Greetings by his Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia to the participants in the Third Colloquium of the ‘Islam-Orthodoxy’ Joint Commission
25.01.2001 · English, Архив 2001
GREETINGS BY HIS HOLINESS PATRIARCH ALEXY II OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE THIRD COLLOQUIUM OF THE ‘ISLAM-ORTHODOXY’ JOINT COMMISSION
Highly respected Hojat ul-Islam Noumani, vice-president of the Organization for Islamic Culture of the Islamic Republic of Iran! Your Excellency, dear fathers and brothers!
It is gratifying to see that the dialogue between representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Muslim community of the Islamic Republic of Iran is successfully developing and bringing new fruits. Through our long and helpful cooperation we successfully oppose the tendencies to engender antagonism between the adherents of Christianity and Islam and to set the two great civilizations against each other.
The Orthodox and the Muslims have many common goals, and we must combine our efforts in order to achieve them. Together we must respond to such alarming phenomena as secularization, moral crisis of society, attempts to build up a monopolar world and to use globalization for economic, cultural. Religious and information dictatorship.
Orthodox Christians treat Islam with profound respect as an old, but full of vitality religion of the Abrahamic roots. At present we see with our own eyes how the Islamic Republic of Iran is building its life on the basis of firm loyalty to traditional moral values, achieving much success in all spheres of life and actively continues its development, in spite of the opinion of the known circles of the a priori regressive nature of the states established on the religious principles.
The chosen theme ‘The Role of Interreligious Dialogue in Internationl Relations’ is very topical at present. World public is becoming aware of the importance of interreligious relations as an effective instrument of solving the conflicts and consolidation of peace among nations. Religious leaders at present are vested with great responsibility of peace ministry, and they can worthily fulfill this mission only in cooperation with one another.
I express my hope that this meeting of the joint commission will be as fruitful as the previous ones and wish the participants success in their work.
See also: