17 September, Vitebsk /Alena Tikhonova - BELTA/. Celebrations marking the 390th anniversary of the Holy Epiphany Kuteinsk Monastery will be held in Orsha on 18-20 September, the district executive committee informed a BELTA correspondent.
The festivities will commence with the Divine Liturgy at the St. Elijah Church with the participation of Archbishop Dmitry of Vitebsk and Orsha. Following the service, a religious procession with the icon of the Our Lady of Orsha will start from the church walls. Clergy, city residents, guests, and pilgrims will proceed to the Kuteinsk Monastery. A prayer service in honour of the Our Lady of Orsha icon and a bell consecration ceremony will take place here.
A concert "Orthodox Chants" will be held on the stage of the Kuteinsk Lavra, a theatrical performance "Spiridon Sobol" will be shown, and an exhibition of children's creativity "Orthodox Orsha" and an exhibition "History of the Primer" will be organised.
A scientific and practical conference "Kuteinsk Readings-3" will be held at the monastery. Its participants will include historians, museum workers, and local historians. Among them will be representatives of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and the National Historical Museum. Meetings with students will also be organised in the city's educational institutions' libraries.
The celebrations will conclude with a festive evening service in the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Holy Trinity Epiphany Male Monastery in Orsha was founded in the 17th century. A printing house, the largest in White Ruthenia at that time, was established there. In 1631, the printer Spiridon Sobol published the first "Primer" in the Belarusian language here. The monastery became a centre of cultural life, with skilled craftsmen working there: woodcarvers, engravers, tile masters, chasers, icon painters, and book printers. Thanks to their craftsmanship, Orsha was called the "Belarusian Suzdal" in the 19th century. It is believed that it was from here, from the Kuteinsk Lavra, that the beginning of communal monasticism spread throughout White Ruthenia. -0-