His Holiness Patriarch Kirill’s book ‘Freedom and Responsibility’ presented in Bishkek in the Kyrgyz language

On 29 May 2017, while in Bishkek, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University named after the First President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin.

At the main entrance to the university the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church was met by Ms G.K. Kudayberdiyeva, Minister of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic; Mr. Z.D. Chotayev, deputy director of the State Commission for Religious Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic; Mr. A. Krutko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Kyrgyz Republic; and Mr. V.I. Nifadiev, rector of the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill proceeded to the assembly hall of the university. Present there were the faculty, students and guests of the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University.

Among the guests were Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan; Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; Archbishop Feofilakt of Pyatigorsk and Cherkessk, acting administrator of the Patriarchal deanery in Turkmenistan; Archbishop Sergy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administrative Secretariat; Bishop Pitirim of Dushanbe and Tajikistan; Bishop Daniil of Bishkek and Kyrgyzstan; Mr. Vladimir Legoyda, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church-Society and Mass Media Relations; Rev. Alexander Volkov, head of the Patriarchal Press Service; Rev. Dimitry Safonov, DECR secretary for interreligious relations; Mr. Dmitry Petrovsky, DECR staff member; and clergy of the Bishkek diocese.

Mr. Vladimir Nifadiev, rector of the university, opened the meeting and informed all those present that in 2006 His Holiness Patriarch Kirill’s book entitled ‘Freedom and Responsibility. A Search for Harmony. Human Rights and Personal Dignity’ was published in the Kyrgyz language by the Bishkek diocese in cooperation with the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations.

The book was presented by Mr. I.V. Polyakov, chairman of the Russian-Kyrgyz Business Council.

The rector of the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University read out a resolution of the university’s Academic Board to confer on His Holiness Patriarch Kirill the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa ‘for his great contribution to the strengthening of peace and friendly relations between the peoples of Kyrgyzstan and Russia, for the promotion of religious and moral principles and cooperation between people, and for the support for the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University.’

To conclude his visit to the university, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill made the following entry in the university’s honorary guest book: ‘With much gratitude to the university for the honour, with wishes of God’s help to the faculty and students in their important creative work. Patriarch Kirill.’

Patriarchal Press Service/

DECR Communication Service

Photo by the Patriarchal Press Service