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Patriarchate

Christian students from Egypt visit Russia’s main military church

Christian students from Egypt visit Russia’s main military church
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7 December 2021 year 12:22

On December 5, 2021, a group of young believers of the Coptic Church who are studying in Moscow colleges visited the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ at Kubinka near Moscow - the main military church of the Russian Federation Armed Forces. The trip was dated for the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the counter-offensive of the Soviet troops against the German Fascist aggressors in the battle of Moscow. Among the main centers of the celebrations was the Patriot Park with its Cathedral of the Resurrection.

The students venerated the shrines of the church, made a tour of the Patriot Park and saw the exposition at the Memory Path museum and special exhibitions functioning these days in the complex devoted to the heroic events of the early winter of 1941.

In the territory of the Patriarchal cathedral, the students met with Hieromonk Stephen (Igumnov), secretary for inter-Christian relations of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. Participating in the meeting were also Hieromonk Daud el-Antoni, representative of the Coptic Church in Russia; Dr Anton Milad, special representative of the Coptic Patriarchate, and D. Arakelian, a DECR adviser. The student spoke about their studies in Russia and shared their impressions of the trip which made it possible for them to learn a lot of new things not only about today’s life of the Russian Orthodox Church, but also the history of the Russian Army and the feats of its commanders, officers and soldiers, many of them being at all times the faithful Orthodox people. The participants in the meeting also discussed plans for their meetings and activities in the coming year so that students from the Coptic Church could come a deeper knowledge of Russia and her spiritual tradition.

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At present, with a blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the students exchange is being actively developed not only between Russian and Coptic theological schools but assistance is also given to the program of sending young Coptic believers for studies in secular higher education institutions of the Russian Federation.

Today, representatives of the Coptic community in Egypt study in such leading universities in the capital city as People’s Friendship University of Russia, National Research University “Higher School of Economics” and Bauman Moscow Technical University, as well as in many prestigious regional educational centers, such as Southern Federal University, North Caucasus Federal University, Lobachevski Nizhny Novgorod State University, Privolzhye Medical Research University, Tyumen State University and Novosibirsk State Medical University.

On September 3, a group of Coptic students studying in Moscow visited the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. On October 24, there was a meeting of Coptic university students with Metropolitan George of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, and on October 31 in Yekaterinburg, a similar meeting took place between students of universities in Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk and Tyumen with Metropolitan Yevgeny of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye.

DECR Communication Service/Patriarchia.ru

Version: Greek, Russian