The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church meets with the General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance Rev. Neville Callam

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia met with the General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance Rev. Neville Callam and a delegation of the Russian Union of the Evangelical Christians-Baptists led by its Chairman Yu. Sipko. The meeting took place in the Patriarchal Synodal residence in St. Daniel’s Monastery on 18 June 2008.

His Holiness the |Patriarch greeted the guests and noted a satisfactory level of cooperation bother with the foreign representatives of the Baptist World Alliance in the framework of the international Christian organizations and with the leadership of the Russian Union of the Evangelical Christians-Baptists.

His Holiness mentioned two successful seminars held in 2004 and 2006 as an instance of constructive interaction between the Orthodox and Baptists in Russia. The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church said that common positions of the Orthodox and Baptists on many problems of Christian ethics had been clearly seen at the last seminar. ‘Earnest concern was expressed over alarming trends in certain Protestant communities, such as the revision of the Biblical standards of morality, ordination of women, and the use of the so-called inclusive language in the Bible translations. The participants in the seminar agreed on the necessity to attain harmonious unity between human rights, moral values and the responsibility of individuals.’

His Holiness also said that the problem of the Gospel-based morality has recently become a key one in the dialogue among Christians. It concerns the same-sex marriages against which the Russian Orthodox Church vigorously protests. ‘We have all grounds to believe that the majority of Baptists share our concern over present state of certain Christian communities, and we could oppose the harmful anti-Biblical tendencies together,’ His Holiness Patriarch Alexy said.

The General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance thanked the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church for finding an opportunity to meet with him. Rev. Neville Callam said that they met in the place replete with history and traditions and saw the act of God in the ministry of the Russian Orthodox Church. Rev. Callam supported position of the Russian Orthodox Church on the present challenges to Christianity and underscored the necessity to oppose the military secularism, this new pseudo-religion similar to cancer.

The Chairman of the Russian Union of the Evangelical Christians-Baptists Yu. Sipko thanked the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church for his efforts to defend traditional Christian values. He said that the address of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy at the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 2 October 2007 gave an example of standing for the truth and thanked His Holiness for his faithfulness to the Bible/.

Taking part in the meeting were the abbot of St. Daniel’s Monastery Archimandrite Alexy (Polikarpov) and the DECR MP secretary for Interchristian relations Fr. Igor Vyzhanov.