Holy Land

The project of film about Russian-speaking Catholics in Israel.

The working title is “Scattered across the Holy Land”

Documentary film
Approximate duration: 50 min.
The option for TV-display, duration 28 minutes, is possible.

The revival of Russian Christian communities in the Holy Land started at the beginning of this century, when in 2002 Fr. Slavomir Abramovsky under the request of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem arrived to Israel. The succeeded doctor, in 1993 he entered the seminary, worked in the countries of the former USSR. He has served his first Russian language-Mass in Israel in Latruna’s abbey. The place was chosen not casually, it is possible to get unnoticed in this church. Within several months Fr. Slavomir lived there illegally, as the Israeli government refused to give him visa.

According to Fr. Slavomir, emigration to Israel from the countries of the former USSR “was a result of God’s will”. “These Catholics, owing to their nationality and relations with the Jewish world, will make the real bridge between Judaism and the Church in the future. And contacts with Orthodox and Protestants allow to understand, that here in the Holy Land the new unity of the Universal Church is born”, – the priest is convinced.

The Soviet Jews, who accepted Christianity, were repatriated to their historical Mother-land, the Mother-land of Christ, but even there they meet misunderstanding from the side of Jews and Arabs-Christians. However in overcoming difficulties the new unity of the Universal Church is born and bridges between Judaism and Christianity are gradually being built.