On September 25, 2026, a round table was held in Moscow dedicated to the 220th anniversary of the care of the deaf in the Russian Orthodox Church and the 100th anniversary of the creation of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf (VOG). It was held as part of the celebrations dedicated to the centenary of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf.
The meeting was also attended by heads of regional branches of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf, clergy, church specialists and volunteers, people with hearing impairment.
Archpriest Mikhail Potokin opened the meeting with a welcoming speech.
At the round table, Veronika Leontieva spoke about the activities of Orthodox communities of the deaf in different cities of Russia.
"In many dioceses, there is close cooperation between the departments of the VOG and churches. At the round table, we heard from the chairmen of the regional branches of the VOG many positive examples of mutual assistance in translating services in churches, joint extracurricular activities, including pilgrimages, and social assistance to lonely deaf people. I would like such cooperation to expand and strengthen in different regions of Russia," Veronika Leontieva said. — The most acute problem in society today is the lack of translators of Russian sign language for deaf people. And we also need to solve this problem together, helping each other in training specialists to increase accessibility not only of our churches, but also of society as a whole."
Also during the round table, Andrey Andreikin spoke about the joint projects of the Coordination Center for Work with the Deaf, Deafblind and Hard of Hearing at the Synodal Department for Charity, the VOG and the Orthodox Center for the Deaf "Desnitsa". One of them is the release of a series of educational and documentary videos: "Monasteries of Moscow", "The Gospel of Mark in sign language", "Analysis and interpretation of the Liturgy", "Video guide to the permanent exhibition of the Central Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art named after Andrei Rublev", "Interviews with interesting people of the Church".
He also spoke about the phone application "Books of the Bible with comments in Russian sign language", released by the Institute of Bible Translation with the support of the Desnitsa Center.
In addition, Andrey Andreikin presented Deacon Artemy Ovcharenko's recently published book "Catechism for the Deaf" and a video sign language dictionary for clergymen. These and other educational materials, including an interactive map of parishes that interact with deaf people, can be found on the website of the Coordination Center for Work with the Deaf, Deafblind and Hard of Hearing of the Synodal Department for Charity.
At the end of the meeting, the participants of the round table discussed further cooperation between the regional branches of the VOG and the Church.
The round table was held within the framework of the Professionals 2.0 project, implemented by the Synodal Department for Charity with the support of the Presidential Grants Foundation.
The All—Russian Society of the Deaf (VOG) is the largest and oldest public association in Russia. The number of members of the VOG is more than 74,000 people. The Company has 86 regional and 716 local branches in Russia. It was created to protect the rights and legitimate interests of people with hearing impairments, their social rehabilitation and integration into society.
Today, there are more than 400 church projects in Russia to help people with disabilities. Social, educational, and educational activities with deaf people are conducted in 67 church communities in Russia.