President Putin meets with His Holiness Patriarch Alexy and His Beatitude Archbishop Christodoulos

PRESIDENT PUTIN MEETS WITH HIS HOLINESS PATRIARCH ALEXY AND HIS BEATITUDE ARCHBISHOP CHRISTODOULOS

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia and His Beatitude Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece on May 8 at the Walnut Hall of the State Kremlin Palace.

Participating in the meeting were also Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, and Metropolitan Prokopios of Philippi, Neapolis and Thasos.

Welcoming the Primates of the Russian and Greek Orthodox Churches, the President emphasized the importance of inter-Orthodox relations for the development of cooperation between Russia and Greece. He gave positive appraisal to the spiritual and economic relations between the two states. Vladimir Putting made a special mention of the personal contribution that His Holiness Patriarch Alexy and His Beatitude Archbishop Christodoulos made to the consolidation of long historical relations between the Russian and Greek nations.

His Beatitude Archbishop Christodoulos congratulated President Vladimir Putin on the anniversary of his inauguration and the Victory Day and wished him blessed success in his work for the good of Russia. Building on the trust and support of his people, the President of Russia has promoted the revival of the spiritual and cultural traditions of Orthodoxy, the Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church believes.

Then President Putin, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, His Beatitude Archbishop Christodoulos and His Eminence Metropolitan Kirill attended the festive concert devoted to the Victory Day.