A National Spiritual Meal was held in Moscow, the participants of which emphasized the importance of peacemaking

On November 15, in the banquet hall of the Crystal Ball Room of the Oko Tower in Moscow City, with the support of all Christian denominations of Russia and the administration of the President of the Russian Federation, a National Spiritual Meal was held, during which political, public, religious figures, businessmen, diplomats and officials discussed the topics of peacemaking and serving God. The organizer of the event is the National Spiritual Meal Foundation, whose founders are Russian Protestants.

According to the president of the foundation, Andrei Gaidamaki, the meal is intended to “demonstrate the unity of people of faith, honor and duty, and incorporates the best forms of conservatism and traditional values.”

According to Sergei Ryakhovsky, the commanding bishop of the Russian United Union of Evangelical Christians (Pentecostals), the event is intended as a “counterbalance” to the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, where leading world politicians, businessmen, diplomats and religious leaders have met with US presidents since 1953. “Representatives of the BRICS countries will come to us,” the bishop expects. – This is balance, not competition. The Americans have 4 thousand participants, and we have 300: so far they don’t want to come to us, but this will not always be the case.”

“At a time when the world is experiencing severe upheaval, only faith can help us overcome difficulties,” explained Mr. Gaydamaka. “People united by higher goals and spiritual guidelines become a support for their loved ones and society as a whole.”

According to the organizers, they would like to achieve interaction between public groups united by common traditional and moral values ​​in order to promote “spiritual diplomacy”, interfaith unity of the country, spiritual service and creative entrepreneurship.

“When people stop communicating and praying together, instead of people, guns and then missiles begin to talk to each other, but after the missiles there will be silence,” said Evgeniy Eremin, head of the department for interaction with religious organizations of the Russian Presidential Administration for Domestic Policy. – Do we need such silence? No”. According to him, a meeting of this kind will help ensure that “the world created by the will of the Lord does not cease to exist, but there is such a threat”: “Every day we see more and more destruction, and this destruction is the work of human hands.” Mr. Eremin called on every believer to serve God in his own place: “We must devote all our strength and abilities to serving the Lord, serving society, the Almighty will evaluate us according to our work.”

Mr. Gaydamaka noted the importance of peacemaking, reconciliation and love for brothers. Mr. Ryakhovsky told a Kommersant correspondent that Protestants are actively involved in peacemaking: “We talk about peacemaking with world religious leaders at different levels, but at the same time we are patriots of our country.” The Russian Orthodox Church was represented by Metropolitan John of Belgorod and Stary Oskol, who spoke about the need to reconcile man with God and man with man, and quoted the national anthem: “Native land preserved by God.”

Pavel Korobov