Symposium on Church and Society — 2000

SYMPOSIUM ON CHURCH AND SOCIETY — 2000

A symposium on Church and Society — 2000 took place on June 14 in Moscow. It was organized the Synodal working group for developing a draft Conception of the Russian Orthodox Church on Church-State Relations and Problems of Today’s Society as a Whole. It was attended by Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate and chairman of the Synodal working group, members of the Synodal working group, bishops, clergy, seminary professors, staff members of Synodal departments, leaders of Orthodox and Christian public associations, scholars and guests from abroad.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad was the key-speaker. He presented in his report the primary preliminary conclusions made by the working group, which will be put in the basis of the Conception. The Conception is planned to have 15 sections on «Basic theological provisions», «Church and nations», «Church and state», «Christian ethics and secular law», «Church and politics», Labour and its fruits», «Ownership», «War and peace», «Chrime, punishment, reformation», «Personal, family and social morality», «Problems of bioethics», «Church and ecological problems», «Secular science, culture, education», and «International relations. Problems of globalization and secularism».

The report was discussed in plenary sessions and in four sections on «Church, nations, state», «Orthodoxy and global economic and political processes», «Orthodoxy against the moral crisis of society», «Church and public life».

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The Synodal working group for developing a draft Conception of the Russian Orthodox Church on church-State Relations and Problems of Today’s Society as a Whole met for its regular working session on June 13 and 15 at the Department for External Church Relations. It was chaired by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, DECR chairman. The group discussed the basic provisions of the draft Conception and the results of the Church and Society — 2000 symposium.