15th session of the Working Group for cooperation between the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Orthodox Church

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On 3 June 2010, the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations hosted the 15^th session of the Working Group for cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

The session was opened by the co-chairs – Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, Mr. Grigory Karasin, the secretary of state and Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation.

The participants discussed various aspects of the Working Group's work done since the last session held on 9 December 2009. They paid due attention to a topical issue of the growing influence of an Orthodox factor on international relations, noted its ponderable role in stabilizing the situation in the Transcaucasus, and discussed cooperation between the Church and the Ministry in the defence of human rights.

The participants recognized the historical, spiritual, and cultural role of Orthodoxy and other traditional confessions of Russia as important in the country's foreign policy.

Having in mind the celebration of the 65^th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic war, the participants underscored the necessity of common efforts in opposing the falsifies of history.

Directions of the Working Group's work for the nearest future were determined.

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15th session of the Working Group for cooperation between the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Orthodox Church

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons