One of the most informative mission publications on the former Soviet Union and East Central Europe is Light in the East, published by the Germany-based ministry of the same name. While the majority of the coverage concerns this mission's own work, various other missions' news items add to the value of this serial, which appears six times per year in English and in German. Coverage is especially strong for more remote regions such as the Arctic, Siberia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Balkans. Founded in 1920, Licht im Osten, to use its German name, is one of the oldest East European missions and is today one of the major producers of Christian literature in East European languages. Brief descriptions of its history and current work appear in Walter Sawatsky, Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, and Sharon Linzey et al, East-West Christian Organizations Directory. Both of these publications may be ordered from theInstitute for East-West Christian Studies. (See p. 16 for complete contact information.) To request Light in the East contact Licht im Osten, Zuffenhauser Str. 37, D-70825 Korntal-Münchingen, Germany; tel: 49-711-839908-0; fax: 49-711-839908-4; e-mail: lio@lio.org; web site: http://www.lio.org; or Light in the East, Box 1126, Ridgefield, CT 06877-9126; tel: 203-431-9817; fax: 203-438-7439.
Firebird Video/Audio Productions, Publishers, & Tours is a division of Russian Treasures, Inc., a Michigan nonprofit. The 1998 Firebird Catalog seeks to make accessible to the general public educational materials on the sacred arts, liturgical and spiritual life, theology, cultural and church history, and contemporary life and culture of the Orthodox Church.
It includes descriptions of 28 videos, eight audio cassettes, and five
books. Materials are in English except for 13 Russian-language videos.
Color videos include "Under the Protection of Grace; The 1,000-Year
History of the Orthodox Church in Russia" (2 hours, $34.95, English,
prepared by the Moscow Patriarchate); Metropolitan Christopher of the
Serbian Orthodox Church in America on "The Historical Background of the
Contemporary Situation of the Orthodox Church in Yugoslavia" (2 hours,
$14.95, English); "Christ the Savior Cathedral: Truth and Bonfire" (1
hour, $24.95, Russian); and "Life of the New Martyr Grand Duchess St.
Elizabeth (Romanov)" (1 hour, $24.95, Russian). Contact: Firebird
Video/Audio Productions, Box 303, Belleville, MI 48112-0303; tel:
734-699-0870; fax: 734-699-1295.
Panorama of Russia specializes in the sale of nonfiction books and periodicals published in Russia and other former Soviet republics. Its web site (http://www.panrus.com) provides an extensive listing of available books and most available periodicals. Books may be searched by author, title, subject, or ISBN (International Standard Book Number). Periodicals may be searched by title, subject, language, country, and ISSN (International Standard Serial Number).
Book entries include author, title in Russian (in Roman alphabet transliteration) and English translation, city of publication, publisher, date, pages, hardcover or paperback, ISBN, and cost. Almost all entries include brief English-language abstracts, which frequently include useful biographical information about the author. Periodical entries (for almost all Russian-language serials) include title, language, issues/year, and price. A book subject search under "Religion and Theology" currently produces approximately 220 titles, including works by Berdiaev, Borisov, Bulgakov, Dudko, Florenskii, Men, Miliukov, Mitrokhin, Pospielovsky, Rusak, Schmemann, and Soloviev. A periodical subject search under "Religion and Theology" provides 13 titles, including Mir Biblii [World of the Bible], Nauka i religiia [Science and Religion], and Zhurnal Moskovskoi Patriarchii [Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate]. Computer customers may sign up for automatic e-mail notification of newly available titles in their areas of interest by completing an on-line application.
Costs, paid by Visa, MasterCard, or checks drawn on U.S. banks, are much higher than would be the case in Russia. But that is assuming a desired title indeed can be found in Russia--by no means a certainty. While the complete on-line catalog is updated bimonthly and is more convenient to use than Panorama's periodic catalogs, the latter includes sale prices for many titles that are not posted on-line. Also, the printed catalog is valuable because it itemizes many more discount options than does the on-line web site.
The Panorama web site should prove helpful to seminary professors and librarians in the former Soviet Union and to anyone seeking to keep current on available Russian-language materials, not only on religion, but on a wide range of subjects. Contact: Panorama of Russia, Box 44-1658, Somerville, MA 02144; tel/fax: 617-625-3635; e-mail: panoramrus@aol.com; web site: (http://www.panrus.com).
Written permission is required for reprinting or electronic distribution of any portion of the East-West Church & Ministry Report.
© 1998 East-West Church and Ministry Report
ISSN 1069-5664