The large-scale special project "Easter Telethon" was broadcast live on the First Public Orthodox TV channel "Spas" for the ninth time. Viewers and guests of the broadcast watched the descent of the Holy Fire in Jerusalem, and were also able to feel the atmosphere of preparation for Easter thanks to direct broadcasts from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and from other churches in Russia.
During the Easter Marathon 2026, viewers watched live the consecration of Easter gifts by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, listened to the memoirs of Hierodeacon Raphael (Romanov) and Vladimir Shpatkov about Archimandrite Ilya (Nozdrin), and heard the live performance of the song "Who Respects Bees" by the Orthodox musical squad of the Sons of Russia. Cosmonauts Elena Serova and Sergey Ryzhikov, artists Alyona Babenko, Yuri Nifontov, Irina Shcheyanova and Olesya Zheleznyak, film director Yuri Kot, blogger-musician Meta Noi, singers Alexander Marshal and Irakli Pirtskhalava came to visit the audience on the live broadcast of the Savior.
Hieromonk Sergiy (Rodchenko) and the head of the youth department of the Stavropol Diocese, Priest Alvian (Tkhelidze), conveyed their congratulations on Easter Day from the Arctic and Africa, deputies Yana Lantratova and Leonid Slutsky from the State Duma, and participants from the front line.
Throughout the marathon, Sergey Pashkov, the head of the VGTRK Middle East bureau, and Pavel Astakhov, a TV presenter and Honored Lawyer of Russia, broadcast live from Jerusalem, talking about preparations for Easter in the Old City and the descent of the Holy Fire.
"Easter Marathon — 2026" in numbers:
• about 2 million viewers watched the live broadcast of the Spas TV channel during the telethon;
• more than 250 publications related to the telethon (news, urgent comments from on-air guests, congratulations) have been posted on social networks;
• the total number of views of the telethon materials on the social networks of the Spas TV channel exceeded 10 million. 
"The growth in viewing figures for our main broadcast of the year is, I am sure, due not only to the fact that viewers over the years have slowly gotten used to celebrating the main Russian holiday, Easter, with the Savior, but also to the fact that more and more people in our country recognize Christ or are trying to find Him," commented the preliminary results Boris Korchevnikov, CEO of the Spas TV channel, hosted the Easter Marathon. — Year by year, there are more and more people in churches and at the communion chalice. From year to year, more and more people get used to the main meanings of Easter and realize that this is a celebration of true victory over death and sin, and therefore true freedom. His Holiness the Patriarch spoke about this incredible, miraculous resurrection of the Russian Church on Easter day in his sermon, and that this is a time of prosperity and the opportunity to freely preach and unite with the true God, given to us so that we may be strengthened and spiritually focused. Because there may not always be such times."