Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA Bishop Merkury of Zaraisk meets Secretary General of the World Conference of Religions for Peace Dr. William Vendley

On 14 March 2006, Administrator of the Patriarchal parishes in the USA Bishop Merkury of Zaraisk received Secretary General of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP) Dr. William F. Vendley in the Moscow Patriarchate representation in New York.

They discussed the specifics of peace ministry of Christian Churches at the present time when interconfessional conflicts are threatening to shatter the efforts of religious leaders aimed at making our world more stable and safe.

Bishop Merkury told the guest about initiatives launched by the Russian Church for the development of interreligious dialogue at the national and international levels. He noted great importance that the Moscow Patriarchate attaches to the World Summit of religious leaders to take place in July as to a forum to discuss the most topical today’s problems, such as the struggle with terrorism, dialogue and cooperation of civilizations and justice in the world.

‘We are willing to cooperate with all traditional religious communities that can responsibly come forward against any forms of extremism and violence’, Bishop Merkury remarked.

Also discussed was cooperation between the World Russian Peoples’ Council (WRPC) and the WCRP in elaborating the agenda for the United Nations Organization. The participants in the meeting underscored that the UN had not adequately perceived as yet religious aspects of the life of people and societies and their philosophy of life. Practical steps are necessary for filling in this vacuum. They considered measures to be carried out by the WCRP and WRPC together in this regard.

Taking part in the talk also were assistant to the chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America and WCRP co-moderator archpriest Leonid Kishkovsky and secretary of the Moscow Patriarchate representation in the USA and WRPC representative at the UN Rev. Alexander Abramov.