Church and youth

A round table was held at the Patriarchal Center for the Spiritual Development of Children and Youth at the Danilov Monastery (PCSDDM) on the topic: “Spiritual and moral education of youth. Forms of church work in higher education.” It was attended by clergy with experience working with youth, representatives of universities and public organizations, and students themselves.

This year, as you know, has been declared the year of youth in Russia, and the church is also thinking about how it could participate in the “national cause” of educating young people, in particular students. At the round table they discussed how educational and missionary work in universities could be effectively organized so that the good impulse does not turn into empty words. The head of the School of Youth Ministry at the PCRDDM, Hegumen Peter (Meshcherinov), in his opening speech proposed to immediately separate politics, ideology and the values ​​of faith, the Christian ideal. The emphasis on personality, on spiritual and cultural education is what, in his opinion, we need to focus on when working with young people; what is important is not noisy rallies with appeals, but a painstaking gathering of the soul. Father Peter listed the forms of work already tested in higher education: lectures telling how the church relates to this or that phenomenon, to this or that problem; student clubs for the study of the Holy Scriptures; works of mercy and common prayer. All this is done, of course, outside the framework of the educational process and without any pressure on students or on the leadership of universities, since the onslaught only causes rejection.

The Chairman of the Missionary Department of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archbishop John of Belgorod, spoke about the need for serious sociological research into the mood of the student environment. “We don’t know what students think about the Church, what they expect from it, what church problems concern them. If we don’t know the answers to these questions, all our “technologies” will remain in vain,” he said. Similar studies conducted in the Belgorod region showed a disappointing result: there are serious problems with the perception of the church, and this despite the fact that the Belgorod region is a leader in teaching defense education. Therefore, we must try to work in such a way as to restore the true perception of the church in the minds of young people.

Archpriest Maxim Kozlov, rector of the Church of St. Tatiana at Moscow State University, spoke about the recently held conference of rectors of university home churches. There are not many of them in Russia - there are not even a hundred, and not all of them hold regular services. “Without a Eucharistic basis, all other activities will be emasculated,” noted Father Maxim, calling for work not only with unchurched youth, but also with already churched students, “so that they become the salt that feeds others.” On the other hand, he warned about the danger of unjustified use of the label “Orthodox” - for example, the Dugin Center at the Social Sciences Department of Moscow State University bears this name, without any reason.

Other speakers discussed the advantages and disadvantages of such a missionary tool as Internet forums, the need to educate youth church leaders and, most importantly, create an environment of communication.

The round table participants speak.