Moscow – On 10 January, Orthodox and Baptist children in Moscow celebrated Christmas jointly for the first time. This interconfessional event in an Orthodox church was organised by the department for external relations of both the Moscow Patriarchat and the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (RUECB). The idea for a children’s service was born last May in a meeting of Ilarion, the Archbishop of Volokolamsk, with the Baptist pastor Vitali Valsenko (Moscow). Both are the Directors of their respective church’s “foreign ministry”. Both churches expressed a common concern about how best to teach children the traditional spiritual and moral values of the Christian faith. During the service, Baptist and Orthodox clergymen stressed the significance of the believers’ Christmas as a “Feast of Joy” and called for lives lived in accordance with the Ten Commandments. The press service of the Russian Orthodox Church reported that the children were also treated to a Christian puppet theatre.

Roughly 100 million of Russia’s 142 million citizens belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. The RUECB has approximately 78.000 members.