The annual festival of Orthodox singing “Enlightener” takes place on Valaam. Orthodox singing festival took place on Valaam

On July 28-29, 2018, on the days of the celebration of the memory of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir and the 1030th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', the IV International St. Vladimir Festival of Orthodox singing “The Enlightener” was held on Valaam with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill.

The event was organized by the Light of Valaam charity foundation.

Ten musical groups from Russia, Moldova, Greece, Montenegro, Belarus and Finland took part in the festival:

• Choir of the Valaam Monastery, artistic director - Alexander Bordak;
• ensemble "Good News" (Moscow), artistic director - Ekaterina Avetisyan;
• early music ensemble Ex Libris (Moscow), artistic director - Daniil Sayapin;
• choir of the Barnaul Theological Seminary (Altai Territory), artistic director - Dimitry Kotov;
• academic choir of Petrozavodsk State University (Republic of Karelia), artistic director - Nikolay Matashin;
• Vyborg Singing Brothers (Viipurin Lauluveikot) (Finland, Helsinki), artistic director - Ilkka Aunu;
• choir Salutaris (Republic of Belarus, Minsk), artistic director - Olga Yanum;
• choir Antivari musica (Montenegro, Bar), artistic director - Miro Kruščić;
• Byzantine choir “Agios Ioannis Koukouzelis” (Greece, Thessaloniki), artistic director - Emmanuil Daskalakis;
• Choir of the Academy of Arts. G. Muzichescu (Republic of Moldova, Chisinau), artistic director - Ilona Stepan.

Special guests of the festival were Archimandrite Nikodimos Kavarnos (Greece) and bell ringer Alexey Pugachev from the Moscow workshop “Bell City”.

Despite the fact that due to the excitement on Ladoga, shipping was limited and some passenger flights were cancelled, the event was attended by more than five thousand people.

The first day began with the Divine Liturgy. Choir singing sounded simultaneously in four churches of the central estate of the Valaam Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery. In the Transfiguration Cathedral, chants were performed by the choir “Agios Ioannis Koukouzelis” and the choir of the Valaam Monastery.

Then the opening ceremony of the festival took place, during which the abbot of the Valaam Monastery, the chairman, announced that the main place in the IV season of the International Valaam Festival was occupied by the theme “The Feat of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church.” Vice-chairman of the World Energy Council, founder of the Light of Valaam charity foundation Oleg Budargin also addressed the audience.

An online broadcast of the festival events was organized on the Internet. According to the organizers, about 200 thousand unique Internet viewers connected to the social networks of the monastery and the festival on the social networks Odnoklassniki, VKontakte, Facebook and YouTube video hosting. Comments came from Rostov and Smolensk, Kaliningrad and Khabarovsk, from Serbia, Macedonia, Belarus and Ukraine.

This year, for the first time, the audience gathered at the monastery’s Singing Field was given the opportunity to choose the best performer themselves. In their opinion, he became Archimandrite Nikodimos (Kavarnos) from Greece. Bishop Pankraty of Trinity presented special gifts to the choir of the Valaam Monastery under the direction of Alexander Bordak and the choir from Belarus “Salutaris”.

At the end of the event, the Parsuna creative group produced a commemorative panoramic photograph of the participants and guests of the Enlightener festival.

Based on materials from news agencies and the website of the Valaam Monastery

Patriarchy.ru

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The theme of the festival was the feat of the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church. Welcoming the guests, the abbot of the monastery, Bishop Pankraty of Trinity, noted that the 20th century was especially difficult and tragic.

“Among those villainously killed and tortured during the years of persecution were many Orthodox bishops, priests, monks, laymen, whose only guilt was faith in God, loyalty to the Holy Orthodox Church,” he said. “The Russian new martyrs followed the Lord, His death on the cross for human sins, shared the Cross with the Savior and were glorified by Him. And this is the great sermon of Orthodoxy. Life can be sacrificed only for the sake of the most valuable thing - love."

The artistic director and director of the festival this year was the conductor of the Valaam Monastery choir, Alexander Bordak.

The music festival opened on the Singing Field with the ringing of bells performed by Alexei Pugachev from the Moscow school of bell ringers "Bell Grad". Choirs from Russia, Belarus, Finland, Montenegro, Moldova and Greece performed works by Jean Sibelius, Pavel Chesnokov, Alfred Schnittke and other composers. Troparions and kontakia were sounded for the new martyrs. The vocal ensemble "Good News", whose members are siblings from the family of Protodeacon Simeon and Ekaterina Avetisyan, performed the chant "Holy God" by the hieromartyr Metropolitan of Petrograd Seraphim (Chichagov), who was executed in 1937 at the Butovo training ground.

For the first time, a secret audience vote was held for their favorite performer. The beloved Archimandrite Nikodimos Kavarnos from Greece, who performed Byzantine church chants, was awarded a statuette of Saint Prince Vladimir. Second place was awarded to the choir of the Valaam Monastery - a regular participant in the festival "Enlightener". The chamber choir "Salutaris" from Belarus also entered the top three winners, delighting the audience with ancient ritual songs.

The concerts were also attended by the ensemble of ancient music "Ex Libris" from Moscow, the choir of the Barnaul Theological Seminary, the choir "Antivari musica" from Montenegro, the Byzantine choir "Agios Ioannis Koukouzelis" from Greece, the choir of the Academy of Arts named after Gabriel Muzichescu from Moldova, the choir "Vyborg singing brothers" from Finland.

The host of the festival, People's Artist of Russia and Ukraine Valery Ivchenko, prepared listeners to perceive the upcoming chants.

Guests saw the photo exhibition “Russian Seasons. Valaam” by Alexander Lvov, revealing the beauty and grandeur of nature, architecture, and the spiritual life of the monastery.

The Enlightener festival was first held in 2015 to commemorate the millennium of the repose of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir.

Our hearts are filled with forgiveness, peace and love for each other

After Little Compline, Father Methodius said a short word and asked everyone on his knees for forgiveness:

“Beloved fathers, brothers and sisters, bless me on behalf of Bishop Pankratius to ask for forgiveness. On this majestic day, the Lord gave us the opportunity to reconcile with God, with our guardian angel, with our neighbors, especially with those people whom we really offend, seduce, and confuse with our behavior. But the Lord gives us days like Holy Pentecost - the most wonderful time for the human soul, a golden time of repentance that we can bring to our merciful and all-forgiving Lord.

Bless and forgive me, holy fathers, brothers, sisters, your most unworthy brother for the sins I have committed in word, deed, thought and all my

During this continuous Maslenitsa week, in the Valaam Monastery they also bake a lot of pancakes to treat the brethren and numerous guests. Every day, the monastery cooks with joy and love prepare 450 large pancakes for the fraternal meal, and many more for refills and distribution to everyone. Pancakes with condensed milk and sour cream are a consolation for all the inhabitants of the monastery, because it is so necessary to strengthen themselves before a strict multi-day fast.

February 16, 2019 is the birthday of Abbot Methodius, a resident of the Valaam Monastery. The brethren of the monastery and numerous guests who arrived on the island despite the winter and not the most favorable weather conditions came to congratulate their beloved spiritual father and friend.

Hegumen Methodius, who came with Bishop Pankratiy to the dilapidated Valaam Monastery in 1993, made a special contribution to the revival of the monastery. His obedience and labors bore abundant fruit in the church field. Father Methodius, thanks to his immeasurable love, managed to unite a huge number of people around himself, managed to help them come to God, to the Church, to faith. Communication with Father Methodius radically changed their lives. Through his labors, many gained firm trust in the will of God and embarked on the right path of salvation, ascending the steps of the ladder of life to the Kingdom of Heaven.

On February 15, 2019, on the day of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Bishop Pankraty, visited Monk Anthony, who had been ill recently, and presented him with a commemorative anniversary medal in honor of the “30th anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.”

“Monk Anthony told me about his path to God in the thorns of the Afghan war, whom today I came to visit and present with an anniversary medal in memory of the 30th anniversary of the completion of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. All the leaders and warriors who laid down their souls were remembered. Monk Anthony (Sergei Machulin) was then the commander of a special forces unit and participated in dangerous operations behind enemy lines,” writes the Abbot of the monastery, Bishop Pankratiy of Trinity.