October 29, 2018 in suburban boarding house “Klyazma” was held the official opening ceremony of the VIII International festival of Orthodox media “Faith and word”, which was headed by the Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church and society and the media V. Legoida.
Addressing the gathering, V. Legoida emphasized the paramount importance of the living, fellowship and information workers of the Church gathered together to participate in the festival. “This human interaction that will continuously happen here at the festival, no less important than the activities that take place over the next three days”, — said Vladimir Legoida.
Also the Chairman of the Department expressed gratitude to all the colleagues at the information Ministry for their not always visible to the outside observer works for the good of the Church. “Dear friends! What you do is very important. Thank you very much and kowtow!”, — said V. Legoida.
A word to the guests of the festival were addressed by the head of the Press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, father Alexander Volkov, who noted that the festival has firmly taken its rightful place in Church life, and shared his vision of the main trends in modern journalism and challenges in relation with the problems and challenges of the Orthodox mass media. As noted by priest, the opportunity to freely publish their thoughts on the Internet has led to the fact that modern journalism has largely ceased to be destiny of professionals. “Today, every person with a mobile phone can become a participant of information flow. That is what I venture to call the information openness of our society, part of who we are,” said the head of the Press service of the Patriarch. “We have the same problems, but there are important differences. This is our “little leaven”, that which, in the words of the Apostle Paul, leaveneth the whole lump” — he added.
Also, the audience asked the famous TV presenter, Chairman of the Union of journalists of Russia V. G. Soloviev, who conveyed greetings to the participants of the festival of the Union of journalists. He spoke about his organization and praised the prospects of cooperation of the Union with the Orthodox media. “Church and secular journalists have often to meet, there are a number of interesting events, and I think we can figure out a plan of our further cooperation. I hope that over time some of you wish to join the Union of journalists of Russia”, — said VG Soloviev.
At the conclusion of the opening ceremony of the festival held a presentation of the Church awards and the honoring of the birthdays from the number of guests of the Congress with the proclamation of them of many years.