Metropolitan Kirill sends greetings to the participants in the Conference of the European Russian Speaking Alliance

To the participants in the Conference
‘Russian Speaking Population in the EU:
Employment and Social Integration’
Brussels, 28-29 April 2006

Dear participants in the Conference!

Hundreds of thousands Russian-speaking people have come to the EU member states over recent years. Today we can talk about the largest Russian diaspora being formed in the countries of Western and Central Europe. Several generations of our compatriots have lived in the now EU states and preserved their religious and cultural identity.

I welcome consolidation of the Russian-speaking denizens of the countries of the European Union in the hope they would bring considerable contribution into the life of European society and its economic development.

At the same time I call upon our compatriots living abroad not to break relations with the Motherland, to develop their ecclesiastical and cultural life, to preserve traditions of their forbears, our language and our way of life. I count on your filial involvement in the shaping of Fatherland’s destiny.

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