Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Completes his Visit to Berlin

On 22 February 2005, in conclusion of Metropolitan Kirill’s stay in Berlin he met with Ms. Angela Merkel, Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union of the FRG and Chairman of the CDU/CSU faction in Bundestag.

 

They discussed the values of the present-day democratic society. Metropolitan Kirill emphasized the importance of morally responsible participation of citizens in all processes of the development of social and political life of different nations.  Ms. Merkel noted that Western countries had a problem of ideological basis of their development, which cannot be achieved through an idea of progressive growth of well being, which generates a problem of unlimited consumption and depletion of natural resources. Metropolitan Kirill noted that such an approach corresponds to a large extent with an Orthodox conception of the priority of spiritual values in the life of people and society. The proximity of positions in this matter opens up a possibility of a serious dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and Christian politicians of Germany.

 

That same day Metropolitan Kirill had a talk with Mr. W. Schaeuble, deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU faction in Bundestag. Discussed were relations between the Church and the State in Russia and Germany, the role and significance of the Kaliningrad region in the system of relations of Russia with the European countries, the influence of religious factor on the development of the Russian-Ukrainian relations and the situation of the Russian-speaking people in the Baltic countries.

 

Mr. B.Vogel, Chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, gave a business lunch on the occasion of Metropolitan Kirill’s stay in Berlin. Discussed were plans of cooperation in future and prospects of the dialogue started during the current visit of the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.

 

Metropolitan Kirill also met with Bishop R. Koppe, who is charge of ecumenical relations and ministries abroad of the Evangelical Church of Germany. Particular attention was paid to the participation of the Evangelical Church of Germany in the celebration of the 60^th anniversary of the victory over Nazism, to a new phase of the Russian-German theological dialogue and to cooperation within the Conference of European Churches and the World Council of Churches.

 

In the evening in the French cathedral of Berlin there was held a public discussion on ‘Christian Vision of the World and the Absolute of Human Dignity’, taking part in which were Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church of Germany W. Huber, Chairman of the Commission for Ecumenical Movement of the German Bishops’ Conference Bishop Mueller and Professor M. Rutz, editor-in-chief of ‘Rheinisher Merkur’, as moderator. Present were some 300 persons, including representatives of the German mass media.

The participants discussed fundamental ideas of the Foundations of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Kirill explained historical and philosophical particular features of Russian Orthodoxy reflected in the document.

 

The problem of human rights was vividly discussed. Metropolitan Kirill suggested to discern an idea of the rights based on the Christian notion of man from the secular ideology of human rights, which rather often is hostile to the religious tradition as such. Metropolitan Kirill noted a necessity of terminological and conceptual difference between the dignity of human nature and human personality. The former presupposes a necessity for a Christian to see the traces of the image of God even in a inveterate villain, while the latter gives the idea of how and to what extent a man realized the dignity granted by God to our nature.

 

Metropolitan Kirill was in doubt as to how rightful was the use of ‘the absolute’ in the theme of the discussion as applicable to the notion of human dignity, as only God has the absolute value, while human dignity is determined by the realization of the image of God. 

 

After the debates festive dinner was given in honour of Metropolitan Kirill. Present were participants in the discussion, members of the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, Vice President of the Bundestag N.Lammert, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia in Germany V.V.Kotenev, deputies of the German Parliament, staff members of the Russian Embassy and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.