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Friends United Meeting |
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January/February 2004
News from Russian Friends
Russian Friends Host Inter-regional Retreat
About 30 Friends and inquirers met in a Soviet-era workers vacation hotel in Aksakovo, north of Moscow, October 28-30, for a time of teaching, discussion, worship and mutual support. Friends House Moscow's Galina Orlova, Sergei Grushko and Patricia Cockrell set up the retreat.
Johan Maurer (U.S.A.) spoke on basic Quaker beliefs on the first evening. Bonnie Grotjahn (U.S.A., living in Britain) led a session on truth-telling. In a moving witness to the power of the Holy Spirit, one of the participants made a public commitment to give up a lifelong practice of telling lies.
Erik Cleven (Norway) led a session on the peace testimony and Galina Orlova anchored a discussion on equality. Mikhail Roshchin of Moscow Friends Meeting moderated a discussion on interfaith dialogue with panelists Sajit Gusseinov (a Sufi Muslim originally from Daghestan) and historian Sergei Badayev. He also led a discussion of the past and future of Moscow Friends during which many Friends paid tribute to the late Tatiana Pavlova, founder of the modern Friends movement in Russia. (See interview in Quaker Life, May 1999.)
The retreat also included worship, singing and meditative walks in the snowy woods nearby. Several international visitors stayed through the following weekend for the annual board meeting of Friends House Moscow, during which Johan Maurer was approved as the new clerk of the FHM board. Johan is a former Friends United Meeting General Secretary.
Copyright (c) 2004 Friends United Meeting
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