'The Orthodox Relics of Abkhazia' Presented in Moscow

On 16 December, the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation hosted a presentation of the film The Orthodox Relics of Abkhazia produced by the Khochu Verit! Orthodox Foundation with support from the Russkiy Mir Foundation.

“Traditional Russian religions make an enormous contribution to building the society’s moral foundations and strengthening sisterly relations between nations that lived together for centuries and were separated for various reasons. In the current situation, reorientation of tourism is a very relevant issue, and films like this one facilitate religious tourism in the best way,” said Iosif Diskin, Chairman of the CC Commission for Harmonization of International and Interreligious Relations.

“Russia and Abkhazia have a long history of cultural relations. There are many aspects we didn’t touch upon in the film. We would be interested to hear from the Orthodox community and the Civic Chamber and learn what they think about the film,” said Yulia Pavlyuchenkova, head of the Khochu Verit! Orthodox Foundation that initiated the project.

“We will apply to Abkhazia’s Civic Chamber to discuss the ways of dealing with the religious schism. We cannot heal that historical wound without the civic society and direct dialogue between the parties,” Valery Korovin, the roundtable’s co-moderator, said. Civic Chamber members noted that they considered the dialogue between the Russian and Abkhazian civic societies the way to solve many problems, including the schism.