A training seminar “Addiction and the sober society: the view of narcology and the Church” was held at the State Budgetary Institution RO “Narcological Dispensary” in Rostov-on-Don.translated

On September 17, 2026, a training seminar “Addiction and the sober society: the view of narcology and the Church” was held at the State Budgetary Institution RO “Narcological Dispensary” in the city of Rostov-on-Don.

The event was held with the blessing of Metropolitan Mercury of Rostov and Novocherkassk and was timed to coincide with the All-Russian Day of Sobriety, which is celebrated on September 11.

The seminar was attended by employees of the regional drug treatment clinic and representatives of the Rostov-on-Don diocese. Participants discussed issues of addiction prevention, historical aspects of the teetotaling movement, psychological features of personality formation without the use of psychoactive substances, and modern methods of motivating patients.

Priest Alexander Novikov, cleric of the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, shared his experience of creating and operating temperance societies in parishes. Representatives of the medical institution reviewed issues of preventive work in accordance with current anti-drug standards.

As a result of the seminar, the participants agreed on further cooperation between medical institutions and parishes of the Rostov-on-Don diocese in working with families faced with the problem of addiction, as well as…