For life (festival)

The founder of the festival is a specially created organization of the same name. The general sponsor is the Salut Hotel ^[1] . The president of the festival is Sergey Valentinovich Chesnokov ^[4] .

The festival annually gathers more than 300 participants from 100 regions of Russia, Ukraine , Belarus and guests from Serbia , the Czech Republic , Poland , Hungary , Finland , the USA and other countries of the near and far abroad ^{[5] [6]} . The festival is attended by representatives of public, church and government organizations, charitable foundations, the scientific community, culture and art. For three days, festival events are held at several venues in the Salut Hotel: a procession, conferences, round tables, educational seminars and workshops, master classes, discussions, a fair, an exhibition and concerts, awarding and presentation of winning projects are held. The facade of the 24-story hotel building during the festival turns into the largest outdoor social advertising in Russia against abortion ^{[2] [7]} .

In 2011 and 2012 , the For Life festival was an event of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry of the Russian Orthodox Church with the participation of representatives from 150 dioceses. The chairman of the department, Archimandrite Panteleimon (Shatov), was the honorary chairman of the organizing committee of the festival and the chairman of the jury ^{[1] [8]} . Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill addressed the participants with a welcoming speech ^[9] . Over the years, the honorary guests of the festival were Metropolitan Omsk and Tauride Vladimir (Ikim) , Bishop of Seattle Theodosius (Ivashchenko) , Archpriest Artemy Vladimirov , Archpriest Dimitri Smirnov , Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin . Thanks for holding the festival were announced twice at meetings of the Holy Synod .

In July 2015, together with the festival “For Life”, the International Symposium “Fundamental Representations of Modern Science on the Beginning of Human Life” was held, devoted to the scientific, legal, demographic, socio-political, medical, ethical and other aspects of protecting the lives of children before birth and issues of development government policy to promote fertility . Scientists from 12 countries, experts in the field of medicine , embryology , genetics , prenatal psychology , law , presented 29 reports at the symposium ^[10] .

In different years, music performers performed before the participants and guests of the festival: Svetlana Kopylova (member of the jury of the festival “For Life - 2010”), the Sretensky Monastery Choir, Divna Lyuboevich and the Melody Choir, the Cossack Circle Ensemble, Sergey Starostin , Hierodeacon Rafail ( Romanov) with the group "Sons of Russia" and others. The festival’s decoration was a light show on the facade of the Salute Hotel with a demonstration of successive images of the icons “Jesus Crying for the Murdered Babies” and the Mother of God “Assistant Birth” with a total area of ​​1,500 m² ^[9] .

In 2010, the festival "For Life" was supported by a grant program of the President of the Russian Federation in the amount of 1 million rubles ^[11] .

The festival is the winner of the grant competition "Orthodox Initiative - 2011" ^[12] .

Since 2012 festivals “For Life” have been held in various regions of the Russian Federation, having an urban, regional and district format.

In Penza, with the support of the regional government and the office of the plenipotentiary of the President of the Russian Federation, in the Volga Federal District , the Volga Region for Life, a regional festival of social technologies in defense of family values, was held as the qualifying stage of the international festival in Moscow and brought together more than 500 participants from 14 areas ^{[13] [14]} . The organizing committee of the festival "Volga region for life" included the governor of the Penza region V.K. Bochkarev , entrepreneur K.V. Malofeev , S.V. Chesnokov, the president of the Pokrov charity fund A. Yu. Kuznetsova , and the future presidential envoy for rights a child whose career began to develop actively after the festival ^[15] .

In 2013 and 2015, Vyksa hosted the I and II Diocesan festivals of social technology in defense of the Vyksa for Life family values, chaired by Bishop Vyksa and Pavlovsky Barnabas (Baranov) . The program “Demographic Strategy“ Vyksa-2025 ”developed at the festival is implemented at the municipal level in cooperation with the city administration and the Vyksa Diocese ^{[16] [17]} .

In 2015, in Simferopol, with the support of the Government of the Republic of Crimea, the Regional Festival of Social Technologies in Defense of Family Values ​​“Crimea for Life - 2015” was held. The co-chairs of the organizing committee of the festival are the head of the Republic S.V. Aksyonov and the Metropolitan of Simferopol and Crimean Lazar (Shvets) , the president of the festival is Archpriest Alexander Yakushechkin, rector of the Peter and Paul Cathedral ^[5] .

• Abortion and Christianity
• Galik, Libor
• Controversy surrounding abortion
• The right to live
• Prolife
• Pronatalism
• Family values

• Official site of the international festival of social technologies in defense of family values ​​“For Life”