Patriarch Alexy II meets with Iranian parliament speaker Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church met with the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran headed by the Iranian parliament speaker Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel at patriarchal and synodal residence in St. Daniel’s monastery on December 12, 2005.

Greeting the guests, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia noted that friendship between the peoples of our countries had a long history. ‘It is my conviction that the development of relations between our two nations fosters stability throughout the world’, the Patriarch said.

His Holiness also noted that the two-year presence of the Moscow Patriarchate’s parish in Teheran was a vivid testimony of the development of Russian-Iranian bonds. The Patriarch thanked Iranian leadership for an opportunity to build an Orthodox church in the capital of the country.

‘The Russian Orthodox Church stand for interreligious dialogue’, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II said. ‘Our desire to live in peace and respect for one another is firm and undoubted. The work of the Interreligious Council of Russia shows that only adherents to traditional religions can give an appropriate response to the challenges of the time. The Russian-Iranian commission on the ‘Islam-Orthodoxy’ dialogue is an example of fruitful cooperation between the two religions. Its work gives us grounds to believe we can oppose the attempts to impose on us secular ideology contradicting our religious traditions’.

The next session of the commission is to tale place in February – March 2006.

The world community should create favorable conditions for dialogue between the civilizations, especially at a time when some preach violence, the Primate believes.

‘We know the former Iranian President Muhammad Hatami is a member of the Alliance of Civilizations, a group working under the UN auspices. We take keen interest in the work of this commission and regret that the UN General Secretary has not invited Orthodox representatives to work in it. I believe the Orthodox and Muslims are unanimous in the desire to prevent the building of a one-polar world, which would impose its own political and cultural models to all nations against their will’, Patriarch Alexy II further said.

His Holiness expressed hope for strengthening fraternal relations between the two peoples and underscored that cooperation between Iranian Muslims and Russian Orthodox should become an example for other countries.