Synodal department of Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service

The social service of the Church today is on the territory of Russia.

The Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service of the Moscow Patriarchate, established by the decision of the Holy Synod on January 31, 1991, coordinates and assists in the work of church social initiatives in all dioceses, develops and implements effective methods of helping those in need, organizes the exchange of experience and training of church social workers. Thanks to methodical and organizational support The Synodal Department in Russia annually appears over 100 new church social projects. As a result of training in 2017, 306 new social projects were developed.

On May 1, 2016, on the day of the feast of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visited the Moscow crisis center "House for Mom" ​​of the Orthodox help service "Mercy"

One example of the development of the social ministry of the Church is helping women in a crisis situation. Until 2011, there was only one church shelter for pregnant women and women in crisis in Russia. As of July 2019, there are 64 such centers in Russia, with several new shelters opening every year.

Many social projects develop as a model, first in Moscow, and then spread to the regions. So, in Moscow, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, the Orthodox help service “Mercy” operates, which unites 27 social projects to help people. Many initiatives of the service "Mercy" serve as a model for the subsequent replication of similar social projects throughout the country.

Help for the disabled

There are over 400 Orthodox organizations in Russia that help children and adults with disabilities. Work with the deaf is carried out in 71 parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church, in 9 parishes deaf-blind people are cared for. Within the structure of the Synodal Department, a Coordinating Center for Work with Deaf, Deaf-Blind and Hard-of-Hearing People has been established. The department regularly organizes training courses for clergy, social workers and volunteers to work with the deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing. Classes are conducted by leading teachers and specialists of the Educational and Methodological Center of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf.

Help for the homeless

In Russia, 95 church shelters for the homeless have been opened, and 10 mercy buses (mobile points for helping the homeless) are operating. On the territory of the Synodal Department for Charity and Social Service, the "Hangar of Salvation" (a project of the Orthodox help service "Mercy") is organized, where the homeless can eat, get clothes and help in restoring documents and purchasing tickets home.

Together with the Helper and Patron charitable foundation, the Synodal Charity Department annually organizes the Nadezhda motor rally in various regions of Russia. During the action, warm clothes are distributed to the homeless, medical and social assistance is provided. Employees of the Synodal Department share their experience with social workers and volunteers from regional NGOs who work with the homeless.

Under the Synodal Department for Charity, there is a Coordinating Center for Combating Drug Addiction, which regularly organizes training for clergy and laity in various regions on how to help drug addicts.

In 2011, the Synodal Department established Charitable Foundation St. Righteous John of Kronstadt to finance church initiatives in the field of combating drug addiction, developing a system of church rehabilitation and helping drug addicts.

Help in emergency situations

The Synodal Charity Department acted as a coordinator of assistance to victims of, from, to, in 2014 and 2015, victims of floods on, participated in providing assistance to victims of natural disasters in other countries, in particular, in Serbia and the Philippines.

It was created under the Synodal Department - these are sisters of mercy, priests and volunteers who are ready to go to the site of a tragedy, catastrophe, explosion or terrorist attack. The tasks of the group include spiritual and psychological assistance to the victims, catering and temporary accommodation of people, legal, medical and social assistance.

Within the framework of the Agreement with the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church are trained in educational and methodological centers. Special training allows priests to act professionally during emergencies.

legal assistance

The Department of Church Charity has a team of professionals who, in their spare time from their main work, conduct a free reception for those in need.

The service has been operating since 2013, by the end of 2016 more than 2,000 people received assistance.

The Volunteer Lawyers Service helps solve problems in the field social protection, housing, labor, family and other legislation of the Russian Federation.

Development of volunteerism

As of October 2017, there are 503 volunteer charity groups and 231 volunteer associations of various profiles in the Church.

Church volunteers help families with children, children without parental care, refugees, people with disabilities and their families, care for patients in hospitals, help the homeless and people with disabilities. various types dependencies, organize transportation, arrange various charity events and activities.

The largest volunteer church services operate in Moscow, Yekaterinburg, as well as in the Rostov, Smolensk, Vladivostok and Khabarovsk dioceses.

According to surveys conducted by the Synodal Department for Charity, the number of volunteers participating in works of mercy is constantly growing. The average age of church volunteers is 35-40 years old.

The leaders of the directions of the Synodal Department for Charity and invited experts are the moderators of the Internet seminars. The main audience of the seminars are lay people and clergy who are responsible for social work in parishes and dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church.

From 1.5 to 2 thousand new participants join e-learning every year. As of October 2017, over 990 online seminars have been held since March 2011. As a result of training in 2017, 306 new social projects were developed.

Online classes are held in all major areas of church social activity: organizing the work of volunteers, protecting motherhood, helping addicts, helping the disabled and their families, working with petitioners, helping the homeless. In addition, online training covers such important topics as legal and accounting consulting, fundraising (raising funds for social activities), social engineering and spiritual foundations of mercy.

Edition of methodical literature

The Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service of the Russian Orthodox Church publishes books, reference books, teaching aids on various directions social work. From 2010 to October 2017, 33 manuals were published, including such as “Shelter for expectant mothers: from plan to implementation”, “Methodology for the social rehabilitation of drug addicts in the church community”, “Video tutorial on organizing volunteer activities”, “Spiritual , psychological and practical features of helping the homeless”, “100 phrases in Russian sign language: a phrase book for clergy”, “How to make the temple accessible to everyone: technical standards and architectural solutions”. Two more manuals are scheduled for release in autumn 2017.

Every year 5-6 new manuals are published.

Benefits can be downloaded on the Diaconia.ru website in the "" section.

Exchange of experience in social work

The Synodal Department for Charity annually holds Church-wide congresses for social service, which traditionally gather heads of social departments, elder sisters and confessors of the sisterhoods of mercy of various dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church from Russia and other countries of the world.

Participants of the congresses discuss issues of helping pregnant women and mothers with children in difficult life situations, organizing work with the disabled and creating a barrier-free environment in churches, issues of sobriety and assistance to alcohol addicts, development of church volunteer movement and other topical issues of social service, share their work experience.

In addition, the Synodal Department annually holds interregional conferences on church social service. Such conferences have already been held in, in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. The goals of its creation are the consolidation and unification of the sisterhoods of mercy in the development and improvement of church social service, the exchange of experience, and participation in social projects of various levels. The association unites all the sisterhoods of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the list of its members is constantly growing.

The Association is engaged in the formation and updating of a publicly available unified database on the Sisterhoods of Mercy of the Russian Orthodox Church. In addition, the Association of Sisterhoods conducts consultations on the activities of sisterhoods of mercy, organizes conferences and seminars to exchange experience and improve the skills of sisters of mercy and volunteers, and also supervises regular internships for senior sisters of mercy. The internship allows you to get acquainted with the work of existing sisterhoods on the spot - to participate in helping the sick, feed the homeless, spend a day with patronage workers, etc.

Date of creation: 1991 Description:

Established in 1991. The main tasks are the coordination of church social initiatives in all dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church, the creation of an all-church mass volunteer movement of mercy, the development and implementation of methods of helping all categories of those in need, the organization of the exchange of experience and the training of church social workers.

Areas of work of the Department:

• assistance to orphans, large families and single-parent families;
• assistance to the elderly and disabled;
• help for drug addicts;
• help for alcohol addicts;
• assistance in emergency situations;
• helping the homeless;
• creation of a church-wide database on social activities;
• development of the Orthodox volunteer movement;
• information support of social service;
• publication of methodological manuals on social work;
• organization distance learning.

The Department operates:

• Coordinating Center for Combating Alcoholism and Promotion of Sobriety;
• Society of Orthodox Doctors;
• Coordinating Center for Combating Drug Addiction;
• Coordinating center for work with the deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing;
• Church Emergency Assistance Group (CHSR);
• homeless assistance coordinating center;
• Legal Service of the Synodal Charity Department.

A distance learning course on social service is conducted, at least 5 books are published annually. teaching materials for social service, the Department supports orthodox portal about charity Mercy.ru.

The social service of the Church in post-Soviet Russia began to revive in the 90s of the XX century with the activities of the brotherhood of St. Anastasia the Patterner in St. Petersburg and Moscow.

Today, the social ministry of the Church is (data as of May 2019):

• more than 4500 church social institutions, projects and initiatives in the Russian Orthodox Church on the territory of Russia;
• about 400 sisterhoods of mercy, which are members of the Association of Sisterhoods of Charity;
• more than 500 charity groups in Russia;
• 60 crisis centers with shelters for women in difficult life situations in Russia;
• over 180 humanitarian centers (warehouses) providing clothing and food assistance to pregnant women and mothers with children;
• 65 orphanages in Russia, where about 1.3 thousand children live;
• more than 60 almshouses;
• more than 400 projects to help the disabled;
• about 300 centers for helping drug addicts, including more than 70 rehabilitation centers;
• more than 500 Orthodox organizations and parishes that help alcohol addicts and their relatives;
• 95 Orthodox shelters for the homeless and 10 mercy buses (mobile aid stations).

In 71 Orthodox churches in 45 metropolises, work is being done with deaf and hard of hearing people.

The department is subordinated to the Moscow Patriarchate of St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of March 5, 2010 (), the cleric of the Moscow diocese, Archpriest Arkady Shatov (now Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky) was appointed chairman of the Department.



Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service

Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service of the Russian Orthodox Church
OCBS ROC
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http://www.diaconia.ru/

Department for Church Charity and Social Service of the Russian Orthodox Church- one of the synodal departments of the Moscow Patriarchate. It was created by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on January 31, 1991. New concept The work of the Department was approved by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia on April 9, 2010.

Department Chairs

Mission and tasks of the department

The Synodal Department sees as the mission of its work the combination of effective modern technologies charity with a truly Christian service to one's neighbor.

The goal of church social institutions and all the charitable activities of the Church is to increase love, bring both those under their care and those who help them closer to God, restore the image of God in a person exhausted by deprivations of various kinds, suffering, the consequences of sins (both his own and the whole society).

The task of church social work is not to duplicate the system of state social institutions, but to help the state transform this system, bring into society the spirit of love, active faith, sacrificial service to others, offer new technologies, new forms of work. The initiative of active assistance should come from the Church, the purpose of which is to return a person to society, to give the joy of life.

Mission of the Department of Church Charity and Social Service

The department was created to revive social service at the general church, diocesan, monastic and parish levels, to help vulnerable members of society - orphans, the disabled, lonely old people and the sick, the homeless, alcohol and drug addicts, refugees, and so on. The goal of the Department's work is to multiply love, to bring both the wards and those who help them closer to God. In addition, the objectives of the Division include:

• Family, motherhood and childhood support;
• Coordination and assistance in the work of church social initiatives in all dioceses;
• Development and implementation of effective methods of assistance to all categories of those in need;
• Organization of the exchange of experience and training of church social workers, as well as interfaith exchange of experience;
• Organization of effective cooperation with government agencies all levels, as well as public organizations and business structures;
• Popularization of the idea of ​​the need for personal participation in the works of mercy, drawing attention to the needs of the disadvantaged; attracting the widest possible range of people and organizations to the sphere of charity;
• Creation of a church-wide mass volunteer movement of mercy;
• Creation of church-wide programs to attract mass private donations to social projects of the Church.

Areas of activity of the Department

• assistance to pregnant women, orphans, large families and single-parent families;
• assistance to the elderly and disabled;
• help for drug addicts;
• help for alcohol addicts;
• helping the homeless;
• creation of a church-wide database on social activities
• development of the Orthodox volunteer movement;
• information support of social service;
• publication of methodological manuals on social work;
• attraction Money on social projects of the Church;
• development of the ministry of sisters of mercy;
• organization of distance learning in social service

The Department operates the Coordinating Center for the Protection of Motherhood, the Coordinating Center for Combating Drug Addiction, the Coordinating Center for Combating Alcoholism and the Promotion of Sobriety, the Coordinating Center for Helping the Homeless and the Association of Sisterhoods of Mercy.

The department is subordinated to the Central Clinical Hospital of the Moscow Patriarchate of St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow.

Help in emergencies

Unrest in Kyrgyzstan, June 2010 The department collected and sent to Kyrgyzstan 400 kg of humanitarian cargo: medicines (antibiotics, anti-burn agents, medicines for the heart) and dressings in the amount of 145 thousand rubles. Temples of the Russian Orthodox Church in places of interethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan became points of contact huge amount people for the help they need. The abbots of the temples hid the victims in the temples, supported spiritually, provided food, shelter, medicines to all those in need, regardless of religion.

Flooding in the Krasnodar Territory, October 2010 213 thousand 267 rubles were collected through the website Miloserdie.ru and the official website of the Department of Diaconia.ru, the funds were transferred to the Krasnodar diocese, assistance was provided to more than 200 residents of the region.

Flight delays at Moscow airports due to bad weather, December 2010 Thousands of passengers have accumulated at airports due to flight delays due to bad weather. Employees of the Department took 500 bottles of drinking water for children, hundreds of packs wet wipes and about a thousand packs of diapers to Domodedovo Airport, where the problem was the most acute.

Help for victims in Japan

In March 2011, as a result of the largest earthquake in Japan and the tsunami that followed, temples of the Japanese Autonomous Orthodox Church were seriously damaged. One Orthodox church burned down, two received major damage, another 15 churches were partially damaged. Fundraising was announced in churches and monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was coordinated by the department. As a result of fundraising, the Department received 41,037,287 rubles. 1,438,310 US dollars (40,673,592 rubles) were transferred to the Japanese Orthodox Church for the restoration of destroyed churches and assistance to families affected by the earthquake and tsunami, bank services (conversion and transfer) amounted to 363,695 rubles).

Editions of the Department

• Social support for adolescents in places of deprivation of liberty and after release
• Methodology of social rehabilitation of drug addicts in the church community
• Pastoral and nursing care for HIV-infected people
• For a life. Protection of motherhood and childhood. Experience and method of work
• A petitioner has come to the temple. Methodological recommendations for church social service
• Handbook of the homeless. 2011 , 2012

Notes

Links

• Information about the Department on the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate
• The concept of the Department for Church Charity and Social Service of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate

see also

Synodal institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church
Institutions	Office of the Moscow Patriarchate Department of External Church Relations Publishing Council Educational Committee Financial and Economic Department Department of Religious Education and Catechesis Department of Church Charity and Social Service Missionary Department Department of Cooperation with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Institutions Department of Youth Affairs Department of Church and Society Relations Informational Department Department for Prison Ministry Committee for Interaction with the Cossacks Department for Monasteries and Monasticism Patriarchal Council for Culture Department for Foreign Institutions
Commissions	Biblical and theological On the canonization of saints Liturgical On interaction with the museum community On economic and humanitarian issues
Other	Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate Synodal Library