""With the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, on September 24, 2026, representatives of the Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations and the Media participated in the discussion "Faith and the Stage", which took place within the framework of the section "Cultural Sovereignty in the 21st Century" at the XII St. Petersburg International Forum of United Cultures.
The speakers of the discussion were Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration for Public Projects A.V. Zhuravsky, Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations and the Media, Editor-in-Chief of "Thomas" magazine V.R. Legoyda, Executive Director of the Federal Fund for Social and Economic Support of Russian Cinematography F.G. Sosnov, General producer of Okko G.Y. Gordeev, Director of ANO Radio channel "Faith, Hope, Love" by R.A. Torgashin.
The moderator was Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations and the Media, Editor-in-chief of radio "Vera" I.A. Kuzmenkov.
During the discussion on the presence of Christian culture in the modern media space, the speakers discussed the media's response to the increase in value-based content. The central theme of the dialogue was the search for a boundary where preaching turns into art, and art into preaching. The experts also touched upon the issues of the dominant trend in culture and the specifics of "Orthodox cinema".
Gordeev stressed that attempts to promote spiritual and moral values solely through marketing tools are doomed to failure. According to him, "if you don't sincerely put spiritual and moral content into the content, it's impossible to build anything."
The expert explained that Christian values were originally present in Russian culture and served as the basis of drama, painting, theater and cinema, so they cannot simply be integrated as a market product. He also noted that the task of authentic culture is to lead the viewer to catharsis, since today the audience sees the main benefit in spiritual enrichment.
""""The chairman of the Synodal Department for Church—Society Relations and the Media noted that "after the Soviet period, we are trying to return religion to the category of normality."" V.R. Legoyda also stressed that "cinema and television are not an icon," "do not confuse and confuse: we go to church for spiritual transformation."
Alexander Zhuravsky added that the special military operation has largely transformed public demands. For a long time, the audience was entertained and lowered the level of laughing culture, but difficult situations force people to rediscover the need to think. According to the speaker, today "the audience's demand for smart social cinema and complex topics is growing."
 F.G. Sosnov called for separating content creation tools from its goals. He pointed out that Christian values are often present in content where they are not planned to be included. "We must do everything in our power to ensure that what appears in the industry today corresponds to the values that we want to pass on to children, and becomes a cultural part of their upbringing," the speaker concluded.
R.A. Torgashin, referring to the phenomenon of the series "Saint Paisius", noted that the Spirit creates itself and finds the right form. According to him, this project became a silent hit that crystallized the audience, turning into an interesting cultural phenomenon. The expert stressed that the audience's demand has already been formed: people want to see such a movie, and the success of the series clearly proves this.