On May 20-21 in the context of the Year of the Holy Bible which is held in Russia in 2006 the Biblical ecclesiological Symposium will take place. The participants of the event will make the reports on the following themes: “Synodal translation of the Holy Scripture” (G. Yastrebov, St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Institute), “The Bible in Qumran” (fr. I. Kovalevsky), “Signs of the Church” (fr. V. Shaikevitch). The second part of the Symposium will be group discussion on “The Bible in the family”, “The Bible in the life of contemporary man”, “The Church and the society in last 15 years”. The year 2006 was named by the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of Russia the Year of the Holy Bible. It began in January, 15 with the intronization of the Bible, near the altar, in all Russian catholic churches. During the whole year the Bible constantly lays open here. As Archbishop Kondrusiewicz mentioned, it should be the time of the particular grace. According to the program of the year of the Bible the Biblical School was founded in Moscow and it is entitled to Msn. Bernardo Antonini, from Verona, who served in Russia for many years and was the first rector of the Superior Spiritual Catholic Seminary in Saint Petersburg. He preached the Holy Scripture and led the Biblical courses which more than 100 persons attended regularly. The first printed issue of the Minorite magazine “Brother Sun” was presented recently in Russia. Till the moment it had only web-version. It should write about Minorites in Russia and in the world, Minorite spirituality and other topics. It should also raise the problem of ecclesial life, the growth in Christian faith and culture. Printed and web versions will include just a few similar materials so their content will differ. GAY PRIDE. The low chamber of Russian parliament will discuss the bill about the prohibition of the propaganda of homosexuality as “anomalous behavior style”. The deputies are sure that this legislative initiative does not restrain the rights of sexual minorities. The private life of a person is not interesting in this situation. The main concern is connected with a morality of young people, who are under the pressure of propaganda more than representative of any other social group. One of the reasons to make this project is so-called “gay-parade” which was announced to be held in Moscow on May, 27 by some organizations and communities. The authors of this bill express the anxiety about the possible wide coverage of this event in Russian media. Moscow government, some social and religious organizations also blamed this parade and the Moscow Mayor Y. Luzhkov didn’t allow the manifestation in the Russian capital.
