On February 7, 2012 at the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia, the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yu.S. Osipov and the Mayor of Moscow S.S. Sobianin awarded the distinguished Professor, Head of the Department of the History of the Ancient World and Middle Ages S.B. Sorochan a medal and a laureate diploma of the Prize of Metropolitan Makarii of Moscow and Kolomna (Bulgakov) for 2011.

The Makarii Prize is one of the most famous and honorable prizes in the field of historical knowledge. This is a joint social and educational project of the Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Academy of Sciences and the Administration of Moscow that was initiated in 1995. The Expert Board of the Makarii Fund consists of temporal and ecclesiastical historians representing the Russian Academy of Sciences, M.L. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy and Ecclesiastical and Scientific Center «The Orthodox Encyclopedia».

Under the Statute the prizes are awarded twice a year to Russian and foreign authors of scientific research and monographs in the following nominations: History of the Orthodox Church, History of Moscow and Local History, History of Orthodox Countries and Peoples.

The prize is also awarded for a textbook or educational manual that contributes to science in one of the nominations. This year the prize in this nomination was awarded to Sergii Borysovych Sorochan for his work «The Byzantine Empire. Paradigms of Life Style, Consciousness and Culture».

According to the Russian Orthodox Church in 2011 there were more than 200 scientists nominated for the prize from Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Austria, Italy and Finland. Among the nominees there were 32 Doctors of Sciences, 17 Professors, 77 Candidates of Sciences, 22 Associate Professors and 16 churchmen.

«I'm glad and proud for V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University to have its representative become a laureate of such an honorable and significant prize. I hope my educational manual will be a worthy contribution to Ukrainian Byzantine Studies being revived. Even the connection of the laureate prize awarded to me with the name of the Metropolitan Marakii is symbolic as when I was the Archbishop of Kharkiv, the author of the famous fundamental History of the Russian Church worked a lot in Kharkiv. I'm also happy to tell you that continuing his high traditions the Kharkiv Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has assisted in publishing a new Ukrainian magazine «Narthex. Byzantina Ukrainensis» that will come out under the auspices of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ukrainian National Committee of Byzantinists and Kharkiv Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. Ukrainian Byzantinists require coordination of their creative efforts and acknowledgement of their merits on the international level which inspires hope for new achievements and success to be expected. I would like to cordially thank the President of my native University, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences V.S. Bakirov and the Dean of the School of History, Professor S.I. Posokhov for their unwavering support without which the realization of my scientific achievements would have been impossible,» said S.B. Sorochan in his interview.

For reference. Prelate Makarii, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna (Bulgakov) is a famous hierarch, historian and theologian of XIX century, author of the fundamental History of the Russian Church, discoverer of many documents and manuscripts. In 1960s Makarii (archbishop at that time) turned to the Attorney General of the Holy Synod with a request to found, on the money he had saved, a special fund to encourage scientists for their works. The first prizes were awarded in 1882, soon after his death. The Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences and the Holy Synod initiated the Makarii Fund that same year. In pre-revolutionary Russia the Fund Prize was considered one of the most honorable awards and was given for works in History, Military Science, Theology and Philology. In 1995 the Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Academy of Sciences and the Government of Moscow revived the Fund of Makarii.