Business as a ministry: a special screening of the film “Holy Entrepreneurs” took place at the Oktyabr Concert Halltranslated

As part of the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia, a special screening of a documentary film by the SPAS TV channel was held at the Oktyabr Concert Hall. The film “Holy Entrepreneurs” reveals the phenomenon of the Russian Orthodox merchants - a class for which commerce was not a source of personal enrichment, but a tool of creation. Viewers were immersed in the history of people who turned profits from trade and production into the foundation for the construction of churches, hospitals and schools.

The central part of the story is dedicated to 33 entrepreneurs, glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church as saints. The authors of the film explore the paradox of “holy business,” where labor becomes a service to one’s neighbor, and capital becomes exclusively a means of mercy. A special place in the film is given to the fates of those who paid the highest price for their beliefs: martyrs Ioann Letnikov, Vasily Ivanov, Jacob Blatov and others who remained faithful to their principles even in the face of death.

The film builds historical continuity, connecting the lives of early ascetics with the traditions of pre-revolutionary philanthropists. The acts of the Tretyakovs, Bakhrushins and Morozovs are shown here not as a fruit of vanity, but as the fulfillment of a civic duty to the Fatherland. The story ends...