ASIA/RUSSIA - Easter in Siberia: a community experiences the Eucharist and prays for peace

Wednesday, 20 April 2022 easter prayer peace eucharist

Kana

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Novosibirsk (Agenzia Fides) - An Easter lived in the intensity of prayer and with the "certain hope" of the Resurrection: this is how the community of the faithful of the diocese of the Transfiguration in Novosibirsk, in the Russian region of Siberia, lived the days of Holy Week and continues to live the Easter season.
The Eucharist, they say, was the "source and summit" of the celebrations, because during Holy Thursday Mass, after an appropriate period of preparation, 17 young people received the sacrament of First Communion, feeding for the first time of Christ present in the consecrated bread after having been previously baptized.
Father Corrado Trabucchi, OFM, missionary in Novosibirsk, tells Fides: "The celebration of Holy Week here in Russia began in the sign of the willow buds, which represent the palms. In this way we celebrated the holy days that lead us to recognize Jesus as our King. During Holy Week and Easter, a sincere prayer for peace was raised to God, despite all the difficulties of these times. In these days of Easter, in particular, I would like us all to think about our origin, our faith and our goal: we must not forget that Jesus unites us and wants us to remain united to face the future and welcome his Resurrection, life after death. In Russia we exchange Easter greetings saying 'Christ is risen, he is truly risen' and we kiss each other three times. In this embrace, a sign of sharing in the resurrection and of deep peace, we place all of humanity, with the best wishes for a happy Easter from Siberia".
As the friar said, the Franciscan presence in this region is part of the "Russia project" desired in the early 1990s by John Paul II: "Here, in Novosibirsk, we have a very small parish and we manage the Franciscan Catholic School "Christmas of the Lord". We arrived 27 years ago, when our order decided to adhere to the call of Pope Wojtyla. We work on several levels: first of all, we have the pastoral care of the Catholics of the Latin rite, who arrived in this region during the Stalinist deportations and lived for decades in imposed atheism; we are also active in ecumenical dialogue, given that the majority of the population here is Orthodox. In addition, many Muslims have recently arrived from Central Asian countries, so there is also the interreligious dialogue project. At the same time, we present, with our life, the charism of the Poverello of Assisi and of the Franciscan Order. At the moment there are not many vocations, but we are sure that they will come".
Apart from the fraternity of Novosibirsk, the Franciscan mission in Russia has two other realities: one in St. Petersburg and the other near Vladivostok. Because of the huge distances to travel, missionaries rarely meet in person, but almost always by videoconference. (LF/PA) (Agenzia Fides, 20/4/2022)

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