Orthodox Book Day: A new holiday, eternal meanings

Rampant violence, freedom of morals, substitution of spiritual values ​​for material ones - this is the scourge of our time. Only intelligent, highly spiritual literature can give people light and truth and show the path to God, in honor of which the holiday is celebrated on March 14 - Orthodox Book Day.

The meaning of the holiday

The initiator of the event was the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2009. The date was set in honor of the anniversary of the appearance of the first printed book “Apostle” in Rus'.

The objectives of the holiday are to introduce the masses to Orthodox literature, which can make a person far from stupidity and vulgarity, evil, hatred and sin, and enrich his inner world. She teaches Christian morality: love, kindness, compassion, the ability to endure difficulties. An Orthodox book is not only a collection of religious canons or stories about the lives of saints, but also highly moral works of art that are gradually losing their relevance. The holiday aims to attract public attention to this type of literature, to motivate the reader to look into his soul, the souls of his relatives and ancestors of his people, to study the history and culture of his Fatherland.

Orthodox Book Day: A new holiday, eternal meanings

Head of the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, member of the Supreme Church Council, Metropolitan of Kaluga and Borovsk Clement (Kapalin). Photo: TV channel “Tsargrad”

On March 1 (14), 1564, in the Moscow Printing Yard, the first Russian printed book, “The Apostle,” was published by the Russian pioneer deacon Ivan Fedorov, and the annual Orthodox holiday, Orthodox Book Day, was timed to coincide with this event.

In 2021, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Orthodox Book Day for the ninth time, which over the past years has turned into a whole series of church and social events taking place not only on March 14, but during the first spring months. The head of the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, member of the Supreme Church Council, Metropolitan Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk, Clement (Kapalin), told Constantinople about the educational significance of this holiday, as well as the importance of Orthodox books for Russia and the entire Russian world.

Vladyka, in comparison with the absolute majority of other church holidays and memorial dates, Orthodox Book Day is a relatively new holiday. Please tell us about its background, how and when it was invented, what is it dedicated to?

The date of the holiday was determined by our national history. As you know, it was on March 1 according to the old style, and therefore March 14 according to the new style, in 1564 that the first book was published. This happened in Moscow at the printing yard. Deacon Ivan Fedorov made the first print of the book “Apostle”. From that moment on, official book printing began in our country.

I would like to especially emphasize that “The Apostle” is also a liturgical book, which is still used today in any Orthodox church, and at the same time it is intended for home Christian reading. Both in those days and today, pious people read it at home.

In conversations with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, we have more than once discussed how to raise the authority of reading in our society, to attract the attention of modern people to a good, meaningful book, and to honor the works of those who, over the centuries, have created our true national wealth. The response was the decision to establish the celebration of Orthodox Book Day, which was decided by the Patriarch and the Holy Synod.

Moreover, I note that we are talking not only about the Orthodox book in its narrow sense: about the Holy Scriptures, patristic works, theological and church-historical literature, but also about artistic literature, which teaches a person how to live, helping him preserve traditions and develop as personality.

Today, this holiday is no longer limited to one day: throughout March and April, numerous seminars, conferences, creative meetings, evenings and other cultural events are held. Their main task is to give people, especially young people, the opportunity to feel the significance of a book for every person. Modern man is more and more busy with external worries, and when he comes home, he often doesn’t even have a shelf with books at home. There are various gadgets, mobile devices, TV, computer and so on.

Mobile phones take up a lot of time, distracting us from caring for our immortal soul and from reading, which sets us up for it. A person needs to be reminded that by forgetting about books, he internally robs and weakens himself.

This is probably also happening because in recent years, in this everyday bustle, we have completely forgotten about what reading gives us?

Yes, this is undeniable. I'm talking about reading any good literature. After all, books are like people: there is a good person, and there is one with whom we try to avoid meeting. Just like people, there are different books. A good person will always lend a hand, help, support. And a kind, good book can also support a person. She does not teach sin, but shows how to learn to endure sorrows, overcome one’s whims, how to gain faith and love for one’s neighbor.

Our task is to arouse a keen interest in literature, to actualize reading as a leisure activity. When addressing young people, I always explain the following. Firstly, reading develops a person, broadens his horizons, and allows him to penetrate into the essence of things. Reading helps a person analyze events and makes him an interesting conversationalist. After all, every reading person has many stories, stories, impressions, and experiences in his memory. He thinks.

Orthodox Book Day is aimed at popularizing not the book itself, but specifically its reading. Books are published and purchased not to put them on a shelf for beauty, but to enrich the reader’s inner world.

Vladyka, in 2021, Orthodox Book Day is celebrated for the ninth time, during which time the holiday has acquired many traditions. Which ones are the most important?

According to tradition, on March 14, we will organize a meeting between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin with schoolchildren in the Hall of Church Councils of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Almost 1,400 children from the capital and near Moscow region take part in it. These include representatives of cadet corps, members of large families, and children with disabilities. His Holiness the Patriarch and Sergei Semenovich will talk to the children and give them gifts. The most important gift on Book Day may, of course, be a book.

Meeting of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin with schoolchildren in the Hall of Church Councils of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Photo: patriarchia.ru

I remember as a child I waited for my birthday or Christmas, when we were given new books. In those post-war years, it was very difficult to buy them; there was not such a wide selection of books as there is now. And our family budget was very modest. Nevertheless, books were always given as gifts. For example, I often received books from my older brother. And it was such a joy for me: to receive my book!

Later, when I was in the fifth or sixth grade, we went to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. People came to the monastery from whom they could purchase church books. This kind of literature was not published at that time, and it was impossible to buy it in stores. But these people had these books in their purses, they sold them for a ruble, two. We knew them and ran after them, wondering what new books they had. They were new to us, but in fact they were published almost a hundred years ago.

In those years I began to collect my spiritual library. By the end of school, I personally bought about a dozen books of spiritual literature. At home we had a common library: the Gospel, Biblical history, the Law of God, the History of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Lives of the saints for all 12 months. But a family library is one thing, but having your own shelf... My baptismal name was Herman, they named it in honor of the Venerable Herman of Solovetsky. I remember once a woman said to me: “Look, there is an interesting book about Solovki.” This monastery was then closed. I answer her: “I’ll definitely buy about Solovki!” But I didn’t have enough money, I had to ask my mother for a loan of 50 kopecks to buy a book about the Solovetsky Monastery, where the Monk Herman labored.

I remember myself when I watch how modern children receive their books from the hands of His Holiness the Patriarch and the mayor of the city on Orthodox Book Day. This is the central festive event that takes place in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. In addition, several dozen meetings with young readers will be held in libraries, schools, and universities in Moscow alone. A brain-ring will be held for students, several exhibitions will be shown, excursions and conversations with writers will be organized.

Will there be something new, different from previous years?

We will open an interactive map of libraries of Orthodox literature. It is compiled based on information about more than 1,500 libraries. These are parish, monastic, and diocesan book depositories. In addition, it indicates a number of secular libraries that have a special section “Orthodox Literature” in their collections. Now readers will have their interactive map at their disposal.

Metropolitan Clement. Photo: patriarchia.ru

We have been doing a lot of work with libraries lately. Firstly, libraries are no longer just repositories of books; they are becoming centers of intellectual work. Now interesting people are invited to libraries who know how to work with books, who write prose and poetry. Their meetings with readers take place in libraries. This is a very important phenomenon in modern life in Russia; it revives the role and importance of libraries, especially for those that are located far from large cities. After all, there are many places where there are no bookstores, but libraries have survived. And the Publishing Council carries out a special program, constantly sending sets of literature to libraries in villages and small towns, not only spiritual, but also fiction, which in terms of content can be classified as Orthodox books.

In general, as you already said at the beginning of our conversation, the concept of “Orthodox book” is much broader than one might think?

Yes, this is not only the Gospel, the lives of saints or the works of the holy fathers. These are works of art that convey goodness, an evangelical worldview, help people understand the meaning of human life, learn generosity and Christian love. This is an Orthodox book that “breathes” commandments. And many writers of the “golden age” of our literature knew the Holy Scriptures very well. Take Pushkin’s “The Captain’s Daughter”: it is full of moral ideas, or such a poem of his as “Desert Fathers and Immaculate Wives...”, in which the poet bares his heart, setting out the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian. There are also wonderful works by Ivan Shmelev. And among the more recent, our contemporaries, we can name the books of Vladimir Krupin and other nominees and laureates of the Patriarchal Literary Prize.

It should be especially mentioned that as part of the Orthodox Book Day, the presentation of the children's literary award “Summer of the Lord” named after Ivan Shmelev will traditionally take place. Dozens of children participating in this competition will come to Moscow. It began in September, and now, during spring break, we are summing up the results. This year, 37 finalists from different parts of not only Russia, but also Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and foreign countries will come to Moscow. These children wrote very good and interesting stories, short stories, and diary entries.

How does modern Russian fiction differ from the literature of past years?

Metropolitan Clement: Actually, secular fiction appeared in Russia in the 18th–19th centuries. This was facilitated by the development of printing, which facilitated its distribution. The literature published in Soviet times bore its mark: then it was forbidden to mention God, but they talked about goodness. Many Soviet writers were not afraid to quote the words of the commandments “thou shalt not steal,” “thou shalt not kill.” Modern publications, especially those aimed at teenagers and young adults, are very different and not for the better.

In Soviet times, many wonderful, kind and bright works were written for teenagers, in which there was practically no ideology. For example, “Timur and his team.” Now, unfortunately, very few such books appear. Many good writers, in pursuit of circulation, do not pay attention to the development of positive qualities in young readers, the creation of good feelings in them. There are very few works of fiction about family life in modern conditions. Today we especially need books about families and ways to solve their problems.

The literature of the Soviet period left many works about how Soviet society was built, about heroism at the front. But there are still few books that tell how people maintained faith at that time, about how families raised children in the faith, when everyone around them said: “There is no God.” And now there is clearly not enough literature that would show the feat of a Christian in our days.

Photo: patriarchia.ru

Last year, our TV channel covered the round table of the Publishing Council, at which the idea of ​​a competition of artistic works about the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church arose. Is this exactly what you are talking about?

In order to awaken the interest of modern writers in addressing the topic of the new martyrs in the format of not hagiographic literature, but fiction, we, together with the Nikeya publishing house, established such a competition. The winner will receive not only a prize fund, but also the publication of his book in a circulation of at least five thousand copies. This is very important for a writer. I will say more: an agreement has been reached with the Association of Book Publishers (ASKI) that the next competition will be for the best book about family. I think we will announce this competition next fall. Both of these topics - the example of the new martyrs and confessors of the 20th century and the example of a good family life - are very important for the modern reader.

And yet, most modern people know very little about the Orthodox book. Are there Orthodox “bestsellers” in the secular sense of the word? Books that can be recommended not only to churchgoers, but also to those who are taking their first steps towards the Church?

The main Orthodox “bestseller” is the Gospel. It has already been published not in millions, but in billions of copies and continues to be published. Every year more than a dozen publishing houses contact us at the Publishing Council who want to publish the Gospel. And we must not forget this book. And if we talk about artistic Orthodox literature, then there are excellent examples here too. For example, books by Viktor Nikolaev, especially “Alive in Help.” This book has already gone through more than ten editions with a total circulation of almost a million. Isn't this a bestseller? Or the book by Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov) “Unholy Saints,” which sold millions of copies and was translated into a number of languages?

There are books, it is important that they are noticed. There are a lot of writers. Every year we give the Publishing Council stamp to about two thousand books. Among them are not only Holy Scripture, liturgical and patristic literature, but also interesting works of art. All of them go to the church book network. The main thing is to have a desire to read.

I appeal to all readers: be interested in a book, choose not one with only beautiful pictures, but a useful book that will benefit you and help your children become good people when they grow up. And if you, parents, instill in your children a love of reading, then the children will gain positive experiences in life through books. Unfortunately, the screen now mostly clogs up our lives, but we can choose a book. And we must choose a good book so that the child can develop a correct, kind understanding of life, filled with love. If you instill in them such an understanding of life, then, first of all, when they grow up, they will give this love to you, their parents.

But in order to instill, one of the main rules is to teach children to read. And for this you need to read for yourself. Sit with a book by the crib so that the child falls asleep with the thought: dad is reading, mom is reading, that in their free time they do not hang out on the Internet with a smartphone or do something with other gadgets, but leaf through a book. Parents should definitely buy books for themselves and for their child. This is one of the important pedagogical moments of upbringing: a child should see an example in his parents.

Probably, this and the only way can return our country to the status of the most reading country, the most reading people?

What is also very important is to remove violence and murder from the TV screen and show the normal creative life of a person. And, of course, there needs to be more films based on literary works. A person, after watching a film by any modern writer, will become interested and read his book.

And in conclusion, I would like to ask you to congratulate the readers and viewers of Tsargrad on the upcoming holiday.

Dear readers, I cordially congratulate you on Orthodox Book Day! Remember that the book taught us how to live. She gave us knowledge about God, an understanding of our purpose and the structure of the world around us. We have studied its laws. But most importantly, we must study the laws of spiritual life, and teach our children to live out of love for God, with faith, in an effort to turn to books more, because a good book will teach only good things. God bless you all!

Orthodox literature

Orthodox books appeared in Rus' with the emergence of Christianity. They were composed and copied by monks, so the first libraries were monastic ones. Handwritten volumes were expensive and inaccessible to ordinary people. Therefore, the masses perceived books by ear during services in churches.

In the 16th century the advent of printing made books more accessible, although they were also not cheap. The first books published by I. Fedorov and P. Mstislavets were called “Apostle”, “Book of Hours” and “Teacher’s Gospel”. They were used to teach literacy and prepare clergy.

Today the most read book in the world is the Bible. The Holy Scripture makes people think about the purpose of man, about the meaning of life, teaches how to solve life's problems and resist sin. Other Orthodox works include collections of prayers and sermons, lives of saints, revelations of priests, theological, pedagogical and historical literature.

What are Orthodox books?

Orthodox books tell not only about the lives of saints, and these are not only church traditions. Among them you can also find fiction, there is a manual on raising the younger generation. The Church tries to instill Christian values ​​in people, but does not do this in an intrusive manner. The fundamental qualities endowed with the heroes of these books are love and kindness.

Church books are designed to bring believers great benefit from spiritual enlightenment, because many people know that the church has established its own traditions and signs for centuries. And for a happy, peaceful and harmonious life, every modern person needs to know about them.

Previously, with the help of prayers and church rituals they protected themselves from evil spirits, but now people are trying to solve pressing problems in this way. For example, someone wants to get rid of a serious illness; there are prayers for this purpose and they are worth knowing. To whom to pray, how and when, all this is very important, and Orthodox books teach this. And others, with the help of prayer and the intervention of Higher powers, are trying to find a new high-paying job, and you can find advice about this in the prayer book.

Classic

Works written by Russian classics teach wisdom and life. F. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov” is a work about the eternal struggle between good and evil, about compassion and sin, about the contradictory feelings that engulf a person. The epic “War and Peace” by L. Tolstoy tells about the intertwining in human life of such opposing categories as war and peace, love and betrayal, sin and virtue. N. Gogol ridiculed in “Dead Souls” greed, cunning, stupidity and other base human weaknesses hidden in the depths of the soul. But these books are fading into the background these days, being replaced by computer games and television, which often promote cruelty and depravity.

Celebration

Orthodox Book Day is celebrated throughout Russia. Thematic exhibitions, excursions to libraries and book depositories are dedicated to this event. Lectures are organized on the history of printing, on rare publications, and public readings of Orthodox and classical literature are held. Book fairs and sacred music concerts are of great interest. Local dioceses carry out campaigns to collect and transfer Orthodox literature to district, citywide and departmental libraries. Social and educational institutions are not left without attention.

Russian diasporas abroad provide great assistance. They publish Orthodox books and periodicals and transfer them to Russia.