At a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on March 12, 2026, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Chairman of the XXXIV International Christmas Educational Readings, was informed about the results of the Readings and the XIV Christmas Parliamentary Meetings.
From January 25 to January 29, 2026, Moscow hosted the XXXIV International Christmas Educational Readings on the theme "Enlightenment and Morality: personality formation and challenges of the time." The readings opened on January 25 with the Divine Liturgy, which was celebrated by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, co-served by bishops and clergy.
The solemn session of the Readings took place on January 27 at the State Kremlin Palace, under the chairmanship of His Holiness, who delivered the main report. The greeting of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, was read out. The Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Mishustin, the heads of the Chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, V.I. Matvienko and V.V. Volodin, and the heads of several federal ministries sent their greetings to the Readings. More than 5,500 people took part in the solemn meeting.
During the Christmas readings, 224 events were held, distributed in 19 directions. Representatives of dioceses in Russia, as well as countries of the near and far abroad: Austria, Azerbaijan, Argentina, Belarus, Great Britain, Germany, Georgia, Egypt, Israel, Kazakhstan, Canada, China, Cyprus, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, the Netherlands participated in the events of the forum., Norway, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Singapore, Syria, Slovakia, USA, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Philippines, Finland, France, Czech Republic, Sweden, Estonia. Representatives of the Patriarchal Exarchates of Africa and Southeast Asia also took part. Based on the results of the work of the directions of the Christmas readings, a final document was prepared.
On January 29, the XIV Christmas Parliamentary Meetings were held in the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. The plenary session of the Parliamentary Meetings was led by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Chairman of the Federation Council V.I. Matvienko. Three round tables were organized as part of the XIV Parliamentary Meetings.: "Education and enlightenment as tools of personality formation in modern society", "Formation of a modern socio-state model of education of a citizen and a patriot (analysis of the experience of interaction between state and religious institutions)", "Church, government and society: support for participants in a special military operation and their families".
From September to December 2025, with the support of the Federation Council, a regional stage of Readings was held in all regions of Russia, as well as in a number of dioceses in other countries, which was attended by over 1 million 200 thousand people.
Having taken note of the final document of the XXXIV International Christmas Educational Readings, the members of the Synod decided to hold the XXXV International Christmas Educational Readings from January 24 to January 28, 2027 on the topic "Christian teaching about man and the challenges of modern technologies", and the XV Christmas Parliamentary Meetings on January 28, 2027.