President Medvedev, PM Putin attending Easter service in Moscow.

MOSCOW, April 4 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and
his wife Svetlana and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have arrived
at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow to attend a festive
Easter service. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is leading it.
The Russian president considers Easter to be a symbol of spiritual
renewal and a triumph of high moral values. " These days the hearts of
people are invariably being filled with genuine love for fellowmen, a
desire to do good and help the needy," Medvedev said in one of his Easter
greetings.
"This wonderful holiday fosters the kindest of feelings and thoughts
in the hearts of Orthodox Christians, awakens warmth and joy in people and
inspires hope," he emphasized.
President Medvedev visits the Church on major religious holidays. In
the past two years he, like today, arrived at the Cathedral of Christ the
Saviour for Easter.
Medvedev regularly attended Easter and Christmas services when he was
the first vice-premier and the Kremlin administration chief. In 2006, when
Medvedev happened to be on a working visit to Germany for Easter, he
visited the Church of Annunciation of Our Lady.
However, President Medvedev tries not to attract public attention to
his religious convictions. "Personal religious feelings should be
discreet, that's what makes them valuable," Medvedev said in one of his
interviews. "The Church should be in the soul of everyone. Each person has
his own way; he or she should try to understand himself or herself.
However, the state should create conditions for meeting a demand of each
person to come to the Church," Medvedev emphasized.

. Early Easter arrives in Russia.

MOSCOW, April 4 (Itar-Tass) - The Easter Sunday, the main Christian
holiday, has arrived in Russia. According to the latest public opinion
poll, 87% of the Russians said they would mark Easter in 2010.
In his Easter address Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian
Orthodox Church, wished his compatriots to ponder over the meaning of
Easter which consists in "rising above the bustle of everyday life" in
order "to see the genuine loftiness of God's love."
Patriarch Kirill said that Christ's resurrection renews the human
nature and strengthens the inner forces of every Christian for the sake of
serving the Church, the country, society, family and fellowmen. He called
on Orthodox Christians to share the Easter holiday with their near and
dear and to warm the hearts of those who are suffering or living in
privation.
More than five thousand people are attending the night Easter service
at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. Patriarch Kirill of
Moscow and All Russia is leading the service.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his wife Svetlana and Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin arrived at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour for
the Easter Morning Prayer.
Festive Easter services are being held in all churches and cathedrals
of the Russian Orthodox Church. There are about 30,000 Orthodox believers
in the world.
This night Easter services are being held in all the Catholic and
Protestant churches around the globe. This year, the Christians of the
eastern and western tradition are marking Easter on the same day - for the
fourth time in the 21st century. This is the earliest Easter of all
possible dates. This won't happen in the next 20 years. The latest Easter
will be marked on May 5 in 2013 and 2014, according to the ecclesiastical
calendar of the Moscow patriarchy.

.Patriarch Kirill to visit sick children on first day of Easter.

MOSCOW, April 4 (Itar-Tass) - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All
Russia will visit a boarding school for sick children on the first day of
Easter. Moscow bishops will greet needy Russians on the Easter holiday.
They will visit hospices, a psycho-neurological boarding school and a
clinic for patients infected with AIDS.
On the eve of the Easter night, the homeless at five Moscow railway
stations received Easter gifts from the Russian Orthodox Church. The
Church social service has been operating a night bus for homeless people
called "Mercy" for the past several years. At night, the bus circulates
between places of concentration of the homeless. The Christians feed the
homeless people, give them warm clothes, help them to get passports if
necessary or simply buy them tickets to go home. In winter, the bus saves
hundreds of people from freezing.

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