On September 2, 2020, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Moscow, Russia, was part of a special commemorative event celebrating the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII. Under the auspices of the Victory Organizing Committee, this multi-organization event took place in the Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in memory of those who fought to liberate the world from the Nazi regime.
The featured piece of the program was Johannes Brahms’ German Requiem, featuring soloists Svetlana Kasyan (soprano) and Vladimir Baykov (baritone), conducted by Lior Shambadal. Also performing the piece were the Academic Grand Choir Masters of Choral Singing, led by artistic director Lev Kontorovich, and the State Academic Grand Symphony Orchestra named after Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, led by artistic director Vladimir Fedoseev.
This immortal music set to texts from the holy scripture of the Bible is addressed to all living, regardless of nationality and religion. It is designed to fill human souls with hope and peace. The Requiem is designed to honor the memory of all victims of Nazism who died in World War II.
Veterans, representatives of religious entities, diplomatic missions, and scientific and public organizations took part in the memorial event. This included representatives of the Seventh-day Adventist Church from the Euro-Asian Division, the Western Russian Union, and the Moscow Association.
The musical part of the event was accompanied by the exhibition "Christian Martyrs - Victims of Nazism" dedicated to religious leaders who opposed the war and were victims of the Nazi regime. The exhibition was opened before the start of the concert.
That morning, representatives of various religious denominations participated in a round table discussion at a local bookstore, dedicated to the memory of the martyrs of the Nazi regime. Reports on the martyrs of the Evangelical Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and Russian Orthodox Churches were read. The round table was attended by representatives of the Adventist Church - Oleg Yuryevich Goncharov, director of the Department of Public Relations and Religious Freedom of the Euro-Asian Division, and Evgeny Vladimirovich Zaitsev, director of the Institute for Biblical Studies of the Euro-Asian Division.
A special organizing committee is responsible for organizing the events included in this special memorial event, and included representatives and leaders of several churches in addition to the Seventh-day Adventistst Church: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Russia, the Archdiocese of the Mother of God of the Roman Catholic Church in Moscow, the Anglican community of St. Andrew in Moscow, the Armenian Apostolic Church in Russia, the Russian United Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals), the Russian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith, the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, the All-Union Commonwealth of Evangelical Christians, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. An important place in the working group is occupied by the International Public Organization of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society.
Also, the working group is attended by representatives of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, employees of the Presidential Administration and the Department of National Policy and Inter-regional Relations of Moscow, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Morning Prayer, the International Union of German Culture, and representatives of the American, British, and German embassies in Moscow.
