By Dan Wooding
Assist News Service
RUSSIAN hotels are to have Bibles in every room.
According to Teresa Neumann of Breaking Christian News, the first 6,000 copies of the New Testament and Psalms were installed this month in rooms of Izmailovo, one of the largest hotels in Moscow.
Neumann, quoting from a story in The Christian Telegraph (www.christiantelegraph.com), said, “Russia has joined with the Christian tradition in putting Bibles in hotel rooms.
“The move is supported by the government’s Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management Department.”
Dimitriy Pershin, the chairman of the Commission with the Diocesan Missionary Council of Moscow, said, “Actually, in every European hotel, guests can find Bibles in the rooms. The Gospel is a book that has become the foundation of European culture. It is an essential feature of the respectful and hospitable attitude towards the guests, as well as an indicator of the cultural level of the owners of hotels.”
This charity event is supported by the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management of the Moscow Government and the Commission with the Diocesan Missionary Council of the capital, reports The Christian Telegraph.
The funds for the publication are provided by the Foundation of St. Gregory the Theologian.
Note: The largest of the four hotels that make up the Izmailovo Hotel Complex, built to house visitors to the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the Izmailovo Gamma Delta Hotel covers two large connected blocks in the north-east of Moscow. In total, the Izmailovo Gamma Delta has 2 000 guest rooms, covering a bewildering array of categories that range from inexpensive Standard Rooms with slightly dated but cheerful furnishings and decor to First Class Rooms, which have very recently been fully refitted. The differences are basically cosmetic, however, and all rooms are covered by complimentary Wi-Fi access. Elsewhere in the hotel, guests have the choice of 13 separate restaurants and bars, a large fitness center, sauna and swimming pool, a billiards club, an Internet cafe, and a professional concierge service, and now even have the Scriptures in the guest rooms.
Having once smuggled Bibles into Russia during the dark days of Communism, I never dreamed that I would ever see the day when the Word of God would be freely available in the hotels in Russia. How things have changed.
