theological education in the Russian Orthodox Church is borne by theological pre-seminaries, seminaries and academies. In recent years their number has increased from 5 to 41. The most acute problem for newly-opened theological schools is an absence of modern text-books and theological literature.

The aims of the project:

To prepare and publish theological text-books for theological schools;
To publish theological periodicals;
To publish monographs, dissertations and the best graduation papers.

The project has been implemented through the Methodology Commission under the Education Committee of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The primary tasks of the project are as follows:

to establish close relations with theological schools, to organize seminars, to study the needs of theological schools in text-books, to analyze their curricula, to identify the subjects on which text-books should be published as a first priority.
to work out a publishing plan, to select and review proposed text-books.
to distribute the books that have been published and to analyse responses to them.

The project has published and distributed to theological schools the following text-books: Basic Theology by Prof. Osipov, 10.000 copies; Church Law by Docent Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin, 5.000 copies; A History of Liturgical Music by V. I. Martynov, 6.000 copies; Orthodox Moral Theology by Archimandrite Platon Igumnov, 5.000 copies; A History of Local Orthodox Churches by Prof. K. Skurat, 2 volumes, 5.000 copies; A Theology of the Icon by I. Yazykova, 25.000 copies; The Uniqueness of the Russian Icon by M. Dunayev, 10.000 copies. The following educational aids are being prepared for print: An Anthology of the Church Fathers of the 3d-4th Centuries edited by Yu. Terentyev; Methodological Recommendations for Studying the History of the Russian Orthodox Church by Archpriest V. Tsypin; A History of the Russian Orthodox Church: The Synodal Period. An Educational Aid by Archpriest V. Tsypin; Methodological Recommendations for Studying Greek by Prof. B. Nelyubov; The Emergence of Christian Literature in the 1st-3d Centuries). An Educational Aid by A. I. Sidorov; A Study of Sects. An Educational Aid by E. S. Speranskaya. Text-books have been distributed to theological schools partly free of charge for regular students and partly at cost price for extramural students and professors. The recent Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church identified the publishing of text-books as one of the highest priorities in the development of religious education. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia in his report gave a high appraisal to this project.

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Orthodox Radio and TV Broadcasting

THE PROBLEM: Hundreds of people are coming to Christ in Russia today, and most Russians sympathize with Christianity and would like to know more about their religious roots. For many years they have been deprived of an opportunity to hear the Christian message or to obtain even an elementary knowledge about Christianity. Obviously, in this situation the scale of catechization should correspond to this unprecedented growth of the number of those who are coming to Christ. In this light, the potential of radio and television for catechetical and educational work can hardly be overestimated.

The aim of the project:

to organize a regular Orthodox radio and TV broadcasting through the Radonezh radio-TV company.

The Radonezh began broadcasting in March 1991. Its daily air-time has been 2 hours, and its outreach embraces Moscow, southern Russia, Ukraine, and the Mediterranean.

A TV studio has been set up under the project. To equip it a TV control room, special TV effect devices and stationery Tesla tape-recorders were bought and installed. Regular broadcasting began in 1995. The following three weekly programs are broadcast through Ostankino Channel 1: Pastor's Word on Saturdays for 20 min.; Program for Children on Sundays for 10 min.; and a movable show within the Morning program for 10 min. The themes for programs on the Central and cable TV include: "Lessons on Morality and Devotion"; "Answers to Adults' Questions"; "Feasts" about the liturgical year of the Russian Orthodox Church; "A Worldview in Colors" about Orthodox icons; "Church History"; "Our Language" about the Russian and Slavonic Languages; "Church News"; "Holy Cloisters" about Russian monasteries and churches and their history and present-day life; and "The Church" about divine services, church singing and art. Some TV programs have been transmitted more than once. Two one-hour programs were broadcast by the Central TV three times.

This project is special in that its equipment is available to other organizations and structures in the Russian Orthodox Church. The project therefore is of all-church significance. The programs of the Radonezh Broadcasting Company are intended to preach Christianity throughout Russia. The life of the Church embraces the best achievements of humanity in culture, art, science and social life. All the programs, therefore, whatever the spiritual disposition of a listener or a viewer may be, help to fill the tragic gap that has formed in the knowledge and spiritual culture of several generations of Russians and to introduce them to the spiritual richness of Christianity.

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The Publishing House of the Russian Orthodox Church

THE PROBLEM: In recent years millions of Russians have turned to the Church, seeking to alleviate their spiritual thirst by listening to the saving word of the Gospel. The sharply increased demand for religious literature, however, cannot be met because, due to an economic crisis in post-communist Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church has no means to acquire printing facilities so necessary for its work.

The aim of the project:

to create for the Russian Orthodox Church the printing facilities of its own capable of producing church literature in necessary circulations at a high technological level.

Initially the project had at its disposal a three-storey building. It was built by the Church early this century and nationalized by the Bolsheviks in 1918. With its usable 3.500 square meters, it could accommodate modern sizable printing equipment, but it had to be repaired and reconstructed first. By the beginning of 1993 the restoration and reconstruction work was completed and the building was prepared for installation of heavy equipment. The equipment was bought with the funds granted by the National Council of Churches in Korea. It was assembled, installed and put in operation. It has been the first phase of the project allowing already now to produce high-quality soft-cover printing products. The project has already produced the New Testament in paperback and a number of popular religious books. A campaign has begun to raise 600.000$ to buy a second-hand Roterbinder for printing books in hard-cover. This will allow to create a printing capacity to produce large high-quality editions of the Bible, Concordance, Bible dictionaries and Bible study text-books so needed by the Church for preaching the Gospel.

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