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On 19 December 2019, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with the President of the Republic of Moldova, Igor Dodon, who was accompanied by H.E. Andrei Neguţa, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Moldova to the Russian Federation.

They were joined at the meeting, which took place at the Patriarch’s working residence, Chisty side-street in Moscow, be Mr. Vladimir Legoida, chairman of the Synodal department for Church’s relations with society and mass media, and Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, deputy chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church greeted President Dodon and noted the high level of relations between the Church and the state in Moldova. He said: ‘I suppose that Moldova is the leading European country in the number of active rather than statistical church goers per head of the population. This is evidence to the deep religious roots, which by God’s grace are not whither, but become even more solid.

‘Such religious commitment of the Moldavians helps them to cope with difficulties in their life and solve personal problems that exist in any society and any country. Indeed, by God’s grace peace and a relatively high level of social stability are maintained in Moldova. We are happy to see it.’

President Dodon underscored: ‘Orthodoxy is a foundation of Moldavian statehood,’ and added that 90% of the citizens of Moldova profess the Orthodox faith. He mentioned that the Moldavian state supports the faithful and noted: ‘The authorities, together with Metropolitan Vladimir of Kishinev and All Moldova, do everything they can to restore churches and build the new ones. There are 1500 church buildings and monasteries in the Republic of Moldova at present.’

‘The Moldavians are looking forward to Your visit,” President Dodon said to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and expressed hope for this visit next year. His Holiness welcomed the invitation.

Discussed were issues pertaining to the support of family and strengthening of the role of traditional values in the life of society in Moldova.