St. Petersburg, Russia - An interfaith music festival at a Christian university featured two songs with lyrics written by UPF Founder Dr. Sun Myung Moon.
The seventh "Christmas Festival of St. Petersburg" was held on Jan. 27, 2015, at St. Petersburg Christian University. This musical event has a tradition in which different religious and secular music groups perform on the same stage. This time the permanent members of the festival were joined by representatives of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. Irina Mirzyanova, accompanied by Paul Babkin, sang two songs whose lyrics had been written by UPF Founder Dr. Sun Myung Moon: "Grace of Glory" and "Song of the Unified Family."
Earlier in the program, Professor Mikhail Odintsov, a doctor of historical sciences, made a presentation of his new book, Religions in Russia: Calendar 2015. He gave a short overview of the religious situation in the Russian Federation in 2014 and then answered questions.
Professor Odintsov is the president of the Russian public organization Association for the Study of Religions, a member of the Dissertation Council of Administration of the Russian Federation President, from 1999 to 2014 was an officer of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation (Department for Protection of Freedom of Conscience), and the author of over 300 scientific papers.
January 27 is a special day for St. Petersburg. On this day in 1944 the Blockade of Leningrad by the German army was broken through after 872 days. In connection to this, the honored guest of the meeting, the Chorus of War and Labor Veterans of the Kirov Factory, performed the first part of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata; the song "Wherever You Walked or Drove … " by Alfred Schnittke with lyrics by Mikhail Isakovsky; and the song "Medal for Defense of Leningrad" by Yakov Dubravin with lyrics by Volt Suslov.
The meeting ended with all the participants joining in with the veterans choir on the song "Ladoga" by L. Shenberg with lyrics by P. Bogdanov.