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<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/i><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/i><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\nOn 29 December 2016, a regular session of the Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, last in 2016, took place at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour under the chairmanship of His\u00a0Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.<\/p>\n
Prior to the meeting, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church addressed the members of the Supreme Church Council, saying in particular:<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the year 2016 there is a firm impression that despite many sorrows and hardships we all have experienced this year has been successful. Perhaps, by God\u2019s mercy, there have been found ways to address the biggest problems facing our country and the whole world. I mean, first and foremost, a very dangerous political situation in the Middle East, in Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his address, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill dwelt on the ministry of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, \u201can organic part of the Moscow Patriarchate, that throughout the year has been carrying out its peacebuilding mission, regardless of any dangers and hardships it had to endure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to mention, in particular, the All-Ukrainian procession with the cross, which has become a momentous event not only in the life of the Church, but also in the life of all the Ukrainian people and their state,\u201d His Holiness said, \u201cUkraine and the whole world have seen that our Church takes a truly peacemaking position and is far from playing any political games and from taking advantage of the political situation in the country, pursuing one goal only \u2013 to help reconcile her people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that the release of the captive that occurred at the end of this year at the request of His\u00a0Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry was an important signal for all those who sincerely seeks peace in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is not only praying, but also acting so that peace may be restored in the Ukrainian land,\u201d Patriarch Kirill added.<\/p>\n
His Holiness presented the agenda of the meeting. The participants will hear reports concerning the implementation of decisions of the Supreme Church Council and the Bishops\u2019 Council, as well as reports by Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuyevo on the reorganization of diocesan departments and on additions to the Statute of the Russian Orthodox Church concerning the work of diocesan councils, and a report by Bishop Irinarkh of Krasnogorsk on the activities of assistants to heads of local offices of the Federal Service for the Execution of Sentences. The members of the Supreme Church Council will also discuss some other topical issues of church life.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Church Council chaired by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill consists of:
\nMetropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate;
\nMetropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations;
\nMetropolitan Klement of Kaluga and Borovsk, chairman of the ROC Publishing Council;
\nMetropolitan Ioann of Belgorod and Stary Oskol, chairman of the Synodal Missionary Department;
\nMetropolitan Merkury of Rostov and Novocherkassk, chairman of the Synodal Department for Religious Education and Catechization;
\nMetropolitan Mark of Ryazan and Mikhailov, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate\u2019s Finance and Economic Administration;
\nMetropolitan Kirill of Stavropol and Nevinnomyssk, chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations with the Cossacks;
\nArchbishop Yevgeny of Vereya, chairman of the Holy Synod\u2019s Education Committee;
\nArchbishop Feognost of Sergiev Posad, chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism;
\nBishop Sergy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate\u2019s Administrative Secretariat;
\nBishop Irinarkh of Krasnogorsk, chairman of the Synodal Department for Prison Ministry;
\nBishop Ignaty of Vyborg and Priozersk, chairman of the Synodal Department for Youth Affairs;
\nBishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuyevo, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry;
\nBishop Tikhon of Yegorievsk, chairman of the Patriarchal Council for Culture;
\nBishop Antony of Bogorodsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate\u2019s Administration for Institutions Abroad;
\nArchpriest Sergy Privalov, chairman of the Synodal Department for Cooperation with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies;
\nArchpriest Dimitry Smirnov, chairman of the Patriarchal Commission for Family and Protection of Motherhood and Childhood;
\nMr. Vladimir Legoida, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church-Society and Media Relations.<\/p>\n
Invited to attend the session were Bishop Savva of Voskresensk, first deputy chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Archimandrite Savva (Tutunov), deputy chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Archpriest Maxim Kozlov, first deputy chairman of the Education Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church;\u00a0archpriest Vladimir Siloviev,\u00a0 editor-in-chief of the Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate; Hegumeness Ksenia (Chernega), head of the Moscow Patriarchate\u2019s Legal Service; Hierodeacon Sergy (Turkeyev), director of the Moscow Patriarchate\u2019s Pilgrimage Centre; and Mr.\u00a0A.\u00a0Schipkov, first deputy chairman of the Synodal Department for Church-Society and Media Relations.<\/p>\n
\nDECR Communication Service\/<\/em><\/p>\n Patriarchal Press Service<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On 29 December 2016, a regular session of the Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, last in 2016, took place at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour under the chairmanship of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":140785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,11,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.mospat.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140780"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.mospat.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.mospat.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.mospat.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.mospat.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/old.mospat.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.mospat.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.mospat.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.mospat.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.mospat.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}