Vladimir Putin's opening remarks:

Your Holiness, colleagues and friends.

I am pleased to welcome you all to the meeting of the Russian organising committee for the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture. Let's discuss what has been done and what needs to be done going forward.

The great educators St Cyril and St Methodius bestowed a truly priceless gift not only on the Slavic peoples but on all of civilisation – the first Cyrillic alphabet. Created 11 centuries ago, it became the basis for a number of national languages. It greatly influenced the formation of the rich cultures of the Slavic peoples and other peoples of Eurasia, and helped bring about a close relationship between these cultures and mutual enrichment among them.

Language and a country's spiritual, cultural and historical heritage are what define national identity and bind together the people, society, and the entire country. What’s more, in many ways, these form the foundations for state sovereignty. And therefore, I think it is absolutely right that we focus on these issues and take advantage of new opportunities that become available to us.

As you know, we plan to adopt the state programme “Culture of Russia,” and as early as the beginning of 2012, we will substantially increase funding for museums and libraries. In fact, we will launch a major project for the development of our national culture.

Of course, one of the priorities here is to support the Russian language – strengthening its position as an international language and generating interest in Russian language, literature and history both among the peoples of the Russian Federation and in other countries.

This celebration gives us cause to reflect on this important issue and to bring together the public, academics, business people and representatives of traditional faiths.

Let me add that the Russian Orthodox Church has been actively involved in the preparations for the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture celebrations. Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill will preside over the central events of the day in keeping with tradition.

May 24 is also your name day, Your Holiness. Allow me to extend my warmest greetings and wish you great success in your dedicated and constructive service, express my deepest gratitude for your highly effective work and selfless devotion to your mission of reviving spirituality in Russian society, and thank you for your participation in our joint initiatives, including the preparations for this important date.

Today we will discuss and approve a plan of major events related to the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture. It is important that the exhibitions, conferences, and meetings that we plan fully reflect the meaning and content of this holiday; these should not be isolated events but imply consistency and continuation.

Many guests will convene in Moscow for the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture celebrations both from Russia and from abroad; the programme will encompass the largest national museums and best artistic companies.

The events should naturally invite extensive media coverage.

It is also important to recognise that this day is celebrated across Russia and meant to involve as many people as possible, especially young people. We will pay particular attention to this important task.

Let me emphasise that this kind of event is very valuable and crucial for imparting true spiritual values in society: the right vision, as well as respect for the national culture and for the memory of our ancestors. These issues are always relevant. I know that they will also be broadly discussed at the 15^th World Russian People’s Council, which will soon gather in Moscow.

Another important issue I would like to discuss today, briefly at least, is the preservation and restoration of religious facilities and places of worship. Many of our spiritual centres and churches have special historical, cultural, national, and even international value. For example, the Novodevichy Convent. It is a unique building and a UNESCO World Heritage site. It has been handed over to the Moscow Eparchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, but the government remains just as responsible for its good upkeep, preservation, and timely repair.

We have to take steps and make arrangements for the State Historical Museum to function normally despite the fact that some of its facilities are now part of the Novodevichy Convent premises. The government will grant it another set of historical buildings, the Izmailovo Royal Estate, to replace the property now occupied by the Church. I would like to ask the relevant agencies to consider targeted federal financing of the restoration and repair of the Novodevichy Convent and the Izmailovo Estate buildings next year.

I am confident that our cooperation will be as productive and mutually beneficial in the future as it is now. We will resolve the problems related to the preservation of our cultural, historical, and spiritual heritage and support the great spiritual and moral mission of the Russian Orthodox Church and other religious institutions.

Let us start the discussion. I am giving the floor to His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. Please, Your Holiness.

Patriarch Kirill: Thank you, Mr Putin and the entire high assembly. We have been celebrating the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture for more than 20 years already, and it has found its way into the calendar of Russian holidays. We also need to bear in mind that the Church has been celebrating the Day of St Cyril and St Methodius for ages.

This day – both on church and secular calendars – is a public holiday in most European countries. It is widely celebrated in Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovakia, Czechia, Macedonia, and Poland. And heads of state, parliament members, social activists, and cultural workers take an active part in these celebrations.

The Day of Slavic Literature and Culture is a big event, a holiday that has been observed by Slavic peoples for many decades. Suffice it to say that even in Soviet times, when the names of St Cyril and St Methodius were less openly mentioned, public demonstrations were held on that day in Bulgaria that could be compared in scale to those held on May 1, International Workers’ Day. These festivities featured many students, intellectuals, and representatives of non-governmental organisations. In other words, the holiday has a long history both in the Church and in the secular environment, and it is remarkable that it has been part of our collective life for more than two decades.

Why is the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture so important? Apparently, because it tells us so much about our history. But it would be a mistake to view it as a thing of the past. It instructs us in who we are and, thus, what we should do in the future. To my mind, this is the message that all our festivities should promote.

I thank you, Mr Putin, for pointing out that these festivities should also address younger people – I agree. The programme for the festivities is designed to become a benchmark against which schools, the media, and cultural establishments can model their own work.  

I consider it useful to extend the list of events planned for the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture. We need to think of new educational, creative, and other events.

Much attention should be paid to cultural and educational initiatives, local history, museums, and publishing programmes. It would also be useful if the festivities included events meant to give people guidance in choosing their path in life and understanding their profession and education.

Literature above all reflects a person’s inner world. The Day of Slavic Literature and Culture should become an occasion for events promoting the purity of the Russian language and our communication culture. It is well known that this issue is becoming increasingly relevant in our society. Unfortunately, the Russian language is losing its purity, and the colloquial Russian spoken by most people is a thing far removed from the classical standard Russian language. Naturally, opinions on this issue differ, but it is clear that we need to preserve the language’s purity – this is undoubtedly a national cultural objective.

I believe that schools, libraries, and other educational institutions should be more actively involved in the festivities. Parishes should also be active participants.

As was said before, organisers should above all focus on young people. We need to make sure that the festivities are accessible, interesting, and significant to our youth. This is a difficult task amid an overabundance of information culture: young people are overloaded with information, and it is difficult to catch their attention and make them feel this day’s significance. But we can think of ways to do so. In other words, the popular consciousness surrounding the deeds of St Cyril and St Methodius and their contribution to the birth of Slavic culture needs to be adapted to the agenda of contemporary people. Only then we will be able to harness the full potential of this great tradition to build and improve our society.

The Day of Slavic Literature and Culture should become one of the most beloved popular holidays. It would be excellent to hold a greater number of spectacular mass events and several major nationwide festivities on May 24. I support what you said, Mr Putin, I support what you said, Mr Putin, that the festivities should also be conducted all across Russia and not only in Moscow – as they in fact are being conducted. In doing so, we will be able to reach out to the hearts and minds of the entire nation, which is, after all, the idea behind the event.

We need to develop a strategy for the mass media’s contribution to the event. It’s no secret that nowadays, Russians are free to express their attitudes towards this or that event, either consciously or unconsciously. And even the brightest and most joyous of events in the life of our nation may be commented on in an unfavourable light. I think that media outlets, especially online and broadcast media, should work hard to help the public comprehend the festival’s meaning and importance.

As for the festival’s regional agenda, we shouldn’t content ourselves with the bare minimum – involving, say, a concert, a procession, and an educational reading.  Modern electronic technology makes it possible for us to hold all kinds of online events, such as contests in creative arts, interregional workshops, panel discussions, and student conferences. 

I think that the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture should by all means involve an international and inter-ecclesial component. Patriarch Bartholomeus of Constantinople attended the festival last year, and this year, delegations from the Patriarchates of Constantinople and Bulgaria may attend.

But perhaps it would make sense to invite foreign officials as well. We could have a guest of honour from a new country each year. Or we could time some important state visits to coincide with the festival. We could also invite church prelates and religious activists from other Slavic countries to join us for the festivities.

The organising committee is to develop a concept for the celebrations in the year 2012 and onward. Let me assure you that the Church is ready to contribute to these efforts. Hopefully, this concept will help us enhance the festival’s spiritual and intellectual value and benefit our people, young and old. Thank you for your attention. 

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

Mr Avdeyev, Minister of Culture, please have your say.

Alexander Avdeyev:  Mr Putin, Your Holiness. The history of the festival goes back to Church traditions of the 10^th-11^th centuries. It has been officially celebrated since 1863, when the Holy Synod marked it on May 11 (May 24 according to the Gregorian Calendar).

The festival received its official name in the Soviet era, and it has remained intact to this day. But at the time, the Soviet authorities covered over what is, perhaps, the primary achievement of St Cyril and St Methodius: the translation of the Gospels into the Old Church Slavonic.

As a result, Slavic communities from the Baltic to the Balkans and from Poland to the Urals did not have to study Greek to be able to read the New Testament but merely learn the 33 letters of the newly-created Slavic alphabet.

Vladimir Putin: Not everyone learned them, though.

Alexander Avdeyev: They could now read the Gospels in their own language. It was at that very point, in fact, that pagan Russia began its integration into Christian civilisation. It was a landmark for our people that we commemorate every May 23 in celebration of our civilisation as well as our history.  

In the Soviet era, the Old Church Slavonic translation of the Gospels was brushed under the carpet. When celebrating the regional festival with Metropolitan Juvenalis (deputy co-chair of the organising committee) in recent years, we would have extended its official name to include the phrase “Christian Education.” Its religious aspect is as important as the cultural one, and we should no longer be shy to speak of it openly.

Our civilisation emerged thanks to the Scriptures. St Cyril and St. Methodius’ translation of the Gospels gave rise to a cultural breakthrough that illuminated the subsequent development of our literature, arts, and so on.

The Slavic nations and peoples of that time, whose languages were similar, but not unified, received a standard that enabled them to understand and communicate with one another. That communication and commerce between our people, among other things, paved the way for the development of Russian statehood. In this sense, Cyril and Methodius’ outstanding achievement became the source of Russia’s statehood, language, culture, and civilisation. I suggest, therefore, that even if we don’t change the official name we should not forget to emphasise that this is a festival of Slavic literature, culture and Christian education.

A new format for the festivities was suggested in 2010. Rather than moving the festival’s capital each year from one regional city to another, it was decided to fix Moscow as the centre of celebrations, with various festive events, religious as well as secular, to be arranged simultaneously in all of the country’s regions and federal districts.

One distinctive feature of this festival is that it is open to non-Christian traditions. Other faiths have integrated into the Orthodox cultural landscape thanks to this openness, and they have been able to establish themselves here despite the predominant role played by Orthodox Christianity.

Let me now unveil some of the main events planned for this year’s festival. On May 23 and 24, the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow will host a representative international symposium, titled “The Slavic World: Commonalities and Diversity,” with leading Slavic scholars from abroad invited to attend alongside their Russian colleagues.

A service will be held in the Moscow Kremlin’s Assumption Cathedral on May 24. It will culminate with a procession from the Saviour’s Gates down to Vasilievsky Spusk, where the official opening ceremony and a gala concert will be held. In keeping with His Holiness’ wishes, we invite young people to come and participate with particular enthusiasm.

An exhibition titled “Holy Russia” will open at the Tretyakov Gallery as part of the festivities. It is unprecedented, both in terms of scale and the exhibits’ value. It is the exhibition we took to Paris last year to inaugurate the Year of Russian Culture in France. It features items from 27 Russian museums. Some 450 monuments of [Russia’s] cultural heritage will be brought in from museums, libraries, and archives across Russia and displayed together in one exhibition area.

Later in the day, a concert will be held at the Kremlin Palace, featuring performance groups from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia. It is important that along with events on the federal level, the festival will also involve regional components staged with the support of local governments and Church authorities. It is emblematic of that involvement that our meeting today is being attended by regional leaders – specifically, the governors of the Novosibirsk Region, the Saratov Region, and the Republic of Chuvashia.

It is important that from 2012 onward, the festival’s educational dimension – religious as well as secular – is enhanced and that as many Russians as possible are involved.

While preserving the format of the annual symposium “The Slavic World: Commonalities and Diversity”, we plan to hold, once every three years, a broad-based conference for Russian and foreign scholars. This latter forum, which is to run for two days and cover a variety of subjects, is to be organised in association with the Russian Academy of Sciences, leading universities, museums, and archives, as well as the scholarly centres of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The symposium will therefore run in its original format for two consecutive years and alternate every third year with a bigger conference. The first such conference is planned for 2013, as the Slavic world celebrates the 1150^th anniversary of the Cyrillic alphabet.

Second, it is important that museums and archival institutions organise themed exhibitions devoted to the history of Slavic peoples and their cultures. Such exhibitions could debut in Moscow and St Petersburg and then be taken on tour across the country.

Third, we deem it necessary to begin the publication of a 12-volume Slavic Encyclopaedia in 2013, the anniversary year. Blueprints for this edition have already been drafted by the Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Slavic Studies and by the Bolshaya Rossiiskaya Entsiklopedia publishing house.

Starting in 2012, we should hold festivities not just in the capital but also in all seven federal districts and their constituent regions and dioceses.

As His Holiness Patriarch Kirill has just said, it is essential to enhance the media’s role in the festival. Events in and outside Moscow should receive wider media coverage, notably in televised news programmes and features.

We plan to arrange for festive fairs to be held at [Moscow’s] VVTs Exhibition Centre and various regional venues. Such fairs could feature, among other things, Slavic folk ensembles, traditional arts and crafts, and cuisine.

Fourth, the festival should involve themed book fairs that bring together domestic and foreign publishers, secular and religious alike, with a special emphasis on mainstream children’s literature.

And, finally, cultural globalisation keeps gaining momentum. This is a process we can hardly ignore. Mass culture is now consolidating its dominance world-wide. More and more countries are joining the chorus of alarm at the need for communities and nations to preserve their cultural identities. Interestingly, the first such call was voiced by French President Jacques Chirac, who said that globalisation must not be allowed to eclipse national cultures and that, in accordance with their own desires, the French people should remain as they are – integrating themselves into the globalised world, while carrying their nation’s cultural wealth with them.

I believe that support for this festival on behalf of the country’s leadership will also enable us to integrate into the global community without losing our identity and to contribute to it our rich cultural heritage. It will help us advance the process of globalisation in a more positive direction, including its Orthodox and Slavic components. Thank you.