Resources

Vol. 5, No. 2, Spring 1997, Covering the Former Soviet Union and East Central Europe

Resources

A valuable directory of Christian videos in the languages of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union is available at no charge via e-mail. The main alphabetical listing of 98 titles in this East European and CIS Video and Film Directory includes category designations such as "Bible stories," "Biography," or "Easter," followed by a brief description, length, and the language(s) for each entry. A second listing groups titles by language, with acronym codes for producers. Not counting 92 entries in German and Greek, this section contains 324 multiple-language entries, including 96 in Russian, 45 in Romanian, 42 in Czech, 34 in Polish, and 1 to 18 entries each in 18 other East European languages. In addition, the directory gives information on 57 producers and distributors: 29 in the U.S., 14 in Western Europe, and 14 in East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. Distributor entries usually include most of the following: name of agency; contact person; postal, web, and e-mail addresses; telephone; and fax.

Users may contact producers for catalogs with fuller video descriptions and order information. Descriptions of many videos also may be accessed at two web sites: Crown Videos (http://www.connect.ab.ca/~crownvid/club/topten.htm) and New Life Network (http://www.nlnnet.com/catalog.html). New Life Network is especially helpful because it specializes in distributing Christian videos in the languages of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. While U.S. producers of English titles typically distribute East European translations only from European locations, some do carry both PAL (used in East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union) and NTSC (used in the U.S. and Canada).

To obtain the video directory, e-mail: KennethWes@aol.com. E-mail is free and a printed copy by postal mail is $3.

Editor's note: Wil Triggs discussed the use of feature films in East European ministry in "A Picture Window on Russian and East European Life," East-West Church & Ministry Report 4 (Fall 1996), 11-12.

The global prayer guide, Operation World, by Patrick Johnstone, is now available in Russian for the ruble equivalent of $8.
Contact: Pavel Damian, Bibles For Everyone, a/ya 257, Shpalernaya ul. 60/1, 196733 St. Petersburg, Russia; tel/fax: 007-812-271-9102 and 541-8688; e-mail: bible@bible.spb.su.

The Russian Orthodox Church has launched a Russian- and English-language Internet web site http://www.russian-orthodox-church.org.ru.) The Orthodox Church in America, the New York Diocese of the Episcopal Church, and Archer Daniels Midland Company provided technical and financial support for this new information service. According to Deacon Alexander Boulekov, director of communications of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department of External Relations, this Orthodox web site may help counter "a wave of often unobjective and deteriorated media coverage of church activities." (The role of the Russian Orthodox Church, and in particular, that of Metropolitan Kirill, head of the Department of External Relations, in large, tax-free imports of alcohol and tobacco has been under close press scrutiny in recent months. See East-West Church & Ministry Report 3 (Winter 1995), 7.) The site includes an historical essay, recent decisions of the Holy Synod, Patriarch Alexei II's schedule, church news, and extensive coverage of external church contacts. Sites for the church calendar and Orthodox Internet resources are under construction.

Sources: Report staff browsing of the site; and Andrei Zolotov, "Russian Orthodox Church Goes Online With Web Site," St. Petersburg Times, 31 March--6 April 1997.

Editor's note: The level of detail on current activities and the comprehensiveness of the coverage should make this a much-used site by students of religion in Russia, even recognizing that only official church positions are carried. The St. Petersburg Times reports that Patriarch Alexei has blessed all users of the "official server."

A 1995 dissertation from Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL, by John William McNeill examines "Western Saints in Holy Russia: Perceptions of Conversion and of Westerners Among Western Influenced Converts, Russian Church Converts, and Members of the Public in the Former USSR." The research is based on a 1994 survey of urban Russians.

Contact:

Resources, East-West Church & Ministry Report, 5 (Spring 1997), 14.

Written permission is required for reprinting or electronic distribution of any portion of the East-West Church & Ministry Report.

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