The Russian Orthodox Church will always support and defend the position of the Jerusalem Patriarchate on the presence of Christianity in the Holy Land, said His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.
Commenting on the problem of maintaining the Christian presence in the Holy Land, the urgency of which was pointed out by the Primate of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill supported him, noting that “we share the concern of His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos,” reports the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate website.
“We know this whole story and, in general, we know about the difficulties that the Jerusalem Church is facing. We are in solidarity with His Beatitude, we support him and, of course, we will act in defense of the Jerusalem Patriarchate, including the preservation of the property belonging to him,” said the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
At the same time, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill pointed out the enormous danger of radicalism artificially fueled by a religious idea, since “religious wars are what mankind has suffered from for centuries.”
He reminded that Christianity is the religion of peace, and since the most important commandment of Christians is “to love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31), the Christian idea cannot be accompanied by any radicalism.
“We hope that our sermon will be accepted without any coercion by those to whom this sermon is addressed,” stressed Patriarch Kirill.
Having stated that manifestations of radicalism and fanaticism in interreligious relations are very dangerous, and this applies not only to the Holy Land, but also to other regions of the world, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill concluded, “Therefore, the Russian Orthodox Church always stands for dialogue, including for dialogue with representatives of other religions, in order to seek common positions and strive to develop a common approach to what is happening now in the world and in interreligious relations. We consider this work to be of great importance.”
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