Orthodox Encyclopedia volume 1. Orthodox Encyclopedia - a religious publication for believers? Dmitry Afinogenov, leading researcher at the Institute of Historical Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, professor at the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Philology, Faculty of Philology, Moscow State University

Publications in the Traditions section

The Orthodox Encyclopedia is the largest scientific publishing project not only in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, but also in the history of world Orthodoxy. Since 2007, the portal www.pravenc.ru has hosted an electronic version of the Orthodox Encyclopedia, which is visited monthly by more than 200 thousand users in Russia and abroad.

At the beginning of the 20th century, an attempt was made to create a similar project - the Orthodox Theological Encyclopedia. In many ways, the publication relied on Western models, but in 1911 its publication was discontinued on the 12th volume.

The idea to create an Orthodox Encyclopedia - a systematic body of knowledge on all aspects of Christian and church life in its history and modernity (theology, history, liturgics, etc.) - belonged to Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' and was first proposed in 1996 . The prerequisite for the implementation of such a grandiose work was the publication of the “History of the Russian Church” by Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) by a scientific publishing house. This 12-volume publication, dedicated to the history of Orthodoxy in Rus', became the first and very successful experience of interaction between church and secular science in joint work on a unique scientific publishing project. And it was this success that allowed Alexy II to express hope for the implementation of a new, even more ambitious project - the creation of an Orthodox encyclopedia.

Monument to Saint Macarius (Bulgakov), Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, native of Saint Belogorye, in Belgorod. Photo: A. Shapovalov / photobank “Lori”

Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Church Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, May 31, 2005. Photo: www.patriarchia.ru

In the same 1996, the publishing house of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery was transformed into the Church Scientific Center “Orthodox Encyclopedia” and, upon completion of work on the last, 12th volume of the “History of the Russian Church”, began work on the dictionaries of the future encyclopedia. In addition to the already involved historians (specialists in Russian history), leading secular scientists in all spectrums of the humanities began to work on the creation of dictionaries.

In 2000, the first volume dedicated to the Russian Orthodox Church was published. Since 2001, alphabetical volumes began to be published. Initially, two volumes were published per year, then three volumes; now the Church Science Center publishes four volumes annually. By the end of 2015, 40 alphabetical volumes had been published.

Valaam Monastery. Photo: Y. Sinitsyna / photobank “Lori”

Monastic shop, Valaam. Photo: A. Shchepin / photobank “Lori”

Over the years, the Orthodox Encyclopedia has become a leading scientific publication not only in the field of Christianity, but also in history, art history, philosophy, and music. Articles in the Orthodox Encyclopedia are notable not only for their detailed descriptions of historical places, organizations, events or persons, but also for their in-depth analysis of research subjects. More than 80% of the information is published in Russian for the first time, and in this sense, the Orthodox Encyclopedia combines the functions of education and scientific research. Some articles from the Orthodox Encyclopedia, united by content, are published in separate publications, for example, the book “Ecumenical Councils” (Russia), the brochure “Jerusalem Orthodox Church” (Israel).

The Orthodox Encyclopedia touches on all aspects of Christianity. A significant volume is occupied by articles on Orthodox theology, Holy Scripture, hagiography (the lives of Orthodox saints), and the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. Articles on the history of Orthodoxy in local Orthodox churches are written in slightly less detail. A significant block of articles is devoted to the history and dogma of other Christian denominations: Catholicism and Protestantism; It also presents a unique set of articles devoted to the ancient eastern pre-Chalcedonian churches. The encyclopedia includes articles about the basic doctrines and main historical figures of Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and other influential religious teachings. Articles on church art and music have become a unique source for all specialists interested in this topic.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill at a meeting of the supervisory, trustee and public councils for the publication of the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” in the Refectory Chambers of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Photo: A. Isakova. /press service of the State Duma of the Russian Federation/ TASS

Volumes of the Orthodox Encyclopedia

Work on the Orthodox Encyclopedia is carried out in close cooperation with leading institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, universities, museums, libraries, and archives. The Orthodox Encyclopedia has the status of a textbook for university students and is supplied to most state libraries of higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation. The scientific and encyclopedic editions of the Orthodox Encyclopedia have more than 100 employees who interact with hundreds of authors in the Russian Federation and abroad.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' heads the main project management body - the Supervisory Council, which, in addition to the highest hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, includes heads of ministries and departments interested in the development of this project. The Orthodox Encyclopedia is published by all Orthodox local churches. In order to attract regional scientific forces as widely as possible, representative offices of the Orthodox Encyclopedia are being created both in Russia and in the CIS countries and other foreign countries. Special representative offices operate in Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and the USA.

The religious information and encyclopedic program "Orthodox Encyclopedia", aired on the TV Center channel since May 3, 2003, is designed for a wide range of viewers.

The program tells not only about the foundations of the Orthodox faith, about man’s path to God, about the saints and shrines of the Orthodox Church, but also touches on almost all issues of interest to society - social, moral, historical, cultural, encyclopedic.

It is difficult to name a topic that was not covered in more than five hundred episodes aired during this time. The language of worship and church art, biblical archeology and the history of the Church, social ministry and problems of drug addiction, the musical culture of the Church and the problems of raising children, the Old Believers and reports about Orthodoxy in different parts of our country and the world, and much more. A special place in our program is occupied by a story about the history of Moscow, its churches and shrines.

The program itself is built depending on the topic. A special feature of our program is that for many years the host has been a priest, who is in one person an interlocutor, an expert, a teacher, and a shepherd, capable of answering the most difficult questions of television viewers live. Basically, this is a conversation between the presenter-priest Alexy Uminsky and a guest of the program on a given topic, which is highlighted from different angles in stories filmed by professional correspondents who have been working fruitfully on Orthodox topics for a long time.

Guests of the program were His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, member of the Holy Synod Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) and other famous hierarchs, director of the State Archives S. Mironenko, People's Artists of the USSR V. Minin and V. Matorin, member of the Public Chamber under the President of Russia V. Fadeev, rector Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation, Professor V. Mau, composer A. Rybnikov, directors P. Lungin and V. Khotinenko, actors E. Vasilyeva and I. Kupchenko, honored doctors - V. Millionshchikova and V. Agapov and many other famous historians and writers , artists, theologians, clergy and ordinary people.

One of the areas of the program is stories about the life of Orthodox Christians in different parts of the country and the world. The film crew traveled from Kaliningrad to Sakhalin. We talked about the life of the Orthodox Church in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Belarus, Egypt and Kenya, the USA and Germany - and this is not a complete list of routes in the Orthodox Encyclopedia.

Some programs are broadcast live. In them, the presenter answers calls from viewers - about family and marriage, about raising children and the fight against alcoholism, about the first steps in the temple and how you can help a dying person. Programs in which television viewers have a unique opportunity to receive advice and comfort from a priest are received with special gratitude by them. This is evidenced by letters and calls to the editor.

A special place in the program is occupied by special sections dedicated to Moscow: “Moscow Kremlin”, “History of Russia in the Historical Museum”, “Moscow Shrines”, “Moscow Saints”. They were led by the director of the Kremlin museums E. Gagarina, deputy director of the State Historical Museum V. Egorov, and professor of the Moscow Theological Academy A. Svetozarsky.

Due to the fact that the television program has access to all the resources of the Church Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" (scientific potential, archival materials, literature, connections with church organizations around the world, etc.), it guarantees the completeness, variety and quality of the information provided.

Established on the basis of the publishing house of the Holy Transfiguration Valaam Monastery by decree of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II dated September 10, 1996.

The most significant publications of the period 1994-1999. are “History of the Russian Church” in 9 volumes, the collection “Patriarch Hermogenes”, a new translation of “The Life and Miracles of St. Sergius, Abbot of Radonezh,” study “Orthodoxy in Estonia” by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II.

On October 10, 1996, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church approved the project to publish a 25-volume Orthodox Encyclopedia. To implement the project, the Observatory, Trustee, Church-Scientific and Scientific-Editorial Councils, the Association of Philanthropists have been formed, scientific and information support is provided by the synodal commissions and departments of the MP, the Russian Academy of Sciences, research institutes, leading educational institutions (spiritual and secular), archives, museums , libraries.

The publication “Orthodox Encyclopedia” is included in the federal program of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation “Culture of Russia 2001-2005.” The Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation has assigned the Orthodox Encyclopedia the status of a textbook for universities in the Russian Federation. The work of the CSC is carried out with the support of the Moscow Government, a number of regions of the Russian Federation (Saratov, Samara and other regions), industrialists and entrepreneurs united in the Board of Trustees and the Association of Philanthropists of the Orthodox Encyclopedia.

In its activities, the CSC strives to unite the efforts of church and secular scientists in the revival of church science, conducting historical, hagiographic, biblical and other research: it establishes scholarships to support researchers, cooperates with the Foundation for awards in memory of Metropolitan. Moscow and Kolomna Makariy (Bulgakov), identifying the most significant research on the history of the Russian state and Church and awarding prizes, participates in the project of creating electronic information and documentary arrays (together with GARF).

The Orthodox Encyclopedia Center participated in a number of publications together with the Moscow Kremlin museums, the State Historical Museum, and the State Museum of the History of Religion (St. Petersburg). He took part in scientific conferences: IX International Christmas Readings (Moscow, January 2001), “Christianity in the Volga-Ural Region” (June 2002), “History and Hagiography of the Undivided Church” (June 2003).

The information and educational activities of the CSC are implemented in the weekly television program “Orthodox Encyclopedia” on the TVC channel and in the work of the Internet portal

Levon Nersesyan. Photo: Tanya Sommer, bg.ru

Levon Nersesyan, specialist in ancient Russian art, senior researcher at the Tretyakov Gallery:

– Actually, I never regarded this publication as purely religious. From my point of view, this is a very serious, very important general humanitarian project, which is at the intersection of several sciences: history, philology, theology and art history, which I am directly involved in.

I am not aware of any other humanitarian scientific projects of this scale that have been undertaken over the past 10 years. And the fact that money has been and continues to be invested in this project is extremely gratifying for me, because I want it to be completed.

By the way, it is not by chance that I mention the completion of the project - after all, there was, say, the so-called “Orthodox Theological Encyclopedia”, which was published in Russia from the beginning of the 20th century until the First World War - unfortunately, this publication was brought only to the letter “K” " But I remember very well how in our student years we regularly used it, although it was not at all so easy, given that the times were still quite Soviet. And yes, we complained about the incompleteness and imperfection of individual articles, but we simply had no other source of information on a whole range of issues.

The new encyclopedia, of course, significantly surpasses that pre-revolutionary edition and is a truly universal source for a number of branches of humanities. I will give just one example - now, as a scientific editor, I am working on the publication of the second volume of the catalog of icons of the Vologda Museum-Reserve (also quite a monumental project!). At the moment, the list of references includes 18 articles from the Orthodox Encyclopedia, and I understand that there will be more. These include articles on the iconography of individual subjects, and hagiographic references to the saints whose icons we publish.

And, of course, this is not the only example, since all of us, historians of medieval art, have to turn to the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” regularly - primarily to articles on the iconography of individual plots and characters. Of course, they cannot be called exhaustive, but any research work with one or another iconographic type can and should begin with the quite competent information provided by the Orthodox Encyclopedia.

Let's make a small reservation: it is obvious that these certificates are not entirely equivalent. To select absolutely impeccable authors on all topics who are aware of the latest word in science on a particular issue - no editor can do this. In addition, there are topics that have been studied little or not at all, and not all authors are able to undertake full-fledged scientific research to write several pages of an encyclopedic article. But this is a feature of any encyclopedic publication on which a large team of authors works - some articles are more successful, others less so, some contain new information, others are a more or less competent summary of what has been known for a long time.

But the most important thing is that there is a place where this information has been collected and continues to be collected, and I hope that no “intrigues” will interrupt this process. Otherwise, you regularly have to worry that the encyclopedia has not yet reached this specific letter you need...

It so happened that I am the author of only one article in the Orthodox Encyclopedia. But I know many of my fellow art critics, excellent specialists who write extremely interesting, valuable and useful texts for it, to which I regularly turn. And, of course, hagiographical information regularly comes in handy for me - primarily information about Russian saints and Russian translated hagiographic texts. And I emphasize that in this case we are not talking about the thousand-first Internet retelling of Dimitri Rostovsky, but about a completely competent scientific analysis with links to research and sources, including handwritten ones.

Finally, there is a whole series of historical, theological and liturgical questions that are absolutely necessary for any active historian of medieval art. And even if not all of them have been fully resolved today, I can be sure that in the Orthodox Encyclopedia I will find the latest information reflecting the current state of theological and liturgical science.

Yes, and to clarify the situation, I can add that I have no special reverence for the Orthodox church projects themselves. And the adjective “Orthodox” is clearly not enough to delight me. I myself am a completely secular scientist, and also a Catholic, and, by the way, being a Catholic, I am not at all sure that Christianity can be “promoted” through the publication of encyclopedias - we have a slightly different idea of ​​​​missionary activity.

From my point of view, the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” is engaged, first of all, in collecting and promoting knowledge on the history of Russian spiritual culture and art, and the fact that the Russian Orthodox Church has entrusted itself with such a mission should certainly decorate its image in the eyes of the whole , religiously indifferent society. For my part, I can only express my deep gratitude to the team of authors and wish them successful completion of this titanic work.

Regarding the article by Yulia Latynina, which is now on everyone’s lips, I can only say that it reflects a situation that, unfortunately, is quite standard for modern domestic media. We often encounter the fact that a person who is very superficially educated and has little understanding of the problem under discussion suddenly begins to consider his opinion authoritative and, in front of the “admiring public,” begins “sensational revelations.” You won’t believe how many such “sensational revelations” I have read about museums and museum employees! Including in church publications, by the way...

I don’t think I have the right to judge what kind of journalist Yulia Latynina is, but she’s definitely not a historian or medieval philologist, and to me, as a fully functioning humanities scientist, her invective seems absolutely ridiculous. You can, of course, take a few phrases out of context in order to prove that all the information given in the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” is unscientific, and that it is exclusively engaged in the propaganda of long-outdated superstitions.

But this can only impress people who have nothing to do with science. For me and my colleagues, what is important is not what information about the Mother of God the encyclopedia provides, but what sources this information was taken from, whether the article contains a critical analysis of these sources or at least links to studies in which this analysis was carried out, etc. . p. And then it is me and my colleagues - and not Yulia Latynina and her admirers - who will judge whether the information provided is enough for us, and, based on this, evaluate this or that article.

For Yulia Latynina, in such a situation, there is only one possibility - to USE the encyclopedia - that is, open it to the desired letter and find the desired word. And if for some reason the information provided does not suit her, turn to any other source. But let the experts judge how scientific this information is, how relevant it is and how great its general cultural value is, okay? To be honest, her touching, illiterate demarche should never have come to the attention of me and my colleagues - all these “thought leaders,” regardless of their political or religious orientation, as a rule, work with their own, well-established audience and quite professionally come up with for her, entertainment after entertainment... On the other hand, an alternative expert point of view must still be expressed, and then it’s up to the public to decide whether to continue to unconditionally believe their “idol” or think a little...

Alexander Kravetsky, candidate of philological sciences, head of the Center for the Study of the Church Slavonic Language of the Institute of Russian Language named after. V.V. Vinogradov RAS:

– The reaction of those who are outraged that public money is being spent on the publication of the Orthodox Encyclopedia is understandable. On the cover of the encyclopedia, confessional affiliation is written, and the Church is legally separated from the state, so why would the state suddenly spend money on such a publication?

But still, I would advise everyone who is indignant to first study the issue more deeply. The fact is that the Orthodox Encyclopedia is one of the largest humanitarian projects of the post-Soviet era. Moreover, each article in the publication is not a compilation. In the era of information technology, making a compilation directory is a simple matter. Here is a huge research work on the history and culture of Russia. The history of the Russian Church and the history of Russian culture, and the history of the country are connected and certainly intersect. The encyclopedia describes this block better than anyone else. It contains not only theological articles, it also talks about architecture, history, literature, philosophy, and music.

Moreover, the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” speaks not only about Orthodoxy. Ancient, Slavic mythologies, other religions, and so on - you can find absolutely neutral reference articles about all this.

The “Orthodox Encyclopedia” is not made by popularizers or compilers, but by the best researchers. She managed to unite and attract to cooperation employees of academic institutes, universities, and so on. Over the years, they have created a completely unique community that produces a truly high-quality product.

The scientific level of this publication and its contribution to culture is very high, and the state supports this. If the state, through public procurement or some other form, supplied all editorial offices of the media with the “Orthodox Encyclopedia”, “Dictionary of Russian Writers”, “Great Russian Encyclopedia” and other normal reference books, the world would definitely become a better place. And the amount of nonsense we read in the media would be a little less.

So, it seems to me that the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” is one of those cultural values ​​that the state should support.

For those who have questions about the quality of the articles in the Orthodox Encyclopedia and who doubt its necessity, I recommend typing the words “Orthodox Encyclopedia in electronic version” into a search engine and see what it is. Because a journalistic retelling of an article about the Mother of God is now circulating on the Internet, reading which may give the impression that the Orthodox Encyclopedia is telling people fairy tales for state money. I will repeat what I have already said.

Already at the very beginning of the article “Theotokos” there is an indication that “from the biblical story we learn nothing about the circumstances of Her Nativity, nor about the Entry into the Temple, nor about the life of the Virgin Mary after Pentecost,” and then the authors characterize the sources from from which you can extract information about the Mother of God. And only after such an introduction to source studies and a discussion of questions about the reliability of sources follows a brief retelling of the life of the Mother of God, which begins with the words: “Tradition testifies that...” In my opinion, for a reference publication, this method of presenting material is quite correct.

Absolutely the same scheme is presented in the encyclopedia, say, the story about Athena or Veles, although, of course, for an Orthodox person, the Mother of God is real, and the other two characters named are heroes of myths. But this does not affect the approach in presentation.

This information is available and easy to check. I encourage everyone to go to the site and read.

There is another important point in this story. We begin to pay the bills for all our “hurt feelings.” We began to be perceived as persecutors. In any community there are an overwhelming minority of aggressive people, but they are the ones who are visible. Unfortunately, we are seen as the same Cossacks who destroy exhibitions, activists who disrupt performances. And we get a public response. At the same time, the targets of persecution are not “activists” and other aggressive outcasts, but serious academic projects that one can only be proud of. We receive a public reaction to some aggressive actions that occur in our name.

Dmitry Afinogenov

Dmitry Afinogenov, leading researcher at the IVI RAS, professor at the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Philology, Faculty of Philology, Moscow State University:

– “The Orthodox Encyclopedia” is not a publication for believers, and the people who say this simply did not open it.

If you open the articles “Bergson” or “Hegel”, these are huge articles about each philosopher, a lot of information about other faiths, for example, all the Catholic saints are there.

There are articles about the religious situation in various countries. For example, take the article “Italy” - it is huge. As you yourself understand, Orthodox Christians in Italy are a tiny percentage of the population. But the entire religious situation in this country is carefully described there. The same applies to articles about other countries.

In addition, there is a lot of material on history, not only of the Orthodox world, but also of the West.

There is a lot of information there that is of specific interest, but not for believers, but for everyone who is interested in the history of the Orthodox Church and its modern situation - and anyone can be interested in this.

All allegations regarding the squandering of money are unfounded. A very high quality product is produced in the scientific sense of the word. Quality is ensured by a multi-level text preparation system. The best specialists who exist in this field and agree to write are selected as authors. The authors are responsible for the content of the articles, and all of them undergo very careful editing.

Therefore, the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” is a scientific project. The amount of information presented in it is incomparable with everything that is currently being published. There are no such projects in the world; it is unique not only for Russia, but for the whole world.

I constantly use the articles of my colleagues in the Orthodox Encyclopedia, because, among other things, it provides an updated scientific bibliography, and when I know the authors, I need some information, I know who writes these articles, and I know that it will always be on the highest level, and these are the latest achievements of science.

Latynina’s article is simply ignorance, ordinary laziness. The article quotes apocrypha - so what? She didn’t open it, didn’t hold a single volume in her hands. To evaluate a publication, you need to open it and see what is written there.

Pavel Lukin, Doctor of Historical Sciences, leading researcher at the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences:

– “Orthodox Encyclopedia” is a project that represents a very good example of cooperation between scientific government organizations, such as the Academy of Sciences, various universities, and so on, and public organizations, in this case, the Russian Orthodox Church and not only: they participate in the project representatives of other Orthodox Churches.

All articles are written by specialists, scientists, as such articles should be written - without any religious restrictions. The result is a high-quality scientific product, one of the best such projects to date. This is not a purely church project, the encyclopedia is not focused exclusively on some internal church problems. It examines a variety of issues, including those important for the state, for science, above all. There are no questions about whether the Orthodox Encyclopedia can be purchased for libraries or other educational needs.

There are no problems here, just as there are no problems, say, when the state purchases textbooks on the basics of Orthodox culture, Muslim culture, and Jewish culture. This does not mean at all that the state merges with the respective religions.

In the case of the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” it is even more so - this is a broad project, scientifically balanced, without any religious propaganda.

This is not an encyclopedia of worship or a missionary encyclopedia, but a scientific one. I myself, when working on some scientific issues related to history, often resort to the Orthodox Encyclopedia.

Moreover, a number of articles there are not of a reference and informational nature, but of a research nature. After all, almost all major scientists collaborate with the Orthodox Encyclopedia: historians, philologists who deal with a variety of scientific problems. And those articles in the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” that I mentioned are the last word in science, and without them it is impossible to imagine the state of historiography today.

I don’t know the specific financial details, but I can say for sure that preparing the Orthodox Encyclopedia is very labor-intensive work. There are many editors, a very complex multi-stage review system, which allows you to create a very serious scientific product. Naturally, this costs money. Cheap can only be bad, as we know. A serious project requires serious expenses. This is clear.

As for Yulia Latynina’s article... I respect her as a publicist, she has interesting thoughts and sharp judgments. But in this case, she showed obvious incompetence, taking out of context a passage from an article about the Mother of God, which first very correctly states that we are talking about legends. Latynina cut off information about this and began quoting apocryphal stories as if the encyclopedia said that this was historically reliable information. This is simply a dishonest quotation.

As I understood from Yulia Latynina’s speech, she considers Christianity a negative phenomenon that destroyed the wonderful Roman Empire, and so on. This point of view seems absolutely erroneous and incorrect to me, but Yulia Leonidovna has the right to adhere to it. And we have the right to disagree with her. But what no one has the right to do is manipulate facts and unfair quotation.

The electronic version of the “Orthodox Encyclopedia”, located at http://www.pravenc.ru/, includes articles from the first volumes of the “Orthodox Encyclopedia”.

The resource is a separate website with easy navigation. On the first page of the site there is an introductory word by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy to the first alphabetical volume of the “Orthodox Encyclopedia”. Also on the first page the reader can familiarize himself with selected articles of the encyclopedia. In addition, there is a section “Significant dates from articles in the Orthodox Encyclopedia,” where a list of memorable dates and anniversaries for current dates is published.

Searching the electronic version of the encyclopedia is carried out using an index of articles. All articles are provided with rich illustrative material, as well as hyperlinks to articles available in the encyclopedia.

On the site, it is possible to subscribe to an RSS channel to update the site with new articles, reports Patriarchia.ru.

Speaking at the 17th meeting of the Supervisory, Trustee and Public Councils for the publication of the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” and the presentation of the XIV and XV alphabetical volumes of the “Orthodox Encyclopedia,” His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II announced that work on a full-fledged electronic version of the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” " will begin in 2008.

“In order to implement the idea of ​​​​an electronic version of the Orthodox Encyclopedia, I consider it necessary to create a special group at the Orthodox Encyclopedia Church Scientific Center that will deal with the electronic version,” said His Holiness Patriarch Alexy.

From the speech of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' at the XVII joint meeting of the Supervisory, Trustee, Public and Church Scientific Councils for the publication of the “Orthodox Encyclopedia”:

“First of all, I would like to draw your attention to the need to intensify work on the main publication - the Orthodox Encyclopedia.

This year, as we learned from the report of the head of the Church Scientific Center Sergei Leonidovich Kravets, the XVI alphabetical volume, the last volume of 2007, will be delivered to the printing house in December of this year. This will be a complex volume, a significant part of which will be taken up by the Gospel article. This article is the first to systematically examine all the main aspects of the Holy Gospels - theological, historical, spiritual and moral, textual, art criticism, which required the combined efforts of many scientists, and the work on this article is currently being completed under our close attention.

In 2008, we are to release the XVII, XVIII and XIX alphabetical volumes of the Orthodox Encyclopedia. And it is in 2008 that we will enter the most extensive letter in our dictionaries - “I”. The Church-Scientific Center will have to create a huge complex of articles, which includes such complex articles as “The Patriarchate of Jerusalem”, “John the Theologian”, “John Chrysostom”, many important regional studies articles - “India”, “Italy”, “Spain” and others . The letter “I” is one of the most extensive in the Orthodox calendar and includes such names as: “Jacob”, “Ignatius”, “Ilarion”, “Elijah”, “John”, “Joseph”, “Isidore”. These names are borne by thousands of Orthodox saints, including a considerable number of Russian new martyrs. I think that the pace of preparation of articles that was set this year should undoubtedly be maintained next year. Moreover, as we learned from the report of Sergei Leonidovich Kravets, the Church Scientific Center has significantly increased both wages and fee fund this year.

One of the most important components of the activities of the Church Scientific Center is research activities, which are concentrated in three main areas: work in the archives of the Russian Federation to identify and systematize documents on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 20th century, the activities of the Hagiographic Council (research and scientific preparation for publication of the texts of the lives of Russian saints) and the publication of the scientific quarterly journal “Bulletin of Church History”.

We highly appreciate these areas of activity of the Center and today we would like to focus our attention on the scientific journal “Bulletin of Church History”. The Church-Scientific Center publishes the magazine accurately and on time and, having started publishing in 2006, has already published seven issues of the magazine. However, I would like to draw attention to the too limited circulation of the Vestnik. We are grateful to the Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography, which decided to purchase our “Vestnik” for libraries of the Russian Federation, and now 800 copies of each issue of the magazine are supplied to libraries. But at the same time, a highly professional scientific publication is not always available to our diocesan libraries and libraries of religious educational institutions due to the magazine’s small circulation of 1 thousand copies. I think that starting from 2008, the circulation of the “Bulletin of Church History” publication should be increased.

I would also like to draw the attention of representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and the Russian Academy of Sciences to the desirability of including “Bulletin of Church History” in the list of journals in which publication is accepted by the Higher Attestation Commission. This will allow Our “Vestnik” to strengthen the team of authors and take its rightful place among other scientific journals.

Of great importance for the scientific activities of the Church Scientific Center and for the activities of the television and film company are the two archives we established on the basis of the Orthodox Encyclopedia - an archive of documents on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church of the 20th century and an archive of film and photo documents on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. These archives are very actively used in the preparation of articles for the Orthodox Encyclopedia, in publications in the Bulletin of Church History, and in the creation of historical documentaries. I think that the leadership of the Center, together with the heads of archives, should make efforts to further develop the interaction of state archives with the archives of the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” in order to more actively involve sources on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church in scientific circulation.

Of particular importance for our future projects will be the creation of a full-fledged electronic version of the Orthodox Encyclopedia. Sergei Leonidovich has already reported on the completion of the main work on software development this year. But this is only the very beginning of the process. Next year it is necessary to create an independent creative team at the Church Scientific Center, which would supplement and clarify materials in already published volumes as they are published in electronic form. The simplest example. The first alphabetical volume was published in 2001. During this time, many saints and new martyrs with the names “Alexy” and “Alexander” were canonized, and new bishops with these names were ordained in the Russian and other Orthodox Churches. The most important events took place in the life of dioceses and monasteries. All this should be present in the electronic version of the Orthodox Encyclopedia in order to update the available material as much as possible.

It is also necessary to continue work on improving the electronic portal of the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” “Sedmitsa.Ru”. Today it is one of the most popular and information-rich portals, which occupies its special place among other resources of the Russian Orthodox Church. This is, first of all, a deep study of topics, publication of materials of a historical and church-canonical nature, allowing users, including many media workers, to more accurately understand certain events in the life of the Church.

I would also like to say a few words about the work of the Orthodox Encyclopedia television and film company. We decided to start our own television and film production in 2004. For three and a half years, about 200 weekly television programs “Orthodox Encyclopedia” were released on the TVC channel, 20 documentaries were created, including a 10-episode film “Earthly and Heavenly”, a 5-episode film “Pilgrimage to the Eternal City”, a 2-episode film “The Angel of the Russian Church against the Father of All Nations”, documentaries “Saint George” and “Time of Troubles”, as well as a trilogy on the history of the Russian Church in the 20th century: “The Cross against the Swastika”, “Stalin and the Third Rome”, “Cold Thaw 61” year" and others. Many films of the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” were awarded numerous prizes at film and television festivals, including “TEFFY-2006” and “Golden Knight-2006, 2007”, “Pokrov 2006”.

As Sergei Leonidovich has already told us, the Orthodox Encyclopedia is currently completing work on a 12-part documentary film, “Planet of Orthodoxy,” which we hope to see next year on the Rossiya TV channel. At the end of 2007 - beginning of 2008, it is planned to begin production of two full-length feature films. The film, tentatively titled “Pskov Mission,” will be dedicated to the heroic and tragic fate of the Russian Orthodox clergy in the occupied territory during the Great Patriotic War. Another feature film addresses the turning point in Russian history of the 14th century, when the threat of new internecine wars and external enslavement loomed over the Orthodox Old Russian state. During this difficult time, Muscovite Rus' was preserved and strengthened by the real head of state, the mentor of the young prince Dimitri Ioannovich, the future holy noble Grand Duke Dimitri Donskoy, St. Metropolitan Alexy. We believe that both of these film projects, dedicated to the dramatic events of the past, filled with examples of selfless service to one’s homeland and the Orthodox faith, will be able to give modern society new positive heroes, which are so lacking in today’s television and film production.”