Митрополит Кирилл направил поздравление по случаю 80-летия Росзарубежцентра

The Russian Center for International Scientific and Cultural Cooperation at the Russian Foreign Ministry (Roszarubezh Center) celebrated its 80^th birthday on October 19, 2005. RF Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave a reception on the occasion. Bishop Mark of Yegorievsk, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, attended the meeting.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, DECR MP Chairman, sent a greeting message to Eleonora Mitrofanova, the Roszarubezh Center head, and wished her and her co-workers God’s help in their responsible work. The full text see below.

Dear Eleonora Valentinovna,

I heartily congratulate you and your colleagues on the 80^th anniversary of the Roszarubezh Center.

The Russian Orthodox Church highly appreciates of the Roszarubezh Center’s work on establishment friendly relations with big and small countries, people living close by and far away.

Prominent church hierarchs were members of the Friendship Societies. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia was a member of the Presidium of the Society of Friendship between this country and India.

On this important day we are glad to note that our relations are being maintained on a new level and we hope for the further development of the cooperation between the Department for External Church Relations and the Roszarubezh Center.

I wish you and your colleagues spiritual and physical strength and God’s help.

Respectfully yours,

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad
Chairman Department for External Church Relations
Moscow Patriarchate

REFERENCE:

The Roszarubezh Center opened in 1925. It was renamed several times: the Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (1925-1958), the Union of Soviet Societies of Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (1958-1992). The Roszarubezh Center remains an important instrument in relations between Russia and other states in the field of culture, science, education, humanitarian and public affairs.

The organization enjoys high prestige in the world as among the participants of the ‘people’s diplomacy’ were famous Soviet and foreign scientists, public figures, writers, artists, composers and actors: S. Vavilov, A. Einshtein, A. Tupolev, M. Curie, G. Wells, Yu. Gagarin, V. Maykovski, M. Sholokhov, S. Prokofiev, D. Shostakovich, E. Hemingway, R. Tagor. B. Show, T. Draiser, S. Eisenshtein, M. Romm, G. Ulanova, A. Batalov and others. Prominent hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church were members of the Friendship Societies.

Today the Roszarubezh Center is a state body at the RF Foreign Ministry. One of the most important directions in its work is to help develop multilateral relations between the compatriots and their Motherland, to cooperate with Russian-speaking diasporas abroad, and to strengthen positions of the Russian language in the world.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, DECR MP Chairman, met with Eleonora Mitrofanova, the Roszarubezh Center head, on June 16, 2005. They agreed to organize a working group on cooperation between the DECR MP and the Roszarubezh Center. The group is to deal with the spiritual aspects of cooperation for the sake of support compatriots abroad.