Russia's First Lady congratulates nation on Family Day

MOSCOW, July 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian First Lady Svetlana Medvedeva on
Friday congratulated the nation on the Day of Family, Love, and Fidelity
the introduction of which she encouraged in 2008 and offered a daisy as a
symbol of the new holiday.
"The family is a pillar of support for a person. It provides the
happiness of motherhood and fatherhood, forms the character and life
values of a child, plays a specific role in the development of society and
upbringing of the young on high spiritual and moral ideals," she said in a
message published by Rossiyskaya gazeta.
The holiday which is often called a version of St. Valentine's Day was
introduced in 2008 and is marked on July 8, the day the Russian Orthodox
Church commemorates St. Peter and Fevroniya of Murom - actual characters
from an early 13-th century chronicle.
Prince Peter's love to Fevroniya was so strong that when his
counselors objected his marriage with a commoner, Peter abdicated the
throne and left the city with his wife. Peter and Fevroniya took monastic
vows when they grew old and lived in different monasteries, but died on
the same day and at the same hour. They asked to be buried in one coffin,
but people thought this was an improper request and buried them in
different caskets and even in different monasteries. Then, a miracle
happened - on the day after the burial, the bodies were in one coffin.
Three hundred years later the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Peter and
Fevroniya as saints.
Medvedeva said although the holiday commemorates Russian Orthodox
Church saints "it has been supported by all traditional Russian
confessions" as "since times immemorial marital fidelity, care about
children and the elderly have been the main values in our country."