RPTs DELEGATION CANCELS ITS TRIP TO TURKEY BECAUSE OF DOWNING OF SU-24
A delegation from the Russian Orthodox Church (RPTs) led by the chairman of the synod's Department of External Church Relations (OVTsS) of the Moscow patriarchate, Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Ilarion, cancelled a trip to Istanbul during which it planned to present Patriarch Kirill's book Freedom and Responsibility, after the news about the downing of a Russian SU-24, RIA Novosti was told at the foundation of Gregory the Theologian, the organizer of the presentation of the patriarchal work.
On Tuesday, a Russian SU-24 bomber suffered downing in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin reported that the airplane was hit by an air-to-air rocket from a Turkish F-16 over Syrian territory and fell into Syria four kilometers from the Turkish border. The Russian president called this "a stab in the back" on the part of accomplices of terrorists.
"This presentation [of the patriarch's book—ed.] was supposed to occur during a visit by Metropolitan Ilarion to Turkey for an annual participation in a dialogue with Turkish authorities. But what happened yesterday [the downing of the SU-24—ed.] was considered by the administration of the foundation as a stab in the back to all of us, and therefore we made the decision to cancel the presentation in order to join the mourning of the family of the deceased pilot," the executive director of the foundation of Gregory the Theologian, Leonid Sevastianov, told RIA Novosti.
The deputy executive director of the foundation, Igor Lapshin, explained to RIA Novosti that the RPTs delegation headed by Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Ilarion, was supposed to travel to Istanbul in the morning of 25 November in connection with conversations scheduled for 26 November with the Office for Religious Affairs of the Turkish republic. Such conversations have been conducted annually in accordance with agreements between both sides that were reached in 2012.
"During the visit it was planned to present a new translation in Turkish of Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill's book Freedom and Responsibility at a meeting of the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church with Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew. The visit in Istanbul of the delegation from the Russian Orthodox Church was cancelled in the evening of 24 November,," Lapshin explained.
The patriarch's book consists of articles and speeches that were prepared by the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church during work on a conceptual document of the Moscow patriarchate on human rights (Foundations of the Teaching of the Russian Orthodox Church on Human Dignity, Freedom, and Rights). The patriarchal work had previously been presented in Spanish, German, Armenian, Italian, Polish, English, Arabic, Greek, Estonian, Latin, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Japanese, Chinese, and Hebrew. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 November 2015)
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