First Orthodox video channel for the deaf and hearing-impaired launched in Russia

The first Orthodox video channel for the deaf and hearing-impaired, “Desnitsa” (Right Hand), started broadcasting on August 12, 2016, reports Patriarchia.ru.

The project, operating on YouTube, has uploaded its first ten videos in Russian sign language with subtitles. There will be fifty missionary videos uploaded throughout August.

According to parish rector Archpriest Michael Zazvonov, the main task after the launch of the channel is to collect and analyze feedback: “Comments from the target audience will help us to make necessary adjustments when shooting new videos. I really hope that we’ll be able to shoot between fifty and a hundred films this year.”

The channel “Desnitsa” is the first nationwide project of the center for work with the deaf and hearing-impaired which operates in the Cathedral of All Saints Who Have Shone Forth in the Russian Land in Novokosino. The realization of the project was made possible by the contest “Orthodox Initiative.”

To date, the community of deaf and hearing-impaired people numbers thirty people. There are weekly Divine Liturgies (Sundays in the summer, Saturdays beginning in autumn) in the church with sign language translation, after which there is a Sunday school class for the deaf. Excursions and pilgrimages are also periodically organized. From February to May 2016 the center held courses for learning Russian sign language.

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