Patriarch Kirill talks to Archbishop of Canterbury about discrimination of Ukrainian congregation’s rights

Patriarch Kirill shared with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby about hardships of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine. This topic was discussed in the course of their meeting in the residence of Patriarch in Danilov Monastery, TASS reports. This is the first visit of Welby to Russia.

The head of Russian Orthodox Church has emphasized that Kiev tolerates rude infringements of religious freedoms including sieges of Orthodox cathedrals and naked propaganda against adherents of Moscow Patriarchy. According to Russian Orthodox Church leader, the impression is that authorities divide their people based on religion.

Besides, the matter of great concern is determination of some deputies of the Ukrainian parliament to accept laws legalizing discrimination of Ukrainian Orthodox church.

Patriarch Kirill has remarked that western Christians should not renounce their beliefs even if non-traditional way of thinking about moral values is protected by law.

He has added that Russian Orthodox Church will not turn away from western Christians even there are discrepancies in beliefs and dogmas. He has expressed readiness for a dialogue to define opinions and understand what is going on in the world.

Leaders of the two churches have underlined importance of after-war restoration of Syria and Iraq. They addressed the international society with a request to take necessary steps to support Christians and other categories of population of the Middle East.

Representatives of churches called the world leaders to join their efforts and find an efficient way of opposing extremism.

Russkiy Mir