Global Orthodox is launching a project on Orthodox churches and prayer rooms at colleges and universities in Russia.
Tatiana's Day has long been a symbol of student life. His connection with university life began on January 12, 1755, Old style, on the feast day of the Holy Martyr Tatiana, when Empress Elizabeth Petrovna signed a decree establishing Moscow University. According to the new style, this date falls on January 25th. In 1791, a church in the name of Saint Tatiana was consecrated in the university building on Mokhovaya Street. 
Tatiana's church is perhaps the most recognizable example of an Orthodox space in an educational institution. But how many such places exist in other universities and colleges in the country? Are there temples, chapels and prayer rooms there? Do student communities live around them?
These questions will be answered by the new Global Orthodox project. His goal is to create an all—Russian picture of Orthodox life in civil organizations of secondary vocational and higher education and to understand its place in the daily lives of students.
The scale of this environment is the whole country and millions of students. The monitoring of the Ministry of Education and Science for 2024 included 1,234 higher education organizations, including 525 branches. In the 2025/26 academic year, 3.93 million people studied under vocational education programs in Russia, and 4.66 million students studied at universities, according to the Ministry of Education and Science. 
Global Orthodox invites students, staff of colleges and universities, representatives of parishes and dioceses to report on Orthodox churches, chapels and prayer rooms at educational institutions. The information obtained will help to create a more complete picture and check it together with those who know the life of these spaces from the inside.
The new Global Orthodox project will help us see what this connection looks like today: is it limited to history and a festive date, or is it becoming part of modern student life. 
The project continues Global Orthodox's interest in how young people perceive the Church, and raises another question: what opportunities are there for meeting with church life where young people study every day? The results of the registry and research will become the basis for a series of materials on student churches and communities in Russia.
https://gorthodox.com/