DECR chairman meets with the representative of the Church of Greece to the European Union

On November 30, 2011, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, met with Metropolitan Athanassios of Achaia, representative of the Church of Greece to the European Union, who came to Moscow to participate in the Conference on the Freedom of Faith: the Problem of Discrimination and Persecution of Christians.

The participants of the meeting discussed common witness that the Local Orthodox Churches have about traditional Christian values in the context of aggressive secularism growing stronger in European countries. The hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church and of the Church of Greece expressed their concern over the ongoing efforts that certain forces make to minimize the role of religion in the life of society.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk and Metropolitan Athanassios of Achaia confirmed that their Churches have common position on the challenges to the Christian faith and traditional moral principles posed by modern secular society.