Interaction between youth and Samara diocese of the Russian orthodox church in 2001–2019

Abstract

Background. Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill (Gundyaev), in his ad-dresses to the clergy and believers, constantly emphasizes that interaction with youth is a priority work for the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Work with youth has become one of the priorities in the Samara diocese since 2001, when, on behalf of Archbishop Sergius of Samara and Syzran, in pursuance of the decision of the Council of Bishops in 2000, the Di-ocesan Department for Youth Affairs was created, its structure and budget were approved, as well as the creation of youth Orthodox clubs and local centers began. The purpose of the work is to study the Orthodox youth movement in the Samara Diocese of the Russian Ortho-dox Church, as well as the stages of the organization and formation of a special Diocesan Department for Youth Affairs. Materials and methods. The body of sources for the study of the Orthodox youth movement in the Samara diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church was formed by the paperwork documentation of the current archive of the Samara diocesan ad-ministration, primarily the reports of the ruling bishop of the Samara diocese to the Moscow Patriarchate. The research methodology is built on the principles of historicism, objectivity, and a systematic approach to considering the issue of the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the life of modern Russian society. Results. The youth department of the Samara diocese carried out the following forms of activity in 2001–2019: liturgical (participation in divine services as singers, readers, altar servers; joint prayer, reading akathists; regular par-ticipation in church sacraments), didactic (study of Holy Scripture and Sacred Tradition, pri-marily the Liturgical Tradition of the Church; lectures and thematic reports by invited ex-perts), social (assistance to the disabled and elderly; fundraising, including intangible), volunteer (assistance during Orthodox events, participation in events, organization of parish holidays, assistance to the parish), leisure (pilgrimage trips, sporting events, watching films with commentary by a priest, visiting theaters, philharmonic societies, museums). The lead-ership of the Diocesan Department for Youth Affairs relied in its activities on the leaders of youth clubs and assistant deans for work with youth. Youth clubs organized volunteer work, carried out social service, anti-alcohol and anti-drug campaigning, missionary and educa-tional activities, organized weekly meetings for young people: conversations with clergy, meetings with creative people and specialists from various fields of knowledge, creative eve-nings, presentations and discussions etc. Bible clubs were held at youth clubs, where young people studied the Holy Writ. Through the efforts of the clubs, rock concerts, concerts of bard songs, photo crosses, performances, creative evenings were organized, guardianship was provided over orphanages, hospitals, drug treatment centers, and assistance was provided in the restoration of churches. Orthodox clubs maintained communication with each other, organized mutual visits and joint pilgrimage trips, religious processions, and conferences. Conclusions. The events carried out contributed to the establishment of relationships with representatives of youth subcultures and contributed to attracting young people to the Church, combining creative, aesthetic, military-patriotic, physical and spiritual education of youth.

Keywords

• diocesan department for youth affairs
• orthodox youth clubs
• samara ortho-dox youth movement