ROYC Calendar 2024

Compiled by: Russian Orthodox Youth Committee
Format: Wall Calendar
Dimensions: 12 X 9 inches
Language: Russian/English

By His ineffable mercy, the Almighty Lord preserves us even at this present time, when we hear hourly about "wars and rumors of war" (Mat. 24:6) in the land of our Fathers, mercifully saved by God; He, the Merciful, has allowed us to enter into the new calendar year of 2024. Therefore, following good tradition, we prayerfully wish everyone who opens our calendar, strength and health of soul and body from the Lord, quietude, peace and prosperity to our Fatherland and to all Orthodox, wherever they may dwell in this new "favorable year of the Lord" ( Isaiah 61; 1-2, Luke 4:18).

This year, our calendar is dedicated to a particular phenomenon in Russian history, including spiritual history: Russian classical literature. Specifically it was literature, speaking in scientific terminology, that became one of the main load-bearing elements of the Russian Orthodox Civilization. Our artistic literature owes its existence to spiritual literature, and, its distinguishing feature is that in its main manifestations this connection was never interrupted. It is no wonder that His Beatitude Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), Abba of the Russian Church Abroad, in his works on F. M. Dostoevsky, spoke of his writings as spiritually "healing literature." The ever-memorable Metropolitan Anastassy (Gribanovsky), our second First Hierarch, in his article "Pushkin's Moral Image" remarked: "It is not by accident that 'Divinity' and 'inspiration' sometimes stand side by side in Pushkin to show that the latter has its source in the former." Russian religious thinker S.L. Frank was undoubtedly right when he said that for Pushkin poetry was "an expression of the religious perception of the world." This enduring perceptive attention to the “divine word” (A.S. Pushkin) is an integral property of all our great Russian classical literature.

The Calendar for 2024 contains brief information about some of the most significant of our classic authors, as well as their portraits and excerpts from their writings.

+Gabriel,
Archbishop of Montréal & Canada,
President of the Russian Orthodox Youth Committee