After the "orthodox disco " and the establishment of new youth
groups in parishes, the Russian Orthodox community has come up with a new
formula to bring young people to the faith. On 13 and 14 October, the feast of the Blessed Virgin, billboards in which famous faces of entertainment and culture, including the American actor Tom Hanks (a convert to orthodoxy) 'speaking' of how good it feels to be a Christian, were posted throughout Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
The initiative, according to a report in the Echo of Moscow radio, is part of the "We, Orthodox" initiative, a series of events related to the mid-October festival. The all-new advertising campaign is the brainchild of the "Soboriane" movement, which received the green light from Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the Department for relations between Church and society at the Patriarchate of Moscow.
"It is directed first of all to young people who do not attend church - explained the creators of the campaign - the example of the lives of some celebrities these days can be a starting point for their evangelization."
As reported by the website Lenta.ru, the image of famous faces are accompanied by quotes from old interviews. Actors Yevgeny Mironov and Petr Mamonov, journalist Arkady Mamontov, the boxer and deputy Nikolai Valuev, the singer Yuri Shevchuk (also one of the leaders of the anti-Putin party) and Tom Hanks invite young people from billboards to go to church and live according to Christian principles.
It is not clear if the stars have given their consent to the use of their images. Among the 'celebrities' are also big names of the past: the writers Nikolai Gogol and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, astronaut Yuri Gagarin, who in his poster warns: "If you do not meet God on Earth, you will not see him even in space."
The newspaper Vzgliad.ru has estimated the cost of the advertising campaign at over 40 million rubles (about 990,000 Euros).
According to some commentators, after the Pussy Riot case and media scandals related to the Patriarch and his alleged life of ease and luxury, the Orthodox Church has embarked on a campaign to "rebuild its image", also in an attempt to attract more young people. At the same time, the Patriarchate is pursuing a policy to increase its weight in Russian society.
Recently, the Synod gave the go-ahead to priests to candidate themselves in elections, a move already approved last year by the Council of Bishops.