Metropolitan Georgiy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas met with the Orthodox youth today at the Center of Slavic Culture in the village of Diveyevo.

More than two hundred people, the students of Nizhny Novgorod universities who arrived in Diveyevo as part of a two-day pilgrimage trip gathered in the assembly hall. The meeting lasted about an hour and a half.

The young people were interested in matters of faith, the meaning of life, family relations, aesthetics. Vladyka vividly illustrated his answers to these questions with examples from his life experience.

For example, answering the question about his becoming Orthodox, Vladyka Georgiy emphasized a special role of parents: “If your parents were not churchgoers or unchurched, it would be very difficult for you. Because the foundations of the Christian faith is, above all, are laid inside the family by your parents.”

There were some unusual questions, such as: How a decision is made who is worthy to be called a saint? How to find a difference between love for neighbor and humanity? What is considered a sin: smoking or addiction to smoking? Why are our contemporaries attracted to the Eastern religions of Islam and Buddhism? What is the Church’s attitude to IVF? Who selects a new name at monastic tonsure?

In the course of answering to one of the questions, the idea was articulated about the understanding of a man according to the teachings of the Church: “Man bears qualities of the Divinity: love, compassion, mercy, and self-sacrifice. We have such qualities as the freedom of choice and willpower. We are the living beings of the body and the spirit. We were made in the image of God, while a man should acquire His likeness by undergoing spiritual transformation”.

The conversation was friendly, the students showed attention and interest to the problems discussed. The purpose of such meetings is to improve the unity of the country by deepening the knowledge of the young people about Orthodoxy as the spiritual basis of Russian society.

At the end of the meeting, Vladyka Georgiy wished that the young people remember about the spiritual safety: “What are the Law of God and the commandments of God? These are like the road traffic regulations in life. Let’s not damage our relationships with Heaven, and everything will be fine as the result!”