HEADS OF R.P.Ts.M.P. AND RUSSIAN M.I.D. DISCUSS "CRUDEST INTERFERENCE IN CHURCH AFFAIRS BY WESTERN STATES AND OUR UKRAINIAN NEIGHBORS"
A meeting of Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (RPTsMP) and the minister of foreign affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergei Lavrov, was held on 12 April in the working residence of the patriarch on Chisty Lane in Moscow.
The primate of the RPTsMP assured the minister that his church "is quite actively present in the sphere of international relations," and therefore "for us it is very useful to know your point of view on those problems that disturb us."
As Patriarkhia.ru reports, Sergei Lavrov stated in reply that "Orthodoxy is being subjected to attacks, not only the Russian Orthodox Church but world Orthodoxy as a whole."
"The crudest interference in church affairs by western states and our Ukrainian neighbors," the minister continued, "has already become a serious threat for stability in the most diverse regions of the world, and our cooperation in promoting the ideals of good, justice, and peace has enormous significance at the current stage."
"We have a joint working group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Moscow patriarchate," Lavrov reported, "and its members meet regularly and exchange assessments of various situations in one region of the world or another, where there are Orthodox believers and where there are Christians. This includes a discussion of problems of the Orthodox in Ukraine, parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, and problems of Christians—not only Orthodox—in the Near East." (tr. by PDS, posted 12 April 2019)
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