The Diveyevo monastery welcomed today the principals and spiritual advisers of Orthodox schools.

Over three hundred representatives of Orthodox educational organizations from forty regions of the Russian Federation took part in the Forum of principals and spiritual advisers of Orthodox schools held on May 29 in Nizhny Novgorod. The conference takes place for the first time with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. Among its attendees were Sergey Kravtsov, Minister of Education of the Russian Federation, and Metropolitan Evgeny of Yekaterinburg and Verkhotursk, Chairman of the Synodal Department for Religious Education and Catechization.

The conference was organized by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and the Synodal Department for Religious Education and Catechization together with the Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis. It aimed to share experiences in the area of Orthodox education, to discuss current issues of school life and research pathways to solve them together.

At the end of the fruitful work of the conference, participants arrived to the Fourth Lot of the Most Holy Mother of God to offer thanks to the Lord and the Queen of Heaven for help and intercession in area of education and seek future blessings.

A lot of participants went on pilgrimage to Diveyevo for the first time, so they shared a lot of newcomer impressions. The group has a busy day in the monastery: during their stay lasting a few hours, the visitors found time to visit the major churches, venerate the relics of the saints of Diveyevo, and pray at the Holy Kanavka. On their way back, the pilgrims visited three springs north of Diveyevo: Kazan spring, Umilensky and St. Panteleimon’s, took a dip in their healing waters and carried holy water away with them.

A visit to the Dormition Church in Suvorovo also provided spiritual consolation to pilgrims, where they venerated the relics of the Puza martyrs Eudoxia, Daria, Daria, and Maria.