“Hodigitria” - an orthodox missionary outreach to moscow students

Russian version

In November-December, 2002, the Orthodox youth organization, "Common Cause" did an intensive missionary/"introduction and instruction" program among Moscow university and institute students.

The name of the program was not chosen by chance. The icon of the Mother of God Hodigitria is translated from classical Greek as "The Directress", indicating the role of the Theotokos in "directing" people to salvation in Christ. The three-part Hodigitria program was designed and implemented by Anton Odaysky for successive and gradual contact with Orthodoxy:

1. Missionary brochures and personal contact by Orthodox youth to students of Moscow universities and institutes.
2. A lecture by the well-known professor and deacon,  on "Orthodoxy is an Unknown Religion".
3. A young-adult oriented catechesis program.

Hodigitria's steering committee printed thirty thousand missionary brochures entitled, "Under the Blue Sky is a Golden City...". These are words from a well-known youth ballad, taken from the biblical verses in Revelations, Chapter 21, and the brochure contained an appeal by Orthodox youth to their secular counterparts to follow the Christian path of life and salvation. Included was an invitation to the lecture by Professor Deacon Andrey Kuraev for December 4th. The date was the Orthodox feast of the Presentation of the Mother of God in the Temple, symbolic of our program, and aimed at attracting students to the lecture.

Hodigitria's staff "saturated" over thirty universities and institutes of Moscow with student missionaries who also gathered additional information about the institutions and their students for future outreach activities. The teams of missionaries distributed brochures and put up posters in more than thirty Moscow universities and institutes, in student hostels and dormitories, in the metro (underground subway), in libraries and bookshops which are popular among university students as well as in coffeehouses, cafes and other places where young people go to relax and socialize.

In spite of the looming winter exam period, more than 120 people came to Fr. Deacon Kuraev's lecture. The audience was extremely attentive to the deep creative ideas of Fr. Andrey, and his serious, thought-provoking attitude towards Orthodox tradition. The gathering continued for several hours after the lecture, with Fr. Andrey answering numerous questions from the audience -- his answers were in themselves, small interesting lectures. In the intermission, Fr. Igor, a priest and bard from an Creative Orthodox youth club, sang contemorary Orthodox songs while accompanying himself on guitar.

Everyone who came to Fr. Andrey's lecture received an invitation to the continuing catechesis/Sunday school program of Hodigitria at the Church of St. Nicholas of the Three Mountains, in Moscow.

LIST OF PARTICIPATING UNIVERSITIES AND INSTITUTES:

• Russian State University High School of Economics
• Russian State University of Humanities
• Russian State University of Management
• Moscow Aviation Institute
• Moscow Institute of Architecture
• Moscow State Motorcar and Road Institute
• Moscow State Academic Arts Institute of V.I. Surikov
• Moscow State Geological University of Sergio Ordzhonikidze
• Moscow State Mining University
• Moscow State Industrial University
• Moscow State Institute of Steel and Fusion
• Moscow State Medical-Dental University
• Moscow State Open Pedagogical University of M.A. Sholokhyov
• Moscow State Social Science University
• Moscow State Textile University of A.N. Kosygin
• Moscow State University of Design and Technology
• Moscow State Pedagogical University
• Moscow State Institute of Energy
• New University of the Humanities of N. Nesterova
• Russian Academy of State Service of the Russian Federation
• Gnesins Russian Academy of Music
• Gnesins College
• Russian Academy of Theatre Arts
• Plekhanov Academy of Economics
• Russian State University of Humanities
• Russian State Medical University
• Tsiolkovsky Russian State Technological University

as well as other universities and institutes

Also participating in the program were:

• Lenin State Library of Literature
• Russian State Public Historical Library
• Russian State Youth Library
• Central Moscow Library N. 132
• BiblioGlobus Bookstore
• Student hostels and dormitories at Metro Station "Academician Yangel")
• "Student's City" (Metro Station "Planernaya")
• Pushkin Square -- largest commercial square near the Kremlin
• Metro stations: Perovo, Marksistskaya, Aviamortornaya etc., with large student populations which were close to the lecture.