Department for External Church Relations
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His Holiness Patriarch Kirill meets with Rev. Olav Fuyse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches
On 30 January 2019, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with the Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
They were joined at the meeting, which took place at the Patriarchal residence in St. Daniel’s monastery, by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), DECR vice-chairman, and Archpriest Mikhail Gundyaev, representative of the Moscow Patriarchate to the World Council of Churches and international institutions in Geneva.
His Holiness greeted the guests and said: “We are very glad that you thought it good to represent the World Council of Churches at the celebration of the tenth anniversary of my Patriarchal ministry. The round number allows us to ponder over the past and the future. It is very good that it is with these thoughts I meet and talk with people whose presence at my little jubilee I consider very important.”
His Holiness noted the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches celebrated last year and continued to say: “It was an important event as such and evaluation of the WCC activities during these years. As you know, I was a member of its Executive and Central Committees for a long time and knew quite well the agenda and the part the WCC played at the time of the Cold War. Political situation in the world was no less difficult than today due to the confrontation between East and West, between the two camps both possessing weapons of mass destruction. From my point of view, the World Council of Churches played a unique part in that situation, because Christians from different countries could meet at the WCC and try to find solutions of difficult situations in churches and states, doing it on the basis of their faith in the Lord and Saviour. I repeat that international tension was no less intensive than it is today. Therefore I put a question to myself and to you: Can the WCC today play the part it used to play during the Cold War time?”
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is convinced that the world needs the involvement of Christian organizations into the surmounting of crisis in international relations. He said that the WCC could stand for the truth on the political map of the world at that time and wondered what the WCC members can do to renew the WCC role at present.
Topical issues of inter-Christian cooperation were addressed. His Holiness spoke about the situation in Syria and the participation of Christian Churches in the overcoming of economic hardships the country is experiencing after military actions in its territory.
At the end of the talk memorable gifts were exchanged.
Patriarch
Department Chairman
Sermons
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06.11.2020