« Orthodox Book Day in London »

On March 15, 2025, with the blessing of His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, lessons dedicated to Orthodox Book Day were held at the parish school at the Dormition Cathedral in London. The theme of the feast this year was "Lives of saints" - the most important part of the spiritual heritage of the Orthodox Church.

Lives of saints are not just historical narratives, but living examples of Christian heroism, which, upon close examination, reveal deep spiritual meanings and help believers find true bearings in the modern world.

During the lessons, children talked about their heavenly patrons and demonstrated books from their home libraries. Particular attention was paid to stories about Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', whose 100th anniversary of repose is celebrated in 2025.

In the older groups, students worked on creating drawings based on the life of St. Tikhon, which would later be displayed at a thematic exhibition.

A creative workshop was organized for the younger students, where children learned to draw Church Slavonic letters and assemble words from them.

Orthodox Book Day became not only an opportunity to get to know the Holy Scriptures, the lives of saints, patristic works, theological and fiction literature, but also a reminder of the importance of spiritual reading in the life of every Christian.

The feast of Orthodox Book Day was established on the initiative of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in December 2009 and is timed to coincide with the memorable historical date of the release of the first accurately dated printed book in Rus', Ivan Fedorov's "Apostle", which was published on March 14, 1564.

On March 14, all dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrate Orthodox Book Day, which is held to attract interest in Orthodox books and represents recognition of the enormous importance of spiritual literature in the moral education of people and their introduction to the Christian tradition.

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