Televised address by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia on the presidential elections in the Russian Federation

TELEVISED ADDRESS BY HIS HOLINESS PATRIARCH ALEXY II OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Today many ask: Is it necessary to participate in the elections? There are people who believe that everything has already been determined. It seems to some that politics in general is a «dirty affair» and they deliberately distance themselves from it. In no small degree this attitude is characteristic of the faithful.

True, the Church does not participate in political struggle, nor does she support any candidate. For indeed, everyone can and must make his own choice, and the fact that this choice will not always concur with that of others will not make people either closer to God or farther from Him and therefore from the Church of Christ.

However, every citizen, especially an Orthodox one, is called to realize his responsibility for his neighbors, for his country and his people and for their present and future. It is our will that will determine the destiny of the Fatherland. Indeed, it is the Lord who entrusted this destiny to the hands of people endowed with God-like freedom.

Keeping this in mind, the Orthodox pastors have always encouraged their spiritual children to participate in the people’s expression of their will. This was the case before the 1917 Revolution and in the Soviet time and it should be especially the case today when our people are intensely looking for the right road to follow.

Soon we are to elect the head of state who will lead the country at a fateful period in the beginning of a new century and a new millennium. In these days we should have a special concern for peace and accord in society and for Russia’s finding an appropriate way towards a better life.

The Church, which has preserved unity and the spirit of peace in spite of all the difficulties, wishes the same to all our fellow-citizens. I hope that we will make the right choice. I call upon every citizen of our Motherland, old and young, believer and non-believer, to come to the ballot-boxes in order to make one’s own contribution to the building of renewed Russia.