His Holiness the Patriarch awarded the Regional Press Prize

HIS HOLINESS THE PATRIARCH AWARDED THE REGIONAL PRESS PRIZE

The Club of Regional Newspapers Editors-in-Chief has awarded Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia its prize «The Fourth Power. For the Services Rendered to the Press» in recognition of his benevolent attitude to journalists and on the occasion of his 70th birthday.

The prize was presented during the meeting His Holiness had with mass media representatives on March 3 at his working resident in Chisty Lane. Journalists congratulated the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church on his 70th birthday and expressed high appreciation of his social service instilling faith, hope and peace into people’s souls. At a time when most Russians experience spiritual discomfort caused by political, economic and financial problems, the Russian Orthodox Church is one of few institutions capable of relieving the people of despair, said the chairman of the Club, V. Smirnov, the Vyatsky Krai editor-in-chief.

In his response, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy assured the press that the Church was always open to cooperation with the mass media in the cause of restoration of moral and spiritual values. His Holiness also spoke about problems which, unfortunately, arise in relations between the Church and the press. He said in particular, «Our people have deserved a better lot then the one in the making now. People do not receive their honestly earned salaries for months; they do not receive pensions they have earned during many years of work… In the meantime, some mass media are trying to instill in them the idea that human life has no value whatsoever. They present as a hero a ‘superman’ who killed about twenty people in cold blood. Recently I talked to teenagers who have been sentenced to ten-year imprisonment for murder… Thanks God, society now increasingly realizes that it is necessary to recover moral foundations in our life».