The language of painting is one of the highest ways of manifesting the national spirit. It is of great importance for the formation of human personality, for the formation of his inner world and spirituality.

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“...Ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth”. – Не said nothing about geopolitical interests, economic sanctions or spheres of influence; and while the Russian Government in defiance of the lawless Western sanctions supplies fertilizers to poor African nations, the Russian Church is building up her missionary, educational and charitable  activity on the African continent.

To be fruitful, it ought to be a two-way street, and that’s exactly what we see today. In mid-January, several Moscow churches joined their resources to organize an art exhibition of paintings by the artists from African countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Benin, Uganda.

The opening of the exhibition was attended by official figures. Metropolitan Leonid, the Exarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in Africa, addressed the participants and guests as follows:

For many years Russia and Africa have been linked by ties of friendship not only in political, economic and humanitarian, but also in spiritual and cultural fields.

The talent of the artist is a great gift sent down to man by God. A painter from above is given the opportunity to convey the beauty and harmony of the universe in his work. Visual art is a form of knowledge about the world around us that cannot be expressed in human words. It is revealed only to the heart of an attentive viewer. The author's works reflect the spiritual world of the artist, his moral worldview and faith.

The language of painting is one of the highest ways of manifesting the national spirit. It can often tell an attentive viewer about the traditions and life of peoples no less than encyclopedias and reference books, and is of great importance for the formation of human personality, for the formation of his inner world and spirituality.

This exhibition of paintings by African artists opens to a wide audience a largely unfamiliar for him rich and specific world of painting of the African continent. I am sure that this exhibition will become a bright event in the cultural life of Moscow and will serve the cause of strengthening Russian-African cooperation.

Among the participants at the exhibition – Teasfay Atcbekha Negga, an Ethiopian artist, who received a medal for his contribution to the frescowing of the rebuilt Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. He is now teaching in St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design.

In the course of several weeks meetings with African artists, experts on Africa, and missionaries of the Russian Orthodox Church on the Black Continent are being planned.

Various festivals of African music and popular culture have lately become common in Russian cities and on college campuses.

Among numerous African students presently studying in Russian colleges and universities, there are Christian Orthodox students from a number of African countries in the Moscow Theological Seminary, getting ready for ordination into priesthood.

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