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On 15 September 2010, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriachate’s Department for External Church Relations, currently on a visit to Estonia with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, met with the speaker of the Parliament of Estonia Erne Ergma at the premises of the Parliament (Riigikogu).

They were joined in the meeting by Metropolitan Korniliy of Tallinn and All Estonia; Bishop Lazar of Narva, a vicar of the Estonia Metropolia; deputies of the Parliament; Mr. Peeter Tulviste, chairman of the Estonia-Russia parliamentary group; Mr. Urmas Klaas, chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee, and Mr. Vladimir Velman, a member of the Commission on Human Rights of the International Secretariat of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy.

The participants in the talk held in a warm atmosphere exchanged opinions on the possible ways to rapprochement between the Estonian and Russian people, for instance, a part that could be played in the process by the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate that unites Orthodox Christians of different nationalities.

Metropolitan Hilarion expressed his anxiety over the recent efforts to confine religion to the Europeans’ private life.

The DECR chairman presented Ms. Ergma his book entitled “Patriarch Kirill. His Life and World Outlook,” and the speaker of the Riikogu presented Metropolitan Hilarion with a book about the Toompea Castle that houses the Parliament of Estonia.