Bishop Hilarion lends voice to Bible reading

(Interfax) [translation by Voices from Russia] - A special television presentation, A Bible Marathon, organised by Vatican Television together with the Italian state TV company RAI was launched in Rome last Sunday. This week-long project will feature 1,248 specially-selected readers who will read the Bible in the Italian language non-stop, from the first to the last page. The marathon was kicked off by Benedict XVI, the Pope of Rome, reading the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. He was immediately followed by Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Vienna and Austria, the Representative of the Moscow Patriarchate to the European international organisations, who took the baton as if he was in a relay race from the Roman pope and read the second chapter of the Book of Genesis, the Bishop’s press-service reported to Interfax-Religion on Monday.

Renowned Italian actors, intellectuals, leading cultural figures, high-ranking representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian confessions will participate in the reading of further chapters. The first hour of the project was aired live by RAI-Uno and Eurovision. Live broadcast of the following days will be conducted by RAI-Education, several satellite channels, and Radio Vaticana. “This was the first time that the largest state-owned TV channel in Italy initiated a live broadcast of reading the whole Bible. At a time when secular television pays so little attention to religious issues, this project seems critically important”, Bishop Hilarion said to Interfax-Religion. In his opinion, the project has an important missionary meaning, as due to this project “the Bible will enter homes of many Italian-speaking people”.