Contents
In recent Soviet times, there were no such books at all, now in any church shop you can find tens or hundreds of different publications on spiritual topics.
And this is not only the lives of the saints and the Holy Scriptures, but also the personal spiritual experience of priests, manuals for participating in church sacraments, manuals for raising children, works of art, sermons, and so on. In a word, an Orthodox book is a book about kindness and love.
Obviously, such spiritual book-making should be of particular benefit to believers, and therefore it needs prayerful support. After all, nothing is done in the church without prayer and blessing.
Partly for this reason, in November 2009 His Holiness Patriarch Kirill proposed the establishment of an Orthodox Book Day.
When is it customary to celebrate a holiday
Orthodox Book Day is celebrated annually 14 March, 2023 will be no exception.
history of the holiday
It was in November 2009 at a meeting of the Publishing Council of the Orthodox Church. In his speech, His Holiness the Patriarch emphasized that the church needs high-quality missionary literature, and therefore “it makes sense on some day to think and pray especially about book publishers and book publishing. There can be no success in the church if we do not accompany our work with pure prayer.”
So it was proposed to establish a holiday – the Day of the Orthodox Book – and celebrate it on March 14th.
According to the old style, it was March 1, the day when, in 1564, the printing pioneer Ivan Fedorov published the first printed book, The Apostle, at the Moscow Printing Yard.
“Apostle” is a liturgical book, both then and now necessary for the performance of church services. For home reading, it is published together with the New Testament and for many believers it has become a daily reading.
Holiday traditions
Over the past 10 years, Orthodox Book Day has acquired its own traditions. On this day, book fairs are held in many dioceses. Actions dedicated to Orthodox literature are held in parishes. Meetings with Orthodox writers and poets are held in libraries and Sunday schools. Sometimes the Day of the Orthodox Book is even called the Day of the Orthodox Library.
In Moscow on March 14 every year, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Our Country and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin meet with schoolchildren in the Cathedral Hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and give the children books.
Mission
The main purpose of creating and holding the Day of the Orthodox Book:
- spiritual enlightenment,
- drawing attention to good content literature,
- to show that among the endless bestsellers, there are publications that can help a person develop, learn, live in good conscience.
And this is not only Orthodox literature, but the works of contemporary secular writers.
“Give a book to children”
This is the name of the annual action dedicated to the Day of the Orthodox Book. At its core, this is a collection of books for low-income and large families. For families where spending on books is an unaffordable luxury, but without them it is impossible to raise and educate children. Realizing this, the publishing council of the Orthodox Church established this charity event, during which during February-March in different cities of the country you can buy a good book in bookstores and leave it in a special tray. The book can be Orthodox or secular, but, most importantly, it should be kind, bright and useful for children.
It is not necessary to donate expensive books. There are many good books out there for very low prices. The main thing is that this book should be given from the heart, as if you are taking it for your child.
At the end of the campaign, employees of the publishing council distribute donated books among needy families and social institutions – shelters, etc.
What is this promotion for? This question was well answered by the chairman of the publishing council, Metropolitan of Kaluga and Borovsk Kliment, in an interview with the website patriarchy.ru:
“By helping children,” Vladyka said, “we make a contribution to the future.
Indeed, books are an investment. Not just an investment in the future, but also in the lifestyle, the destiny of society. Our children will grow up and build their relationships. And what they will be depends on us. And good books are building blocks in the construction of the inner temple of our children.