“It’s common practice because the receiving party bears responsibility for the quality of this visit. Our Latvian partners probably had some reasons why it is better for this visit to take place at a different time than now due to the current political situation. I took that very well,” the patriarch said during a meeting with participants in the Orthodox media festival Faith and Word held in Moscow on Wednesday.
The patriarch said he will be happy to visit Latvia “with very positive feelings.”
“My flock and my people, with whom I would like to meet and pray together, are there,” he said, adding that no temporary postponements of the visit have any relation to the people of Latvia or the Latvian Orthodox Church.
According to earlier reports, Latvian President Andris Berzins has suggested that patriarch Kirill postpone his visit to Latvia, which is scheduled for May. The president’s representative said this request was made due to the difficult international situation, The patriarch studied the wish and postponed his visit.
