St. Sergius Day 2011
Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk celebrated the Divine Liturgy in St. George's Church in Howell, NJ on October 8, 2011, the feast of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
2017.10.08. Venerable Sergius of Radonezh. Divine Liturgy
18th Sunday after Pentecost. Venerable Sergius, Wonderworker of Radonezh.
Hours and Liturgy of St John Chrysostom (in English).
Record of the live streaming video from Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St John the Baptist in Washington, DC
October 8, 2017
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Russia: See Putin present Geographical Society Person of the Year award
Video ID: 20141209-022
M/S Russian President Vladimir Putin approaching stage
W/S Putin approaching stage
SOT Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (in Russian): According to the decision of the experts, this year’s Person of the Geographic Society is Konstantin Robertovich Bogdanov. The award is for the discovery and research of the battleship Lefort. The location of the wreckage remained unknown for almost 150 years and our laureate and his colleagues and friends carried out a huge amount of work. As far as I know, this is not the only thing that this group is busy with. They also do a lot to restore the names of the heroes of World War II and World War I. They have a programme called ‘A Bow to the Ships of the Great Victory’, right? They explore and find the places that submarines and combat ships sank during the First and Second World Wars. They, as I said, restore the names of the heroes. This work is of great importance, and it is and will be very important before the 70th anniversary of the World War II. Thank you so much! Wish you the best of luck!
W/S Putin shaking hands with Konstantin Robertovich Bogdanov
SCRIPT
President Vladimir Putin presented the Russian Geographical Society’s Person of the Year award to Konstantin Rovertovich Bogdanov at a ceremony in Moscow, Tuesday.
Bogdanov won the prize for leading the team that discovered the wreckage of the Lefort Battleship that sank in the Gulf of Finland in 1857 with 826 people aboard.
President Putin also commended Bogdanov on his work on finding and identifying the remains of soldiers who died in the First and Second World Wars. As Bogdanov is continuing the search for the locations of other vessels which have sunk, Putin underlined the importance of his work surrounding the 70th anniversary of the World War II.
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700 years Celebration of St. Sergius and 50 years of St. John of Kronstadt (по-русски, no English)
Monterey, California. October 2014
Празднование 700-летия со дня рождения преподобного Сергия Радонежского и 50-летия со дня прославления святого Иоанна Кронштадтского
2017.10.01. Sunday 17th after Pentecost. Liturgy. Литургия
17th Sunday after Pentecost, Afterfeast of the Exaltation. Hours and Liturgy. Hours and Divine Liturgy (in English and Church Slavonic)
Record of the live streaming video from Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St John the Baptist in Washington, DC
October 1, 2017
Неделя 17-я по Пятидесятнице, она же по Воздвижении. Часы и Божественная Литургия (на Английском и Церковно-Славянском).
Запись прямой трансляции из Свято-Иоанно-Предтеченского Собора в г. Вашингтоне, О.К.
1 октября 2017 года
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Orthodox Icon of the Mother of God Protection of the Virgin 10x12
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Kursk
Kursk is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym Rivers. The area around Kursk was the site of a turning point in the Soviet–German struggle during World War II and the site of the largest tank battle in history. Population: 415,159 (2010 Census); 412,442 (2002 Census); 424,239 (1989 Census).
This video is targeted to blind users.
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Article text available under CC-BY-SA
Creative Commons image source in video
Visit of Bishop Peter - St. Vladimir Church 2008
Fr. Vadim Gan
The war through the eyes of a Katyusha divisional commander
Mark Pavlovich Ivanikhin spent the entire Great Patriotic War — from Stalingrad to Berlin — in the company of the legendary Katyusha rocket system, commanding first a battery, then a division. Decorated with six orders and numerous medals, the veteran told RBTH what the war was like for him.
2017.10.08. Преп. Сергия Радонежского. Божественная Литургия
Неделя 18-я по 50-нице. Преп. Сергия Радонежского, чуд.
Часы и Божественная Литургия (на Церковно-Славянском).
Запись прямой трансляции из Свято-Иоанно-Предтеченского Собора в г. Вашингтоне, О.К.
8 октября 2017 года
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Veneration of the holy icon of Transfiguration and the anointing from the Vespers
Russia | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
00:06:32 1 Etymology
00:08:41 2 History
00:08:51 2.1 Early history
00:10:56 2.2 Kievan Rus'
00:14:52 2.3 Grand Duchy of Moscow
00:17:32 2.4 Tsardom of Russia
00:22:40 2.5 Imperial Russia
00:29:11 2.6 February Revolution and Russian Republic
00:31:01 2.7 Soviet Russia and civil war
00:32:50 2.8 Soviet Union
00:37:29 2.8.1 World War II
00:41:28 2.8.2 Cold War
00:46:28 2.9 Russian Federation
00:52:03 3 Politics
00:52:13 3.1 Governance
00:54:43 3.2 Foreign relations
01:00:35 3.3 Military
01:04:04 3.4 Political divisions
01:07:27 4 Geography
01:08:51 4.1 Topography
01:13:30 4.2 Climate
01:16:04 4.3 Biodiversity
01:17:30 5 Economy
01:26:22 5.1 Corruption
01:29:29 5.2 Agriculture
01:32:05 5.3 Energy
01:35:09 5.4 Transport
01:40:52 5.5 Science and technology
01:48:14 5.6 Space exploration
01:50:29 5.7 Water supply and sanitation
01:51:21 6 Demographics
01:57:01 6.1 Largest cities
01:57:11 6.2 Ethnic groups
01:57:41 6.3 Language
01:59:20 6.4 Religion
02:11:26 6.5 Health
02:13:42 6.6 Education
02:15:56 7 Culture
02:16:06 7.1 Folk culture and cuisine
02:20:06 7.2 Architecture
02:24:14 7.3 Visual arts
02:27:49 7.4 Music and dance
02:31:04 7.5 Literature and philosophy
02:35:14 7.6 Cinema, animation and media
02:39:41 7.7 Sports
02:47:57 7.8 National holidays and symbols
02:52:37 7.9 Tourism
02:56:04 8 See also
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
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Speaking Rate: 0.7925987386990176
Voice name: en-GB-Wavenet-C
I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
Russia (Russian: Росси́я, tr. Rossiya, IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə]), officially the Russian Federation (Russian: Росси́йская Федера́ция, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya, IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə]), is a country in Eurasia. At 17,125,200 square kilometres (6,612,100 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world by area, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area, and the ninth most populous, with about 144.5 million people as of 2018, excluding Crimea. About 77% of the population live in the western, European part of the country. Russia's capital, Moscow, is the largest metropolitan area in Europe proper and one of the largest cities in the world; other major cities include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both with Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the U.S. state of Alaska across the Bering Strait. However, Russia recognises two more countries that border it, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both of which are internationally recognized as parts of Georgia.
The East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century. In 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus' ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states; most of the Rus' lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion and became tributaries of the nomadic Golden Horde in the 13th century. The Grand Duchy of Moscow gradually reunified the surrounding Russian principalities, achieved independence from the Golden Horde. By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded through conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian Empire, which was the third largest empire in history, stretching from Poland on the west to Alaska on th ...
Thanks-giving Prayers (ROCOR Pakistan)
Thanks-giving prayer FFA TO ROCOR
Parish: St. Sergius of Radonezh Orthodox Church Sargodha Pakistan!
Ruling Bishop:His Eminence Metropolitan HILARION, Archbishop of Eastern America and New York.
Parish Priest: Rev.Fr.Joseph Farooq
Russia | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Russia
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
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The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
Russia (Russian: Росси́я, tr. Rossiya, IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə]), officially the Russian Federation (Russian: Росси́йская Федера́ция, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya, IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə]), is a country in Eurasia. At 17,125,200 square kilometres (6,612,100 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world by area, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area, and the ninth most populous, with about 144.5 million people as of 2018, excluding Crimea. About 77% of the population live in the western, European part of the country. Russia's capital, Moscow, is the largest metropolitan area in Europe proper and one of the largest cities in the world; other major cities include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both with Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the U.S. state of Alaska across the Bering Strait.
The East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century. In 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus' ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states; most of the Rus' lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion and became tributaries of the nomadic Golden Horde in the 13th century. The Grand Duchy of Moscow gradually reunified the surrounding Russian principalities, achieved independence from the Golden Horde. By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded through conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian Empire, which was the third largest empire in history, stretching from Poland on the west to Alaska on the east.Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic became the largest and leading constituent of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the world's first constitutionally socialist state. The Soviet Union played a decisive role in the Allied victory in World War II, and emerged as a recognized superpower and rival to the United States during the Cold War. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the world's first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the world's second largest economy, largest standing military in the world and the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, twelve independent republics emerged from the USSR: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Baltic states regained independence: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania; the Russian SFSR reconstituted itself as the Russian Federation and is recognized as the continuing legal personality and a successor of the Soviet Union. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic.
Russia's economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russia's extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the leading producers of oil and natural gas globally. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons ...
History of Russia | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
History of Russia
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
You can upload your own Wikipedia articles through:
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
The History of Russia begins with that of the East Slavs and the Finno-Ugric peoples. The traditional beginning of Russian history is the establishment of Kievan Rus', the first united Eastern Slavic state, in 882. The state adopted Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Orthodox Slavic culture for the next millennium. Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated as a state due to the Mongol invasions in 1237–1240 along with the resulting deaths of about half the population of Rus'.
After the 13th century, Moscow became a cultural center, and by the 18th century, the Tsardom of Russia had grown to become the Russian Empire, stretching from eastern Poland to the Pacific Ocean. Peasant revolts were common, and all were fiercely suppressed. Russian serfdom was abolished in 1861, but the peasants fared poorly and often turned to revolutionary pressures. In the following decades, reform efforts such as the Stolypin reforms, the constitution of 1906, and the State Duma attempted to open and liberalize the economy and political system, but the tsars refused to relinquish autocratic rule or share their power.
The Russian Revolution in 1917 was triggered by a combination of economic breakdown, war-weariness, and discontent with the autocratic system of government. It initially brought to power a coalition of liberals and moderate socialists, but their failed policies led to seizure of power by the communist Bolsheviks on 25 October. Between 1922 and 1991, the history of Russia is essentially the history of the Soviet Union, effectively an ideologically based state which was roughly conterminous with the Russian Empire before the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The approach to the building of socialism, however, varied over different periods in Soviet history, from the mixed economy and diverse society and culture of the 1920s to the command economy and repressions of the Joseph Stalin era to the era of stagnation in the 1980s. From its first years, government in the Soviet Union was based on the one-party rule of the Communists, as the Bolsheviks called themselves, beginning in March 1918.
By the mid-1980s, with the weaknesses of its economic and political structures becoming acute, Mikhail Gorbachev embarked on major reforms, which led to the overthrow of the communist party and the breakup of the USSR, leaving Russia again on its own and marking the start of the history of post-Soviet Russia. The Russian Federation began in January 1992 as the legal successor to the USSR. Russia retained its nuclear arsenal but lost its superpower status. Scrapping the socialist central planning and state ownership of property of the socialist era, new leaders, led by President Vladimir Putin, took political and economic power after 2000 and engaged in an energetic foreign policy. Russia's recent annexation of the Crimean peninsula has led to severe economic sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union.
Russian Federation | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
00:05:32 1 Etymology
00:07:19 2 History
00:07:28 2.1 Early history
00:09:14 2.2 Kievan Rus'
00:12:33 2.3 Grand Duchy of Moscow
00:14:49 2.4 Tsardom of Russia
00:19:10 2.5 Imperial Russia
00:24:38 2.6 February Revolution and Russian Republic
00:26:13 2.7 Soviet Russia and civil war
00:27:46 2.8 Soviet Union
00:31:41 2.8.1 World War II
00:36:03 2.8.2 Cold War
00:40:19 2.9 Russian Federation
00:47:10 3 Politics
00:47:19 3.1 Governance
00:49:28 3.2 Foreign relations
00:54:06 3.3 Military
00:57:02 3.4 Political divisions
00:59:52 4 Geography
01:01:04 4.1 Topography
01:04:56 4.2 Climate
01:07:07 4.3 Biodiversity
01:08:19 5 Economy
01:15:44 5.1 Energy
01:18:19 5.2 External trade and investment
01:19:12 5.3 Agriculture
01:21:22 5.4 Transport
01:26:09 5.5 Science and technology
01:32:23 5.6 Space exploration
01:34:41 5.7 Water supply and sanitation
01:35:25 5.8 Corruption
01:38:01 6 Demographics
01:43:21 6.1 Largest cities
01:43:29 6.2 Ethnic groups
01:43:55 6.3 Language
01:45:19 6.4 Religion
01:55:31 6.5 Health
01:57:25 6.6 Education
01:59:19 7 Culture
01:59:27 7.1 Folk culture and cuisine
02:02:48 7.2 Architecture
02:06:16 7.3 Visual arts
02:09:16 7.4 Music and dance
02:12:01 7.5 Literature and philosophy
02:15:32 7.6 Cinema, animation and media
02:19:16 7.7 Sports
02:26:13 7.8 National holidays and symbols
02:30:11 7.9 Tourism
02:33:06 8 See also
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
Listen on Google Assistant through Extra Audio:
Other Wikipedia audio articles at:
Upload your own Wikipedia articles through:
Speaking Rate: 0.840215070640857
Voice name: en-AU-Wavenet-C
I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
Russia (Russian: Росси́я, tr. Rossiya, IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə]), officially the Russian Federation (Russian: Росси́йская Федера́ция, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya, IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə]), is a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and North Asia. At 17,125,200 square kilometres (6,612,100 sq mi), Russia is by a considerable margin the largest country in the world by area, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area, and the ninth most populous, with about 146.77 million people as of 2019, including Crimea. About 77% of the population live in the western, European part of the country. Russia's capital, Moscow, is one of the largest cities in the world and the second largest city in Europe; other major cities include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both with Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the U.S. state of Alaska across the Bering Strait. However, Russia recognises two more countries that border it, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both of which are internationally recognized as parts of Georgia.
The East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century. In 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states; most of the Rus' lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion and became tributaries of the nomadic Golden Horde in the 13th century. The Grand Duchy of Moscow gradually reunified the surrounding Russian principalities and achieved independence from the Golden Horde. By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded through conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian Empire, wh ...
Nikolai Ryzhkov The Last Premier of the Empire / Николай Рыжков Последний премьер империи ENG SUB
This is a 2014 documentary film about Nikolai Ryzhkov, the last Premier of the Soviet Union.
Ryzhkov talks about the hardships he went through during his service as the Prime Minister of the USSR, Chernobyl disaster, Spitak earthquake, Gorbachev's disastrous anti alcohol campaign, collapse of the USSR, how he got betrayed by Gorbachev more than once, the culture complex in Belgorod whose construction he organized. He also tells hilarious anecdotes and tear-jerker stories from those years. First time in English.
Translation done by myself.
Director: Alexei Gritsaenko
Russia | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Russia
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written
language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through
audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio
while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using
a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
In case you don't find one that you were looking for, put a comment.
This video uses Google TTS en-US-Standard-D voice.
SUMMARY
=======
Russia (Russian: Росси́я, tr. Rossiya, IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə]), officially the Russian Federation (Russian: Росси́йская Федера́ция, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya, IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə]), is a country in Eurasia. At 17,125,200 square kilometres (6,612,100 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world by area, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area, and the ninth most populous, with about 144.5 million people as of 2018, excluding Crimea. About 77% of the population live in the western, European part of the country. Russia's capital, Moscow, is the largest metropolitan area in Europe proper and one of the largest cities in the world; other major cities include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both with Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the U.S. state of Alaska across the Bering Strait.
The East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century. In 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus' ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states; most of the Rus' lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion and became tributaries of the nomadic Golden Horde in the 13th century. The Grand Duchy of Moscow gradually reunified the surrounding Russian principalities, achieved independence from the Golden Horde. By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded through conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian Empire, which was the third largest empire in history, stretching from Poland on the west to Alaska on the east.Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic became the largest and leading constituent of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the world's first constitutionally socialist state. The Soviet Union played a decisive role in the Allied victory in World War II, and emerged as a recognized superpower and rival to the United States during the Cold War. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the world's first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the world's second largest economy, largest standing military in the world and the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, twelve independent republics emerged from the USSR: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Baltic states regained independence: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania; the Russian SFSR reconstituted itself as the Russian Federation and is recognized as the continuing legal personality and a successor of the Soviet Union. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic.
Russia's economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russia's extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the leading producers of oil and natural gas globally. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has b ...
Interview with Katsiaryna Foronda on October 10th, 2010. Minsk, Belarus.
Interview with the Head of Council for Foreign Relations of an American Charitable Foundation The Saviour Katsiaryna Foronda
10.10.2010
Minsk, Belarus
- In the United States we have a lot of orthodox events during the year, but no one of them is such large-scale orthodox events like Pokrovski Kirmash. There is nothing goes for a week or 10 days, and the reason for it is absence of such a big number of people like in Belarus or Russia. I think, that a total number of the parishioners in the USA are, probably, less than the total number of all the people, who will visit the Belorussian exhibition for 10 days here.
Like I said, in the USA church (I mean all orthodox parishes) organizes a lot of events, but each of them goes only one day and it is conducted in a little bit different way.
First of all, a church service is held not only in Russian, but also in English and Greek languages.
Thus, in the Church of Saint Sergius of Radonezh which located in New York at the same building that the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia services are held in English language there for those, who don't understand Russian. The reason for it is that a lot of old immigrants don't speak Russian language, because many of them were born in America, some others came long time ago and simply forget it. The English language is easier for them. There are also some other arrangements of secular character, and they are held more often that religious ones.
How do you evaluate the cultural-educative program We are together, firstly held by The Saviour Fund at the Pokrovski Kirmash?
- It is difficult to say, but I had a very pleasant feeling of inspiration. I didn't expect, all people here are very nice. I was glad to meet a poet and a bard Julia Mit'ko, and an artist Svetlana Tsivil'ko. Both of them participated before in 2 actions of our fund devoted to children By Name of Childhood. The child's group Yagnyatki is amazing. I could not expect that so many different people will come to our presentation. It was also very nice that nobody was sleeping during the concert and nobody left the hall before performance was over. I have got a lot of compliments and warm words after our presentation. All these things together mean for me we are on the right way.
Compared with the two previous days, which were so difficult and unpleasant, today's day is like a paradise.
What are the plans of the The Saviour Fund?
- I've already talked to the organizer of this exhibition, Natalia. She said that she's very glad our Fund has appeared here and was presented to Belorussian people. She proposed a lot of ideas. We have some projects too. But I can't say, that we will realize them at once. Everything should be done step by step, and we definitely will achieve our goal. I will do my best to come to Belarus as often as I can, and to organize not only arrival of the Fund itself, but also make the priests from Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia to come to Belarus and bring here Icon Kursk Korennaya -- The Sign.
What would you wish to the Belorussian people?
- I would wish for those, who will see, will hear or will know about our fund. If you came once, don't leave us anymore. We've only begun our work. And if we make some mistakes or do something wrong, and it looks foolish or naive for you, please, do not judge us very strictly, because everything we do is created from the bottom of our heart. And as I've said, if you came to us, please, don't leave, but follow us and support us, because we really need you. Thanks!
The Orthodox condition
Romanian Orthodox kissing Icon