Department for External Church Relations
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Patriarch Kirill meets Rossotrudnichestvo Federal Agency director K. Kosachev
On April 25, 2014, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with director of the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo), K. Kosachev.
In attendance were also Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov) a DECR deputy head, and Hierodeacon Roman (Kiselev) of the DECR secretariat for far-abroad countries. Representing Rossotrudnichestvo were also A. Khomenko, chief of the directorate for compatriots and public diplomacy, and S. Medvedev, chief of the directorate for Russian centers for science, culture and all-round cooperation in the CIS space.
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and Mr. K. Kosachev exchanged Easter greetings.
Patriarch Kirill noted that the cooperation with Rossotrudnichestvo had fruitfully developed for a long time. “As far back as the time when I was head of the Department for External Church Relations, I was already fully aware of the importance of this cooperation. Visiting remote countries, in which we had no parishes at that time, I could see how much people abroad were attracted to our cultural centers, and already at that time we conducted services in many such places”, he said. He made a special mention of the cooperation with Rossotrudnichestvo institutions in South-East Asia.
His Holiness underscored as especially important the work for teaching Russian and Russian culture to people abroad. “This work is carried out by our Sunday schools, but mostly with adults”, he explained. “The same work is carried out by your institutions. And, as I have already mentioned, in a number of countries, our cooperation has proved to be very effective”.
Mr. K. Kosachev, in his turn, testified that “we have carried out a fruitful and effective work with the Russian Orthodox Church’s parishes abroad. For us it is not just partnership but a very important support in all our initiatives, because the Russian World abroad is gathering, first of all, around the Russian Orthodox Church. Where there are no Russian cultural centers, it is sometimes the only place where our compatriots can gather together”. He also pointed to the importance of cultural, educational and scientific projects as providing for Russia’s humanitarian presence abroad and eventually contributing to the consolidation of relations among nations.
A number of projects for supporting compatriots abroad were discussed.
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