NEWS

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
April 16, 2003

PATRIARCH PAVLE RECEIVED MRS VALENTINA TERESHKOVA

His Holiness Pavle received Mrs Valentina Tereshkova – head of extra-Russian cultural centres with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, together with Archpriest Vitaly Tarasjev – head of the Mission of the Moscow Patriarchate in Belgrade, Mr Vladimir Kuturin – head of the Russian House in Belgrade and their associates.

Mrs Tereshkova expressed gratitude to His Holiness for spiritual and other support that the Serbian Orthodox Church had given and had been giving in connection with the activities and mission of the Russian House in Belgrade that marks 70th anniversary of its successful work this year. His Holiness Patriarch also expressed great thankfulness and appreciation to the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian people for the aid they had been providing to the Serbian people in all the troubles that befell it in the past years.

Being well acquainted with natural sciences, His Holiness Serbian Patriarch expressed interest in the preparation for the flight into space and for the very flight there, whereon Mrs Tereshkova, as one of the greatest world connoisseur of this topic, gave very elaborate and interesting answers. A special stress was put on the need for the preservation of the environment.

At the end of the visit, Mrs Tereshkova gifted, in memory of this meeting, the Vladimir icon of the Most Holy Mother of God and a filigreed Easter egg to the Patriarch Pavle, and His Holiness gifted in return an Easter egg and congratulated the forthcoming Feast of all the feasts.

Valentina Tereshkova was born on March 6, 1937. In her youth, Valentina worked in a textile plant. She became the first woman cosmonaut on June 16, 1963 when she was launched into space aboard Vostok 6. The flight lasted 70 hours, during which time she made 48 orbits around the Earth. After that flight Valentina Tereshkova was honoured with the title of the hero of the Soviet Union. Valentina wrote an article Women in Space about her experiences during the flight, and this article was published in American journal Science Impact on Society.