“No “sofas with phones” - only live communication, friendship and joy”: the 53rd shift of the moral and patriotic expedition “For Our Friends” has endedtranslated

The next, 53rd shift of the moral and patriotic expedition “For Our Friends,” organized by the Orthodox Charity Service of the Yekaterinburg Diocese, has ended. From October 23 to October 27, 2026, more than forty teenagers, accompanied by experienced instructors and teachers, made an expedition to a new location for the project - to the picturesque Ural city of Nizhnie Sergi. The guests were received by the rector of the parish in the name of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Priest Maxim Krylov. The theme of the fall session is “Heroes Among Us.” According to the organizers, it was fully justified: the teachers saw that there were heroes among the children - alive and real.

According to feedback from participants and teachers, the shift went great. The atmosphere was intense, there was no room for boredom. Participants remember the night “Dove” and the bonfire, participation in the Divine Liturgy, including in the altar and on the choir, spending the night under the arches of the majestic church, the breathtaking bell tower, and the “living” history of the ancient church.

Master classes were organized for teenagers, there was an opportunity to talk heart to heart and on spiritual topics, and training was conducted for the guys in assembling and disassembling machine guns, shooting and army hand-to-hand combat. I remember the expedition member and...