His Holiness Patriarch Alexy meets Jordanian Prince Gazi bin Muhammad

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia met on March 28, 2006, with Prince Gazi bin Muhammad of the Hashimite Kingdom of Jordan, at the patriarchal residence in St. Daniel’s monastery. His Royal Highness was accompanied by Jordanian ambassador to Russia Abdul Illah al-Kurdi and the prince’s chancellor Raid Hani Gordlo.

Participating in the meeting was also Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, vice-chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations.

His Holiness welcomed the prince to Russia, noting that the Russian Orthodox Church highly appreciated her invariably good relations with the Jordanian people. ‘We see in Jordan an integral part of the Holy Land’, His Holiness said.

Patriarch Alexy gave a high assessment to the efforts of the Jordanian King Abdallah II for the development of interreligious and inter-cultural dialogue, first of all, the Christian-Muslim dialogue, pointing out that Jordan became one of the world centers of such dialogue, a center of attraction for people of good will seeking to develop cooperation between traditional religions.

‘Interreligious dialogue has a long tradition in Russia. We have never had religious wars. A unique model of co-existence and cooperation between Orthodox Christians, Muslims and followers of other religious traditions has been established in our country’, the patriarch said.

His Holiness also indicated that in the last years, leading religious organizations in our country, united in the Interreligious Council in Russia, initiated a series of representative interreligious forums. Early in July, Moscow will host a World Summit of Religious Leaders to be attended by leaders of major religious traditions in the world. ‘We expect to see at this summit authoritative Muslim leaders from Jordan who are known to be engaged in an active and successful struggle against extremists using religion as a cover,’ the patriarch said.

The participants in the meeting also discussed prospects for cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and Jordanian state leaders.