President Vladimir Putin of Russia Meets His Holiness Patriarch Alexy

On 21 April 2005 President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation met with His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia in the Kremlin.

 

During the talk the head of the Russian state and the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church touched upon the theme of the forthcoming celebration of the 60^th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

 

The two great feasts – Pascha and the Victory Day – are coming, – the President of Russia said in the beginning of the meeting and asked how the Church will celebrate the jubilee.

 

‘We have recently held a conference ‘For Your Friends: the Russian Orthodox Church and the Great Patriotic War’, – His Holiness said. Invited to take part in this church and public forum were veterans of war and workers of the home front. Also taking part in the conference were representatives of the Ministry of Defense who told the participants about the earlier hushed up facts of the contribution of the Church into the Victory gained by the whole nation.  

 

‘All the soldiers of war and the workers of home front who now perform their ministry in the Church will be given jubilee diplomas signed by the Primate of the Church’, – His Holiness the Patriarch said and noted that there are some three thousand such people.

 

‘In 1945 we celebrated the Victory Day and the Feast of Holy Pascha on the same day. Sixty years later the celebration of the Victory again falls on the joyful days of Pascha’, His Holiness noted.

 

On the anniversary of the Great Victory the Orthodox Church will commemorate the memory of all those who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the salvation of the Fatherland. On May 6, in the church of the Holy and Great Martyr George the Victorious on Poklonnaya Hill, His Holiness the Patriarch will celebrate the Divine Liturgy, after which the Requiem service will be conducted in the square for all leaders and soldiers who perished on the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War. On May 8, the Divine Liturgy will be celebrated in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral.

 

The celebration in honour of the defenders of the Motherland will be held on the eve of the feast, during which they will be presented with the jubilee diplomas, and clergymen will meet with the veterans and congratulate them on the jubilee of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

 

His Holiness the Patriarch emphasized the importance of the forthcoming feast and noted with regret that for many veterans it could be the last jubilee of the Victory in their life. ‘Only a few of them will live to the 70^th anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War, as the youngest veteran, who was called up for military service in the last year of the war, will be eighty eight’.

 

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church noted with gratitude the efforts undertaken by the state undertaken for rendering assistance to those who contributed to the Great Victory. ‘We thank you for everything that you are doing, for your moral and financial support of the veterans, as it is very important to them. We, on our part, also try to help them. It is necessary to show the veterans that they are not forgotten’, – His Holiness told President Vladimir Putin.