24 June 2011
Patriarch Kirill to partake in Slavonic Unity 2011 Festival
GOMEL, 24 June (BelTA) - Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill will take part in the Slavonic Unity 2011 International Festival on 25 June, BelTA learned from the press service of the Gomel Oblast Executive Committee. The Patriarch is expected to partake in the official opening of the festival. He will also talk to the guests of the forum and meet with heads of the border regions. Partaking in the festival will be official delegations of border regions of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Delegations of Mogilev Oblast and Ukraine’s city of Sumy will partake in the forum for the first time. The festival organized by Russia will be held under the motto “The World is Beautiful When We are Together, the World of Faith, Brotherhood and Love!” The forum’s schedule includes a festival of historic towns of Bryansk, Chernihiv and Gomel regions, a meeting near the Friendship Monument, sport competitions and a concert. Numerous guests of the forum will visit stands of Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian regions, namely “The Planet of Childhood”, and others. The stands will feature a wide range of products. An international festival Slavonic Unity is the biggest international event which has won great popularity. The first meeting of the delegation of Gomel, Bryansk, and Chernihiv oblasts took place in 1969. The festival annually welcomes thousands of people form Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Partaking in the forum are businessmen, youth organizations, people of culture and art, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, political parties and social organizations. In 2001 Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexi II attended the festival. In 1999 and 2002 partaking in the forum were heads of the legislatives assemblies of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. In 2004 the forum brought together Presidents of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine Alexander Lukashenko, Vladimir Putin, and Leonid Kuchma.БЕЛТА