Exhibition "Orthodox Russia" Will Bring Together Hundreds of Religious and Secular Organizations of Russia, Belarus, Greece and Montenegro

The First Interregional Church and Society Exhibition-Forum “Orthodox Russia” will be held in Irkutsk, September 1-7, within the framework of the VII BEF. It will be devoted to the 350th anniversary of Irkutsk. As one of the exhibition organizers, Sergei Kulik, RESTEC Exhibition Company representative in Irkutsk,  informed that more than a hundred of religious and secular organizations of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Greece and Montenegro are expected to participate in the event.

The Irkutsk Oblast Government, Irkutsk Orthodox Eparchy and RESTEC Exhibition Company are organizers of the exhibition.

As Sergei Kulik said, Church and Society Exhibition-Forum “Orthodox Russia” is a large scale project that has been already realized in various cities of Russia: in Moscow, Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg, Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Rostov-on-Don, Veliky Novgorod and Samara. Irkutsk now is going to  join them. “If we succeed, the exhibition “Orthodox Russia” will be held in Angara region annually,” – focused Sergei Kulik.

Eparchies and monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church, religious schools and institutions, Orthodox brotherhoods and sisterhoods; icon-painting workshops at monasteries and cathedrals, publishers and Orthodox mass media, pilgrim organizations; architecture,  construction, restoration and jewelry companies; art and handicraft workshops; Orthodox-church goods manufactures are the participants.

The aim of the project is to unite the forces of church, state and society to preserve and develop traditional spiritual values of national cultures and art, and patriotic education of the younger generation.

The expositions devoted to the 20year history of Irkutsk eparchy, Orthodox saints, initiative to preserve and revive the Orthodox faith and culture will be presented at the exhibition. The process of revival of church traditions is going on in the Baikal Region now. Functional relations between the Irkutsk Eparchy and the Government of the Region have been developed. The exhibition will present the results of this cooperation.

Also, the special programme “Ask a priest” will be organized by the Irkutsk Eparchy during the exhibition. Anyone who wants to ask a priest a question about Orthodox faith will have a chance to get the answer.

Various events devoted to different aspects of serving to the church will be held with the direct participation of the Irkutsk Eparchy church people. The presentation of the Cherished Icon will be the main event of the exhibition (the question of the choice of the icon to be brought to Irkutsk is being discussed by Moscow Patriarchy Administration).

SibExpoCentre will the platform of the exhibition.

Main thematic sections of the exhibition will be: “Serving to the Russian Orthodox Church”, “Cathedral Decoration”, “Iconography”, “Spiritual Education and Inlightening”, “Inlightening through Books”, “Pilgrimage”, “Orthodox Traditions in Jewelry Art”, “Handicraft Art and Folk Crafts” and “Orthodox Traditions and Modernity”.