On Wednesday of Holy Week, April 15, 2026, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia attended the traditional Easter Gift charity festival at the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Recreation in Moscow.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin visited the trade stand of the City of Caring project and an art exhibition of works by the Krasnopresnenskaya Children's Art School, as well as attended a master class on painting cakes for children.
Addressing the young participants of the master class, His Holiness said:
"My dear ones, I congratulate you on the feast of Holy Easter! I wish you all good health and success, first of all in your studies, and in making sure that your studies lead to very good consequences.
Studying at school is a very important period in life, but it is not the whole of life. Therefore, in this initial period of life, we need to get the most out of the opportunities that school provides in order to be successful in life and rise, as our ancestors said, from strength to strength, that is, to become stronger, wiser and be able to positively influence, among other things, the world around us."
The Primate of the Russian Church and the Mayor of Moscow congratulated the participants of the creative workshop on Easter and presented them with Easter gifts.
The Mayor of Moscow congratulated everyone on Easter and spoke about the Easter Gift festival. The festival's events are organized at 30 venues in the capital, and the festival itself is charitable in nature. A new public event space has been opened on Pushkin Square, and the Easter Gift Festival has become the first event to take place there.
Sergei Sobyanin thanked His Holiness Patriarch Kirill: "Your Holiness, thank you very much for attending the festival, which you have blessed and which we are doing under your leadership. Thank you so much for helping Moscow and for your attention to our city."
In response, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill said: 
"Thank you very much, Sergey Semenovich, for your kind words and for such initiatives. But most importantly, for your leadership of the city. We can all see the results: the city is getting prettier and more comfortable to live in, despite the fact that the philosophy of the metropolis itself is not very humane. Because the consequences of the scientific and technological development of big cities sometimes negatively affect people's personal lives and their state of mind. And Moscow belongs to such megacities, where there is a lot of space, where historical and architectural monuments are carefully preserved, where many temples are preserved and being built. All this forms, of course, a very special lifestyle."
The Easter Gift Charity Festival in 2026 runs from 11 to 19 April. This year the festival is being held for the 11th time. It was first organized in 2014. The festival's events are held at more than 30 venues in all districts of the capital.
The cultural program is based on creative and culinary workshops, kindness lessons from charitable foundations, a spring concert and theater program, inclusive performances and numerous charity events.