Department for External Church Relations
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Round Table on World War Two in Humanitarian Dimension: Experience of the Past and Modernity takes place at Federation Council
On 28th January 2020, a round table meeting on World War Two in Humanitarian Dimension: Experience of the Past and Modernity was held at the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation within the framework of the 28th International Christmas Educational Readings.
The meeting was organized by the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Federation Council, and the International Committee of the Red Cross for the Russian Federation, Belarus and Moldova.
Acting as moderates of the round table discussion were Archbishop Leonid of Vladikavkaz and Alania, DECR vice-chairman; Mr. Alexei Kondratyev, member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Federation Council; and Ms. Marie Dubeau, deputy head of the Regional Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross for the Russian Federation, Belarus and Moldova.
Archbishop Leonid of Vladikavkaz and Alania greeted all those present on behalf of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations and head of the Christmas Educational Readings’ section on Tradition. Dialogue. External Relations.
As Archbishop Leonid emphasized in his address, throughout its history the Church has strived to be with its people under any circumstances, especially at the moments of ordeal.
“It is in this light that in the contemporary history the Church has been developing its contacts with peace-making and charitable organizations,” the hierarch said, “It involves rendering humanitarian aid to the people living in troubled regions, for instance, in Syria, as well as interceding for the captives, as was the case in Ukraine. Thanks to the concerted efforts of Russia’s traditional religious communities, a school in Syria for 1200 pupils has been restored, and the country received tons of humanitarian cargo at various times. And in Ukraine, thanks to the intercessions of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine, the captive Ukrainians who had been involved in the hostilities in the south-eastern part of the country returned to their homes.”
Archbishop Leonid expressed his hope that the round table meeting would provide an opportunity “to reflect on the experience of the past and the present, and help gain a better understanding of the value of human life and the necessity to seek ways of peaceful co-existence between countries and peoples.”
Representing the Russian Orthodox Church at the meeting were also Archpriest Sergy Zvonarev, DECR secretary for far abroad countries; Archpriest Mikhail Potokin, chairman of the Commission for Social Ministry under the Moscow Diocesan Council; and the DECR staff members, Hieromonk Kirill (Peregudin) and Mr. Nikita Astapov.
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