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  • Small Provisional Communities
    • Small Provisional Communities
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    • A Taizé Provisional Community on the Outskirts of Lyons
    • A Month in Morocco
  • Africa
    • South Africa: Regular prayers
    • Kenya 2019: Prison visits
    • Meeting in Cape Town
      • Cape Town 2019: Meditations by Brother Alois
      • Cape Town 2019: Echoes of the meeting
      • Documents for registered participants
      • Music and Prayer resources
      • Next African stage of the Pilgrimage of Trust
      • What is at stake in the Cape Town meeting?
      • Background and reflection
        • Taizé and South Africa
        • Cape Town 2019: Some material for reading/watching about Cape Town and South Africa
        • Cape Town 2019: A reflection on silence
        • Archbishop Tutu and Taizé
        • Visiting the Eastern Cape province
        • “Giving birth to a new people” - Jaco Botha
        • “All began with a step of trust...” - John de Gruchy
        • Reflection: “Next year gathering can be a place of healing..." Ntombekhaya
    • Africa 2009 - 2017
      • Algeria: A meeting at Tlemcen: August 2011
      • Burundi May 2009: Building new relationships
      • Democratic Republic of Congo: A visit to Goma
      • Meetings and retreats in Nairobi : program for 2017
      • Mauritania: A journey from Dakar to Nouadhibou
      • Rwanda: Visits in November 2010
      • A Brother Visits South Sudan
      • Two Taizé brothers in South Africa
      • In South Sudan, summer 2013
      • Tanzania: Meetings in June 2010
      • Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso: Visits and meetings
      • Visits in Uganda
    • 2016: Meeting in Cotonou
      • Cotonou 2016: Photos
      • Benin: International young adult meeting in Cotonou
      • Cotonou 2016: Echoes of the Preparation in Bénin and Neighbouring Countries
      • Video clip: The preparation of the meeting in Cotonou
      • Spring 2016: The Preparation Continues in Cotonou and Elsewhere
      • Cotonou 2016: Looking for Paths of Hope Together
      • Cotonou 2016: Hope and joyful gratitude
    • 2012: Meeting in Kigali
      • Pilgrimage of Trust on Earth
      • How to prepare for the meeting
      • Kigali: Echoes from the Meeting
      • Preparation of the meeting
        • Practical information
        • Rwanda 2011: A new stage towards the meeting in Kigali in 2012
        • Kigali: The preparation in March
        • February-March 2012: Travel Log
        • June 2012: Travellog
        • Rwanda, September 2012 : News of the preparation
        • Kigali : Testimonies from Young People
        • Kigali Meeting: The last stage of the preparation...
      • Contacts
      • Photos
      • From Kigali to Rome
    • 2008: Meeting in Nairobi
      • With 7000 young Africans in Nairobi Taizé creates a sign of peace
      • The meeting in Nairobi: Day by day
      • Nairobi: Meditations by Brother Alois
      • Photos: Meeting in Nairobi
    • Africa 2006 - 2008
      • February-March 2006 : In East Africa
      • February 2007 : In East Africa
      • November 2007: A visit to South Africa
      • April-May 2007: In West Africa
      • Malawi: "A house that’s complete"
  • Americas
    • Argentina: An important small step forward in reconciliation
    • Prayers with songs from Taizé in Panama
    • Bolivia October 2009: Meetings in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Cochabamaba and El Alto
    • Pilgrimage of Trust in the Caribbean
    • Chile: A new stage in the pilgrimage of trust
    • Haiti: Messages from young people
    • Spring 2014: Pilgrimage of Trust in America
    • Mexico: Faith is alive everywhere
    • Visits in Peru
    • USA: Pilgrimage of Trust in St. Louis
      • Spring 2017: Pilgrims of Trust in Saint Louis
    • USA: Meeting in Pine Ridge
      • Pilgrimage of trust in the USA: Taizé at Pine Ridge: “Our pot is empty - you have to fill it”
      • Photos: Meeting in Pine Ridge
    • 2007: Meeting in Cochabamba
      • Day by day during the meeting
      • Photos: Meeting in Cochabamba
      • Taizé and Bolivia
    • 2010: Meeting in Santiago
      • Taizé and Latin America
      • The evening before Palm Sunday
      • A welcome that is warm, close and simple
      • Celebrating life with the people of Chile
      • In Argentina: An un-hoped for joy
      • For a fraternal world: Meeting in Santiago, Chile
      • In Chile: the pilgrimage of trust continues…
      • Photos
    • 2012: Meeting in Chicago
      • Meeting in Chicago: An interview with two of the brothers
      • Meeting in Chicago: Taizé-Chicago: Three-minute version
      • May 2012 meeting: Taizé in Chicago
      • Photos of the meeting in Chicago
    • 2019: Two Taizé Brothers in the USA in September-October 2019
  • Asia Pacific
    • Video: An introduction to Taizé
    • Australia: News of prayers, meetings and gatherings
    • Cambodia: Visits of Brothers
    • Taizé and China
    • China: Regular prayers in Shanghai
    • Taiwan: Meetings with a brother from Taizé in April 2015
    • Hong Kong: Prayers and meetings to "uncover the wellspring of trust in God"
    • Hong Kong: Preparatory Prayers for International Meeting 2018
    • Visit by two brothers to Indonesia
    • Indonesia: October 2011: At the World Christian Forum in Manado
    • Visits of Brother Alois in Asia
    • Japan 2014: Meetings with a brother from Taize
    • Japan, spring 2016: "How to awaken in us the courage of mercy? "
    • Kazakhstan : A visit in August 2010
    • Laos: Young Laotians and the pilgrimage of trust
    • East Malaysia: Easter in Kuching
    • A visit in Mongolia
    • Myanmar: “What is the source from which we draw life?”
    • The Courage of Mercy in the Philippines
    • The Philippines, 2016: Living the Courage of Mercy
    • August 2018: Two brothers in the Philippines
    • India, February-March 2013: Visits to Vasai and Mumbai
    • India 2018: Visits and prayers
    • Several prayers in India on the pilgrimage of Trust 2019
    • Sri Lanka: Visits in 2012
    • Thailand: Next prayers in Bangkok
    • Timor Leste: Visits in 2012
    • In Vietnam
    • Aotearoa-New Zealand: 2019 Pilgrimage in Aotearoa
    • Regular prayers in Asia
      • Regular Prayer in the Philippines
      • Regular prayer in Macau
      • Regular prayers in Hong-Kong
      • Regular prayers in Indonesia
      • Regular prayers in Singapore
      • Regular prayer in Malaysia
      • Japan: Regular prayers in Japan
      • Regular prayers in India
      • Prayers in Vietnam
    • 2018 Meeting in Hong Kong
      • August 2018: Pilgrimage of Trust in Hong Kong
      • Meeting in Hong Kong, August 2018: Practical information
      • Hong-Kong 2018: Meditations by Brother Alois
    • 2010 Meeting in Manila, Philippines
      • Philippines: Meeting in Manila: "Most simply I am grateful for life"
      • Pilgrimage of trust meeting in the Philippines
      • Meditations by Brother Alois
      • Photos
      • Brother Alois 2010: Liham mula sa Ttsina
      • Brother Alois 2010: Sulat gikan sa Ttsina
    • 2006 Meeting in Kolkata, India
      • Pilgrimage of Trust in Kolkata: On the Road of Trust, Towards a Future of Peace
      • Kolkata: Meditations by Brother Alois
      • Taizé and India
      • Photos: Meeting in Kolkata
    • September 2017: Visits and prayers in India
  • Europe
    • European Meeting in Wrocław
      • The Next Taizé European Meeting Will Be Held in Poland
      • Meeting in Wrocław: Provisional Programme
      • Practical information
    • At the end of every year
      • Madrid 2018
        • Registration
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
        • Madrid 2018: Photos
        • Messages received for the meeting
        • Madrid 2018: Programme of Workshops
      • Basel 2017
        • Next European Meeting: At the end of 2018 in Madrid
        • Basel 2017: Next European Meeting of Young Adults in Basel
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
        • Basel 2017: Photos
      • Riga 2016
        • A novel European meeting at Riga in Latvia
        • Riga 2016: Film
        • A short history of Latvia (1)
        • A short history of Latvia (2)
        • Riga: Photos
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
      • Valencia 2015
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
        • Photos
      • Prague 2014
        • Prague: Some clips on the European Meeting
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
        • The meeting from day to day
        • Photos
      • Strasbourg 2013
        • Strasbourg: 30,000 young Europeans make “a large community of friendship” visible
        • Strasbourg meeting: Meditations by Brother Alois
        • Words of welcome from representatives of the Churches of Alsace and Ortenau
        • Strasbourg: Echoes from the Strasbourg Meeting
        • Photos
      • Rome 2012
        • Rome, January 2013: Some weeks after the European Meeting
        • The meeting from day to day
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
        • 45 000 young people in Saint Peter’s Square to pray with Pope Benedict
        • Rome 2012: The faith of a scientist - one of the afternoon workshops
        • Photos
      • Berlin 2011
        • Meeting in Berlin: 30 000 young adults on the road towards a new solidarity
        • The Meeting Day by Day
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
        • Photos
      • Rotterdam 2010
        • 30 000 young people invited to reflect on joy and solidarity
        • The Meeting Day by Day
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
        • “The party is over but the legacy remains.”
        • Photos
      • Poznań 2009
        • Photos
        • “Poznań, capital of European Christian youth”
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
      • Brussels 2008
        • From the newspapers
        • Meeting in Brussels: Meditations by Brother Alois
        • Two addresses by Cardinal Danneels
        • Photos
      • Geneva 2007
        • Geneva elated to have welcomed the 40,000 young adults of Taizé
        • Photos
      • 2006: 40,000 young Europeans fill up with hope
      • 2005: Milan filled with the spirit of Brother Roger
      • 2004 Lisbon: The Urgency of Peace
      • 2003 Hamburg: The Face of the Church as Communion
      • 2002 Paris: A Larger Europe Breathes the Good News
      • 2001 Budapest: Hospitality, A Face of God
      • 2000 Barcelona: Sharing a Hope
    • Lviv 2018
      • Lviv 2018: Provisional programme
      • Lviv 2018: Practical information
      • Lviv 2018: Prayers with songs from Taizé
      • Meeting Booklet
      • Lviv 2018: End of April, First Taizé Meeting in Ukraine
      • Lviv 2018: A first meeting of Taizé in Ukraine in the spring sunshine
      • Lviv 2018: Pictures
      • Lviv 2018: Meditations by Brother Alois
    • Albania: “Visits from abroad”
    • Austria, March 2011: Meeting in Vienna
    • Austria: Meeting in Graz
      • Graz 2018: Graz 2018: Sharing the Future
      • Graz 2018: Practical Information
      • Graz 2018: program and songsheet
    • Belarus, September 2014: Discovering the Source of a Unity Beyond Borders
    • Autumn 2016: A Visit to Belarus
    • Bosnia-Herzegovina: After the meeting in Sarajevo
    • Bulgaria: 2010: Welcomed as long lost friends
    • Croatia: “Something that they want to share with others”
    • Czech Republic: Preparing “Vigils of Trust” in Prague, November 2012
    • Denmark: Visits in May 2010
    • Estonia 2012: Renewing trust
    • Hamina, City of Peace
    • Finland : A Chain of Friendship
    • Finland: Meeting in Helsinki
    • Germany, 2012: A visit to Cologne
    • France, All Saints 2016 : The testimony of refugees in Taizé
    • Present day Greece: a land of contrasts
    • Spring 2016: On the island of Lesbos with those who had to leave everything
    • April 2016: A Volunteer on a Boat Saving Refugees in the Mediterranean
    • Hungary: Accompanying the refugees
    • Hungary Octobre 2009: Meeting in Pécs, October 2009
    • Ireland: News from Ireland
    • Italy: March 2011: Prayers and visits
    • Mantova, September 2012: Brothers and volunteers visit a sorely tried region
    • Riga, September 2014: To the Baltic Countries as Pilgrims of Peace and Trust
    • Latvia 2012: Seeking signs of hope
    • Lithuania: Meeting in Vilnius in May 2009
    • Malta: “A silent cry that no one hears”
    • Moldova, February 2016: Come Back in the Spring!
    • Norway, Spring 2013: "We are truly one in Christ"
    • Pilgrimage of trust in Norway: Weekend meeting in Oslo and Trondheim
    • Sweden: Pilgrimage and apples
    • Taizé in Brussels: New paths of trust
    • Poland, October 2014: „Days of Communion” in Katowice
    • WYD 2016: Praying with the Songs of Taizé in Kraków
    • Portugal: Evening prayer in Porto
    • Romania, Easter 2016: Pilgrimage to Bucharest
      • Pilgrimage to Bucharest
      • Getting ready to take part
      • Celebrating Easter in Bucharest: Day by Day
      • Echoes from participants: To the Wellsprings of the Romanian Orthodox Tradition
      • Pictures from the Pilgrimage
    • Romania: Brother Alois’ visit in May 2008
    • Russia: Pilgrimage to a second springtime
    • Russia, Easter 2015: A Pilgrimage to Moscow, in the Light of the Resurrection
    • Russia: Easter 2011
      • Easter Celebrations in Taizé and Moscow
      • A Pilgrimage to Moscow
      • The pilgrimage to Moscow day by day
      • Pilgrimage to Moscow: Saturday 23 April
      • Pilgrimage to Moscow: Sunday 24 April
      • Message from Metropolitan Hilarion
      • Words of thanks of Brother Alois to Metropolitan Hilarion
      • Short film of the pilgrimage
      • Russia: Easter 2011: What did you experience in Moscow during the pilgrimage?
    • 2016: Continuing pilgrimage in Russia
    • Ljubljana, May 2012: A mosaic of encounters in the midst of the Slovenian springtime
    • Spain: Meeting in Seville: May 2009
    • Sweden 2016: Refugees, coffee and prayer
    • Sweden 2016: Prayer with Brother Alois in Lund
    • Istanbul, January 2013
      • Taizé and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
      • Pilgrimage, day by day
      • A word of welcome by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
      • Meditation by brother Alois
      • Photos of the pilgrimage
      • Young People’s Impressions
    • Turkey: Prayers in Istanbul
    • UK: Birmingham 2017
      • Echoes of Birmingham 2017
      • Workshops
      • Birmingham 2017: St. Chad’s Sanctuary
      • Birmingham 2017: Changing Tunes
      • Birmingham 2017: “Bringing Hope”
      • Birmingham 2017: Meeting Christ in the discarded
    • UK: Weekend in Edinburgh
      15-16 March 2014
    • Ukraine, October 2014: Faces of Hope
    • Ukraine, April 2015: An Eastertide Pilgrimage, between suffering and hope
    • Europe 2006 2007 2008
      • Austria: A journey through Austria
      • Bosnia-Herzegovina and Taizé
      • Denmark: “The great day of prayer"
      • Germany: In the North of Germany
      • In Greece and the Republic of Macedonia
      • Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina
      • In Latvia and Estonia: 2008
      • Russia: Brother Alois in Moscow in 2006
      • Russia: In Moscow in 2006: Taizé’s gratefulness for the Russian Orthodox Church
      • Russia: A visit in October 2006
      • Russia: A visit in November 2007
      • In Spain: 2008
      • Sweden: 2007 Meeting in Stockholm
      • Sweden: 2007 Stockholm meeting day by day
      • UK: 2006: Prayers in Bradford Cathedral and Westminster Abbey
      • Ukraine 2006: Just before the elections
  • Middle East
    • Visits to United Arab Emirates (UAE) 2019
    • Lebanon 2019: International Ecumenical Youth Meeting in Beirut
    • 2017: Pilgrimage of Trust in Egypt
    • Egypt 2017: Taizé on Pilgrimage to Egypt with Coptic Christians
    • Egypt 2017: Pictures of the pilgrimage
    • 2017: A Christian-Muslim initiative of hope in northern Lebanon
    • A Jew’s prayer for the children of Gaza
    • Prayers in Jerusalem
    • Israël, Palestinian Territories, Lebanon: Journal of a pilgrim of trust
    • Lebanon 2013: Visit of a brother
    • Autumn 2015: Two Brothers in the Middle East
    • International ecumenical meeting of young adults in Lebanon (22-26 March, 2019)
    • Beirut 2019: Testimonies from young people
    • Beirut 2019: Meditations by Brother Alois
    • Beirut 2019: Photos
Russia
 

A visit in November 2007

A recent journey to Russia led the brothers to Moscow, Siberia and Saint Petersburg
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“You are lucky: the snow has arrived in time to welcome you. Everything is clean and bright – for us, the first snow is always a joy!” After two hours of traffic jams, I meet again in Chtchoukinskaya the hospitality of Olga, Micha and Katia. In their district, the buildings of the Sixties, still proud behind their curtain of silver birches, are gradually being demolished and replaced by huge constructions, forty storeys high, like heavy meringues, with crenulations, gables, spires, and facades in pink, blue green… Outside the Metro station, the stalls where the local market gardeners and the Caucasian sellers once offered fruit and vegetables, have disappeared. Two supermarkets and a shopping mall have signs with huge, illuminated letters. Escalators and marble corridors lead to sumptuous shops.

Property, motorways, the towers of business parks; everywhere construction bears witness to a sustained dynamism. In the Metro, adverts for bank credit, financial investments and ‘dream’ holidays reflect the latest preoccupations of a more wealthy section of the population. However, this remains a privileged minority. People humorously describe the economic situation: “Everything we were taught about communism was false but everything they told us about capitalism was true!”

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A meeting with forty or so young adults in the premises of a club for adolescents, near the Belarus Station. They have suggested the theme for reflection: “How to live each day with an open heart?”

“’Happy are they who believed without having seen’: in what way is this joy given to us?” This was the question for a sharing about the meeting of the Risen Christ with Thomas. Tea in the kitchen, then small sharing groups; a report back, and then tea again… Fifteen young people for a reflection and sharing session held in a family home: in an apartment, the exchange is more natural and the formula seems promising.

A four hour flight from Moscow to Novosibirsk in moonlight: forests, snow-covered fields, frozen rivers. With the three hour time difference, it is already six o’clock when we arrive. Genady and Oleg are waiting for us in a temperature of minus 10˚C. “With global warming of the planet, our winters have been getting milder for several years. You are lucky: it is still warm for the time of year!”

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With one and a half million inhabitants, Novosibirsk is the third city of Russia and a sort of capital of Siberia, founded 120 years ago where the Transsiberian crosses the river Ob. The evacuation of civilians and the transfer of production, during the Second World War, accelerated the development of Novosibirsk.

It is the spirit and bravery of pioneers that drive those who live in these parts. “We are in the South west of Siberia, on the same latitude as Moscow, but due to the hardness of our life and the continental climate we are classified as the North zone.” The winters are long and hard, transport is difficult; there are lots of huge coal-heated greenhouses, but people live mainly from salting gherkins, cabbages and potatoes from their vegetable gardens. Retirement pensions are tiny.

The vitality of the Church is witness to the strong faith of these people who have begun again, from nothing: building but also training, publishing, the media; supporting adolescents, the sick, prisoners, soldiers. Orthodoxy allows one to forge one’s world vision and to find one’s bearings: through its liturgy, its feasts, its veneration for tradition, and its popular customs, but also from the meaning it gives to hierarchy and to obedience. It is the showcase of the heart: the remembrance of the Saints reawakens a sense of the podvig: the challenge to accept, which allows one to surpass oneself and may even demand sacrifice. This can often be seen in the commitment to their ministry of priests and their wives; but many people show great generosity, as well as the hope that life has meaning, even in adversity. This feeds patience and inner freedom.

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In St Petersburg a novel meeting brings together secondary-school teachers, who have taken groups to Taizé, and some priests: Father Arkady Skripkine, who has responsibility for youth in the diocese and is chaplain to students of the faculty of Education; Father Alexander and Father Dimitry from the parish of the Icon of the Virgin of Feodorovskaya – where they have, for the second time, launched an adaptation of the Alpha course; and Protodeacon Serge of the Trinity – a physician by training – who tells how he owes his vocation to a meeting with Brother Roger in the early 1990s…

Excerpts from the sharing: “What difficulties and what hopes are there in your work with the young people today?”
“A recent study shows that religious practice is growing in Russia. Twenty years ago, 6% of young people declared themselves to be believers, now it is 60% - but we are not ready to welcome them. This religious feeling comes from inside the person and is in conflict with the trend that thinks a society becomes richer as it becomes more secular. If we don’t decide to introduce into schools some lessons about the foundations of religious culture, we shall be missing an opportunity. Young people are waiting and thirsting for us to talk to them about faith and prayer.”
“At Taizé, everything began with the commitment of one person. Here, they have begun to return our buildings to us. ‘If you want to get back this monastery, go ahead!’ I was the bursar at the monastery of Konovets… Who turned up to live and work there? Tramps and drug addicts! We need resolute personalities.”
“You have to go out to meet people. That’s how the Tchaika Club developed at the monastery of St John of Kronstadt.”

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The Russian winter seems to freeze nature. Snow envelops fields, forests, lakes and frozen rivers; sometimes there is so much snow that the little houses almost disappear. A great silence covers everything. Yet life goes on. Under their windswept crust, the rivers follow their courses; anglers break through the ice to spend hours by their fishing lines, seated on a case, their backs to the wind. The tits and magpies search for sustenance around the houses. In temperatures as low as minus 30˚C, the children continue to attend school; concrete is laid on building sites; pipes are welded. When circumstances seem to dissuade all relationships between Christians from different denominations, it is in the form of reserves and prudence that we must seek the signs of living fraternity. Throughout these three weeks it has been possible to offer an attentive and grateful presence. A simple presence can call out. In the surprised faces of our hosts we often discern the question: “Brothers from the West! Are there still believers over there? Why have they undertaken such a long journey?” Time is not taken up in debating ideas or in big projects, but long liturgies, shared tables, and times of travel are practical opportunities to give priority to the people, and to the work of God in them. Let’s repeat our gratitude for the courage, enthusiasm, self-giving, commitment to the service of God – and the communities will open a way.

Last updated: 12 February 2008

Daily Bible Reading

Thu, 12 December
Paul writes: God has made us able to serve a new covenant, one which is not of written letters but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
2 Corinthians 3:4-6
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2019-12-05 : Espère en Dieu + Psalms 80 / Eph 2:19-22 / Wait for the Lord / Notre père / Prayer by Brother Alois / Nimm alles von mir
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2019-11-28 : Alleluia 16 + Ps. 66 / Mt 26,36-46 / Aber du weißt den Weg für mich / Prayer by Brother Alois / Bénissez le Seigneur
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