At the residence of His Beatitude Metropolitan Volodymyr the meeting ‘behind closed doors' between His All Holiness
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II was held. Upon its completion the
Patriarchs commented on the results of the negotiations for the press.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I noted that "such
talks are very useful for the sake of constructive dialogue especially if there
are some problems between the fraternal Orthodox Churches". "We decided to work
for improving relations between the two Orthodox Churches - that of Russia and of Constantinople,
since we are both responsible for the unity of Orthodoxy", said His All
Holiness the Patriarch of Constantinople-New Rome Bartholomew I. Also the
Ecumenical Patriarch expressed hope that the Primate of the Russian Orthodox
Church would visit the Pan-Orthodox meeting which would be held in October 2008
in Istanbul.
His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow
and All Russia also supported idea of negotiations for solving the problems
existing between the Churches." "Today the issues of controversy were claimed
and we agreed that the delegations of our Churches must prepare certain developments
in this connection. And we will make decisions corresponding with the interests
of our Churches", he summed up.
Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations archimandrite Cyril (Hovorun) commented on the given meeting as
follows: "The question of the Local
Church is a great concern
both of the state authorities and of the society; it is in the focus of
attention of the entire Orthodox world, of the international community. To even more extent this issue is
a great concern of the Church. We have spoken more then once of the need of ecclesiastic
unity. This question was on the agenda of the Patriarchs' meeting. To my mind the main result achieved is that
since now any steps aimed at overcoming splits in the Ukrainian Orthodoxy will
be taken together. There will be no
unilateral actions, no solely political initiatives. The cooperation between
the Church and authorities, between the Churches in Ukraine and between the Churches at
the Pan-Orthodox level will be improved. And this is the most obvious
conclusion of the dialogue." "These negotiations really became a historical
event for the relations between the two Churches, and in the newest history of
the Orthodox Church in general. This dialogue can be called the most remarkable
event among all the festivities on the occasion of the 1020th
anniversary of the Baptism of Rus, These negotiations laid the foundation of
the new stage of interrelations, of cooperation
between the two greatest and the most influential Churches in the Orthodox
world", stated head of the Department for External Church Relations.
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