His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia takes part in the press conference and festive evening in the Embassy of Greece

HIS HOLINESS PATRIARCH ALEXY II OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA TAKES PART IN THE PRESS CONFERENCE AND FESTIVE EVENING IN THE EMBASSY OF GREECE

On March 19, Mr.Dimitrios Kypreos, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipontentiary of Greece in Moscow gave a festive reception on the occasion of the Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, which is celebrated on first Sunday in Lent, and also in honour of Mr.G.Papandreou, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Greek Republic, who visited Moscow.

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia was present as guest of honour.

Also present at the reception were vice-chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Valentina I. Matvienko, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Igor S. Ivanov, Mayor of Moscow Yuri M. Luzhkov, other officials, heads and staff members of the diplomatic missions accredited in Moscow, representatives of Russian public, workers of science and culture.

The Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy in the Embassy of Greece, which the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church always honours with his presence being accompanied by many hierarchs, has been celebrated by the Embassy annually during the last seven years. This tradition is considered as a sign of spiritual unity of the Russian and Greek Orthodox people.

Taking part in the ceremony in the Embassy of Greece this year were Metropolitans Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, Sergy of Solnechnogorsk, Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate, Pitirim of Volokolamsk and Yuriev, Archbishop Arseny of Istra, official representatives of several Local Orthodox Churches.

Before the official reception His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Greek Republic G.Papandreou met with the journalists and answered their questions.

While cordially greeting the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Mr.G.Panadreou congratulated the high guest with the important feast, which expresses spiritual unity of Orthodox Christianity all over the world. The Minister highly appreciated the role played by the Russian Church and by His Holiness personally in introducing Christian ideals of good, justice and love in Russian society. The Russian Church is guided by these noble values also in its vision of the solution of interconfessional, interethnic and international problems, – emphasized Mr.G.Papandreou.

Answering a question of how topical the problem of the Orthodox unity is today, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia said in particular:

‘The unity of the Orthodox Church and, consequently, of the Orthodox peoples, is urgent and necessary today not only for themselves: it is also in the interests of the whole world. Fortunately, there are no external barriers at present, which even recently have impeded the development of inter-Orthodox relations and spiritual ties among people of the same faith in different countries. The states, where the Church has only recently freed itself from the domination of theomacist totalitarian regimes, are faced with the task of spiritual revival and restoration of the lost moral values. This is a difficult process.

Another thing is that the Orthodox people in some places live in the Islamic environment. They experience certain difficulties and vexation. For instance, while resolving the problem of Kosovo it is necessary to take into consideration the fact that this ancient land has been a genuine treasury of the Orthodox shrines, which must be preserved for the present and future generations of Christians in Kosovo. The continuing destruction of the Orthodox monasteries and churches in Kosovo is an apparent violation of the religious rights of Serbs in Kosovo. We come forwards for peaceful and just solution of such problems. Therefore, we consider it our duty to strengthen unity of the Orthodox Churches and solidarity of the Orthodox peoples, and we intend to fulfill this duty undeviatingly.

A visible manifestation of this unity has been joint participation of the Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches together with the heads of some states with the predominantly Orthodox population in the festivities dedicated to the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ in the Holy Land. This was the unprecedented event in our history’.

As to the contemporary state of affairs between the Russian and Greek Orthodox Churches, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II noted that the dynamics of these relations in the past years was probably decreased due to the prolonged illness of the Primate of the Greek Church Archbishop Seraphim, now deceased. Next June we expect an official visit of the newly elected Primate of the Greek Church Archbishop Christodoulos to the Russian Orthodox Church. During this visit we shall outline new concrete steps in further development of cooperation between our Churches.

Speaking about the forthcoming election of the President of the Russian Federation on March 26, His Holiness noted:

‘People eligible to vote should not avoid the fulfillment of their civil duty. That is the measure of our responsibility before ourselves, society and the future of our Fatherland. We are to elect the head of the Russian state, who will have to pave the way for our country into the third millennium. No one will make this crucial choice instead of us. Therefore I call people not to believe words and promises of candidates to the highest post in the state, but rather judge by their deeds and achievements. I believe and hope that we shall make a responsible and correct choice.’