blii of the world council of churches, we recently returned from there to the russian orthodox church. there was a large delegation there, and i must say that the moscow patriarchate has been participating in the work of the world council of churches since 1961. we have traditionally come to all, uh, significant events within the framework of the work of the aria and the general assembly, of course, this year is no exception, and uh, you are really right. hmm , the very first day when our assembly began its work, and its participants, and there were almost 2,000 people from all over the world came to greet the president of germany, mr. steinmeier. and unfortunately, in his welcoming speech, he separately touched on the topic of the presence in the hall of the delegation of the russian orthodox church. and in general, he said what, of course, we perceived as an absolutely rude attempt to pressure a high-ranking political leader. for such a respected interregional organization as the

world council of churches, of course, listening to the words of the head of state, in the territory we were in at that moment, such words were very unpleasant. and honestly. i, after mr. steinmeier finished his speech and immediately left the hall, of course, no one gave us the opportunity to say something in response. i was left with very heavy feelings and thought about how the remaining days would pass. we were supposed to be in germany for almost 2 weeks, but i must say that mr. president, in fact, he helped us a lot and many people began to approach me and other members of our delegation, who began to tell us that they categorically disagree with what he said mr steiner. they welcome our presence at the assembly. we are glad we are there. eh, moreover, among such people who approached us were representatives of the german churches, who generally said, you do not listen to our president. he said some nonsense e we katego. they do not agree with him separated from

the soviet state, both in our country and in germany e. on the basis of what president steinmeier, in general, in connection with what he was at this event, you know, if such a speech were made from the lips of some mummer ukrainian schismatic? which by the way were also present in this hall? well, this could probably be understood, but when it says, uh, the head of state. uh, i think this is categorically unacceptable and right after uh hmm the day ended, i made appropriate comments to the media and said that we, of course, consider any attempt to exert this kind of pressure on religious organizations to be absolutely unacceptable what kind of documents were accepted as a result. these are the general assembly, following the results of the general assembly was accepted. e, a large package of documents, but including a document was adopted, which deals with the current situation in ukraine. e, we took part in the discussion of the draft of this document was prepared. uh, a number of significant

proposals that the russian orthodox church made were taken into account. i will give one example. uh, in this document it was clearly stated that the current situation in ukraine did not begin on february 24 of this year, but eight years ago hmm was mentioned about the difficult situation in which all these years donetsk lugansk has been located, which i think is fundamental, the wording that was frankly russophobic in nature was excluded from the document. and who represented the ukrainian delegation, that is, it turns out there was, uh, the economic church and schismatics. and how is it in general from ukraine were present. there as invited persons. they were not delegates in the truest sense of the word. the assembly was not its participants, but with all this, uh hmm, for example, uh hmm, the representative of the ukrainian raskolnikov so called the orthodox church of ukraine who were very active, by the way, mr. mayer, whom we are already mentioning after

he left the podium, he had a separate meeting with them, and they spoke very aggressively, both in relation to the russian orthodox church, so it happened with respect to the russian state in the secular world. well, at the moment the final division between russian ukrainians. and what happens in the church space? are there churches left where russian ukrainians of different political beliefs, i emphasize while the services stand together and receive communion from the same chalice. such temples, i think, for the most part are located in the far abroad. and this topic is very familiar and close to me, because i myself served 5 years abroad as a parish priest in italy and for the last 7 years. i helped his holiness the patriarch in the management of our foreign dioceses. and i can tell you that in the far abroad, the picture is like a mirror image, because lately, uh, the number of parishioners in the

vast majority of our churches has increased by times due to the fact that, first of all , many refugees come to european countries, who come to our churches in the churches of the russian orthodox church. uh, pray. and it doesn't cause any problems for them. just recently i was at one foreign parish, where i talked with a woman who had just arrived from ukraine from one of the liberated regions, her husband stayed there, he worked for the ukrainian administration at one time. spouse. i was able to leave my husband stayed. she came to our temple, the temple of the moscow patriarchate. she was on worship. and, of course, she came up to me after the service and told me about how she was going through, but this does not prevent russians and ukrainians who hold different political views of different beliefs from coming to the temple and praying to god , and i think that this is it. well, actually, perhaps, the main asset of our church. we are all so

different from different nationalities. we speak different languages, we hold different political beliefs, but we come to church because we have one christ, one faith, one baptism, one eucharist. and of course when people come to the temple. uh, even in such temples as, for example, i will cite as an illustration of our cathedral in paris, which is not only the cathedral church of the karsun diocese, but the russian spiritual and cultural center on its territory, the russian flag is developing. a huge number of people come there, including number of ukrainians, there are a lot. uh, no one ever asks them. what are your views on the political processes taking place in the world today, what convictions do you hold, of course the doors of the temple are open to everyone, and what's more, we don't talk about politics in the temple. i always told my parishioners about this. in rome, by the way, in rome our temple is located on the territory of the russian embassy, ​​people who come to this temple. they are aware that they are entering the

territory of a russian diplomatic institution. i always said, my dear ones, here we are outside the temple. there is a pizzeria. you can talk about anything there. but when you came to church, let's talk about god and already talk about politics. they always remain outside the gate. unfortunately. i think that's our days. they understand well. what a unifying potential is laid in the church. that is why today they have directed their efforts, among other things, to contribute to the undermining of various aspects of church life. here on june 17, it seems to me, an important one took place, but the broadcast, which the secular media somehow missed out on. the fact is that two priests met on the internet, father pavel ostrovsky from the russian orthodox church and the priest of odessa diocese. at the patient. his name is maximilian pogorelovskiy and many other things. they discussed they discussed both the split and the council in such falls and special military operations and gave each other the opportunity to speak to the end. nobody

attacked anyone. it seems to me that the very fact that this dialogue took place is very important. are there many such desperate priests there in ukraine to conduct such broadcasts and not be afraid to openly enter into a dialogue with a priest of the moscow patriarchate. i'm sure private dialogue is continues to be conducted, of course, a private matter continues, and just recently, while in europe, i met with several priests who came from ukraine. we served together. we certainly talked after the service. nobody spoke quite openly, of course, they did not attack anyone, these contacts remain and continue. but here is any of their publicity, it is for priests today. uh, the faithful of their church, defending the canonical church in ukraine, she, unfortunately, is fraught with a number of difficulties and for them and for their family members. eh, and this should be taken into account the other day called on the russians. to spiritual mobilization for the sake of reconciliation with ukraine is a quote

where they announce partial mobilization in russia on september 21st. the patriarch urged not to consider ukrainians as enemies if a parishioner comes to you or to any other priest of the moscow patriarchate and asks the question how the church formulates its goals, what the priests answer to this, the goals and objectives of the special military operation were formulated by the president of our country vladimir vladimirovich putin in his address of 24 february. and, of course, lighting. e. hmm, that's not their job. e speak on these topics priests in this particular situation. rather, they answer for themselves the question of what the church and what each of them as a clergyman can do for people, uh, who in one way or another were involved in that difficult situation as witnesses that we are and believe our thoughts and most importantly in our actions .

again, i can talk about this in the context of the life of our diocese during the transitions to the far abroad and they no, first of all about how we can help those people who come from ukraine today come to our churches. uh, for this, under the personal supervision and with the personal blessing of his holiness patriarch kirill, a variety of initiative projects are being implemented today, related both to the delivery of humanitarian aid related to, as well as to, assistance to refugees who today come to our churches knock on our doors asking for help. and, of course, the church does what it first of all should do, how the church does not pray for the world. we are for every liturgy in all our churches. from america to australia, we pray for peace. and, of course, we hope that the lord will hear our prayers. it's yours. the first interview in the position of chairman of the department for external church relations and the position you have been occupying relatively recently for only a few months. and i think you

know that in the secular media this permutation of rockers. he calls almost the loudest in the modern history of the russian orthodox church. why do you think the choice in this difficult time 2022 after the church split against the backdrop of a special military operation? well, and many other events, and to head such a department of the ministry of foreign affairs, in fact, the roc fell on you, it’s a little difficult for me to answer such a personal question, because i was not present at that meeting of the holy synod at which it was made, this decision, but i can say that i am not a new person within these walls. uh, i came here as a very young man, and just after graduating from the spiritual academy, i was appointed as the personal secretary of the then chairman of the department metropolitan kirill, our current networking patriarch. i worked in the department for several years and already then got acquainted with its work with its agenda, as they say now, and since 2011, when i went

on my first foreign business trip to rome, i became involved in the sphere of external church activity one way or another, uh, doing, uh, pastoral work in italy, at the same time, uh, i served and lived a 10-minute walk from the vatican and, of course, uh, the clergy trusted me, uh, certain duties related to dialogue between the russian orthodox and the roman catholic church, and then for the last 7 years, when i headed the department for foreign institutions, which, by a recent decision of the synod, was incorporated into the department for external church relations. i traveled a lot. i have visited more than six. states and i know well the life of our parishes, whether we like it or not, it is inseparable from our external activities, because the priest serving in this or that country certainly has contacts from representatives of other orthodox churches and glorious churches with authorities and one way or another, uh, along with uh, vladyka larion, my

predecessor. i was involved in this subject. and now that this appointment has taken place. i've been working in this building for the last 7 years and uh, i have an idea, maybe not the full picture yet. it is she who is now going into something unified, but they have an understanding of what is happening today, what we need to do in order to protect the interests of the church on its outer border. that's why, perhaps, my entry into the position, it was not so painful for me either, and what is important for the business, which continued its work and, in fact, its team was fully preserved even on the news, but on september 8. seven latvia approved. uh, the so-called autocephaly of the latvian orthodox church, which is, for those who don't know, a self-governing orthodox church within the moscow patriarchate. we understand that the political bribaltics has long been separated from the russian federation, and, as in recent years

things were going on with the so-called ecclesiastical baltic states. well, to answer your questions, it's probably worth remembering, first of all, the situation in estonia uh, c. in the nineties, now the last century, when, with the active participation of the estonian state, it happened, the emergence of the patriarchate of constantinople on the territory of estonia actually happened. eh, a serious church schism was already significant at that time, complicating relations between the russian orthodox church and constantinople. now we are witnessing what is happening in latvia and i will i can honestly say that if we, uh, weren’t talking to you now in such a kind of turbulent time, i would think that this news that the political leadership of latvia, uh, is taking some steps to grant latvian autocephaly church that it's such a bad joke, but unfortunately it's true, and uh. this, of course, is an absolutely unprecedented

example of the grossest interference of state power in the affairs of the church. uh, the church lives by its own rules, by its own rules, which are already many hundreds of years and, of course, the procedure for granting autocephaly, it is regulated and, uh, role. uh, in this case the latvian state is in the process. it is completely inappropriate, we know that, as if the other day, it introduced external church relations, where we are located, an appeal should be received from the ministry of justice with a demand to grant autocephaly to the latvian church, but so far we have not received such an appeal, if it does, certainly. uh, this will put us in some kind of awkward position, because the idea of ​​autocephaly is given to the petitioner and i i do not think that the ministry of justice needs some kind of thomas testifying that this ministry is independent of the moscow patriarchate. but everything that is happening today in countries that are so proud of their democracy and respect for human rights, and one of the most important rights of

any person is freedom of religion, is, of course, some kind of surrealism. and i'm sorry, i 'll say i can hardly imagine this, but if suddenly something similar, at least some hint of it would take place in russia here we are we talked about the assembly of the world council of churches, if something like this were in moscow and would come, suddenly our president, who would speak from the rostrum, would say, here you are, dear religious leaders, should condemn this, support it, of course, president, never would not do such a thing, but if it did, i think there would be a fuss in the media. eh, a lot. and here is the president of germany, the president of latvia, the president of ukraine, poroshenko, who, uh, created the so-called kiss and then with thomas uh about autocephaly, issued to him by patriarch bartholomew, made a whole thomas tour, as he was dubbed in the media, which was a frank interference of the state in the affairs of the

church. it is possible and their behavior. it is approved by western society. you personally know the pope francis of rome repeatedly met with him for many years lived in rome what kind of relations do we have with catholics in the russian orthodox church is there any prospect of a meeting between the pope francis in the foreseeable future and patriarch kirill, we as churches representing the majority of christians in the world, we can do a lot together, responding to the challenges that the modern world poses to us. and this dialogue developed very fruitfully. you know that in 2016, the first ever meeting between patriarch kirill of moscow and all russia and pope francis took place in harbour, cuba , and i was one of the witnesses. and then this meeting was accompanied by his holiness the patriarch. and i was very glad that this meeting took place and following its results a remarkable document was adopted - a joint appeal of the two primates. recently,

unfortunately, i have to say that our relations are practically frozen. after the, uh, special military operations began in march, a conversation took place between his holiness patriarch kirill and pope francisco through a remote connection , this conversation was forced. eh, as far as i know. i was not a member of it, the benevolent nature has passed, it is warm enough in a way, but after a while. we are very surprised read the interviews that you got. uh, to some media, where he's sorry, i'm not afraid of this word, caricatured this meeting, but made an expression that, in my opinion, did not call me at all in this context and announced that the meeting would not take place. and that, in general, he will not go anywhere. after that, there were no contacts for

organizing a new meeting for a long time, even when i took over as chairman of the department. i read in some comments in the press. and this too problem. recently, for some reason, we communicate with catholics mostly through the press. we get some news through the media from the vatican . i read that pope francis, who was invited along with the patriarch, was invited to kazakhstan in september of this year to participate in the congress of the leaders of world traditional religions, that he is going to meet the patriarch there and since in august. uh, this year i was in rome. i told my acquaintances in the vatican that i would be there . i received an invitation from dad to come and chat with him. first time. here in my new position. i came to this meeting. and we in particular. i can say we talked about it. uh the possibility of organizing a new meeting and maybe uh about kazakhstan as an appropriate place, but

came to the understanding that such a meeting is still a historical event. it cannot take place on the sidelines of some event, even such a solid and respected one as a congress in kazakhstan. well, and besides, this meeting must still be prepared, and it must have some result. and since there was no such study , there was very little time left. we agreed that if there is a second meeting , then it must be carefully prepared to decide on the place and time. at this stage, i have to say that some of the comments and statements that we are reading. ah, and we hear from the lips of e not only the pope, but even most of his assistants. they absolutely do not contribute to the preparation of this meeting and do not contribute to our further cooperation. here is one of those faces well the vatican is who is directly responsible for promoting christian unity. this is the name of the papal council, which this man is chaired by cardinal kurt koch for the first time. well, at least in my memory, when the catholic cardinal

begins to comment. uh, inside the orthodox situation is a delicate area, relationships between locals and churches, which, as you know, is also a very difficult topic today and it is very strange to me, because i, uh, as you noted. i lived in europe and uh, lived in the heart of the catholic peace. to be honest, i also know something about the problems that the catholic church is facing today in the same germany in other countries, but i have never allowed myself to make any public statements about this. you understand that these problems are, well, a disaster for the catholic church itself, it is trying to cope with them, is there a threat of international isolation for the roc, in your opinion today? i do not rule out that some hmm unfriendly countries may take some action to restrict our activities abroad, but of course, about no isolation, but under isolation. i can understand emptying temples. uh, the exodus of believers. eh, the decline of church life is out of

the question. we have not yet come across any examples of forcible restrictions on our ministry that we carry in various countries , and i can say that in each country the situation is different, different legal circumstances, different forms, e.g. the activities of our church and registration again. yes, but so far we have not encountered any direct opposition anywhere. well, except maybe, here, uh, latvia, which we mentioned. so, of course, i am convinced that there is no true isolation in the sense in which i said above ours. no threat, thank you very much. vladyka that answered our questions. thank you very much. we received a lot of requests that we go out more often. in the west, they are trying to declare us a pariah country. let's look at this story a little differently . this is an attempt to hear recreate. through

painting, the entire panorama of the great country is artistic fantasy.

let's translate from clerical to understandable, everything is not so

scary if there is an instruction. the constitutional court, then both chambers of the russian parliament will consider the president's appeal, the relevant agreements were signed the day before in the kremlin russia did not allow the adoption of a resolution in the un condemning the holding of a referendum on their results among the abstentions india brazil