Meetings at the DECR in preparations for the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ

MEETINGS AT THE DECR IN PREPARATIONS FOR THE 2000TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST

The church-public coordinating group for the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ met for a regular session on September 7 at the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The meeting was chaired by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations. It was attended by representatives of government agencies and public, political and cultural organizations.

The meeting considered and examined a list of projects and programs proposed to the coordinating group as Millennium events to be held in cooperation between church and state. The participants also discussed the principles of cooperation with the secular mass media with regard to the coverage of the coming Jubilee.

On the same day, the Russian Orthodox Church Jubilee Commission’s sub-commission for interchurch contacts and public relations met at the DECR. The sub-commission is cochaired by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad and Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna.