The Diveyevo Orthodox secondary school marked a quarter of a century since its inception. Its history began in 1996. At the time, the school occupied 4 rooms, 4 classes and a library, with only four girls being the 1^st grade students. All four of them have successfully graduated from the school in 2007 and were awarded the secondary school certificates.

The school currently has 45 teaching staff and 298 students, both boys and girls; the education is divided for boys and girls.

The monastery school has solemnly marked its 25^th anniversary with the participation at the Divine liturgy with ten archpastors presiding. At the local Center of Slavic Culture Later, the school’s students presented a play called the “Star” and based on Emmanuel Kazakevich’s story.

Attending the play were Metropolitan Georgiy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, Metropolitan Zinovy of Mordovia and Saransk, Archbishop Dimitry of Vitebsk and Orsha, Bishop Kliment of Krasnoslobodsk and Temnikov, Bishop Benjamin of Ardatov and Atyashev, Bishop Filaret of Dalnekonstantinov, Vicar of the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese, Bishop Silouan of Lyskov and Lukoyanov, Hegumenia Sergiya (Konkova), the abbess of the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery, Sergey Kuchin, head of the Diveyevo District government, the clergy of the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese, principals of the Orthodox schools at the Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis, employees of the local government, students, and their parents.

After the the play, Nun Natalia (Lyalushko), the School’s Principal, thanked Metropolitan Georgiy and Hegumenia Sergiya for their spiritual and moral patronage of this educational establishment.

In her address, the abbess of the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery noted the importance and timeliness of this play dedicated to the Great Patriotic War, as well as the poignant performance of the students who presented it. On the occasion of the 25^th anniversary of the monastery school, Hegumenia Sergiya presented a painting depicting the procession with the cross around the Diveyevo’s Holy Kanavka of the Mother of God.

The head of the Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis presented the school with a painting showing the Savior blessing the children as well as presented Nun Natalia with a book about Diveyevo with the dedicatory inscription.

Addressing the gathering, the head of the Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis said: “25 years is a major milestone for the school. I am confident that the graduates of your school, once grown up, continue walking their lives’ paths in keeping with the spiritual values instilled in them by their teachers. Today’s play is part of that great work on spiritual and moral education your team of teachers has been doing. I am a war veteran’s son. He practically never spoke about the war, but, when I became an adult, I realized why he never did. The war is dreadful. It is terrible to lose one’s life, it is equally horrible to become a disabled person. One needs a great deal of courage to fight with the enemy and lay down your soul for your country. We can’t do it for money but only as you realize that you are the son of your Motherland and someone else has once laid down lives for you. It is so important to remember the time when our forefathers and grandfathers acted as heroes fighting for their homes, the loved ones and the Motherland for us to live as a free nation. Yes, there were attempts to rewrite our history and dishonor our Victory but we will not allow anyone to do it.”

Metropolitan Georgiy thanked the teaching staff for their work. For her hard work to the glory of the Holy Mother Church and in commemoration of the 25^th anniversary of the monastery school, teacher Anna Grishina was awarded the archpastoral certificate of achievement, while other teachers received the letters of gratitude.

A quarter-of-a-century school anniversary is the confirmation of the words by Nun Natalia (Lyalushko) who is known to tell her students: “If you have an idea, don’t be afraid but keep on working at it and, if there is the will of God for it to happen, you will succeed.”

At the beginning of the next school year, the festivities related to the 25^th anniversary of the monastery school will continue: it is planned to hold a photo exhibition of archival photos and an art show.