Photo: eurasia.expert
The decade of the Local Orthodox Council, which elected Patriarch Kirill as head of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), was celebrated at a solemn meeting. It took place in the Kremlin Palace on Thursday, January 31, REN-TV channel reports.
Dozens of delegations from different countries from all over the world attended it. Four heads of the Orthodox churches joined them.
This event can be considered an unofficial church council, where they discuss the most pressing and urgent problems of modern society and church life.
A lot has been done over the decade that the patriarch has headed the ROC. The number of dioceses doubled. Ten countries have new overseas parishes. For the first time in history, the head of the Russian Church met with the head of the Vatican. The meeting of Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis took place two years ago.
Today, the focus remains on the situation around the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The President of Russia spoke about this at the Kremlin Palace. As Russkiy Mir reported, Vladimir Putin called Kiev’s actions an unprecedented interference in the internal affairs of the church. The Russian President promised that Moscow reserves the right to take the necessary measures to protect the rights of believers.
The same problem was the subject of discussion during the meeting of Patriarch Kirill with representatives of the Greek, Romanian, Bulgarian and Georgian churches.
Russkiy Mir
