His Holiness Patriarch Alexy meets trade union leaders

On 15 March 2006, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia met with a delegation of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions (FITU) in his working residence. The delegation included the FITU chairman and member of the Russian Public Chamber M.V.Shmakov, the FITU deputy head and chairman of the State Duma Committee on Labour and Social Policy A.K.Isayev and the FITU deputy chairman for cooperation with public and religious organizations V.S.Stolyarov.

M.V.Shmakov presented the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church with a golden medal ‘100 Years of Russian Trade Unions’ instituted in 2005 for the celebration of the jubilee. He also presented the Patriarch with a Russian doll that symbolically shows the stages of the trade unions’ development in our country and a book ‘The Hundred Years History of Trade Unions’.

He Holiness greeted the guests with their jubilee and noted that the trade unions had been a real and effective instrument of defending the rights of the workers. ‘The trade union movement is a strong force called to help the workers and support them’, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy said.

He underscored that work was an indispensable condition of human life and quoted the words of St.Paul: ‘If anyone will not work, let him not eat’ (1 Thes 3:10). On the other hand, work should be justly rewarded, ‘for the labourer deserves his food’ (Mt.10:10).

His Holiness the Patriarch said that the Church had always paid serious attention to economics and justice in labour relations. The World Russian Peoples’ Council that works under guidance of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia has developed a ‘Code of Moral Principles and Rules in Economics’. Many businessmen, including Orthodox believers and followers of other religions, supported it.

The participants in the meeting discussed prospects of cooperation between the Church and the trade unions for the preservation of peace in society as well as topical problems of spiritual and moral education of children and the youth. ‘I am confident that education is not of full value without attention to the life of the spirit and without maintaining traditional moral principles. Therefore we have repeatedly raised the question of introducing the ‘Foundations of Orthodox Culture’ in secondary schools and hope to your support’, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy said.