The XVIII Annual Christmas Lectures

From 24 to 29 January 2010 the XVIII Annual Christmas Lectures were held in Moscow by the Russian Orthodox Church. There were a lot of questions which were discussed at the forum. From this year the fundamental knowledge in religious culture and ethics will be learnt in state schools in Russia. The question to spread basic religious education in society was the main topic. Another important topic was struggle against juvenal justice. From this year Orthodox chaplains firstly from Tsars’ time will begin their official service in the Russian Army. Several theses were dedicated to the problem to prepare chaplains.
Representatives of the Russian Imperial Union-Order participated in the work of section dedicated to the problems of collaboration of Orthodox organisations in Russia. The RIU-O supported the idea to unite efforts to prepare celebrations of the 200 years anniversary of the Victory in the I Patriotic War in 2012 and the 400 years anniversary of the accession of the Romanoff Dynasty to the Throne in 2013. Also the RIU-O supported the idea to continue work to restore historic names of Russian regions, cities, towns, streets etc.
Also the representatives of the Russian Imperial Union-Order participated in the work of section dedicated to the problems of the Orthodox views on economics. The questions of ethics in marketing, protection of customers’ rights, charity were discussed. The RIU-O supported the main ideas of the forum but proposed to decrease the degree of populism in some projects and not try to bondage businessmen: the society shall remember which functions to be held by the business community and which are the care of all citizens.
Chancellery of the Commander of the RIU-O