Conference on the Holy Land
25.05.2001 · English, Архив 2000
CONFERENCE ON THE HOLY LAND
A conference on “The Holy Land and Russian-Palestinian Relations Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” took place on October 10 at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. It was organized by the academy and the Embassy of the Palestinian State in Russia with support of the Russian Orthodox Church. It was attended by Orthodox, Moslem and Jewish religious leaders, diplomats, scholars and representatives of public organizations.
Among other themes the conference discussed the history and the present state of the Russian religious and cultural presence in Palestine, the work of the Russian Orthodox Church’s institutions in the Holy Land, the situation concerning Jerusalem and the need to find an equitable solution of the existing problems in order to ensure peaceful and harmonious life for different ethnic cultural communities, and the access of the faithful of different religions to the shrines.
Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia addressed the conference. The Palestinian ambassador Hairi al-Oridi explained the position taken by the head of the Palestinian National Administration, Yasser Arafat. Key-reports were made by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, Mr. A. Avdeyev, Russia’s first deputy foreign minister, and representatives of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society. Among the speakers were also scholars, diplomats and religious and public figures.
The conference adopted a final document, the full text of which is given below.
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