On January 20, St. Nicholas’ Lutheran Church of Gatchina, Leningrad Oblast, hosted the 2nd International Festival of Church Song and Organ Music. The festival was a collaboration of the Gatchina Diocese of The Russian Orthodox Church, St. Nicholas’ Lutheran, and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church of Gatchina. The festival gathered more than 80 listeners including Christians of different denominations. The event presented the performance of church choirs and an organist. Donations given during the event were used for charity. The gathering closed with a buffet meal where the participants and the listeners enjoyed informal fellowship.

 

On January 21, 2024, Nadezhda Viktorova, the organist of St. Nicholas’ Lutheran Church of Gatchina, provided organ accompaniment as Christians of different denominations sang the songs of the Taizé Ecumenical Community at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church of Gatchina. The celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at Gatchina’s Roman Catholic Church gathered around 30 people. Among other leaders of the town’s Christian churches, Rev. Viktor Vorontsov, senior pastor of St. Nicholas’ Lutheran, extended his greetings to the performers and audience. The meeting closed with informal fellowship at a buffet meal.

 

St. Mary’s Lutheran Cathedral of St. Petersburg celebrated the Prayer for Christian Unity on January 22.

 

On January 25, 2024, ELCIR Bishop Ivan Laptev participated in a prayer service closing the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at Assumption of Our Lady Catholic Church of St. Petersburg. Church leaders of the city’s different Christian denominations who were invited by Auxiliary Bishop Nikolai Dubinin of the Mother of God Roman Catholic Diocese in Moscow lifted prayers and offered spiritual instruction.

 

Photo credits: Aleksandr Shcherbaka, Mikhail Fateyev, Olga Matveyeva, Bishop Laptev