The head of the department for external church relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Anthony, explained why the Russian Orthodox Church has more mutual understanding with the Muslims of the East than with the Christians of the West.
“For decades, the Russian Orthodox Church has maintained a dialogue with the religions of the East, mainly, of course, with Islam. And I can state that it happens very often that we find much more understanding with Muslims on many key issues than, for example, than with our fellow Christians in the West,” the Metropolitan said on Thursday in Kazan at a conference of the international discussion club “Valdai”.
He explained this by the fact that faith occupies the most important place in the lives of many people in the East. “Commitment to our common, God-given values, personal and public morality and spirituality determines our closeness,” the metropolitan explained.
According to him, the Moscow Patriarchate has been regularly engaged in dialogue with Islamic organizations in Iran for 25 years: “This communication contributed to the fact that today Russia and Iran have strong friendly ties. The same can be said about Russia’s relations with other countries of the Islamic world.”
He also noted that at present the Muslim world is showing particular interest in interreligious dialogue with Russia.
“They understand very well that Russia today opposes, in fact, the very way of life, which is aimed at worshiping a person and not God. The East does not accept such a paradigm and it seems to me that is why we have many like-minded people there, despite the unprecedented pressure from the strongest powers of the world,” metropolitan Anthony concluded.
According to Interfax.
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