| Archive Patriarch Kirill meets with Chairman of Cuban State Council and Council of Ministers 3 November 2018 year 19:28 On November 3, 2018, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, met with the head of the Republic of Cuba, Chairman of the State Council and Council of Ministers Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez. Mr. Diaz-Canel was accompanied by his spouse Lis Cuesta Peraza; Mr. Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers, and other representatives of the Cuban authorities – Minister of Communications Jorge Luis Perdomo Di-Lella; Minister of Energy and Metal Mining Industry Raul Garcia Barreiro; Minister of Industry Alfredo Lopez Valdes; First Deputy Minister of Transportation Eduardo Rodriguez Davila; as well as Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Calleja, an adviser to the Chairman of the State Council and Council of Ministers; Mr. Rogelio Sierra Diaz, deputy minister of the foreign affairs; and Mr. Gerardo Penalver Portal, Cuban ambassador to Russia. Participating in the meeting were also Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations, Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, DECR secretary for inter-Orthodox relations, and Deacon Andrey Titushkin, DECR secretariat for the far abroad. Present at the meeting was also A. Guskov, Russian ambassador to Cuba. Addressing the high guest with words of cordial greeting, His Holiness said, ‘I know that it is your first visit outside Latin America, and we appreciate very much that you have made it to Russia’. Stating that the relations between the two countries, which are over 200 year old, had acquired a special nature after the victory of the revolution in Cuba, His Holiness stressed, ‘This warmth in the relations and special sympathy for each other have a continuation today too, when the political situation has changed so much, when the theme of the Cuban revolution no longer defines one hundred percent the sympathy toward Cuba. In our country, there are people who have different political views but the sympathy for Cuba remains the same’. |
| Seminar on Pan-Orthodox Council takes place at Ss Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies Source: DECR On 11 March 2016, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Ss Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies hosted a seminar on the Pan-Orthodox Council due to take place on the island of Crete in June this year. Photo: http://mospat.ru/ Metropolitan Emmanuel of France (Patriarchate of Constantinople), President of the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of France, and Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, chairman of the Synodal Biblical and Theological Commission, rector of the Institute of Postgraduate Studies, were keynote speakers at the meeting. Among those who took part in the seminar were Metropolitan Arseniy of Istra, Patriarchal first vicar for Moscow; Archbishop Yevgeny of Vereya, chairman of the Education Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church; Bishop Feofilakt of Dmitrov, abbot of the Monastery of St Andrew in Moscow; Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchate; Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuyevo, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry; Bishop Savva of Voskresensk, abbot of the Novospassky Monastery in Moscow; Archimandrite Seraphim (Shemyatovsky), representative of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia at the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; Archimandrite Alexander (Pihach), representative of the Orthodox Church in America at the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; archpriest Nikolai Balashov, DECR vice-chairman; archpriest Sergiy Privalov, acting chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations with the Armed Forces and Law-Enforcement Agencies; archpriest Vladimir Vorobyev, rector of St Tikhon’s Orthodox University; and Mr. Andrey Shishkov, secretary of the Synodal Biblical and Theological Commission. |
| Conference in Austria Devoted to 2nd Anniversary of Havana Meeting Between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill Source: DECR On February 12, 2018, the second anniversary of the Havana meeting between Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Francis of Rome, an international conference devoted to the situation of Christians in the Middle East took place in Vienna. Organized with the participation of the Catholic diocese of Austria, the forum took place at the Episcopal Palace of Vienna. Its co-organizers included the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations (DECR), the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christians Unity, the Russian Federation Ministry of Culture and the Russian embassy in Austria. The event was attended by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, DECR chairman; Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christians Unity; Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, Archbishop of Vienna; Metropolitan Ignatius of Paris (Orthodox Church of Antioch); Archbishop Antoniy of Vienna and Budapest, head of the Moscow Patriarchate office for institutions abroad; Metropolitan Issa Gurbus of Switzerland and Austria (Syriac Jacobite Church); Bishop Armash Nalbandian, head of the diocese of Damascus of the Armenian Apostolic Church (Exarchate of Echmiadzin); Bishop Joseph Mouawad (Maronite Church). Among the participants in the forum were Russian ambassador to Austria D. Lyublinsky; Archbishop Peter Stephen Zubriggen, Apostolic Nuncio in Austria; Archpriest Vladimir Tyschuk, rector of the St. Nicholas’s in Vienna; Protodeacon Victor Shilovsky, secretary of the diocese of Vienna and Austria; diocesan clergy; numerous representatives of the diplomatic corps, Orthodox and Catholic clergy, monastic communities, charitable organizations and laity. The delegation who accompanied Metropolitan Hilarion included Hieromonk Stephen (Igumnov), DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations; Hieromonk Ioann (Kopeikin), pro-rector of the Ss Cyril and Methodius Institute of Post-Graduate Studies; and I. Kashitsyn, DECR secretariat for interreligious relations. |
| Patriarch Kirill Discusses the Situation in Ukraine with Head of Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland Source: DECR Photo: mospat.ru On February 28, 2019, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with the head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, Archbishop Luoma of Turku and Finland, at the Patriarchal and Synodal Residence in the St. Daniel Monastery in Moscow. Participating in the meeting from the Russian Orthodox Church were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR); Archbishop Amvrosy of Vereya, rector of Moscow theological schools; Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), DECR vice-chairman; Archpriest Sergiy Zvonarev, DECR secretary for the far abroad; Archpriest Victor Lyutik, rector of the Patriarchal Parishes in Finland; and R. Akhmatkhanov, DECR secretariat for inter-Christian relations. From the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland there were Bishop Seppo Häkkinen of Mikkeli; Rev. Jari Huokuna, ELCF chancellor; Rev. Tomi Karttunen, secretary of the ELCF Department for International Relations; Rev. Dr. Juha Meriläinen, secretary of the Archbishop; Rev. Timo Rosqvist, secretary of the Diocese of Mikkeli; and Rev. Vladimir Dorotniy, Church of Ingria. Also attending the meeting was H.E. Mikko Hautala, Ambassador of the Republic of Finland to the Russian Federation. Welcoming the head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, Patriarch Kirill said that he was glad to meet with the high guest in Moscow. His Holiness also mentioned the previous meeting, which took place in autumn 2019 in St. Petersburg. ‘We are living at a difficult time from the perspective of the political situation in the world,’ His Holiness said in particular, ‘But political storms is one thing and relation between Christians, between Churches is another. I remember the hard time during the ‘Cold War’, when East and West were in a state close to an armed conflict. I remember how active Christian contacts were at that time. It was really a bloom of inter-Christian relations because the awareness of our common responsibility for the world, for cooperation between countries, between people was a great impetus for developing these relations’. |
| Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Meets with the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians Source: DECR Photo: mospat.ru On April 2, 2019, His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, met with the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos Karekin II of All Armenians, at the patriarchal residence in the St. Daniel Monastery in Moscow. Taking part in the meeting were also Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR), Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), DECR vice-chairman, Hieromonk Stephan (Igumnov), DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations, Rev. Alexander Volkov, head of the Patriarchal Press Service, and S. Aleferov, DECR staff member. The high guest was accompanied by Archbishop Ezra Nersesian, head of the Russian and Novo-Nakhichevan diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Proto-Archimandrite Shage Ananian, head of the international relations department of the Holy Echmiadzin, Rev. Vagram Melikian, head of the Holy Echmiadzin press office, and Father Anania Tsaturian, secretary to the Patriarch. Welcoming His Holiness Karekin II, Patriarch Kirill said, ‘Whenever we meet, we have an opportunity for a talk about the bilateral relations between our two Churches, which, by God’s mercy, are not darkened by anything and are developing as they should between brothers. We give a high value to the level of the relations established between our two Churches.’ Patriarch Kirill expressed gratitude for the participation of a delegation of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the celebrations devoted to the 10 th anniversary of the 2009 Local Council and for the congratulations on the anniversary of the patriarchal enthronement, noting that in the period since that time, the relations between the two Churches developed further and can be described as very positive. He also extended condolences upon the recent demise of the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Mesrob II, 64, who passed away on March 8 after a prolonged disease. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Patriarch Kirill Holds Negotiations With Primate of The Malankara Church DECR Communication Service, September 6, 2023. On September 6, after the Divine Liturgy in the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, a grand reception took place in the Patriarchal Chambers of the Kremlin’s Palace of Facets, with negotiations between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Primate of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church of India His Holiness Catholicos Baselios Marthoma Mathews III. Among those present were His Eminence Metropolitan Zachariah Mar Nicholovos of New York; Co-Chairman of the Working Group for the coordination of bilateral relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Malankara Church; His Eminence Metropolitan Yuhanon Mar Chrysostomos of Niranam, secretary of the Holy Synod; His Eminence Metropolitan Yuhanon Mar Demetrios of Delhi, President of the Department of Ecumenical Relations; His Eminence Metropolitan Abraham Mar Stephanos of United Kingdom, Europe and Africa; Very Rev. Philip Thomas Cor Episcopa, Vicar of the Cathedral of St Mary Theotokos, Kuala Lumpur; Principal Secretary to His Holiness Catholicos of Malankara Rev. Fr. Abraham Johns; Priest Trustee, MOSC, Rev. Fr. Saji Varughese; Secretary of the Department of Ecumenical Relations, Member of Bilateral Commission MOSC-ROC Rev. Fr. Aswin Zefrin Fernandis; Secretary to His Holiness Catholicos of Malankara Rev. Fr. Johnson Baiju; Church Association Secretary, MOSC, Mr. Biju Oommen; Working Committee Member, MOSC, Mr. Jacob Mathew; Programme Secretary, International Affairs, MOSC, Mr. Kevin George Koshy. The Russian Orthodox Church was represented at the negotiation by Metropolitan Dionisy of Voskresensk, Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Metropolitan Leonid of Klin, Patriarchal Exarch for Africa, Co-Chairman of the Working Group for the coordination of bilateral relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Malankara Church; Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), DECR Vice Chairman; Hieromonk Stephen (Igumnov), DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations, secretary of the Working Group for the coordination of bilateral relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Malankara Church; Hierodeacon Petr (Akhmatkhanov), DECR staff member. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Interview given by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, DECR chairman, to Italian news agency SIR Interview given by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, DECR chairman, to Italian news agency SIR. – Can you tell us in which atmosphere and with what sentiments the Holy Synod in Minsk made the decision to break the Eucharistic communication with Constantinople? – The Statement issued by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 15, reads: “To admit into communion schismatics and a person anathematized in other Local Church with all the ‘bishops’ and ‘clergy’ consecrated by them, the encroachment on somebody else’s canonical regions, the attempt to abandon its own historical decisions and commitments – all this leads the Patriarchate of Constantinople beyond the canonical space and, to our great grief, makes it impossible for us to continue the Eucharistic communion with its hierarchs, clergy and laity.” The aforementioned “great grief” is not just a figure of speech: it was a very hard decision, but, regrettably, the latest steps taken by Constantinople left us no other choice. We had not closed doors to the dialogue. In late August, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited Istanbul to discuss the situation with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople in a fraternal manner. Our Synod called and continues to call for the pan-Orthodox deliberations on the burning issues. By the way, other Churches put forward the same suggestions. However, Constantinople, following and advancing a theory of some special status of the Patriarch of Constantinople, comparable to the status of the Pope in the Catholic world, rejected all the appeals calling for the conciliar resolution of the problems and by its actions destroyed the unity of the world Orthodoxy. – Is it correct to speak of “schism”? And what does it exactly mean for the future of the inter-Orthodox relationships? |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Address of the DECR chairman Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk at the meeting of the UN Security Council On January 17, 2023, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, delivered an on-line address at the meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Dear Mr. Chairman: I thank you for the opportunity to address this distinguished gathering. The Russian Orthodox Church on her own and in cooperation with other Orthodox Churches, the Roman Catholic Church, Protestant confessions and representatives of world traditional religions is taking part within the realm of possibility in defending the rights of religious believers all over the world, and Christians in particular. At present we have grave concerns about the flagrant violation of human and constitutional rights of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine. It is difficult to overestimate peacemaking potential of Church and religion in interstate and civil conflicts. Orthodox Christianity has been a common spiritual and cultural basis of the life of people in Russia and Ukraine for many centuries and could help restore mutual understanding in future. Yet, the very basis of such dialogue is being undermined in Ukraine right now by the Ukrainian authorities’ attempts to destroy the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which is not a political, but religious organization uniting over 12,000 communities and millions of Ukrainian citizens. On December 1, 2022, the Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council took a decision which in actual fact restricts the rights of communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The executive body issued instructions: – to draft a bill “on the impossibility of activities in Ukraine of religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in Russia.” Actually, this means the ban of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, though her governing centre is in Kiev and not in Moscow and she is independent of the Russian Orthodox Church in its administration; |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Patriarch Kirill meets with Primate of Malankara Church On September 3, 2019, His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, met with the Catholicos of the East and Metropolitan of Malankara, His Holiness Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II, at the patriarchal and synodal residence in the St. Daniel Monastery in Moscow. Among those who accompanied the high guest were Metropolitan Zachariah Mar Nikolovos, head of the Malankara Church department for external church relations; Metropolitan Yuhanon Mar Diascoros, secretary of the Malankara Church Holy Synod; Rev. Abraham Thomas, secretary of the Malankara Church department for external church relations; and Rev. Aswin Zefrin Fernandis, head of the Malankara Catholicos’s protocol service; Rev. Jiss Jonson, personal secretary to His Holiness the Catholicos; Mr. Jacob Mathew, member of the Malankara Church Council; Mr. Kevin George Koshi, head of the communication service of the Malankara Church department for external church relations; and Dr Cherian Eapen, a representative of the Malankara diaspora in Russia. Taking part in the meeting from the Russian Orthodox Church were Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR); Bishop Dionisy of Voskresensk, deputy chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), DECR vice-chairman; Hieromonk Stephan Igumnov, DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations; and R. Akhtamkhanov, DECR secretariat for inter-Christian relations. Patriarch Kirill warmly welcome Catholicos Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II, noting that His Holiness had already been in Moscow in 1988, when he was the youngest bishop of the Malankara Church. He came for the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus’. ‘That event was really a turning point in the life of our Church’, Patriarch Kirill said, ‘With that celebration the era of persecution and oppression by the Soviet power came to an end and new opportunities opened up for us to engage ourselves in the enlightenment of our people and to bear the message of Christ in the vast lands of the then Soviet Union’. The Russian Church has very much changed, in particular in that 30 thousand churches have been restored and built since that time. ‘That is to say, the restoration of church life took place in the territory of the then Soviet Union and was continued in such states as Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Azerbaijan, and the republics of Central Asia and the Baltics’. |
| On September 18, 2018, His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia met with Sheikh Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, Grand Mufti of Syria, at the patriarchal and synodal residence at the St. Daniel’s monastery in Moscow. From the Syrian side, there were Mr. Riad Haddad, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Arab Republic of Syria to Russia, Sheikh Abdulrahman Hassoun, assistant of the Grand Mufti, and Mr. Norfal Khalthoum, an interpreter. The Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR) was represented by Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), DECR vice-chairman, Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, DECR secretary for inter-Orthodox relations, and Hieromonk Stephan (Igumnov), DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations. Welcoming the high guest warmly Patriarch Kirill said in particular, ‘Since our latest meeting in 2014, many events have taken place. In the context of our bilateral relations, among the most important ones was the Russian Federation joining the struggle with terrorism in Syria’. According to His Holiness, the initiative of the Russian State to join the struggle with terrorism in the territory of Syria has met with support on the part of the religious circles in Russia. ‘The Interreligious Council in Russia, which includes Orthodox Christians, Muslims and Jews spoke out as well in support of the struggle with terrorists including in the territory of Syria’, he noted, ‘by God’s mercy, the results of this struggle proved to be positive, and the most part of Syria has been liberated from terrorists, although there are still hotbeds of tension. But we hope that these hotbeds too will be supressed and peace and justice will be restored in the Syrian land’. Continuing the talk, His Holiness expressed his opinion concerning the post-war restoration of a normal life in Syria, stressing the essential importance of preventing extremism. ‘Work is needed so that nobody and nowhere could use terrorist methods in the Syrian land to achieve their political ends. We believe it to be our fraternal duty, and I would like to underscore once again that this aid has been given both unilaterally by the Russian Orthodox Church and on the interreligious basis when both the Orthodox and Muslims from Russia sent together humanitarian supplies to your country. Among very good signs of our cooperation and interaction was that the humanitarian aid was distributed in both the territory of Orthodox churches in Syria and the territory of mosques. |
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