On June 22, 2011, International Christian action – motorcycle race “Peace and Memory”took place, supported by the Committee for External Relations of St.Petersburg , devoted to the 70th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War. The race, which is a joint project of the clergy of St.Petersburg Diocese of Russian Orthodox Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in St.Petersburg, was participated by the representatives of St.Petersburg motorcycle clubs.
On June 22, 2011, International Christian action – motorcycle race “Peace and Memory”took place, supported by the Committee for External Relations of St.Petersburg , devoted to the 70th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War. The race, which is a joint project of the clergy of St.Petersburg Diocese of Russian Orthodox Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in St.Petersburg, was participated by the representatives of St.Petersburg motorcycle clubs.
The race began with a solemn ceremony of laying flowers at the memorial Piskarevskoe Cemetery. The ceremony was attended by Archpriest Vyacheslav Kharinov, Dean of the Kirovskiy District of St.Petersburg Diocese, Pastor Matthias Zirold, Dean of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul Cathedral of ELC, Peter Schaller, Consul General of Federal Republic of Germany, and V.G. Ivanov, Head of Department for Relations with Religious Associations at CfER.
The ceremony at the Piskarevskiy Memorial was preceded by a meeting with veterans and visiting the places of fierce fighting near Leningrad. To remember the defenders of the Motherland and the lessons of the war – such was the goal that the organizers of motorcycle race set for themselves.
The motorcycle race participants visited the monument “Broken Ring” and the Museum of “Life Line” (Vsevolozhskiy District of Leningrad Region), which also commemorates the defenders of the Motherland and the victims of the siege and war.
The participants of the peacemaking action “Peace and Memory” will part for Germany soon, to visit the graves of Russian soldiers. The organizers plan to run the motorcycle race annually, so that it would become a tradition of St.Petersburg and contribute to the development and strengthening of Russian-German friendship.
News Source: St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations Petersburg