Soviet TV to Mark Christmas Eve With a Sermon Taped by Schuller

The Rev. Robert H. Schuller said Saturday that the “high point” of his life came when he heard that a 15-minute sermon he taped earlier this month in Moscow would be aired on Soviet television tonight--Christmas Eve.

The broadcast by the Garden Grove televangelist will be the first of its kind to be shown to the 200 million viewers of state-owned Soviet television on a Christian holiday.

Schuller said he received a telephone call early Saturday morning from Valentin Lazutkin, deputy chief of Gostelradio, the state television agency, informing him that the 15-minute sermon he videotaped during a three-day visit to Moscow in early December would be aired tonight at 10 p.m. in Moscow.

“I don’t think anything will happen in my life that will top this--this will be the high point,” said Schuller, pastor at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. “This makes me feel so good I could cry with joy.”

Because of the time difference, the Soviet broadcast will begin just as today’s first service at the Crystal Cathedral is ending, and a moment of prayer will be offered for the Soviet viewers, he said.