This article is devoted to the characteristic and analysis of the problem of spiritual and sociocultural ministry of the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church in crucial periods of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Reflects the consolidating, mobilizing mission of the Church in the national liberation struggle during the Great Patriotic War. Against the background of anti-religious repression of the post-October period in this difficult period of national history, the Russian Orthodox Church, on behalf of its archpastors, appealed to the patriotic feelings of power and the population of the country, provided spiritual and material support. The article focuses on the study of aspects of the general situation and the social and cultural service of the monasteries - the most important centers of spiritual life and religious and cultural education - in the middle and second half of the twentieth century, which in the postwar period faced a political campaign to mass closure of the monasteries. The fate of the devotees and the lives of the Russian saints, who, in the face of opposition to the repressive regime, continued to serve, accomplished Christian exploits and made their invaluable contribution to the preservation and further development of the spiritual and cultural life of Russia, are described. Article material consists of two parts, the first of which is presented in this publication.

The article is devoted to the disclosure of the content of the creative activities of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church in a crucial period of spiritual service at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries. During this period, the continuity of religious enlightenment culture was interrupted and needed restoration in order to preserve church culture and art for future generations. In the twentieth century — the century of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, when persecution and oppression in varying degrees affected the fate of every Orthodox Christian, preserved and survived examples of theological and spiritual educational work they represent a special value, which should be available for the study of modern citizens of Russia and, above all, young people. Spiritual mentors and elders of the past century, who have undergone persecution, but survived and managed to directly convey to their spiritual children their own inner experience of God communion and an example of asceticism — the great wealth of not only domestic, but also world spiritual culture. In the second half of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the names of many representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, true devotees of grace, shone with their spiritual experience, wise mentorship and literary works helping thousands of people of different classes to gain faith and the true meaning of earthly existence.

The importance and timeliness of the topic of the International Christmas Educational Readings in 2019 "Youth: Freedom and Responsibility" is obvious and significant. This should be especially noted in the context of complex socio-political, economic, spiritual, moral and ethical relations of the modern world, the main potential resource of which is youth. Socio-psychological, civil formation of the younger generation has historically always been fraught with serious difficulties, and now the problems of a psychological, moral and ethical nature have been aggravated by the intensification of a hostile information policy directed against Russia, the traditional national values of the national culture. Contradictions and the increasing aggressiveness of the information space often prevent young people from understanding the current events and impede the process of social and political socialization of young people. This phenomenon, which is legitimately described as an open ideological intervention. It is difficult, first of all, to oppose the most psychologically vulnerable contingent - youth and youth - but perhaps with the consolidated efforts of representatives of the humanitarian educational sphere. A significant role in shaping public consciousness belongs to the content of all areas of educational and pedagogical activity, thanks to which youth policy becomes an essential component of both the socio-demographic policy of the state and the value vector of its ideological development.

The article is devoted to the analysis of socialization and adaptation of the younger generation, the change of cultural focus, which is largely manifested in the worldview of the generation. The system of values of modern youth and the influence of the spiritual culture of their people and ethnic group on the formation of these values are indicated. The role of the national language, which is the most reliable and scientifically acceptable evidence of the existence of a national character, is also described. The article reflects the most significant meanings and value dominants supported and maintained in the language, which characterize the linguistic picture of the world of the Cossacks and the dominant cognitive zones, which are common in the linguistic picture of the world of modern youth and the Cossacks in the right choice of the vector of spiritual, moral and military-patriotic education. The article pays attention to the need to preserve its own sociocultural matrix and strengthen it with new spiritual and ideological and semantic foundations.