Preparations started for the next talks with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland

PREPARATIONS STARTED FOR THE NEXT TALKS WITH THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN FINLAND

A preparatory meeting for the continuation of theological talks between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland, which started in 1970, took place on April 27, 2001, at the DECR.

The Rev. Risto Cantel, executive director for international relations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland, and the Rev. Timo Frilander of the international relations department, came to Moscow to represent the Finnish side.

In the afternoon, His Eminence Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, and all the participants in the talks were invited to lunch by the Finnish Ambassador Rene Nyberg. Later Metropolitan Kirill received the participants in the DECR to discuss the themes, methods and aims of the forthcoming dialogue the next session of which will take place in Autumn 2002.

Participating in the talks from the Russian Orthodox side were Hegumen Hilarion, DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations, and Ms. Yelena Speranskaya of the DECR secretariat for inter-Christian relations.