On March 1, the National Library of Belarus hosted the grand opening of the Orthodox Book Day and a round table on the topic "Cooperation between the Belarusian Orthodox Church and state bodies in the field of spiritual, moral and patriotic education of youth through the Orthodox Book. New challenges and initiatives".
The opening ceremony of the Orthodox Book Day was attended by Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus, Metropolitan Veniamin of Minsk and Zaslavsky, Chairman of the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk, Commissioner for Religious Affairs and Nationalities of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Rumak, Director General of the National Library of Belarus Vadzim Hihin, clergy, representatives of ministries and departments, local executive bodies government agencies, state and church publishing houses, republican, public and university libraries, mass media.
The celebration of the Orthodox Book Day is a recognition of the great importance of spiritual literature in the moral education of people, introducing them to the thousand-year-old Christian tradition – and is aimed at deepening interaction between the Church, government agencies and society.
During the round table, the participants discussed the issues of replenishing the collections of the country's libraries with scientific and children's literature produced by church publishing houses, the development of research topics on church history in Belarusian universities, the popularization of Orthodox spiritual, moral and patriotic literature in educational institutions and society.
The guests of the event could get acquainted with the exposition of novelties of the book publishing of the Belarusian Orthodox Church for 2023 and books on the history and spiritual life of the country released over the past decade.
On the occasion of the Orthodox Book Day, the National Library of Belarus prepared an exhibition of facsimiles of ancient Orthodox handwritten monuments, where the Turov Gospel (XI century), the Polotsk Gospel, the Life of Euphrosyne of Polotsk (XII century), the Slutsk and Zhirovichi Gospels (XVI century) were presented. Facsimile reproductions of book monuments of the National Library of Belarus were repeatedly celebrated at the National Competition "The Art of the Book" in the nominations "Spirituality" and "For contribution to the preservation of spiritual heritage", as well as the Grand Prix.
Festive events for the Day of the Orthodox Book will be held from March 1 to March 10 at various venues in Minsk.
The material was provided by the Public Relations Department
